Student (is this real) Life – Narcissism

Starting a bar fight for no reason? Not okay. Don't walk around with a chip on your shoulder. I hate people with an attitude. Like my friend Aretha Franklin once said, give a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T. (Photo Credit: dgorton.com)

BY SARAH LEWIS, Student Life Editor

As a 19-year-old college student, most days I would consider myself to be rather mature. With 16 credit hours, I don’t have the time to be insolent, and I’ve experienced a fair view of the real world, from working to classes. I know that the world isn’t here to serve me, and I hope that most of my readers feel this way as well. Let me tell you about the rare breed of people who, for the most part, believe that the world is here to fall at their feet.

From my experience yesterday, I’ve seriously begun to wonder if all humans from the ages of 12 to 16 are literally out of control. I understand that they are “growing into themselves” or whatever rite of passage bull we were taught at that age, but there is a difference between being young and being flat out disrespectful. Although the examples I’m using are younger people, I’ve ran into an unfortunate amount of ill-mannered college students, and every time I cannot help but thinking, “Is this real life?”

I’m not okay with impolite people. I’m not sure when it became okay in society to look at someone and immediately begin talking about them while pointing and giggling. Let me tell you the most recent experience I’ve had with such blatant, uncouth behavior…

I was in a coffee shop with my best friend attempting to do homework in between our fits of conversation. “What’s the rhetorical situation?…Oh my curly hair, I cannot believe I stayed at a place a drive by shooting happened at in Chicago this weekend!” Yeah, our conversations don’t always flow in a way that makes much sense, but that’s not the point. We were having an enjoyable time…UNTIL (there always has to be a catch, unfortunately) four middle school aged girls and two guys came into the shop. I wouldn’t have had a problem with this except they all immediately began screaming, jumping on the coffee tables, and sitting on top of each other. One of the girls was lying across the back of a couch they were occupying like a cat. I couldn’t make this up if I wanted to. All of them thought that my friend and I would be their entertainment, apparently, considering all they could do while acting like this was watch us type on our laptops.

The peaceful, chatty atmosphere had been broken by these ruffians. They began running back in forth between the two couches they were on. For the most part, the guys didn’t do anything but sit there while the girls ran circles around them. They were so loud that I couldn’t even hear the soft rock pumping through the radio. At this point, I’d had enough. I exhaled a dramatic sigh they were sure to hear. My friend started laughing under her breath because she was just as frustrated as I was. Unfortunately, the pubescents got the point, but it didn’t help the situation. They all turned to look at me and immediately started whispering, laughing, and POINTING at me. They were literally five feet away from me. I stared at them, giving them a “you don’t want to mess with me look.”

After about fifteen more minutes of this romp, the boys left. Soon after the girls got up to leave while shooting me demonic glares. I made eye contact with each of them. I started slow clapping and continued to do so until they walked out the door. Yeah, I went there, and no, I don’t care.

The point to all of this is that respect should be given to ANYONE you happen to run into whenever you go somewhere. Sure, many of you are thinking that people need to earn your respect, but think about it for just a second. Are you going to be a rude waitress just because your customers haven’t earned your respect yet? Of course not, because you want a tip, right? Are you going to not apologize for running into someone because you were texting and walking through CASL? No, you’re obviously going to say you’re sorry for not looking where you were going! It is human nature to be courteous in any day-to-day situation.

So my question is, WHY would you run into an establishment yelling and kicking tables over? This is a coffee shop, not a battle royal. We aren’t in “The Real World Downriver,” so honestly there is no reason to be rude, catty, and just flat out obnoxious towards anyone. I’m not going to be mean unless I’m provoked. Please, do not behave like the world revolves around you. Be respectful, and act like you were raised by humans, not cavemen.