I had to go to the local post office yesterday to pick up a parcel. Now I don’t get home normally till about 4.30, so I only have a small window of opportunity to get there before 5pm.and of course at 4.40pm on a Monday the post office is overflowing. There were about 15 people in the queue in front of me. I joined the queue and patiently waited for my turn
About a minute or so after I got there a couple walked in behind me and joined the queue. The guy was so non-descript that I can’t remember what he looked like. The woman (and I do use that term loosely) was stereo-typical trailer trash. (Also referred to here in Oz as a Skank or a Bogan)
A couple of minutes pass as the line slowly moves forward and this “woman” is doing the impatient sigh thing. Then she starts muttering about “F***ing Yuppies always coming in the post office last minute” and how she “had to pay this bill by 5pm or they would cut her power off” There were also comments about how blotto she had gotten the night before and how she didn’t even wake up till noon. Then she started grumbling about the charity organization that was actually paying her bill and bitching cause they would only give her a cheque and not cash (as if they would) There was more general grumbling interspaced with numerous references to “F***ing Yuppies” As I was almost to the head of the queue, I had had enough of her bitching.
The following is not word for word, but fairly close.
“Excuse me, sorry to interrupt you, but the F***ing Yuppies you are constantly referring to are the ones that pay the taxes that pays your welfare benefits AND supports the charities that are paying your bill. We also work, so our opportunities to get to a post office are slim and usually fall near closing time. Not all of us have the luxury of staying home all day and perhaps if you managed you time better, you would be able to get here in the other 7.5 hours a day the post office if open”
Now I fully expected this woman to either yell a string of low brow insults at me or even throw a punch. I was not actually prepared for the blank stare and speechlessness that I got. I turned back around and was called up to the counter to get my parcel. As I left (she was being served at the next counter) I received several smiles, thumbs ups and even a small round of applause from the people in the line behind her.
About a minute or so after I got there a couple walked in behind me and joined the queue. The guy was so non-descript that I can’t remember what he looked like. The woman (and I do use that term loosely) was stereo-typical trailer trash. (Also referred to here in Oz as a Skank or a Bogan)
A couple of minutes pass as the line slowly moves forward and this “woman” is doing the impatient sigh thing. Then she starts muttering about “F***ing Yuppies always coming in the post office last minute” and how she “had to pay this bill by 5pm or they would cut her power off” There were also comments about how blotto she had gotten the night before and how she didn’t even wake up till noon. Then she started grumbling about the charity organization that was actually paying her bill and bitching cause they would only give her a cheque and not cash (as if they would) There was more general grumbling interspaced with numerous references to “F***ing Yuppies” As I was almost to the head of the queue, I had had enough of her bitching.
The following is not word for word, but fairly close.
“Excuse me, sorry to interrupt you, but the F***ing Yuppies you are constantly referring to are the ones that pay the taxes that pays your welfare benefits AND supports the charities that are paying your bill. We also work, so our opportunities to get to a post office are slim and usually fall near closing time. Not all of us have the luxury of staying home all day and perhaps if you managed you time better, you would be able to get here in the other 7.5 hours a day the post office if open”
Now I fully expected this woman to either yell a string of low brow insults at me or even throw a punch. I was not actually prepared for the blank stare and speechlessness that I got. I turned back around and was called up to the counter to get my parcel. As I left (she was being served at the next counter) I received several smiles, thumbs ups and even a small round of applause from the people in the line behind her.
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