Courtesy

One of the things I hate is having to apologise for something that was of no fault of mine. For example, I think that being punctual is a very important attitude to have and as far as possible, I try to be on time for whatever function or meeting that I am to attend and I'd expect people to behave in a similar manner. No so-called Malaysian 20-minutes-late tak kisah attitude. If someone's late by 5 minutes, I start dialing their number. Or if I know I'm going to be late, I'll have the courtesy of calling up and informing that person instead of making him/her wait in the dark. I can think of 2 close friends who've really pissed me off in the past 'cause they were EXTREMELY late for an appointment and didn't bother to inform me beforehand.

Sometimes however, you have to wait for your friend who's busy with something else - might be a last minute coma to type into a report or might be that extra bit of foundation that will mask that beastly spot, but the outcome is still similar - you end up being late through no fault of your own (unless waiting for someone is considered a fault la) and you mumble an apology later on without trying to curse said friend under your breath, who's oblivious to his/her own fault 'cause after all, what's an extra half hour? Or a couple of hours? Or a day or two?

I'm not (currently) pissed off with anyone with regards to time, but I do have this thing against people being oblivious to their discourtesies and acting like everything is chirpy with the world.

By the by, a Readers' Digest has concluded that KL is the 3rd rudest city in the world, in a survey involving 30-odd cities. 3 criteria were looked at - holding open doors, saying thank you and helping someone pick up a fallen item. Only Budapest and Mumbai performed worse. This would come as a surprise to the mat sallehs who read this blog but not to the Malaysians, 'cause we all know how pleasant some individuals are back home when kau-tauing to the melatonin-deficient and how they'd shove an old man aside to get onto the bus 5 minutes. I exaggerate, for sure. But the survey is definitely food for thought, especially when the people of our country are meant to be famous for their budi bahasa.