Kurang ajar.

There is no reason to snap, yell, shout or scream at someone unless:
a) they are standing some 30 feet away from you
b) something is on fire
c) they are in imminent danger
d) it's a shouting contest
e) they are hearing-impaired (but even then, why would scream at a deaf person? Duh)

It's not nice. It's just not nice. I have an issue with a person (or two) who cannot seem to talk to me nicely. I keep telling myself maybe he/she just talks like that. With one of the persons (I'll call him Jack) I realise he memang is 'kurang ajar' (translation: rude. Mother never taught him manners) to everyone. He answers the phone with, "Mmm yes? What? ha?" Anything with more than one syllable is a huge effort for him. And although I keep telling myself that Jack is like that with everyone, it still doesn't make it alright. Especially when you are polite in the first place, right?

And then there's this other guy...I'll call him Ass (er...short for Assando, yeah he's Italian). Now, HE doesn't fail to sting me with his rudeness and callousness. And whenever I try to point it out to him by saying, "Hey dude, relax, no need to get so angry", he responds by getting angrier and saying, "I'm having a bad day!" or "I'm not feeling well!" or my favourite, "It's because of the way YOU are...You make me say things like this!"

Wow. Classy.

You know people who are always frowning when you talk to them? Like everything you say is SO ridiculous and you're wasting their precious time? And when you decide NOT to say anything for fear of annoying your friend (I use the term loosely) further, he gets all pissy and says, "Why? Why you so quiet now? Upset lah? Angry lah? Aiyaaaa see la you! So difficult!" I cannot win with this Ass. But what really really gets my goat is that he can be so bloody rude to me and in two seconds, call his other friends and sound like the coolest, happiest guy ever. And then he hangs up his phone, frowns at me, shakes his head and rants about how he's so angry about everything. Which of course translates to, "I'm about to be rude to you the whole day and i have a valid reason so you should be understanding if you're my friend."

Why do I bother? Because I have this eternal fixation to mend 'broken' people like him - because I always believe there's good even in the worst people. To pick his pieces apart like a watch and see what makes him and maybe, just maybe, if i can loosen a few screws here and there or fathom why the cogs move in such a way...I might be able to make sense of it all and realise he really is rude for a damn good reason.

But deep down, I know there never IS a good reason to be rude. My mother taught me better than that.