In the freezer section of a brand-new, high-tech supermarket, she appeared before me.
A vision so very authoritative and important-looking with her shiny badge and sparkling uniform.
However, her busy colleagues seemed oblivious to her presence, huddled near the yoghurt corner, unpacking and stacking… stacking and unpacking…
Until, she opened her mouth.
“Alright guyyyyys!!!” she shouted, across our heads.
I suddenly thought of that sheep scene in one or maybe all of the Crocodile Dundee movies (yes, yes, I know – if you’re reading this blog, you may not even know what in the high heavens a Crocodile Dundee was, let alone were more than a sperm and egg when he was quoted quite freely in low-brow, and sometimes high-brow, society… )
“Baaaaa-aaaa-aaaa….” Oops, sorry….
“Alright guyyyyys,” she shouted, looking deliberately beyond my surprised expression to the aforementioned colleagues.
“After you finish those, you can sign out and go home!!” she continued, adding a little squeal at the end for extra effect.
I looked around me. Other shoppers in the vicinity had also stopped whatever they were doing to look up.
The trouble with loud voices is that they demand, nay, command attention.
Whether this young lady had been making a staff-only announcement or issuing a warning for an emergency evacuation or the end of the world, the effect was still the same.
Think firstly of the content of what you have to say. If what’s being said is rather banal, trivial and completely unimportant to the masses, lower your voice. Remember to apply the old Facebook rule – do not say anything in public that you would not say on a crowded bus.
By directing her order over and above shoppers’ heads, the supervisor was also failing significantly on another once supremely sanctified level – respect for the customer.
It’s unfortunately becoming easier and easier in this over-crowded world to block out the people who directly surround us.
Notice the world around you. And you will better know your place in it.
i, miss manners in the world 