There are some things that follow us through our lives, pet peeves that morph through the years without really losing their meanings...or their ability to piss us off.
So do you remember standing in line for the hot lunch at school? When I did it the food was served from steamer tubs with no corporate affiliation and the tub contained actual food, to the best of my knowledge. We won't talk about the "Mystery Meat" issue, there are some things man was not meant to know. So when you were standing in those lines, maybe chatting with a friend (or sizing up the girls, for reasons your hormones only knew at that time) and someone "CUT" in front of you in line. Now this could have been by force, in the case of a bully, or it could have been by co-incidence when someone ahead of you started chatting with someone they knew who had arrived late (and then used the conversation as a way of sliding in front of you).
A queue is a kind of Social Contract, without it their would be anarchy (or at least "Black Friday" everyday). Violation of that contract though is often over looked, and even more so if someone points out that said contract is being violated the plaintiff in the case is often the one vilified.
My morning at the local Mermaid Coffee shop started with the violation of this contract...by people of my own age and in a manner so blatant I wanted to scream. But I didn't, I let them do it. Another social contract down, another yet to go. It did not help that when I went out to the Passat the battery was dead (seems the headlight warning bell is somewhat easily distracted).
So my question is this, if even normal people in this day and age cannot be expected to respect something as simple as a queue in a coffee shop on a rainy day how can we expect them to respect any other Social COntract? Am I in fact an ANTIQUE because I actually think that Social COntracts are important, or do I just sound pissy?
