Why are we, the British public, so defiant? Is it just us?
Yesterday I went to collect a couple of (pre-ordered) windscreens from a wholesaler. They’re doing all they possibly can as a supplier and this is immediately apparent as soon as you approach the front door:
“ONLY ONE CUSTOMER AT A TIME“
Also stated on the sign is a further request to use your own gloves, pen and mask. This message is on each of the four panels of the sliding door.
As I approached the door I saw there was a chap from another windscreen company busy collecting his order. I waited; as he came out I asked if he was done. He said, ‘yes’. My way in was clear. It’s a small reception area about 3m by 3.5m. A small serving hatch to the office and and a handover counter where the products are placed for collection. Customers usually go in, sign for their goods and wait for them to be picked from the warehouse.
In the time it took for me to be handed my invoice; sign it, and turn towards the ‘jump’, two guys walked in to the reception area. One chap, from National Windscreens walked straight up to the hatch and the other, from AVG, stood there like a lamppost making the third point of a triangle. “So much for the ‘one customer at a time’ notice on the door eh, chaps?” The fitter from National Windscreens just stood there like with a blank look on his face, akin to an envelope with no address on it. The AVG guy, stood in front of the door, ready to return my serve, “There’s two metres between us. I can’t see what the problem is?”
Therein lies the issue. We are given an instruction in the form of a request yet the general public ignore it and find a reason – a way – to justify why it does not apply to them.
Mr AVG fitter must have seen the signs; you can’t miss them because you have to walk through them to get it. Besides, he knew what I was getting at as he responded directly to it. He didn’t double-take and pop his bottom lip out. He knew exactly what he was doing. The rules did not apply to his sanctimonious self. Brave a supermarket sweep and you’ll see the same attitude and behaviour. Even before the governement update on lockdown restrictions, people were already dusting off their picnic hampers in anticipation of the rules being relaxed.
Is it just us, here in England? Other countries seem to be more respectful of such advice.