Sri Lankan (Lack of) Etiquette – No Excusing

Everyone is in a hurry, we understand. What we do not understand is why people cannot say excuse me as they do rugby moves on the road and why they cannot stop pushing! There are two sets of offenders if you ask me – the one who does not say excuse me and the one who does not know what excuse me means. Let’s take a few scenarios and understand what is going on – stay tuned to know whether you are an offender yourself. The good news is that we will show you within this blog itself how you can reform yourself if so.

01. The Deaf Ones

These people walk in the middle of the path or block the entrance (both of which they should not be doing) and on top of it all, they are stone deaf. How do I know this? I am regularly an innocent victim of circumstances; I run in to people who drive cars in the middle of the road, shoppers who use up the whole aisle, guests who block the entrance at restaurants and the like. I have a clear voice which reaches fairly high octaves and I enunciate ‘Excuse Me’, but soon have to grind my teeth as no one pays heed.

Let’s be honest here; it is not that all these people are deaf, their minds are not tuned to pay attention. They have no clue that they are the offenders and that they should not be doing what they are doing, nor do they know what is going on around them.

Here is how to fix it – Be conscious of your surroundings, look around you, are you blocking someone? If no one is around, think whether your action could block someone who comes by in a minute. Keep one ear open to the world around you at all times (while the other is hooked to your phone) and respond to the movements, sounds and voices around you.

02. The Pushy Ones

Here are the people who are not like me; don’t bother to say excuse me to those who block pathways and simply push their way through. Actually, it does not matter to these people whether the other man has every right to the territory he is in or not. They have taken a solemn oath (probably at a rugby ground where tackles and run downs are permitted) to push, elbow, shove or just blindly walk through and let other people suffer in pain.

Here is the fix – Programme yourself to say Excuse Me, observe the space and step aside if you have to, give way to someone else, make a kind request to move and proceed with a smile. Learn to share Mother Earth!

03. Wait! Do you mean I should have said ‘Excuse Me’?

You find these people who do not KNOW to say ‘Excuse Me’ everywhere. Here are some common places:

a. When two people are talking and there is limited space around them – sometimes it looks like this town ain’t big enough for all of us, but that is when “Excuse Me’ should be your weapon to get you past.

b. When someone is busily trying to choose an item from a supermarket rack – Obviously, they are concentrating and trying to compare prices, product details and the like or are scanning for a particular item they need. It does not help to have someone walk through that, but at least be polite about it. – say Excuse Me!

c. When there are people in front of you in the bus/ train/ lift and you need to get off – It is not a good idea to put everyone’s life at risk by pushing them off the bus, just so that you can get out.

Here is a rule of thumb – Do you think you are interrupting someone through your actions or words? If so, you should probably be saying Excuse Me. If you create any inconvenience as a result, an apology is also needed.