Please. Thank you. Excuse me. Sorry.

Four basic “courtesy” words — or so I thought. Unfortunately, they seem to be escaping the English language.

It seems that the only people who tell me to “have a good day” are the Cy-Ride drivers (who are always extremely nice and friendly, even when you forget your money) and the cashiers at Cub Foods.

When I first came to Iowa State four years ago, I thought everyone was nice and polite. I couldn’t go anywhere without random people smiling at me on the way to class, random people always stopping to see if I was lost and random people who sat next to me in food service just to chat. Most of those people now are my friends.

In other words, I thought ISU was the most polite and friendliest place in the world.

Four years later, I think that I might be wrong. I think ISU is developing a bad attitude.

Case One: Last week I was sick. I had a sinus infection, cramps and a wisdom tooth that had been keeping me up nights. Not wanting to suffer anymore, I went to the dreaded Student Death (Health) at 4:45pm and asked to see a doctor.

“Are you sick?,” the woman behind the desk asked me.

I thought it was apparent I was.

“Why in the hell else would I want to see a doctor,” I asked myself.

And, as I began to fill out all of the half-sheets of paper, she proceeded to lecture me that I was messing up the doctor’s, the nurses’ and the pharmacist’s schedules.

“Everyone leaves here at five o’clock,” she said. “We have long days, and we like to leave at five.”

I was going to tell her that I had to work in Des Moines that day. I was going to tell her that when I got off of work I just wanted to lie down for a little while. But she didn’t give me a chance. She was too busy being rude.

I will say, though, the doctor, the other nurses and the pharmacist were more than nice and seemed to be a bit more concerned with my health than with quitting time.

Case Two: I was driving down Lincoln Way and no cars were in sight. Out of nowhere, someone comes screeching around me at 100 mph and cuts me off. I didn’t get upset until the person actually flipped me off, as if it were my fault that he couldn’t drive. Road rage on Lincoln Way.

Case Three: The checker at Wal-Mart. I’ve never seen someone so rude to customers before. Grabbing money out of a customer’s hand while muttering, “I just want to leave this damn place,” doesn’t exactly leave me with that Wal-Mart feeling.

Maybe I was just more sensitive to rudeness this last week — or maybe these people had some inner-child emotions to work through — and I was the object to take their aggressions out on.

Maybe I’m inconsiderate for being sick in the summer or maybe I wasn’t driving quite to par. Maybe the Wal-Mart cashier wants to be more.

But look around you. Is the person sitting next to you friendly at all? Was the secretary you spoke to at Beardshear curt? Are you lost and no one will help you? If so, I might be right in saying that the rudeness plague is taking over ISU.

---

Heather McClure is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Harlan.