Monday, March 25, 2013

The Height of Rudeness

The older we get, the less patience we have with young people, the more appalled we are with their behavior.  You see a kid, as I did tonight, with an earring like a big button which fits IN the hole in his ear, much like a Ubangi warrior would stretch his lips out to unnatural size (I learned this from Bozo the Clown records when I was a kid!) and a bunch of piercings all over his face and you think "that kid will never be a bank president."
But I am here to tell ya that stereotypes are never a good thing and that bad behavior is not limited to those of the younger set.

This afternoon we went to San Francisco for a Lamplighters production of The Sorcerer.  It's not my favorite Gilbert & Sullivan by a long shot, but we always go to the Lamplighters anyway and this was a fun production.  It was held at the Herbst Theater, next door neighbor to San Francisco's opera house, and a lovely little city-owned ~1000 seat theater.

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But I was shocked at the behavior of some of the white haired patrons in the theater.  First there was the woman who took her phone out right as the lights went down, in spite of all the cautions against photographing or recording the production and proceeded to take a number of photos.

Then there were the two very large white-haired gentlemen who entered the balcony on the far side after the lights went down and the show had started and stumbled their way across the whole balcony, talking in a normal tone of voice all the way, blocked everyone's view while they climbed over the row to get to their seats and then proceeded to get a very bright flashlight out so they could read their program.

But the topper was this guy who, at the intermission, pulled a big shiny apple out of a paper bag and sat there eating it, sharing it with his wife, despite all the signs saying no food allowed in the theater.  No wonder kids don't know how to behave in public any more!

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When we left the theater we drove over to Fisherman's Wharf to redeem our long-awaited Groupon for Capurro's restaurant.  This was to the restaurant we were going to go to the last time we went to a Lamplighters show and got stuck in the parking garage for two hours.

It was worth the wait!

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Yes, even more crab.   This was roasted in wine and delicious.  I may have reached my crab saturation for this season, though!

Now to try to figure out what to make for dinner for Cousins Day tomorrow.  Peach has decided she needs a day off from Bob-care, and her son will be taking her place with his father. We will spend 2 days with my mother and I am trying to figure out a dinner that (a) will leave no leftovers (she gets angry if a crumb of leftovers is left), and (b) will take a minimum of pots and pans to prepare so that she has little clean up afterwards, since she refuses to let anybody load so much as a plate into her dishwasher, but moans as she cleans up because her back hurts so much.

Cousins Day used to be easier...

3 comments:

jon said...

Rudeness is now acceptable.
We are now victims of the "ME" generation.

Mary Z said...

It is a shame, isn't it - and it really does dampen our enthusiasm for going places. I must say, though, that we have been to a couple of symphony performances where a woman brought her two elementary-school-aged children - and they were wonderful behaved and attentive. So I guess there are still some folks out there who have manners.

phonelady said...

well it does amaze me the way people act nowadays and it seems like manners have just flown out the window . You should see how they act at church . I was always taught that church was the one place you never and I mean never acted up. But there are some people out there that do have manners and teach their children to also have manners.