Try not to be a jerk this holiday
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| Thu, 12-18-2003 - 10:24am |
Try not to be a jerk this holiday
Study finds that many lack civility when they travel
Thursday, December 18, 2003
By MURIEL DOBBIN
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
Flying home for Christmas? Go through security. Find your seat.
But think twice about reclining your seat so your head is in the lap of the passenger behind you.
Mayhem may result.
According to a new study by Public Agenda, a non-partisan survey group, 65 percent of passengers complain that rudeness is a "major cause" of stress during travel, while 54 percent of travel employees grumble about passengers. The survey underscored findings of a 2002 report that a rising number of Americans were concerned about incivility in public life, and noted increasing unhappiness about rude children uncontrolled by their parents.
Using a survey of 1,000 passengers conducted by Travelocity, Public Agenda came up with a discouraging view of how people behave on the road.
It included a report by Rick Musica, the vice chairman of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, who reported on worsening behavior by passengers. He suggested that problems were caused in part by people having to stand in line for a longer time than they used to before security became a major concern.
He recounted one man who reclined his seat to the annoyance of the passenger behind him, whose reaction was to open his newspaper and repeatedly hit the man in front in the head.
According to the flight attendant, the passenger in front finally said, "If you do that again, I'm going to come back there and beat the crap out of you."
"My jaw dropped," recalled Musica. He explained to both passengers, "This is not going to take place. We are not going to put up with this. If it continues, we'll be on the ground in 20 minutes and you'll have to deal with the situation."
Musica added, "As the holiday season approaches and people come to the airport, they have to come with the right frame of mind and realize things are never going to go back to the way they once were."
Ruth Wooden, president of Public Agenda, emphasized the increasing problem of incivility, recalling a 2002 study, in which it was found that 79 percent of Americans reported that lack of respect and courtesy in daily life had become a serious problem.
"Passengers expect and generally receive courteous treatment," said Wooden. "But when treated badly, they are likely to respond by being rude themselves."
She added, "It is clear that rudeness is contagious."
According to the survey of travelers and travel-industry workers, 49 percent of workers reported a situation where "disrespectful behavior threatened to escalate into physical confrontation." Another 19 percent recalled a situation that had in fact become physical.
Of travel personnel interviewed, 62 percent reported seeing their fellow workers being rude, and 50 percent admitted being impolite to passengers themselves. Of that group, 56 percent said it was a result of provocation by passengers.
On the other hand, while most passengers gave travel personnel high marks for courtesy, 67 percent asserted that they were rude in response to a run-in with travel staff.
The survey showed that 61 percent of passenger rudeness was the result of lost luggage, 53 percent arose from reservations problems, 36 percent stemmed from long waiting lines and 46 percent came from "other rude passengers."
More than 60 percent of passengers and 72 percent of travel workers said that problems of incivility were exacerbated by the failure of parents to "teach respect to their kids."
"Parents may not want to hear this," the report observed, "but topping passengers' list of rude behavior are uncontrolled children, followed by swearing, loudness and littering."
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>"uncontrolled children"< & there thoughtless, complacently
Out-of-control kids (and lax parents), whether on a plane, bus or in my home, is one of my pet peeves.