It's Not Easy Being Mean

A German friend sent me an e-mail the other day asking me if I’d gotten used to the “German Unfriendliness” yet:

Wow, you Americans are always so
nice! We Germans do not fuss about being very nice when we want to bring
across a message, we just say it and that's the way it is. Besides, we
like to be a bit nasty sometimes (or at least, me and my friends do like
to)... which is meant to be funny.

I guess I’m generally a pretty nice person (too nice, I’ve even been told a few times), so today while I was in the grocery store, I thought to myself, “you know, this could really be a good opportunity for you to practice being meaner.”
The word “mean” makes me think of throwing rocks and poking old ladies, and I didn’t really feel up to that just yet. I know you will laugh, but I started small. Ahem.

So, there I was waiting in line with my groceries when it came time to put them on the belt. There was a big line of people behind me, and normally when that happens, I try and go really fast, but this time I just took my time: one-handed, one item at a time. Oh, but that’s not all. Normally once I’ve put my groceries on the belt I get one of those plastic divider things put it behind my groceries so that the person behind me can put her stuff on the belt too. This time though, I didn’t. There were plenty of divider things, all in a row up near the cashier, but I just ignored them. I even tried to stand in the way a little so she wouldn’t be tempted to reach past me. I know, it sounds really dumb, but I had to jam my hands into my pockets and concentrate on *not* getting a divider. Every part of my being wanted to reach up and get one of those stupid plastic things. It was a very stressful three-and-a-half minutes.

Don’t give up on me. I’m going to keep at it.