Image used is mine
I used to feel that when you see something that's right or wrong, you'll immediately know it. Why?
It's because we all have our personal moral compass where we judge and review things based on the information available to us and our past experiences.
I hear people talk about white, black and then the grey area where something is neither here nor there. I never thought I'd see something that I couldn't easily agree on whether it was the right decision or not.
I was at the bank to fix some issues regrading my account. It was a Friday morning and I was expecting to get in and out as soon as possible.
Unfortunately it seemed many others were thinking along the same lines so the customer service for resolving problems had quite a queue waiting.
I got a seat and was soon lost online chatting with a few friends. I heard the word next and I looked up just in time to see an old man who hadn't been anywhere around when I arrived take the seat.
From the confused look of the guy who was supposed to go next and his half standing posture, I gathered he was just as surprised by what had happened.
I go to the bank quite a lot and many times I've seen people give the elderly the chance to go next even though they were just coming in.
At times though they would plead with those on the queue to allow them go next.
The thing is about 99% of the time, most people wouldn't mind giving up their turn for older people sometimes even before they ask.
I think the problem was that this particular old man didn't acknowledge anyone but instead proceeded to seat as if he had all the right in the world.
I could easily see the struggle on the face of the guy who was supposed to go next, whether he should get angry or just be polite and let it go.
The customer care representative obviously didn't make an issue of it since the guy wasn't complaining.
For awhile I was torn between what the right course of action should've been. The guy had all the right in the world to disagree and instead go next because even though here was an old man, he wasn't a polite one.
But on the other hand it was conflicting with my moral upbringing on respecting the elderly because they deserved it.
I'm sure the guy wouldn't have minded if the old man had simply asked to take the next turn, it was simply the fact that there was no acknowledgement of the people waiting their turn.
In a way I was actually glad I wasn't the one in that spot because I'm still not sure what the right decision should've been.
My moral compass is actually justifying the reasoning of both sides.