Do you ever get the feeling that something in our society has changed? I must admit that although things were not brilliant before Covid, since it became less serious, many people’s attitudes seem to have hardened.
There appears to be a feeling that no one cares anymore, that we are a less caring society and far more aggressive than we used to be.
Perhaps it was a bad day but travelling up to Aberdeen via the X7 bus there were a group of what I can only describe as ‘yobs’ sitting in the back seat swearing, smoking and shouting obscenities much to the annoyance of other passengers. No one seemed to be concerned enough to do anything. I spoke to the bus driver who told me there was nothing he could do. It wasn’t his job to interfere.
Later, walking through one of our shopping centres I discovered four out of the six sinks in the men’s toilets were out of order. They had apparently been like that for several days.
When I went to check the bus times, the kiosk declared it was offline. I reported this to the information clerk who told me it was nothing to do with the Centre – that was the council’s responsibility. I did say to him “well I’m telling you in the hope it might be passed onto the council to rectify”. But I won’t hold my breath.
Being a Saturday, there was no bus station customer service staff on duty to provide a bus information service.
No one cares anymore about helping improve things for others
The final irritant was when I went to sit on the wooden seats to wait, but they were covered in bird-dirt from the members of the public who had been eating there and feeding the birds.
Although this is not allowed, none of the security staff challenged anyone.
You only have to look at the number of smokers at the bus station puffing away in an area which is covered with ‘no smoking’ signs.
It might just have been an unlucky day for me, but it seemed that no one wanted to take a pride in their work or accept responsibility to help improve anything.
This is replicated in areas of society. Since Covid, the number of people who volunteer has dropped considerably. Fewer people are willing to help out, making life difficult for charities delivering for the public.
Although we have always had abusive people around, the number of cases where abuse has been suffered by so many individuals has risen greatly.
So many frontline staff dealing with the members of the public are facing aggressive and abusive attacks. In the nursing profession where staff serve long 12-hour shifts in under-staffed wards and spend their time helping patients to get well, there are examples of patients verbally abusing and in some cases assaulting staff. Often verbal abuse comes from the families of the patients who criticise the system in our hospitals.
Teachers and nurses facing verbal and physical assaults
It’s thought that there are around 57 assaults on nurses every single day in the UK. In a recent study, it was revealed 61% did not report assaults or verbal abuse because they felt nothing would be done about it.
Receptionists at clinics come in for their share of insults and verbal spite because of the pressure on clinical appointments and the fact that patients are not always able to see a doctor of their choice. But we should remember those receptionists are simply trying to get you to the correct person to help and advise you. They are not being deliberately obstructive.
Thousands of nurses were attacked at work in the past year, including being kicked, punched and threatened with violence.@unisonscot's report on violence in the NHS exposes 18,300 recorded assaults on NHS staff over the last 12 months.https://t.co/l9VJ4a1xfJ
— Nursing Standard (@NurseStandard) November 4, 2022
In schools, teachers regularly face assaults both physical and verbal from unruly pupils.
They have no real sanctions against this and all that is done is the pupil faces suspension. The kind of pupils who are doing this quite enjoy being officially given permission not to attend school.
The public today are less patient than they used to be. Everyone seems to expect immediate responses.
Rule breakers spoil things for decent citizens
Part of this is down to social media where people can virtually say anything they like without penalty. In a cowardly fashion, they can write things they would never dare say to someone face-to-face.
Far too many think the rules are for others not for them.
There is a feeling of ‘entitlement’ amongst some people who feel they are a cut above others. There are so many difficult people too quick to complain but not willing to take responsibility to help improve things.
Regrettably, there seems to be little enforcement of the rules in any walk of life. Far too many think the rules are for others not for them.
They spoil things for the decent citizens who are only to willing to abide by the rules and support others who require it.
We should be thankful at least that these decent people are in the majority.
Len Ironside is a former champion wrestler who served as an Aberdeen councillor for 35 years, with four years as council leader
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