Minnesota Nice

Let's face it, I am a conditioned "Minnesota nice" person.

Today at the post office there was a woman in front of me who had a very large box and was struggling to fill out a customs form.  She was the last in line and was using a counter to push her box along and fill out the paperwork at the same time.  I am going to name her "Ethel" for identification purposes.  I have no idea what her name really is, but she was a sweet old lady and that seems like a sweet old lady name.

I took my place in line behind Ethel. As the line moved along, Ethel would push her box along and continue filling out her form.  However, Ethel was not closing the gap fast enough as the line moved along.  I urged Ethel twice to close the gap between her and the person in front of her. At one point Ethel looked at me and said,"Have you ever mailed anything internationally?"  I politely told her that I hadn't.  She continued to struggle with her paperwork as the line kept advancing. 

In walks a very large, very intimidating woman who breezes past me and Ethel and gets in line between the gap in front of Ethel.  I finally say (loudly) you need to move up, there's people cutting in front of you.

Now, the large woman who got in line in front of us clearly heard me.  She turned around and glared at me and gave me a look like she dared me to say anything.  I chose to ignore the situation because we were moving along fairly quickly.  The kicker is that the woman who butted in line got to the counter and was not prepared with the proper paperwork so we all had to sit and wait while she filled out her certified mail/return receipt paperwork.

The definition of "Minnesota nice," from Wikipedia is: the stereotypical behavior of people born and raised in Minnesota to be courteous, reserved, and mild-mannered. The cultural characteristics of Minnesota nice include a polite friendliness, an aversion to confrontation, a tendency toward understatement, a disinclination to make a fuss or stand out, emotional restraint, and self-deprecation.

I could have told the large woman that cut in line in front of Ethel and me that she was cutting in line and that she should take her place behind me.  However, I do believe that she knew and didn't give two bits about it.  I did not want to have a confrontation at the post office over line butting.  Instead, I steamed all the way home and wrote about it in my blog.  See, being Minnesota nice also means you're passive-aggressive.  That's about as passive-aggressive as it gets.

I wonder, if a year from now, I would have said to the lady, "Hey Y'all, Y'aunt git back to the end of the line?  Ethel here is fixin' to be next."  (Or something like that..)

:)