sometimes you should stop talking and listen...

i got into an argument today with a guy who was rather rude to me. what happened was, a girl about 8 (lets call her mary) was swimming in a pool. while mary was swimming, 2 boys were racing in the lane and they swam past her, pretty much getting her caught between them

mary's father was standing right beside me, and when it happened, he yelled out to me "OI! DID YOU SEE WHAT?! WHY AREN'T YOU DOING ANYTHING?! OI! HEY! OI!!!!" so i looked at him and almost rolled my eyes, then i spoke back to him saying "why are you telling me off? i saw what they did, and i'm going to tell them not to do it again. there is no need to be so rude to me - i wasn't the one who did wrong"

and mary's dad got utterly pissed off at me and started going off at me saying "THESE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN HERE FOR OVER 20 MINUTES AND YOU JUST LET THEM SWIM UP AND DOWN IN THE WRONG DIRECTION. WHEN I TELL THEM OFF, THEY DON'T LISTEN!"

at that point, i walked off, told the kids off to swim properly then went back to the spot i was standing at and thought to myself - wtf did i do?! why did i let him yell at me like that? he has no reason to be so rude to me.

so i went to call for me senior, who was in charge at that time. i told him exactly what happened and and he was fuming - he's the kind of guy who doesnt like people who treat girls badly. anyway, he approached mary's dad and asked if everything was ok, and guess what? mary's dad started to go off at him and he was SO rude too! at that point, they were both arguing rather loudly and most swimmers have stopped to see what's going on.

mary's dad kept saying that i told him "why are you telling me to tell the kids off?" when i clearly said "why are you telling me off?". guess that's what happens when you dont listen and just try to get our message through.

10 minutes later, mary's dad apologized to me and to my senior for behaving badly..hmm...

anyway, after that was sorted, my senior pulled me to the side and asked me if i knew why that guy was being so rude to me - apparently, it was because of culture barrier and selfishness. culture barrier because...in his culture, they have no respect for women (i wont say where he's from) and he didnt like it when i answered him back for telling me off so rudely. and as for selfishness, he wanted everything to work around his daughter mary.

for example, it was ok for mary to dive, but not for other people. hmm..go figure.

oh well, at least he apologised at the end. what a waste of time though. funny thing was, a lady swimmer came up to me later and said "gosh is he stupid or what?!" hahahaha

so, the moral of the story is, you need to listen what other people is trying to tell you as well - dont just try to get your point across and ignore everything else. and another thing is, have respect for everyone, regardless if they're male or female.