This Is The Right Time To Skip Politeness

When I am in high school, I take the public bus to school every morning as it is about a ten- or fifteen-minute ride in a straight line, and it stops very near the school.

One day, I’ve left home and am walking to the bus stop as usual when I notice two shady-looking guys my own age walking behind me, looking a little suspect. 

Realizing their intent, I walk the rest of the way to the stop as fast as I can. Fortunately, a bus has just pulled up, and a queue of people is waiting to board. Seizing my chance, I jump in front of the queue and into the safety of the bus, leaving my would-be muggers disappointed.

This, however, sparks the ire of the people in line, many of whom are elderly. They start loudly complaining about young people cutting lines and how I have no respect — all the usual stuff. Being mature for my age, and having recovered from the stressful situation, I turn to them and politely explain.

Me: “I’m very sorry for cutting the line, but those two guys over there were following me and were going to mug me.”

I pointed at the two guys as I said this, and the message got relayed down the line. Cue an instant change in demeanour from everyone waiting to board, as they went from berating me to wanting to know if I was okay and telling me I had made the right decision cutting in front of all of them!