Are you patient and polite with slower people?

Yes, but I do get very impatient and complain in my head.

yes…......I….........am.

I try my best to be.

Definitely. People often point out that my patience is one of my best qualities.

Yes, if I know that it is a real problem and it’s not put on, then yes, so patient that even my own patience wonders!

You have no idea!

Yes, I am, if by patient you mean kind. However, there is a point where I give up and look for the nearest exit. So not patient as in “able to wait” but patient as in “without becoming annoyed.” However, if the exit is not forthcoming, I will try with a smile on my face until such a time that it is.

I’m good at being patient with other people. Which is helpful because I’m a teacher.
I’m bad at being patient with myself, and with inanimate objects!

It isn’t always easy, but as an Audiologist, I have learned to be more patient. One of my earlier jobs was in a children’s hospital, so we out of our patients were cognitively or physically challenged in some way. My son was very young at the time, so working with kids that had it so hard also helped me appreciate that my boy was “normal” enough to drive me batty – thus, I learned to be more patient with his energy and inquisitiveness. When he did start to have emotional challenges over the loss of his father and other things in our lives, I was also better able to not take it personally and become upset, but to remain calm and help him get the help he needed. Not that our challenges are over though… sigh

Now I work with mostly elderly people, around whom I never was comfortable when I was a young adult. But I now see them as people who have been through much, we’re once very able, and have to concede to the loss of their abilities. I see how different attitudes toward the aging process have such an impact on how well they succeed with treatment, and more generally on whether they are depressed or happy. This is helping me face the changes that have already started as I am now 46, and have just started testing for possible rheumatoid arthritis.

I have one patient who is about ten years older than I am and she has significant physical challenges that she’s dealt with most, if not all, of her life. I do see other patients get uneasy when she struggles to stand up with her two canes. Many offer to help, but she refuses politely—she knows that she needs to do in in order to retain that ability. And I think that this is what makes us most uncomfortable – should we say something to offer help or encouragement, or do we just let them go about doing what they need to do and not calling attention to their difficulties? I have observed some challenged people who get snippy when offered help, and that certainly makes us less inclined to offer help to others in the future.

I do have to admit that the condition that I have least patience with is stuttering. My bachelor’s degree is in Speech Therapy, so I understand a lot about it; but I feel so strongly compelled to finish their words or sentences for them, and so I do that internal squirming and try to bit my tongue – but I am not always successful.

Yes, but I try not to be condescending.

I taught inner city 3rd and 4th graders for years and found thhat being patient and keeping a calm demeanor about things helps greatly and I never had to resort to raising my voice or yelling as I’ve seem some do.

And if kids are purposely trying to get your goat, resorting to impatience or yelling let’s them know that they’re succeeding and just makes everything worse.

I’ve also developed a phrase which I find handy to ease that inner squirming we have when confronted with anyone dealing with unique physical challenges for any reason. I just casually say “Just let me know if I there’s anything I can do to help” and then go back to…whatever (conversation of activity).

This doesn’t put them on the spot since it doesn’t really require an answer or refusal from them. And it let’s them know I’m willing to lend a hand if necessary.

This works equally well for strangers as well as people I know. Any of the disabled people I’ve known in my life prefer to be as independent as possible and find it kind of tiresome to constantly have to fend off well meaning but kind of clueless people who automatically assume that they need help all the time.

Anyone who has had any kind of disability for enough time to get used to it has developed their own unique coping style and methodology for everyday living. They’re perfectly capable of opening their mouth and asking for assistance if absolutely necessary and are rarely shy about it.

No, and it really bothers me. I know fully well that I should be, but I find that I get impatient very quickly.

Recently, I was at a parking garage that required you to buy a permit from a machine. There was an old woman trying to buy one. It clearly said NO CASH, CREDIT CARDS ONLY in huge letters. She was trying to shove a dollar bill in (facing the wrong way) and complained to me the machine wasn’t working. She wasn’t even following the step-by-step instructions, just pressing random buttons and trying to shove her money in. It took everything in me to help her with it rather than roll my eyes and find another kiosk.

I like to think that I am particularly sensitive to people who have obvious disabilities, especially children. I tend to help random strangers quite a bit too, who are simply a bit lost. Who I don’t have that much patience for are those who should clearly know better, like the teenager who is just yapping loudly on their cell phone, holding up the line, or the drunk guy who is making a spectacle of himself and doesn’t get out of the way. I can be even harder on those I know well. So, the random stranger I help would absolutely not recognise the woman who chews out her kid for not putting his cereal bowl in the sink.

@cazzie: Lots of people have invisible disabilities too.

@bookish1 ummm…..?? when I say ‘obvious’ I mean ‘obvious to me’. I know what autism looks like, up close and personal. I know what that ‘looks’ like. I don’t mean visually, but behaviour-wise. Take off your flame, darling.

I yearn for the fast forward button, much like with the shit movie.

Where’s the point on being unfair to them… they wouldn’t understand your ranting anyway!

@cazzie: I wasn’t flaming. I meant that some people have disabilities which will not be obvious to you. You can’t always visually or behaviorally ‘read’ a person as disabled.

I’m a very patient person. I’m often the one at work who will put up with the non-stop talker, because I know she needs to talk like that, she’s not trying to be a bitch or a bore. So I let her talk and nod and agree and occasionally ask a question.

I’m the one at the grocery store who will walk up to elderly people who look like they might need some assistance lifting a bag of flour or putting their groceries in their cart. I like to engage older folks in pleasant conversation, because they seem to enjoy conversing unlike a lot of younger people who seem to resent it.

I’m the person at the store/zoo/airport or anywhere I’m familiar with, who will see some poor person looking lost, or like they’ve lost someone else. I’ll go over and say, “You look like you might be lost, can I help you find the ticketbooth/exit/tram?” or “Were you looking for your wife? Maybe I can check the restroom to see if she’s still in there.”

I’m the one that will rub a dog or cat’s tummy endlessly, even though the owners sometimes say, “You don’t have to keep doing that, he’s spoiled and needs a bath.” That’s OK, I just want to make the animal feel nice and I don’t care how stinky they are.

I don’t have any patience for men who appear to be creepy, from an intuition stand point. Even if they are creepy because of a disability that I am unaware of. It has become apparent to me over the years, that anyone who seems creepy, will push for more attention if you give them just a little. I’ve had men follow me, try to grab me, even scream at me, simply because I said, “How are you?” in the grocery store line and then didn’t agree to go on a date with them.

I have no patience for children pitching fits. I use the lessons of Jo Frost, the Supernanny when this happens, when it’s just me and the kid. Her methods are quite effective and humane. A lot of parents simply let their kids scream and don’t remove them from public places, or they give them a “treat” to get them to stop, hence creating a bigger monster. The kid learns that if he just screams, he’ll get whatever he wants.

Depends on the situation. It seems like SOME people are totally necessarily slow. Like those who don’t get their money out for a purchase until it’s all been rung up. And then you have to wait an hour for them to carefully put their money back in a certain place in their billfold, zip the billfold up, put the billfold in a certain place in their purse, zip their purse up. At that point they’ve forgotten what they were there for, and the clerk has to hand them their coke or candy bar, or whatever. I’m more patient with older people, but younger people who take all damn day when there is a line behind them drive me nuts.

I give the guy my money, get my change, pick up my little sack and go, either putting the money away as I walk or I’ll hold on to it until I get out to the car.

Usually I am as I feel the world might be a better place if we all moved at that speed. It’s the glib and super efficient that are always half way to somewhere else that get on my nerves.

@flutherother I love your answer. I feel the same. =)