OPINION: Deadly sins of the rude Christmas shoppers

THEY call it the silly season, but after witnessing bad behaviours at shopping centres recently, I think it should be renamed ‘the rude season’.

THEY call it the silly season, but after witnessing bad behaviours at shopping centres recently, I think it should be renamed 'the rude season'.

I get that everyone is trying to get their Christmas shopping done, but there are handful of shoppers that frustrate others with their bad manners.

There are people who step aside to make way for those pushing prams or wheelchairs, only to have someone else barge past them thinking that the little gap that has been made is an open invitation to overtake the people in front of them.

There are those pushing trolleys that try to push their way through a crowd that forget to say 'thanks' to those that have been polite and made room.

There are the groups of people - five or six at a time - that stop suddenly in the middle of a walkway/aisle and block the way for other shoppers.

Shoppers who do the grocery shopping with four other people in tow and two shopping trolleys, only to stand in front of one section of the meat department for 15 minutes trying to decide what to buy. Never mind the five other people hanging around  behind them waiting to pick up the meat they want to buy.

These are just a few of the examples of 'bad manners' I have witness in recent times in regional Queensland shopping centres.

And yes, I am pointing my finger at regional shopping centres. I lived and worked in Melbourne over Christmas time in the past and never found the level of bad manners to be as high as what I've witnessed in regional centres.

Have you witnessed rude behaviour by Christmas shoppers? What was your experience?

Originally published as OPINION: Deadly sins of the rude Christmas shoppers