Some great stories in this thread. Kudos to all the Better Men we have here.
I have a few good stories too, but for every story I have about doing the right thing and it having a positive result, I have 10 more about doing the right thing and being scammed for it. More and more as the city grows and more people arrive, the ignorance factor of society seems to rise.
Like Mr.Coffee says, in a small town everybody knows eachother, so good things go around because people have reputations and can't hide in the crowd whereas in the big city, you're more than likely never going to see the person you've wronged agian, so who cares, right? If people know who you are, or you believe that you can somehow be held accountable, you're less inclined to be a jerk.
That's the problem with anonymity; no fear of repercussion for your actions or inactions. Just look at the internet.
A *perfect* example of this happened to me just the other day. I was driving home from class and in my rearview I see some guy in a red pick-up weaving in and out of traffic, cutting people off and just driving like an ass. As he's driving by me, I notice he has a For Sale sign in his back window with his cell number on it so I make a mental note of it and watch him continue to weave and cut across multiple lanes of traffic. I decide to call him up.
"Hello?"
"Hi, you have the red Chevy pick-up for sale?"
"Yup."
"Great. Stop driving like such an *******. The last thing anybody needs is you causing an accident."
Then I hung up on him and watched with smug amusement as the rest of the way down Glenmore, he drove normally knowing that he could be recognized and held accountable for behaving like a dick.
I don't entirely blame the growth of the city for peoples attitudes, because mainly it's up to people to choose whether they want to be a jerk or not, but it doesn't help.
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