I just wanted to point out that now days, public bad behavior is often permanently documented on the internet. It turns out that a large number of Americans do not know how to properly park their cars. It also turns out that the old adage, "The customer is always right," is actually proven false many times each day. There are tons of idiots, jerks, egotists, and any other brands of people with poor or uncivil behavior out there. It also turns out that many of them are documented in the one place that it is impossible to completely remove data. So, next time you are in a hurry and consider parking in the middle of the path in a parking lot because it will only take a few seconds to return your Redbox movie (yes, I saw this happen last week and it took almost five minutes), reconsider.
If you want to have your faith in humanity destroyed, Not Always Right is a great website documenting some of most stupid and inconsiderate customers on the face of the planet. These are stories about customers who believe that because they are the customer, they must be right. One thing you might find is that many Americans think Canada is part of the U.S. and expect to be able to use U.S. money in Canada. You will probably also discover that a lot of Americans have a hard time recognizing when a problem was created by their own actions.
A great site for making you wonder about the effectiveness of U.S. drivers tests is Bad Parking. There are actually several web sites dedicated to this subject. Bad Parking collects photographic documentation of poorly parked cars. Most images show cars parked crossing the lines in parking lots, making it difficult for other cars to find a space. The occasional image shows a car parked entirely outside of the parking spaces, where they will interfere with traffic. Even more rarely, you may find a car parked in the middle of a public street. It also turns out that there are some Americans who do not realize that it is illegal to park in front of a driveway or other exit. While some sites are kind enough to blur license plates, this one does not. As such, some of its photos may qualify as evidence of traffic violations.
This is not all. There are plenty of other web sites documenting various uncivil or otherwise stupid activities perpetrated by people. YouTube has plenty of videos showing people doing really stupid things and often paying fairly severe consequences. Darwin Awards documents ways people manage to accidentally kill themselves or make themselves infertile by their own stupidity. There are plenty of websites dedicated to stupid things done during the commission of a crime. Thinking before acting or speaking is becoming more and more important, as it becomes ever easier to permanently document poor behavior.
The point with all of this is that doing stupid or uncivil things is exactly that: stupid and uncivil. Really, people should try to be intelligent and civil, even when no one is looking. Now, though, stupid or uncivil acts may result in long term embarrassment and even other harmful consequences. Many employers now search the names of job applicants online to make sure they have not done anything that might reflect poorly on their business. Even a photo from a drinking party can result in rejection for employment, regardless of qualification. Many people have discovered that putting videos or pictures of their bad behavior on Facebook can destroy many of the most desirable employment opportunities. The cost of bad behavior is quickly getting very high, because of how easy it is to document and share. Something like parking inappropriately could jeopardize even a really low end job, like food delivery, if some annoyed person happens to take a picture of your poor choice and post it on the internet. If you cannot even park properly, how can an employer trust you to drive safely? Even if the job does not involve driving, a person who does not conform to social conventions of civility cannot be trusted with any job where they might ever interact with other people.
Serious consequences aside though, and the entire point of this article, publicly documented poor behavior will definitely result in mocking and reputation loss. Even if they never meet you or figure out who you are, consider that every time you are rude to a cashier, park your car poorly, or otherwise behave poorly when other people are around, you could end up on a website where millions of people make fun of your stupidity every day for the rest of your life.
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