I was in the express checkout line in a local grocery store this evening, and I got stuck behind two people that were having some sort of problem at the cash register. I later found out that they were trying to buy a telephone calling card with a corporate credit card. The store employee was explaining that it was store policy to only accept cash or debit card payment for the calling cards. Credit cards were not accepted.
I have no idea why the store policy is constructed that way. But it was clear that’s what the policy was. The employee called the store manager to the front to help with the situation. One of the two people in front of me was a woman, and she had this exchange with the store manager:
Woman: I understand that’s the rule. Can’t you make an exception just this one time?
Manager: No, ma’am, we can’t. It’s store policy.
Woman: But it’s just this one time!
This exchange cemented in my mind the idea that while people generally seem to appreciate that rules are necessary, many people simply don’t think these rules should apply to them. Rules are for “average folk”, people who simply don’t know any better. But I’m me. Surely you can make an exception for me. I’m not some “average folk”.
The exchange also reminded me of the statistic that an overwhelming majority of Americans believe they are smarter than the average American. People seem to be able to appreciate abstractions, at least in some sense, but for whatever reason these abstractions oh so rarely apply to them.
Go figure.