Editor,

I work at a store on South Whidbey. Most people here are nice and pleasant to work with. Of course things do happen when you work with people in retail. Anyone who has ever worked serving or waiting on people know that.

Today I waited on a man who is a regular and has always been nice. He referred to me by the old title my job had many years ago. It is not very flattering. My coworker and I explained that the title is different now. Before we finished, he broke in and exclaimed, “I can say anything I want to. Things have changed and I can say anything I want to now.”

He was smiling and was obviously very pleased with his newfound assumed power.

I was dumbstruck.

It is not OK to say anything we want to. In the first place, I would have felt bad about myself had I said what I really wanted to say back to him. In the second place, I could have gotten fired if I had followed through.

Our community is a microcosm of what is happening in our split, angry country. In all of my years of presidential elections, I have never seen or felt anything like this.

My friends of Whidbey, do not do this. It is beneath us as people. We have a beautiful and unique community here. Remember who we are.

Did you get tired of political politeness? It can be tricky sometimes. Perhaps you got tired of not knowing what is appropriate. But…do you need to be rude?

I have heard a lot of ugliness lately and so have you. People are yelling at each other in the store about politics. Don’t get me wrong because I, too, have very strong feelings about what is happening in America.

This is not going to be easy, but we need to be grown-ups. Please, go out and get your nice back on. My parents taught me to be polite and not hurt others. I’ll bet yours did too.

Pat Winkler

Langley