Does Capitalism make it all civil?

Why do I have the feeling that so much of our interactions are disingenuous? I was at the post office today, and some student was so emphatic about thanking the male clerk for his help that it made me think about the societal rules that govern our interpersonal interactions. “Thank you, so much! Thank you, so much! Thank you, soooo much! Thank you, so so much!” I guess the latter would be a double-negative, the “so, so” part and it would just be as efficient to say “so much” instead. Anyway, where the fuck was I? I had just gotten there and looked at his reaction and looked over at her and thought: there was a major disconnect, between his services versus her enthusiasm. For Christ sakes, it was just a roll of stamps! Whatever! He didn’t bother to look up as she left. I thought that she was one of those pain in the ass customers, with their innumerable questions, their picky piquant demands interrupting another customer because she wants special treatment. I have no way of knowing. He was the sole clerk amid a line, ten deep. He looked miserable. Was she trying to cheer him up? Was she really thankful? She reminded me of one of those customers who always seems to be in front of you at the supermarket.

Remember the time you were running late to your relative’s house and you stopped by Ralphs on Sunset, for some Aunt Jemima syrup, some Kaiser brown foil and a pair of blunt scissors? And some old biddy, her hands shaking from Parkinson’s and knuckles bent from arthritis, was in front of you, slowly counting her change, finding more coupons, getting her shit double bagged and arguing with the cashier over the price of cat food? You were the one, behind her, tapping your foot, arms folded; face red, exhaling and sighing wondering when you’re next?

The clerk at the post office was definitely over worked and he hated his job—at least today he did. But my feeling from the customer’s inflection was this fake, disingenuous “thank you.” It said, as I am an expert interpreter of bitch language (mostly from my failed relationships) that: “I am a bitch and I know it but thank you for putting up with it, you lowly postal clerk...” Maybe I am off on my assessments but I pride myself on being a keen observer of the human condition and though I may go too far in my enthusiasm for humans who do show bright spots of generosity in between the dark episodes of maiming and raping each other, I think: Hey, I’m right on about my observation at the post office today. Look: Even Hitler was good to his wife, right? I often hear this “thank you, so much” epitaph as part of the lexicon of Los Angeleno’s dialect that I have developed my radar for this crapola.

It hails from the under paid actress cum waitress who survives on tips from the well-to-do women who seem to have it all; it comes from the crowd of yuppie pilate mom’s of Beverly Hills who just gave the valet a two dollar tip; I hear it from office workers who tell UPS-- who fucked up a delivery. Are all these banalities necessary to make our lives better? For our society to operate just above inch worms, do we really need to utter these provincial proverbial provocations? These “thank you” formalities are sound bites, filler for the undercurrent of dislike and keep us in control of our feelings so that we remain civil. We use it to convince ourselves that this interaction matters. Politeness is reinforced and for us to keep up the social interaction; our give and take constructs alive and operating so that our society remains kind. But we’re not. It is in these situations, of commerce, of dollar transactions for goods and services; we have learned to keep things civil to keep the machine going. What about the other situations?

You can see it when people ignore each other, pretend that the other is invisible when walking down a hall way or at a meeting. The uppity professor, the unfriendly co-worker. The person we “don’t know.” If the President was walking down the East Wing, and some lowly handler for Senator So and So was standing there, do you think he would ignore the President? How about the neighbor who’s barking dog is heard every night, across the street? When you approach her and tell her about it, she counters and says, “he barks a little.” You feel that your rights and comfort are secondary to a dog’s! In fact, we spend billions on dogs each year while there’s a homeless dude you walked by in Westwood last weekend, who eats worse than your neighbor’s dog. People don’t take responsibility for these interpersonal interactions because there’s no monetary association. How about the person who takes the last cookie from the corporate kitchen and does not take a quick moment to throw away the doily or put the dish in the sink? Humans are steaming turds on the sidewalk of life! This is the world we live in. If we want to build successful social constructs or ways of being nice to each other we should put a monetary value on them. Then, perhaps, the world might be more civil.

Humans find loop holes and when chance happens, they operate in their true form and these behaviors have consequences. People are wishy-washy unless there’s money associated in the transaction. Then, they’re charming and nice. I rather have those then assholes. We can monetize each behavior, make it some sort of economic interaction and reward others for being nice to each other. Like a Good Samaritan who prevents a robbery from happening or reward the person who takes the last cookie by giving her a little Peet’s coffee card. If we make each transaction, like in the post office, between customer and clerk, a real economic one, rather than the failed social ones we currently have, then we could possibly make this world more civil. Would that be disingenuous? Does Capitalism make it all civil?