Have you ever been out in public and seen someone treated a service person (waiter/waitress, check out clerk, etc) rudely for no apparent reason?

It's an uncomfortable thing to see.

What I have found is that some people have linked up complaining with being a tough and strong person.

On a recent three day Labor Day weekend, I visited the video rental store early on a Sunday evening. There were only a few people in the store, two of which was a middle aged couple complaining loudly and vulgarly about how there was nothing to rent.

My thought was that it's the middle of a three day weekend, of course there will not be copies of a just released movie.

The language got so bad that if I would have had my kids with me I would of had to have said something.

While I was checking out, I warned the clerk, who I knew, about what might be coming. This couple storms by, complaining loudly and yelling at the clerk, as they went out the door. The clerk put it in perfect perspective when he said:

"It's not like we don't have the prescription they need."

My thought was that these two people had to go home and live with each other.

Is gratitude weakness?

There are those, perhaps including this couple, who see this kind of behavior as some show of strength. I see it as a show of weakness at worst and at best, a show of a total loss of perspective.

I believe that politeness and gratitude are a sign of a strong character. Gratitude is a demonstration of a strong sense of perspective.