Step away from the microwave, Ma’am!

When rules are there to be followed

Driving one evening from Vienna to Linz, I realized that I would not find any supermarket open by the time I got home, so I decided to grab a quick sandwich from a gas station. Good food for good value, right? I took a cold sandwich and asked the lady at the counter to warm it up for me.

 Shock. Wonder. 

A cold sandwich – from the cold foods section – cannot be warmed up. It is from the cold foods section, meaning that you are supposed to eat it cold. If you warm it up, the consistency of the ham would change, because it is not a ham that you are supposed to warm up. It is just the order of the world – sandwiches from the cold foods section are to be eaten cold. It is the way things should be, and any deviation from the rule would cause chaos!

You can imagine that this extremely trivial occurrence got me thinking – when are rules to be followed, and when are they to be broken? Can you assume that some rules are more important than others? That some rules must be followed, and others can be bent? And if so, who decides which rule is more important?

Every society follows rules, but not every rule is followed by society.

Having lived for the past years in a highly flexible society when it comes to rules, I have developed a very permissive attitude towards rules, more like: I know about the rules, but I only apply them when I need them. Comfy…but wrong. 

After having seen the other side of the coin, I started thinking: you cannot expect a society to follow some ‘important’ rules whilst ignoring the rest. They either respect the concept of rules, or not. That is why in some countries the system works, and in others it is just a big mess. It is not about deciding which rules are more important, it is about respecting the concept of a rule – if you respect the concept, you will apply it in everyday life and act accordingly. Traffic will be civilized, terms will be respected, work will be valued, people will not cut in lines and cold sandwiches will be eaten cold. But it is just a small price to pay, compared to all the benefits which arise for society.

If we want to be respected, we have to start respecting first. If we want to live organized, we have to start following the ‘little’ rules first.

It all starts with a cold sandwich…