But can you give the receptionist the benefit of the doubt or is she always like that? If it's a one-off, you have enough EQ to forgive yeah? (masterchef is on soon!).

I don't think you have a massive ego, maybe you think more negatively instead of positively?
I also think that you might be right about people forgetting manners, but that's been a long term complaint through the ages. Yep, the world seems to want everything now, but recent (and not so recent) events have shown its not the path to happiness. Lots of people took on too much credit and stuff-wise - but poor fool them. Poor fool them indeed, I don't think ha ha ha (I'm sure you don't either) to those suffering under the weight of their wants, I just feel sad they were led to believe (OR were greedy enough) to think it was ever going to work. Now you are married to a banker so you understand all that and reject it for your reasons, as I have rejected it for my own. But I'm sure you and me both do other stupido things

Which lead me to my next phat opnion - people are rude because they are unhappy. How many issues can fall by the wayside or not seem terrible when you are in a GREAT state of mind. I think its almost impossible to snarl at someone when you are happy.

So at the end of the day, I don't swear the small stuff and if someone is horrible to me, my first thought is how unhappy they must be to snap at a random stranger so I feel compassion instead.
And if they have been a right ROYAL sucko, I smooth my anger by imagining their husbands (eg) wearing silk knickers till I feel better