This piece was the funniest, and sadly so true.

The rudeness that the invention of personal cell phones caused (as opposed to “car” phones… remember them?) is uncontrollable. Recently when I took my dad out to dinner a woman sitting many, many, tables over had her cell phone ring. She had to answer, but politely stood up and walked from her dinner companions to be more private. She walked and walked until she was standing just over my shoulder, talking loudly. I was horrified that she thought it was all right, polite even, to walk from her table, but to walk over to another one and annoy those people. My dad,  who is 90% deaf,  motioned that I had a frown on my face. Just then I stood up to tell her we were still in the same lovely, quiet, dining room that she was when seated at her own table, but she snapped her clam shut and toddled off! Everyone looked at me with that “go after her and kick her butt”  look, but I wondered what made them sit in their seats afraid to say something.

You can thank Audrey for bringing us all together… or blame her (and her compatriots) for making this site necessary.

I didn’t know Audrey when first she inspired me, and I still don’t, but I can tell you an awful lot about her life. Like the pet name she cooes to her boyfriend and several of their favorite foods. I know what time he leaves for work in the morning and the intimate details of how she greets him upon his return.

Let’s just say it involves see-through garments, an awkward-sounding pose and a compound-adjective for her lady parts I hope never to hear again and leave it at that, shall we?

As I said, I don’t really know Audrey, but I — and several other people — got to a great deal of insight into her life during a train trip from New York to Boston during which she spent every single minute chatting to her beau – James, aka Papa Bear – on a cellphone with the longest battery life in existence.

For hours, Audrey cooed, giggled and flirted with her boyfriend, frustrating and annoying the rest of us with her seeming inability to speak in what my mama would have called an “inside voice.” Only in retrospect did I realize that Audrey was, in all likelihood, a dialogue exhibitionist. You know, the type of person who loves to hear themself speak, but loves even more to speak in front of an audience… voluntary or trapped.

In the end, however, Audrey did, as I said, inspire me. Because as she ignored any and all attempts to prove that looks can, in fact, kill (or at least silence), I couldn’t help glaring at the verbose vixen and thinking, “How rude are you?”

It wasn’t a question, but rather a declarative sentence… the kind of thing you say to yourself after someone plows into you on the sidewalk without even noticing. “Geez,” we utter, “how rude are you!”

It’s a comment that I make frequently, if silently, while making my way through the world.  “How rude are you?” I think when people talk during the unspooling flick in a movie theater. The words echo in my head when someone casually tosses their garbage onto the sidewalk. And occasionally, I scream them aloud in the privacy of the car in which I’m traveling when someone with delusions of grandeur (which seem to come standard with the purchase of an Escalade) decides to violate all known traffic laws in order to establish their dominance over their fellow highwaymen.

Eventually, all that internal muttering had to result in either an ulcer or an outlet. And thus, this site was born.

Welcome to howrudeareyou.com, a respite from the Audrey’s of the world where like-minded folks can find at least a little reassurance that they aren’t the only ones out there pondering the death of civility.

Perhaps more importantly, you, too, will have an outlet. Sure, taking someone to task for their bad behavior seems like a great idea, but seeing as it often leads to violence and bloodshed, it’s not necessarily a viable option. You can, however, come here and post a citation about the Crime Against Civility which took place. Or you can read those posted by others and take comfort — kind of — in the fact that you are definitely not alone.

In the months to come, you’ll also find pieces written by a slate of contributing editors covering a wide variety of topics ranging from the rudest personas on television (yes, Simon Cowell, we’re looking at you!) to the endless battle being waged between smokers and their non-puffing brethren.

Together, we might just make a difference in the world. Or at least get a whole lot off our collective chests.