premise: I still remember when I was working as a receptionist dealing with a child at the desk , and a woman walked up behind the child and started speaking at me straight over the child 's head . Yes , I am going to stereotype , but she looked like the kind of woman who would have been livid if a child had done that to her . Politeness should work for everybody , and I try and make sure it does . I can appreciate that many people feel the difficulty of being uncertain about it . All I can do is suggest they work on it . I think the same issue about uncertainty is at the root of the popularity of creationism . What did you do when the woman stood over the child and spoke to you ?
hypothesis: I told her that she was second in line and would have to wait her turn to be helped