Little things don’t agitate me very often, but one thing that never fails to set me off is the rudeness and inconsideration of others… particularly when said person is supposedly performing a good deed.

If you’re doing a good deed for the right reasons, you shouldn’t be all pissy about it.

It’s either something you’re doing out of the goodness of your heart, or it’s a burden.

It can’t possibly be both.

Case in point, I wrote an article that appeared in Tuesday’s edition of the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald (&uot;NCHP probes fatal wreck&uot;).

While making calls for the story and trying to find out more information, a co-worker mentioned to me that the McDonald’s in Murfreesboro was taking donations for the victims’ family.

So, I decided it would shine some positive light on a tragic situation to provide more information on that &uot;gesture of compassion&uot; in my article.

(Note: I put that phrase in quotation marks for a reason.)

In order to get that information, I naturally had to call the McDonald’s in question.

Not wanting to be a burden to the workers there during the busiest time of day, I waited until 3 p.m. to make the call so they wouldn’t be swamped with customers.

I could have waited until Doomsday and gotten a more positive reaction, I think.

The first time I called, the manager answered and I identified myself and why I was calling – to get more information on the donations they were taking in for the family.

No sooner than I could get the words out of my mouth, I heard a click in my ear. The line was dead.

Thinking that there was no way I’d just been hung up on when I was just trying to get more information on something POSITIVE, I called back… and was hung up on by the same person, again.

You know, I can understand hanging up the phone on someone if they’re calling to harass you, or ask nosy questions, or try to uncover some sort of scandal or something… but I was calling for none of those reasons and this woman was told that.

I don’t know her name, but I certainly hope I never come across her in public, nor will I frequent the McDonald’s in Murfreesboro, that’s for sure.

It’s a sad world when people who are supposed to be doing a good deed can’t even be nice about it.

I have no idea who came up with the idea of using that particular McDonald’s to accept donations for the family.

I don’t know who, or why.

Perhaps the decision wasn’t in the manager’s hands, but was thrust upon her.

However, if she was the one behind organizing the donation acceptance there, it’s an even bigger problem because it shows… no, I can’t even print what I’m thinking because I don’t feel like being sued today.

Whatever the case, we should all be saddened by this tragedy and should be more sympathetic to a family who has just lost four people and has a young child struggling for her life in an intensive care unit.

This manager couldn’t even speak to the press about what her restaurant was doing to help this family – the press, who would have helped get the information out there so more people would know to go there and donate.

If you can’t do something good for other people and smile about it, then don’t bother doing it at all.