What is the rush?

As I was shopping today, I needed assistance at a specific full service counter. I rang the bell on the counter, to alert whomever was in the department that I needed help. While I was talking to the associate helping me, another lady interrupted me to ask the associate for help. The associate understood the rudeness of the interruption because the associate (not the other customer) apologized to me and asked if I would excuse her for a moment. This type of interruption seems to occur more frequently than it used to. Why the shift in civility, folks? What in the world is going on that makes "ME" the most important person in the room? Can I just add, also, that the other customer was an older woman? I would have expected a younger person to be impatient. I would have expected a harried mother with three kids in tow to be impatient. I would never expect the older woman shopping by herself to be impatient.

I have also seen this behavior in the mornings, as I drop the kids off at school. Each year the school gives the directive for dropping off and picking up kids at school, to prevent traffic jams and unnecessary accidents. By the 2nd week of school, drivers have taken leave of their senses...making not one single file line of cars (as directed), but two lines with some parents in such a hurry that they try to sneak in between two rows of parked cars because they are in a hurry. A hurry for what? This just doesn't make the slightest bit of sense to me. The car in the middle lane is in a hurry, which is why they sneak into the middle (and only empty) lane, but they have a van full of kids who are slow moving. So, now we have three lanes of traffic where there should only be one. And, instead of speeding things up, everyone is suddenly moving slower to make sure they aren't going to be hit by someone else's car. Sigh.

Miss Manners, is there a polite way to respond to this?

By the way, the customer who interrupted me today needed a pillow case for a travel pillow.