I think that is one of the ear marks of rude behavior - doing or saying something that negatively affects other people. It is rude to intrude on or inconvenience others.
I disagree with as a blanket statement. I see too many people feeling guilty because--oh, they want to let their dog out and the neighbor's pooch barks at it; or they had a lot of questions for the customer service rep or had trouble filling out their check and made the people behind them wait.
Or too many people crabby because someone else is living their live inconveniently--so they say, "shouldn't the retired people travel to the shore at off-peak times, so they don't inconvenience the other people who can't go earlier in the day?" Or they get mad because the person ahead of them didn't pre-fill-out their check while they're waiting for their purchase to be rung up.
Or they flash some parent the Ice Glare of Death because their kids are laughing at one another in the store, and the noise bothers them.
There's a reason we ended up with the phrase, "Excuse me for living!"
We are all going to inconvenience people sometimes. That doesn't make us rude.
I'm not sure I can completely articulate when "inconveniencing someone" becomes impolite.
Bah12, I love your point about the village--that *is* what the whole concept is, that we all have a stake in, and a responsibility to, create a great environment for children to grow up in. It's not ONLY about things like stepping it to stop a kid from accidentally hurting himself, and it's not about other people having to pick up the slack.