The People I'm Next To Are Indiscriminately Polite and Rude

I'm next to these women. They are in line in front of me. They have nice if uninspired clothes. Nice material, well washed, not worn, somber tones and patterns. They are talking about startlingly stereotypical things: shopping, husbands, tiny dogs.
One of them bumps into me, which is my fault because I'm standing too close to them so I can eavesdrop. Regardless of my looming being the real reason this woman knocked into me, she spends at least a minute apologizing. I do likewise, then immediately go back to spying on them.
Maybe three minutes pass when a group of their friends, 5 or 6 other similar ladies, walk in and the Over Apologizer immediately calls them up to the front of the line. All of these ladies barge through the line without so much as a polite wave. This, in case you were never in third grade, is cutting. A few of the other people in line mutter, and give them nasty looks, but it just bounces off this newly swollen gaggle of women.
When they reach the counter they have switched back into polite mode and are fawning over the server. They order their food and sit down. When they sit down though, they take over 3 or 4 tables, but even with their sprawling ranks they need half of that. The place is busy too, that table space is a commodity. I manage to sneak a table next to them so I can continue my espionage.
In their back and forth form they are dears to their server, just precious. A little small talk, compliments, ideal customers. Except that when they leave they don't tip.
Its like they were only told how to be polite in certain situations and past that they haven't given it thought. Politeness as a formula rather than a theory. So are they nice, but just don't know how to apply it broadly? Or are they just bitches?
I can't believe they didn't tip.

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