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Dealing with rude people

Hiram

New in Town
Messages
31
Location
Seattle
Good for her! It's a pity slapping has gone out of fashion. More men would be motivated to be gentlemen.
 

Johnnysan

One Too Many
Messages
1,171
Location
Central Illinois
Story said:
You horrid "Ugly American". You've just justified the existence of a platoon of State Department twonks.
rofl.gif

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...ur16.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/04/16/ixworld.html

Thanks for the compliment and the article, which is a laughable! The thought of the U.S. State Department issuing guides for Americans traveling overseas on how to behave in order to help improve "...America's battered international image", brings me to quote the famous line:"Doctor, heal thyself!" lol
 

mysterygal

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,667
Location
Washington
it is VERY hard to get me mad, if the rudeness is directed at me, I can usually let it slide, however, if the rudeness is directed at other people, especially girls or young children, my mother mentality kicks in and I can get quite rude back. I find it's generally pointless to make rude comebacks cause it just esculates..though we all have our 'days' where we're all a force to be wreckoned with :D
 

Sefton

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,132
Location
Somewhere among the owls in Maryland
Yes, good job Johnnysan! There have been many times that I've wished I was constructed with a mathematical advantage like yours....it can give a bit of incentive to the discourteous! As for dealing with the rude: It's usually best to teach by example. I try to be polite myself and just let the others be. I've been working retail for many years and I've seen more than my share of naked incivility...it can get to be very sad if you think about it too much. I've found that by simply saying "May I" and "Please/Thank you" that the people that provide service to me are often shocked to be treated this way. It sometimes shocks me when I'm working and I'm treated this way!
 

Lady Day

I'll Lock Up
Bartender
Messages
9,087
Location
Crummy town, USA
When someone is rude to me

I have been known to say the blunt truth like:

"Well you are going to be stuck at WalMart as a greeter for the rest of your life while everyone here that you just cut will be asking you for a cart."

or

"Im not worried about you, youll be dead in 5 years."

or

"Is your life really this sad that you have to b**ch about a scuff on a box of 'X' you just bought. Man, how much time are you wasting on s**t that you wont remember in two days. You must have a great life."

or

"You go right on ahead of me in line, if this is the highlight of your day, then your life must be beyond sad."

Ive said all these things to people who have just cheesed me off. I dont get angry, I just verbalize the harsh reality of their lives. Im good at reading people that way.


LD
 

Strider

One of the Regulars
Messages
255
Location
.
Being among the members who have worked retail myself, I notice that a lot of customers have the idea that they will get what they want if they get loud and angry with a clerk. This is usually over a return which they have no reciept for. I saw it a lot working at a ball cap store awhile back. People would bring in caps that they had already worn, trying to pass it off as if they hadn't like they're slick, all with no tags on the cap, no reciept, no memory of which sales clerk sold them the item, and no proof they ever bought it from my store. I used to tell them: "I'm sorry, I can't exchange it or refund your money, because this item has no identifying marks that would show me you got it here." The customer would get upset and unruly, and storm out of the store, pissed that my hands were tied by my COMPANIE'S POLICY.

Another line I can't stand is: "Well, if THIS is the kind of customer service I'm going to get here..." when they aren't immediately getting their way. I was once going to go back and look for a customer's transaction reciept on my computer when he popped this line on me. I was in the middle of walking back to the computer when that stopped me in my tracks. I was literally about to help him. I turned around and said: "I'm sorry, sir, your transaction doesn't appear to be on our records." I was the manager, I could do that. I smiled inwardly at how upset he'd gotten when he realized if he'd just kept his trap shut, I would've helped him.

When I worked in fast food years and years ago, we would get people eating 3/4's of their sandwich, and come up to the counter claiming the sandwich was missing a condiment they had asked for. It took them almost having eaten the whole sandwich to figure out it was missing pickles? Or the folks that would pluck a hair off of their head and put it on the sandwich, so they could claim it was from the cook, and get a completely new sandwich. Too bad I couldn't turn it into CSI: Burger King. I bet they'd have said: "Oh, well, it's okay. I'll press on..." if I could've tested that hair for DNA.

People not controlling their children makes me want to tear my thinning hair out. You can't say anything to these people, because they will just get high and mighty on you. "How dare you tell me how to raise my kids!?" as if they weren't sorely in need the advice anyway. Letting their little monsters run around, running into people, etc. I once almost got into a fight with some dude in a Jack in the Box (for those on the East Coast, that's a fast food restaurant on the West Coast) because he wasn't paying attention to his kid, and his kid wasn't paying attention to where he was going, and ran right into me from behind, causing me to accidentally spill my soda on him. Instead of chastening the child for his recklessness, the father proceeded to accuse me of purposely pouring the soda on his kid's head. :eek:

"You did that on purpose, I saw you!"
"If you really had been watching, you would have seen your son run into me."
"He didn't run into you, you pushed him!"
"You obviously weren't watching."
"Listen [~expletive deleted~]..."

and as he was about to continue, this GIGANTIC man (had to have been about 5 foot 40, I mean he was big) stepped out from the line and between the two of us, TOWERING over this father (who was about my height..5'8"), and told him he'd seen the whole thing, that the kid ran into me, and he needed to learn how to control his child in this booming baratone voice. He probably was the real life incarnation of the Jolly Green Giant. Seriously, my best estimate of his height was at least 6'7" - 6'8". Well, the father agreed with the Andre The Giant, that he did need to learn how to control his kid, and they promptly WENT.

Then, the Big Friendly Giant turned to me and piped: "Don'tcha just hate people like that? Enjoy your dinner!" This guy must've been the child of Zeus or something.
 

PrettySquareGal

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,003
Location
New England
Strider said:
He probably was the real life incarnation of the Jolly Green Giant. Seriously, my best estimate of his height was at least 6'7" - 6'8". Well, the father agreed with the Andre The Giant, that he did need to learn how to control his kid, and they promptly WENT.

Then, the Big Friendly Giant turned to me and piped: "Don'tcha just hate people like that? Enjoy your dinner!" This guy must've been the child of Zeus or something.


:eusa_clap I love people like Andre.

I was once dining with a friend when a girl maybe 7 years old, in clogs, walked over near our table and starting doing some sort of stomping and "cheerleading" on the restaurant's hardwood floors. Not one server said anything to the girl or parents. I was furious, and was about to ask for a manager when the woman sitting at the table next to us said, in a very stern voice, "You stop that! This is a restaurant. People are trying to eat their dinner in peace." The girl ran to her parents- I couldn't see them since they were sitting behind a wall in back of us. That woman is my hero.
 

Paisley

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,439
Location
Indianapolis
Hitchcock liked thank-yous

My aunt knew one of Alfred Hitchcock's housekeepers. She said that after Hitchcock threw a party, he asked his staff who said "thank you" and who didn't. Those who didn't weren't invited back.

Frank Sinatra was at one of those parties. Although he had a reputation for being rude at times, he was kind enough to offer to take a package to the housekeeper's sister, who lived in London.
 

Sefton

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,132
Location
Somewhere among the owls in Maryland
If you're having problems with rude teenagers...

Students Find Ring Tone Adults Can't Hear

NEW YORK (AP) - Students are using a new ring tone to receive messages in class -- and many teachers can't even hear the ring.

Some students are downloading a ring tone off the Internet that is too high-pitched to be heard by most adults. With it, high schoolers can receive text message alerts on their cell phones without the teacher knowing.

As people age, many develop what's known as aging ear -- a loss of the ability to hear higher-frequency sounds.

The ring tone is a spin-off of technology that was originally meant to repel teenagers -- not help them. A Welsh security company developed the tone to help shopkeepers disperse young people loitering in front of their stores while leaving adults unaffected. The company called their product the ``Mosquito.'' (Bold-type and underlining added by me).

Donna Lewis, a teacher in Manhattan, says her colleague played the ring for a classroom of first-graders -- and all of them could hear it, while the adults couldn't hear anything.


The above article doesn't say wether or not "Mosquito" was effective or not. If it works I'd like to know if they make a pocket sized version to carrry when riding the train....(smiles while thinking of the possibilities);)
 

scotrace

Head Bartender
Staff member
Messages
14,392
Location
Small Town Ohio, USA
A Friend's Response

(actually a former friend - the cow.)

She was a DJ who played for dances, etc. Once, a drunken party guest kept hanging out near her, loudly complaining about the music, talking raunchy, etc. Finally, she said in a loud clear voice "Son, you need to get JESUS CHRIST into your life!"

He slithered away.
 

Lady Day

I'll Lock Up
Bartender
Messages
9,087
Location
Crummy town, USA
That's brilliant.

scotrace said:
(actually a former friend - the cow.)

She was a DJ who played for dances, etc. Once, a drunken party guest kept hanging out near her, loudly complaining about the music, talking raunchy, etc. Finally, she said in a loud clear voice "Son, you need to get JESUS CHRIST into your life!"

He slithered away.


Im gonna have to use that.

Looking back on these posts, it seems teens are the rudest, next to crotchety old men, and secretaries working all day in pantyhose too tight.

You couldnt pay me to be a teenager again.

LD
 

Kent Allard

New in Town
Messages
49
Strider said:
...this GIGANTIC man (had to have been about 5 foot 40, I mean he was big)...

Always good to find another Utah Phillips fan in the crowd.

I can handle the rudeness in public. I can handle the rudeness in the car. What I can't handle are the phone calls. People who aren't blocked by the DNC list because I have some sort of "business relationship" with them (i.e. I subscribed to their magazine 10 years ago). I don't even mind if they hang up after I say I'm not interested. It's the ones who persist that I reserve me special venom for. I used to do everything I could to make a telemarketer cry. Now I just leave the phone off the hook.
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,771
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
Kent Allard said:
I used to do everything I could to make a telemarketer cry. Now I just leave the phone off the hook.

Telemarketer: Good evening, ma'am, I'd like to ask you a few questions about your long distance service...

Me: I'm sorry, I don't have a telephone.

Telemarketer: Um -- uh -- But I'm talking to you.

Me: No, you're not.

*click*
 

Nathan Flowers

Head Bartender
Staff member
Messages
3,661
If somebody is rude to me in a restaurant, or other public venue, I usually just delete their posts, and then send them a PM regarding their rudeness. If they keep it up, they often wind up banned ;)
 

mysterygal

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,667
Location
Washington
aww, the benefits of being a bartender!;)
Working in retail was interesting. I worked at Mier and Frank for a couple of years and the woman's section was the worst! I had days where I swore every woman was having a serious problem with pms
 

Strider

One of the Regulars
Messages
255
Location
.
Kent Allard said:
Always good to find another Utah Phillips fan in the crowd.

MY GOD! That's moose turd pie!!

....

it's good, though! :eek:

I've been a Utah Phillips fan for a long while. "Moose Turd Pie" is one of my favorite stories of his, and I often use "5 foot 40, I mean he was big!" in reference to someone very gargantuan in size. Kudos to you for catching the reference! ;)
 

Big Man

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,781
Location
Nebo, NC
Mind over matter ...

In reference to rude people, it's "mind over matter" - I don't mind, because they don't matter.
 

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