Friday, August 06, 2010

Since When is it O.K. to be Rude?


I've noticed lately that people think it's o.k. to be rude. I've seen children talk back to their parents. I've heard sales people giving attitude to customers. I've been flipped off while driving for NOT running a red light. When we went to the O.C. Fair last weekend to see a concert. There were 3 tall teenage boys with I think was their dad (who was enjoying his beer and high fiving everyone who walked by) in the seats in front of us. Our seats were pretty decent and no one was really standing when the concert started and they were quite tall so they could see the stage from a sitting position. They continued to stand, blocking everyone behind them, a wall of teenage boys. The ladies in front of me were not happy campers but would not do anything about it. Me, I'm a squeaky wheel. I reached over, tapped the 3 boys and asked if they could please sit down because we can't see. He proceeded to tell me, "Why don't you stand up?". I so wanted to backhand his cocky little teenage face, but I said, "Why do you have to be so rude? I'm asking nicely" and he continued to say, "Why don't we all stand up?" and I asked, "Were you raised to be rude?" Finally I gave up and was not happy. The other ladies ended up finding other seats. It's not like I was asking for anything unreasonable! They stood the whole time. I really felt like asking them to name 5 songs from each band that played to see how big of fans they were.

A similar incident happened when I took my daughter and friend to see Michelle Branch at the Grove. It was a teensy patch of grass for us to stand on, then the stage for the performer. Tall people cut in the crowd and stood in front of me. I am a huge Michelle Branch fan and I wanted to see her. They stood there texting the whole time, I doubt they even knew who she was. I proceeded to lean on them heavily until they moved. I figured, if they were going to be rude, then I will too.

I have gone to plays and movies where people brought their babies and they screamed through the whole performance and they never got up to leave even when we were glaring and shhhing them. That is really rude!

Today I got scolded by a woman in the accounts payable department of one of our customers. She told me that she wasn't going to pay my invoice because it wasn't signed and didn't have an approval code on it and after trying to explain why it was sent in that way, she proceeded to tell me that I need to handle it with the salesman and that she's not paying until it's right. She pretty much tore my head off over the phone for something I had no control over. Talk about killing the messenger.

I think that we're so used to being rude and to being treated rudely that we've be as a society have become desensitized to it. I am in shock when someone is nice or helpful or agreeable to my terms. When I started in the work force, I was a waitress and I had to be nice and take all the attitude in order to get good tips. Although sometimes the rude people wouldn't leave a tip anyway. Then I started working in retail where customer service was key. I guess that's not such a big deal these days (See my blog on customer service) and it's a sad thing.

I'm going to try to do or say two nice things everytime someone is rude to me. Maybe if I pay it forward with random acts of kindness, it'll come back around and the world will be less rude. I know I have lofty dreams, but it can happen! Lets at least try!

2 comments:

Tiffany said...

Thank you for coming by and entering my giveaway!

As for your post...I couldn't agree more. My biggest pet peeve is hearing children being completely disrespectful to their parents. Those are the kids who grow up thinking they can say or do whatever they want to whomever they want. I think sooner or later, they meet someone who won't put up with it, though. Luckily for the rest of us!

A Magical Whimsy said...

Thank you for coming to my Mad Tea Party.
I completely understand rudeness.
I was in the grocery store and bought some chicken strips in a bag (frozen food) It was $6.95. The next week, the same product was sitting in the 16 oz. bag area for $8.95. I know there are bar codes on items, but somehow, someway, whoever puts the prices on items, put the $8.95 price on the 8 oz. bag. I brought the bag of chicken back home, after seeing the increased $2.00 price, and said that there was a mistake with where the product was placed in the frozen food section. I went and checked it all out BEFORE going to the customer service area, so I knew what I was talking about. I had to wait for a manager and asked if he would accompany me to the frozen food section to figure it out. He said "No" that the prices could go up that fast in a week. I motioned to him with my finger (like when you motion someone to come follow you) and he said 'Don't you point your finger at me!' I told him I wasn't pointing my finger at him that I just wanted to show him what I meant. Then, there was someone behind me, slowly shaking her head at him (she was a store personel) and he said to the clerk to go ahead and give me the extra money back. But, where have the days gone when the policy was 'the customer is always right?' Anyway, it was upsetting and I don't know how many other customers were ripped off with that inflated price, and there were NO 16 oz. bags at all in the freezer section, so I know someone in pricing had made a mistake. Sheesh!
So, to me, it's not worth my time to complain any more. If they aren't even going to give the customer 'the time of day' to accompany them to the area where a problem was, then they don't really care about customer relations. I'm just glad the other lady in the store (who may have been a customer relations person) had the common decency to have the manager give me my money back.
Sorry for the long and the short of it. I do like your blog, it is very down to earth. When I was a teenager a friend and I used to cruse Hollywood Blvd. to look for movie stars...those were the days.
Cheers! Enjoy life and live it to the fullest.
Hey, your hubby reminds me of Johnny Depp...cool!