Times *I've* confronted people (strangers) for being rude...

by Kudra 53 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Kudra

  ok- here is Instance 3.

  I was walking into Target. While I walked across the parking lot these two chicks are getting into their car and after emptying out their shopping cart of bags, just push the cart across the parking lot into another parking space (another of my pet peeves) -not just into another parking space but a handicapped space.

  I yell across at them- "I can't belive how lazy you are- just put the cart back into the corral (which was right next to them)! I can't believe it- you pushed it into a handicapped space!!!?"

  So the one lady says: "ok, she'll put it back..."

  So the other chick grudgingly gets the cart and takes it out of the handicapped space -and just moves it into a non-handicapped space. By this time we are in the store. Sheesh.

  So are we just supposed to sit back and watch people act like this??

  -K
• 

  beksbks

  I do not think it is rude to interupt them if the employee has not so much as even glanced in my direction

  But that is not the case here Snake. And there is a clearly marked line. So not only are they interupting my interaction with my current customer, they are ignoring the people who are next.
• 

  daniel-p

  Personally, confronting teenagers, in this day and age, could get you shot.

  Really? And I suppose there's some kind of sensational newspaper article that backs this up? It's that kind of misplaced fear that makes for a less responsible society.
• 

  Kudra

  Right on daniel-p. I agree.
• 

  John Doe

  I'll give you an example of the last time I spoke up and you can decide if I was out of line.

  For background, I work at the Home Depot currently while I'm in school. Right now, I'm a sales person in the electrical department. A couple of weeks ago, I get a call on the radio to go to the cash register and get a stock number for some electrical wire a customer had cut. Ok, no problem. I go up there, and see the wire, and take it back to the rack to find the number and measure it. So, I walk to the back where the wire rack is.

  Now, our wire that we sell by the foot is on a giant roller machine that revolves. You have to know the code to work the machine and get the correct wire where you can cut it. In front of the machine, we have full, uncut rolls of wire sitting on the shelves. Next to this wire is a large sign that says "wire sold by the foot on the giant machine to your left." Next to this sign is a box with a button that says "push button to call for assistance."

  Evidently the customer chose to neither read the signs nor find assistance. Instead, he grabbed a full roll of wire off the shelf, cut off what he wanted, and left it in the middle of the floor. This is a 500 foot roll of large gauge wire worth $400. I saw this, and was instantly peeved. Just looking at the roll of wire, you would have no idea it was 20 feet short of the 500 feet. The next customer who bought it would be effectively short changed. I marked the wire as not full roll, making two partial rolls we now had and only one full roll left. Then, I got the number and returned to the register.

  When I got there, I looked at the customer and said "Please, please ask for help the next time--don't just grab things off the shelf and cut them. It short changes the next customer, makes us have multiple partial rolls, and we get pissed off when you do this." He just smirked, avoided eye contact, and never said a word.

  The ironic thing is he saved no time by doing this. He had to wait for me to go all the way back to the rolls of wire, get the number, and walk all the way back. In actuality, he lost time. So, did I handle it properly?
• 

  beksbks

  They were obese chicks. This could be why.

  Tut! Rude Kudra! Maybe you noticed it more because they were obese.
• 

  VIII

  Growing up and being in a city (Chicago), will get you shot. Literally. There are certain people and certain areas of town where, if you do catch someone's eye, it is considered confrontational and will definitely get you a bullet.

  So, what makes for a pleasant encounter on one side of town will get you shot on another. You have to know when to keep your head down.

  I try to treat people how I want to be treated. That is what it comes down to. If I act like a jerk, I can expect those around me to be jerks. Usually.

  On a larger level, regarding neighbors, people in stores, etc., I can't control them. I can be polite. I say "Excuse me", "May I", "Please", "Thank You", and other terms I learned in college.

  I didn't learn polite or good behavior from my parents. My dad was gone and my JW mother was waiting for the end of the world. I learned, in college business classes, that to get ahead in the world, treating people *nicely* would get you far. They were right.
• 

  Kudra

  I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth; banks are going bust; shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter; punks are running wild in the street, and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it.

  We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. And we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be!

  We all know things are bad -- worse than bad -- they're crazy.

  It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out any more. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials, and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone."

  Well, I'm not going to leave you alone.

  I want you to get mad!

  I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot. I don't want you to write to your Congressman, because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street.

  All I know is that first, you've got to get mad.

  You've gotta say, "I'm a human being, goddammit! My life has value!"

  So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell,

  "I'm as mad as hell,

  and I'm not going to take this anymore!!"
• 

  Kudra

  You are right beks. :(

  I first noticed a cart getting pushed into a parking space (that always sets me off).

  I'm going to edit that comment. I have family that are "not thin" and they are very industrious, capable and conscious about being responsible citizens.

  YOU'RE a good citizen for letting me know.
• 

  beksbks

  "Please, please ask for help the next time--don't just grab things off the shelf and cut them. It short changes the next customer, makes us have multiple partial rolls, and we get pissed off when you do this."

  Yes, if you had a polite tone.