mannerisms in public

[BigAl3]

Originally Posted by Scottwax

practically ignore counter customers.

i know what you mean. nothing says, "i'm gonna walk out and go somewhere else" faster than that...

[tustah]

Today a lady went to the express lane at HEB with not 10 items, but a cart load full of items. Her chin was held up high as everyone looked at her with a disguisted look.

Luckily one of the young night managers opened up another express lane (most courteous HEB I've been to) and began checking out customers.

Sometimes I wish the cashier would speak up and say that they need to go to another cash register. Maybe their policy does not allow them to do so. Regardless, I walked up to the lady and told her that I don't mind waiting in line to check out, but others may find it rude if you have more than 10 items and are using the express lane.

Her response? ...

[TH0001]

A couple of points

1) I have a two year old son, and if you seem him throwing a temper tantrum, please be understanding. It is a time of "terrible two's" where toddlers are pushing the limits of everything to see where they stand. If I am ignoring them, it is because I am teaching them that self indulgence and a crappy attitude will not be tolerated, and they will not be rewarded for such behavior. It is because I am trying to shape my child so they don't turn into the jerks that grow up and have threads written about them for their self indulgent and disrespectful behavior.

2) The other day I took my CBR out for a ride early in the morning and decieded to stop a McDonalds for some cheap breakfast before starting my day. I parked so I could eat and look out the window and keep and eye on my baby. There was a minivan parked next to my bike and the family was leaving... A lady put her three year old child on my bike!!!! as she was loading her toddler into a child seat in the back. I went outside and asked her watch she was doing... She said "its just a bike". I lost it, and went and sat on her hood! She started screaming and and I said, its just a car. She cussed me out and called my disrespectful and a punk. Fair enough, so I asked her polietly (while sitting on her hood) to please not have people sit on other peoples property, its rude. She told me to **** off, apparently she couldn't figure out the point.

3) I always return my cart to the holder (I used to shag carts at Home Depot when in college) and always try help the person getting carts.

4) I was in line at a local Publix getting grocieces when a ladie and her family jumped infront of me (cut me off) in the Express line with two shopping carts full. Normally I am a laid back person (minus the time in number 2, but that was jusifited IMO) but this family cut me off. I was very polite as asked informed her she was in the wrong lane. She looked at me, then had a conversation with her friend in Spanish, assuming I couldn't understand. Unfortunatly for her, I was born in Italy (Italian is similar to Spanish) and my wife is hispanic, so I can comminute fairly well in Spanish. The jist of her conversation was that this guy (me) wanted her to move because she was breaking the rules and that this Gringo(me) had another thing coming. She didn't have time to switch lanes...

Being the nice guy I am informed her (in Spanish to her suprise) that she has to follow the rules like everybody else. I even offered to help her load up her supplies. She went off into full Puerto Rican rage (Puerto Ricans speak fast Spanish, so I could only here some words, but couldn't follow most of it). She is standing in my face, and I am stuck like a deer in headlights, because I have never had this happen and was kind of embarressed. Well the manager comes over and asks what the problem was, and I start telling him that this was an Express Lane and I offered to help her move her items because she clearly has over 100 items.

Then the lady, in perfect (I mean perfect) English tells the guy that I was rude and being offensive. The manager played it off very nice and offered to ring myself and another customer out at a different lane that he would open for us, because some people cannot read and he cannot discriminate against them (he said this infront of her, getting a scowl).

5) When I worked at Home Depot, I had an elderly guy slam him door into my (then) brand new 2000 Ranger, I had bought it the day previously, and it was my pride and joy. I asked him to be more careful, as that was my car and I had just bought it. He looked at me, told me to park in the middle if I didn't want my car hit (which I couldn't because of some other idiot that couldn't park straight orginally and shifted everybody over) and I tried to explain this to him. He grabbed a freaking baseball bat out of his van and started to come at me (mind you this guy was in his late 70s or so)!!!!!! His wife (probably 190 years old) got outta the van while this guy is shuffling towards me at his fastest rate (slow). I just kept stepping back. She quickly calmed him down and he went inside. The whole time I was like ***?

I looked at my truck, no damage, and proceeded to move it to the otherside of the parking lot.

[BigAl3]

Originally Posted by TH0001

please not have people sit on other peoples property, its rude. She told me to **** off

this ticks me off too, if it's not their property what do they care right? some peoples attitudes and morals these days are all in the wrong place....

[Scottwax]

Originally Posted by imacarnut

this ticks me off too, if it's not their property what do they care right? some peoples attitudes and morals these days are all in the wrong place....

Just like the obnoxious doctor who set his books and files on the trunk lid of one of my customer's cars (black A6) and then dragged them off (leaving scratches when confronted). I would have thrown that jerks books into the middle the parking lot and let the wind scatter everything.

Bank drive-thrus piss me off too. I always get behind the obnoxious a-hole who not only doesn't have anything filled out but doesn't even have the forms they need or even a pen...and the damn lobby is open! I even asked at my bank why they don't tell them to come inside or at least make them pull out of line and come back around. Their response? "We don't want to make them mad". Huh? You certainly are pissing off the 6 people stuck behind that jerk, what about them?

[GeorgePaul]

Originally Posted by percynjpn

Are you guys serious?! If that kind of "behavior" is that common these days, I guess U.S. society is just continuing to get more and more uncouth by the hour .

It's not that common. Some people are nuts, but the vast majority aren't.

[Corey Bit Spank]

Originally Posted by tustah

Sometimes I wish the cashier would speak up and say that they need to go to another cash register. Maybe their policy does not allow them to do so. Regardless, I walked up to the lady and told her that I don't mind waiting in line to check out, but others may find it rude if you have more than 10 items and are using the express lane.

It's just easier to not argue. They won't listen to the person working because they think they are just being lazy.

[BigAl3]

evidently, this does not only affect people at stores. just got back running some errands and some drivers feel that they always have the right of way, around where i live. people these days suck....

[eyeguy1]

This thread puts a big smile on my face because I go through the same stuff often and I'm glad I'm not the only one.

Peeve #1 Mind your own business
One night I was alone with my son who about 3 at the time. I could NOT get that kid to sleep for anything. So off to Wal-Mart we go for some 1AM shopping. Nothing like a ride to get him to sleep. I figured as soon as he nods off, I'll turn around and put him in bed. Well that didn't work! We hit the doors and he wants his free cookie. What free cookie? Wal-Mart doesn't give out free cookies!! On the contrary, they do give the kids cookies. Just not at 1AM. He was giving me a hard time doing everything kids do to make parents lay on the ground and get in the fetal position. I took him down an empty aisle and smacked his diaper guarded butt twice. He cried and I gave him his final warning and turned the cart around to see some startled woman staring at me. She told me I had no right to do that and I should be ashamed. I told her to not say another word and get away from me before I put her across my knee. So as I'm checking out I see a cop standing there and he pulls me aside to let me know he got a call that I was beating my child!! He checks my son out and lets me tell my side of the story and lets me go. I hope I never see that woman again.

Peeve #2 Stop means stop
I was pulling into a gas station to fill up as a car was pulling out. As I get out of the car, a guy in a Land Rover who had apparently been waiting on another pump tried for the same pump and I pulled up as he was trying to back in. He stands by the back of the LR saying, "That's my pump!". I told him I was sorry as I slid my credit card through the machine. He stands there for a few seconds and as I'm getting ready to pump he starts walking toward me. I started to freak out and told him to stop. He stops and starts yelling some more and I let him know he could have "his" pump in a minute. I guess that wasn't good enough and he took three more steps and I lost it and slapped him. I don't know why I slapped him, but I did and it hurt bad. My hand that is. For whatever reason he ran to the LR and drove away. I thought he was going to get a gun or bat but he just drove off. I thought I was going to have to check my shorts when I got home. BTW, I hate to fight. It hurts too much.

Peeve #3 Don't use your kids
This is by far my biggest gripe. There are a lot of folks on the system where I live. I don't mind my tax money being used to help folks who need help. But the thing that gets me is when I see a little boy or girl go into a store and buy a 5 cent piece of gum with a $10 food stamp and see the parent come in with the change and buy beer or wine. I got fired from one of my first jobs for saying something to a greaseball dad for doing that. The manager told me that's not the way to treat customers.

I always open doors for women and put my cart where it belongs and do the things my parents told me was the right and respectable thing to do. I don't know where things went wrong with society. I guess common sense is dead as Scottwax put it. I knew he was sick and fading, but I didn't know he died. It all makes sense now.

[PrinzII]

Originally Posted by imacarnut

this ticks me off too, if it's not their property what do they care right? some peoples attitudes and morals these days are all in the wrong place....

I remember an incident with my '02. I owned the car for slightly over a month and decided to take a drive up to Rockford to visit a couple of friends of mine (at the time). When I went to visit the second friend to show her my the new acquisition, one of her guests put his bible on my left front fender. I gave him a look as if to say "Please remove your property from my car."

Shortly thereafter, she talked to another friend of mine and told her I was quite arrogant and selfish (another story).

I was : because she failed to realize the amount of work it takes to get a car to look good and upset me further because she did not come to me about it.

Needless to say, she and I are no longer friends.

[malooLS2]

Just thought I'd add my two bits here... Harking from Australia I can confirm that it is not just the Grand Old US of A thats going down the toilet at a rapid rate due to peoples attitudes.

But lets face it, if you watch any current affairs show, or shows like Springer etc you'd be forgiven for thinking that normal was being ugly, unemployed and hard done by. I mean of course we have bad attitudes when our 11 kids (so that we can get a nice welfare payment) are walking around in rags and have A.D.D. which means no school will take them. Of course we dont give a toss about other peoples property when the missus is knocking of your best mate and has two other kids with the guy over the back fence... It's scary that these shows actually rate, I find it horrifying not entertaining.

Unfortunately, we all live in societies that encourage the "lowest common denominator" at the expense and anquish of what we would consider the reasonably respectable minority. So it will just get worse.

And on the car parking incidents...Does anyone ever notice how if you are obsessive enough to park your car miles away at the empty end of the supermarket car park, that when you come back out after doing your shopping, your car is surrounded by other cars! It's like your car is a huge magnet. They could have parked 15 spaces away from you but they drive up and park right next to you. Sheep mentality and the first thing I check is my doors for dents...obsessive and compulsive.

I've had my 2 mth old ute scraped on the front bumper and the previous ute was also given a good dose of bumper rash by some ignoramus within the first mth that I had it. No-one left a note apologising or offering to fix it... I am very particular about where and when I park my car but there seems to be no escaping the inbred, dont give a damn, who cares the government pays me and whats it to you anyway...type who seem to be breeding at a more and more rapid rate.

Apart from that Australia is a great place as I'm sure the US is. Can't wait to get over there one day (I'm being serious now not sarcastic!).

[BigAl3]

Originally Posted by malooLS2

the first thing I check is my doors for dents

i always check for this as well, when any car is parked close to me...