So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Woodtroll]

I don't frisk people at the door, but when I see someone with a big cup of coffee in their hand coming in for a show I tell them they can't bring it in. They can finish it outside or they can throw it away, but they can't bring it in. And when I get someone who walks in with a ticket, saves her seat -- it's always a woman, always a well dressed woman, always a woman between 60 and 70 wearing a pastel-colored sweater that cost more than I earn in a month -- and then swishes back out again telling me she's "going out to get a cup of coffee," I make sure she knows she can't bring it in with her. I get lots and lots of attitude, but they know the rules, and my job is to enforce them. This isn't some cute cat-and-mouse game. It's my livelihood, it's hard, grueling work for someone my age, and I take it seriously.

Basically, any functional adult should know you follow the rules. If someone can't follow the rules, if someone insists on doing it THEIR WAY at all times, then we prefer that they stay home. Somehow we'll survive without their business.

I believe I know that woman!

 

[Trenchfriend]

@LizzieMaine
If Caroline agrees, you can offer Cat-Yoga at your house. Lot of bourgies to milk!!

 

[Fading Fast]

...We in the service sector don't serve the consumer public because we love them so -- we do it to scratch out a living. When the public rips us off, they're showing how much respect they have for us and what we do. To such ones I say -- if you want "respect" from clerks, servers, drivers, attendants, and all the rest of us, then you'd better see to it that you behave in a respectable manner....

⇧ yes.

Maybe your experience in the theater is different, but I have found that many customers are respectful, many more are neither pro-actively respectful or disrespectful - to wit, it's a reasonably small percentage that are actively disrespectful / that try to sneak stuff by / try to cheat the rules / treat people like cr*p - but it's those encounters that can ruin a day, set the tone, break your spirit.

I've been a phone clerk and have had teams of clerks reporting to me and we've done surveys - it's usually a small percentage of calls that are awful (these were not complaint line, but true customer service lines), but those are the ones that you remember and, when people quit, it is usually those experiences that they cite.

Years ago, I managed a team of about forty traders and strategist who supported the fixed income investment business of about 2000 financial advisors. Most of the advisors were good to great to deal with and less than, from memory, twenty or so were horrible. But the team knew each one of those twenty and did everything they could to avoid having to pick up their calls.

But also - at least, indirectly - to Lizzie's points, you really do want to help those who are appreciative of what you do. I saw traders jump through hoops to help execute a trade, find the right investment for an FA that respected the desk. The funny thing, in my experience, treating people with respect is not only the right thing to do - and hopefully that's reward enough for you - but it usually results in better service and a willingness by the service person to go the extra mile, etc.

 

[tonyb]

No matter how well-mannered those Wells Fargo employees may have been, they were still ripping off the customers.

 

[Woodtroll]

⇧ yes.....

But also - at least, indirectly - to Lizzie's points, you really do want to help those who are appreciative of what you do. I saw traders jump through hoops to help execute a trade, find the right investment for an FA that respected the desk. The funny thing, in my experience, treating people with respect is not only the right thing to do - and hopefully that's reward enough for you - but it usually results in better service and a willingness by the service person to go the extra mile, etc.

Absolutely. My wife and I just happened to finish really rough work days at about the same time last week, and neither of us wanted to cook when we got home, so we made an infrequent visit to a local chain restaurant that we're familiar with. The food was pretty good, as it normally is, but the waiter was so exceptional that I took the time to go to the chain's website and fill out one of their customer service forms praising their employee by name - I have never done that before. And yes, I did thank him in person before we left, and did leave him more than a 20% tip. Folks that go the extra mile deserve recognition and encouragement, lest they become disillusioned like the rest of us...

 

[Fading Fast]

Absolutely. My wife and I just happened to finish really rough work days at about the same time last week, and neither of us wanted to cook when we got home, so we made an infrequent visit to a local chain restaurant that we're familiar with. The food was pretty good, as it normally is, but the waiter was so exceptional that I took the time to go to the chain's website and fill out one of their customer service forms praising their employee by name - I have never done that before. And yes, I did thank him in person before we left, and did leave him more than a 20% tip. Folks that go the extra mile deserve recognition and encouragement, lest they become disillusioned like the rest of us...

Having been on both sides (as most of us have in our lives), I do what you did when I get exceptional service and call / fill out surveys / etc. to, hopefully, have that person's efforts acknowledged. I know I appreciated it when mine have been.

 

[tonyb]

...
Another example -- we had a couple last night that plopped their entitled backsides into seats in a section designated by the handicapped-access sign. A patron in a wheelchair needed to sit in that section. The couple was politely asked to relocate. "Like hell I will," was the response from the able-bodied middle-aged over-entitled jackass husband, as the able-bodied, middle-aged, over-entitled jackass wife kicked her shoes off and spread her grimy, scuzzy feat on the upholstery. And these weren't kids -- they were sixty if they were a day. ...

That fellow was fortunate he was dealing with you and not me.

People who don’t need wheelchairs or have never lived with people who do generally have NO IDEA how many things wheelchair users just can’t do because of all the public places that remain inaccessible. Even when accommodations are made, such as accessible parking and seating, the wheelchair user too often still finds him- or herself excluded on account of those accommodations having been already taken by those who don’t really need them.

It makes my blood boil. Again, that fellow doesn’t know how lucky he was to be dealing with you and not me.

 

[LizzieMaine]

You'd be enraged at how much of this we run into. We have a unisex accessible restroom on the main floor, clearly posted with a sign reading "IN CONSIDERATION OF (handicapped access symbol) PATRONS, USE DOWNSTAIRS RESTROOMS IF YOU ARE ABLE." And yet perfectly able-bodied people who are simply too lazy and self-absorbed to go down a flight of steps constantly tie it up, while people in wheelchairs, or who are otherwise unable to use the stairs, are forced to wait. The mind doesn't boggle, it beats its poor aching self against a wall and cries.

(And don't even get me started on the fake service-dog racket.)

 

[Trenchfriend]

Lazy people = "grass-traipser", as we say, in old Germany.

Yesterday afternoon, I went to our smalltown's central supermarket. A (bourgie) teenage girl came out of a side street and walked behind me. Some corners later, I walked as always the regular way, crossing the street behind the corner at the designated place, where the old way to busstation, supermarket and railstation connects on the other side.

Before, the girl overtook me on the right side of the street, walked the grass inside the corner and took the very popular beaten track, that crosses the offical way some meters later. She went to supermarket, too. So far, so bad...

I left supermarket, went the usual way back and saw the girl entering the railstation platform next to the inside of the street corner. I looked again and she really stepped off the platform, crossed the tracks, the grass and our main street, heading directly for the side uphill main street. And we met again, when she crossed the main street. I (wearing a baseball cap) looked at her conscious, but of course without saying something. Maybe she will think about it.

What did she win, walking this way? Maybe two minutes...

Germany...

 

[Lean'n'mean]

I (wearing a baseball cap) looked at her conscious,

So that's what you call a butt in German. Often wondered.

 

[Trenchfriend]

So that's what you call a butt in German. Often wondered.

What has it got to do with "asshole"?

 

[ChiTownScion]

I don't frisk people at the door, but when I see someone with a big cup of coffee in their hand coming in for a show I tell them they can't bring it in. They can finish it outside or they can throw it away, but they can't bring it in. And when I get someone who walks in with a ticket, saves her seat -- it's always a woman, always a well dressed woman, always a woman between 60 and 70 wearing a pastel-colored sweater that cost more than I earn in a month -- and then swishes back out again telling me she's "going out to get a cup of coffee," I make sure she knows she can't bring it in with her. I get lots and lots of attitude, but they know the rules, and my job is to enforce them. This isn't some cute cat-and-mouse game. It's my livelihood, it's hard, grueling work for someone my age, and I take it seriously.

Basically, any functional adult should know you follow the rules. If someone can't follow the rules, if someone insists on doing it THEIR WAY at all times, then we prefer that they stay home. Somehow we'll survive without their business.

I really hate the entitled affluent. Always have.

My first job was at a gun club (trap & skeet) working as a trap boy/ puller, and I remember the relatively few prancing show- offs who'd expect to be waited on hand and foot like a bad dream. But I also remember the good natured guys who'd make sure that every kid working got a cold soda pop on a hot summer day, so it's a balance. Learned at age sixteen that, while it's nice to be important, it's more important to be nice. I try my damnedest not to forget it.

Those who serve our food, staff our theatres, cut our hair, etc., etc., work extremely hard in this age to pay their bills, and they not only deserve decent compensation for their work-- they also do not deserve to have to deal with ignorance, rudeness, or self- centeredness. They deserve the same appreciation, courtesy, and respect as your cardio surgeon or your investment banker-- and likely a lot more.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^
It’s not just the affluent.

It’s of a piece with our almost obsessive competitiveness. People who feel looked down upon go in search of people *they* can look down upon.

Few of us are immune. (I know I’m not.)

Competition has its benefits, for sure. But it also has its drawbacks. “Winning” for its own sake, for the sole benefit of the “winner,” is as vulgar and socially destructive as fame and fortune for their own sake.

 

[Hercule]

[deleted]

Sorry about that, I just realized how old the post was that I was replying to. Sorry for the unnecessary detour. Carry on.

 

[Harp]

Starbucks will end all newspaper display later this month in response to patron malfeasance, takeaways, ripoffs.
Customers absconding with the New York Times; Wall Street Journal, USA Today and other assorted odds and ends.
Given the limits of tolerance for slipshod reportage and editorial content devoid of rational thought, the Times I have
decided to forgo but the Chicago Sun Times sportspage I need to find elsewhere.

 

[Fading Fast]

Starbucks will end all newspaper display later this month in response to patron malfeasance, takeaways, ripoffs.
Customers absconding with the New York Times; Wall Street Journal, USA Today and other assorted odds and ends.
Given the limits of tolerance for slipshod reportage and editorial content devoid of rational thought, the Times I have
decided to forgo but the Chicago Sun Times sportspage I need to find elsewhere.

Many years ago, when the newsstands in Boston (where I was living at the time) stopped getting all the papers in (and in early), I moved to digital subscriptions and, despite have fond memories of the haptic joys of physical newspapers, have never really looked back. They are posted in the wee hours of the morning, are updated throughout the day, have links to other stories and access to back issues, etc.

 

[Harp]

I am of those unfortunate to be addicted to the tried-and-true newspaper, books, journals etc
that can be touched, handled, folded, ruffled, and rolled. I took especial delight in the Times, grabbing
it out of the bag on the evening train after a long day.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yep. I have to have a paper to wipe my fingers on while eating my hamburger. The Boston Globe rates high for absorbency.

 

[ChiTownScion]

I am of those unfortunate to be addicted to the tried-and-true newspaper, books, journals etc
that can be touched, handled, folded, ruffled, and rolled. I took especial delight in the Times, grabbing
it out of the bag on the evening train after a long day.

Agreed. Reading a good book is like getting to know a beautiful and intelligent woman. Each turn of the page brings another moment to savor and remember. The journey is as much a pleasure as the destination.

Reading a book on Kindle is more like... well, let me just keep things in good taste and say that it isn't the same.

 

[tonyb]

I’m surprised to find that I’ve pretty well adjusted to reading on a glowing screen the news and comment and most of the other stuff I used to read in the paper — the genuine paper paper.

Still, though, we humans engage with different media in different ways, and I find print on paper much more conducive to deep engagement. Online media all but beg the consumer to jump around. I can’t help but think that makes for a more superficial understanding.