Let me share this... I'll quote the whole thing,
verbatim...
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Two Phrases That
Destroyed American Culture
December 13th, 2006
Every time I promise myself that I will work on controlling my
temper, I always end up making a scene.
This time, it wasn't my fault. All I wanted was a bagel. A bagel, a
cup of coffee, and perhaps a spot near a window where I could idly
watch the traffic go by as I browsed through the newspaper and
licked cream cheese from my fingers. But apparently the Gods were
not on my side.
Today I got in line behind a middle aged woman in a fur coat who
was barking orders at the poor bagel girl like she was a dumb
misbehaving dog. Fur Coat was ordering multiple bagel sandwiches
from a list, but instead of ordering them in such a way that would
make sense, she was attempting to order them all at the same time.
The Bagel Girl was obviously confused and you could tell by her
shaking hands that Fur Coat's harsh tone was intimidating her.
Finally, Fur Coat snapped, "I said light butter on that bagel!
Light butter! Jesus!"
I couldn't stand it anymore. I cut in, "You don't have to be such a
bitch about it."
Fur Coat glared daggers at me and stated, "I'm not."
"Well, I beg to differ."
With a disgusted 'Hrmph,' Fur Coat went back to her overly
complicated order, but she did so quietly and even managed to
begrudge the poor girl a 'Thank you' after she was finished.
I have a theory about asshole customers: I think they only act that
way because no one ever calls them on their bullshit. The poor kids
behind the counter cant stand up for themselves lest they lose
their jobs and other patrons look the other way claiming 'it's none
of my business.'
Fuck that. When I see some self important asshole verbally
degrading a teenaged kid with dead eyes behind a counter, it ruins
my day. So, I say some shit. Besides, I feel that if I stay silent,
I am almost giving an abuser permission to act like a raging
asshole. Ignoring their behavior suggests to them on some sick
level that what they're doing is Ok.
It's not OK.
The phrase 'The Customer is Always Right' is the single worst
philosophy that has ever been adopted by American culture. It gave
an entire generation of people the green light to be as impolite,
unreasonable, and demanding as their little hearts desired because
they were always going to be considered right. It destroyed the
entire concept of courtesy and rendered manners obsolete. People
began to treat their peers in the service industry like incompetent
morons, lacking in feelings or human dignity, who deserved to be
browbeaten and abused for no other reason than they had the
audacity to run out of a particular brand of coffee. Furthermore,
instead of suffering negative repercussions for their appallingly
disrespectful behavior, they are awarded with free coupons and
plenty of ass kissing. In reality, they should be shunned and
humiliated for behaving like such self absorbed little
children.
Speaking of respect, another idea that has ruined American culture
is the one that states, 'I dont give respect freely. You have to
earn my respect.' This one is most often uttered by punk kids with
bad attitudes and black fingernail polish.
Fucking gag me.
I mean, how egotistical does one have to be to automatically assume
that their respect is so fucking important that one must jump
through multiples hoops in order to earn it? How about we give
people respect because they are humans with lives and feelings just
as important as our own? Why not give people a default level of
respect and more or less can either be won or lost based on the
behavior of the individual? The loss of respect is something that
should be based on actions. The idea that that one must win basic
respect in the first place is incredibly belittling. How
narcissistic can you be to embrace that ideology?
(continued next post)
