A bit of a rant
Recently, I think there's been a bit of a change in the type of customer from hell.

When I was little, you'd often witness the local nutter/thief causing havoc in the Co-op/Gateway/Fine Fare (in the days before Tesco and ASDA took over the world) and you'd just accept it. They couldn't help their situation, they were just plain bonkers and couldn't rationalise the situations they find themselves in.

These days, the customers from hell are the ones who are just ignorant. I worked in a Post Office for 4 years part time and the number of times I'd get asked for an advance payment on a benefit book was amazing. It is plain illegal.

Them: "Oh come on, I'm skint" (despite the fact that they've probably got about 4 benefit books providing a total of the GDP of Mozambique per week)
Me: "I'm sorry sir/madam, you've got one allowance per week and that's it. I can't help you"
Them: "YOU'RE BEING COMPLETELY FUCKING UNREASONABLE, BLAH BLAH BLAH..."

The thing is, we who have to deal with these idiots, aren't.

I can understand the rage of people who have to deal with phone monkeys when their internet is down or their gas bill is clearly miscalculated but in most situations with the 21st Century customer from hell, it's usually completely unfounded.

I'll tell you where it comes from too - their parents.

You see, when I was a sprog, I was shown how to do loads of things by my ma - pay for my own bus ticket, buy my own magazines, ask for help at the supermarket, etc. Little things like that mean that by the time you're old enough to look after yourself properly you're not completely helpless/ignorant of how to deal with situations when being served. In addition, when things don't go your way, you're more likely to be accepting because you've experienced the situation before.

I see it a lot with my students at school - because they've been mollycoddled for so long, they don't understand proper conduct when asking for things or negotiating with people.

It's just "I want" rather than "Can I?", and when their requests are turned down then the fireworks go off. It's a growing problem.

I make a point of getting my little brother to do things for himself when we're out and about in the aim of avoiding him turning out to be one of these cunts who can't understand that sometimes, they can't have their own way.

I'm not a right-wing fascist, I'm as socialist as they come. And whilst most of these stories make me chuckle, they don't half piss me off in the long term.
(scentless_apprentice takes two bottles into the shower!, Thu 4 Sep 2008, 17:54, 4 replies)

Can I?
I don't know - can you?

We were always taught to ask "May I?" instead when I was a lad.

I agree that people should learn how to do things for themselves nowadays btw.
(Shippy likes linebreaks and doesn't care what you think, Thu 4 Sep 2008, 18:07, closed)

Well written.
Agreed and clicked.
(josef fritzl is sporting the spring/summer '09 folder look, Thu 4 Sep 2008, 18:37, closed)

All to true
and the stories piss me off too.
( FeralCatMan Unusual disease collector., Thu 4 Sep 2008, 18:59, closed)

It's true.
We laugh, because if we didn't we'd cry, lose the will to live, go insane and/or become nihilistic.

It's a crazy fucking world.

But for every twunt there's one who makes you genuinely smile, who reminds you that manners are not dead and buried, who take a human interest in you rather than seeing you as an extention of the checkout computer... who make it all worthwhile.
( warmfuzzies Isn't here, Sat 6 Sep 2008, 14:21, closed)