Idiocracy in America

[LadieNisha4u2nv]

I hope you had a *really* great day for making some gas station guy feel dumb. Customers like you are what make them miserable to the rest of us.

What goes around, comes around, doll. Was it worth 11 cents, really to make someone feel bad?

I WISH I could thank you a jillion times Indi!

The amount of idiots I deal with at The Home Depot, I just want to ****ing slap them, but I take a deep breath, call the Head Cashier to deal with them, and walk away.

OP, you could've handled it better. How do you know he is not a new person at the gas station? Plus, he mentioned that the supervisor got pissed the last time he did that for a customer. You dont know the shit his boss puts him through.

This thread actually pissed me off and reminded me about my job. I am not supposed to leave from my station unless the place is not busy. I could get fired for doing so. So when a customer wants help, and I am unable to do so, they get pissed and say the service there sucks. I get pissed because I tell them "I am currently dealing with another customer, but I will try to find someone to help you." They carry on and go on and about over bullshit. It's ridiculous.

And then I turn around and take it out on the next customer, who doesnt even deserve it.

I've been called an idiot, retarded, a bitch, the whole nine yards. And you know why? Because I dont know what the customer is asking me a question about. But I still do what I can to help them find another associate and they dont appreciate that.

You gave an attitude to this guy because he said he didnt know how to do it. Maybe he really did not know how to do it. Maybe his boss is a dickhead and he considered firing him if he did it ever again.

It's complicated when those situations come up because the stress from our bosses alone is ridiculous. They tell us they dont want us to do this and that without them and when you include them they want to know why you called them for a little thing after the fact that they already said they must be called for such things. it happens so much that I just want to tell them **** you and I quit. The amount of mixed messages I get everyday.

Now with the experience of dealing with rude customers, I never go to a store with an attitude with any of the cashiers. It's unfair, especially for the customer to still expect respect after the ridiculous attitude given to the employee.

[doppelgaenger]

You two have no idea what you're talking about.

Geschwaetz.

People in Berlin speak great English, and they're extremely gracious about speaking English as soon as they sense you're not a native German speaker. Berlin is probably the best European city to live in if you DON'T speak anything but English. You want to complain about language barriers? Go to France. Or Italy.

Berlin makes not even a 10th the population of Germany, so it doesn't account for Germany, which I was actually referring to. I have been to Hessen and Bavaria, and I live in Thuringia. I have never *personally* been addressed in English. When CC was here I saw how much English people could speak. Most people here try to avoid English or foreign languages. There is a lot of Xenophobia here... though I suppose things are different in Berlin... the international city of Germany... where you could live and not even have to know German. Christ, that was a gimme...

The best European city to live in if English is the only language one speaks would probably be London. Or anywhere in freakin' England.

Unless by "decent English" you meant "fluent English", in which case, get over it.

By decent English, I mean at least halfway fluent. Come on. They start learning it in the 5th grade, don't they? Grundschule? They sould be fluent after so many years. Even if they stop at Grundschule. They still have 3 years. I mean, I speak fluent German and I am in Germany after only 2.5. Besides, I am not complaining or whining. I am just pointing out facts based on my own observations. You don't have to be bitchy just because I made an observation.

[Rollerderby]

Well, there are a few things that could have been done differently.

Because I made a big deal out of this, the guy now knows how to cancel a credit card transaction. He didn't before, and his boss should never have left him alone if he can't work a simple process like that. You realize that someone else may come along now and need him to do that, and he will know.

It's 11 cents, but it's not about the money. He was referring to his boss yelling at him for giving the cash back option on a debit card, not giving change that is a dime and a penny. I am more annoyed at the fact that his boss tied his hands so which inconvienced me. Had I spoken to his boss, it wouldn't have been about his employee's service but about the way he runs his business. I've worked in successful businesses who know how to treat their clients, and I've worked in shitty ones. People suck, but if this guy know how to do his job there never would have been a problem. If you're going to go out in the world and get a job, you better know how to do it.

I gave cash to a gas attendant once for a self-service station. The pump stopped earlier than I had expected because it hadn't reached the total I gave her. She claimed I didn't give her that amount and there was nothing I could do because it was cash.

Sure, I could have gone on my merry way. Sure it's 11 cents, but it's the way he handled it too. I wasn't exactly screaming and kicking my heels while he stood looking calmly on. I was very polite to him but he gave me only one option, take the i.o.u. I asked him if he could, give me 11 cents change, cancel the transaction, or pump me 11 cents worth. Anything. If he hadn't been talking on his phone while the machine was going, he would have realized that the pump had stopped.

I understand what some of you guys are saying about how you bend over backwards to try to make someone happy, and they are not. This was not the case. He was rude to me, so I came back the next day with his i.o.u. I don't see why I shouldn't if he is giving it to me. If that was really the only way he could handle the issue, why should I forgo my change? It's not like I'll never need gas in my tank again, but I'll very likely never go to that gas station again.

[Yggdrasil]

I think you overreacted. But that's just what I think. Like you said: it's only 11 cents.. it's not even worth having a post like this about it. And maybe it may be a good time now, to realize we don't live in a perfect world.

Just my 11 cents.

[bluesummer]

You know what, maybe just realize that some people are morons or assholes....chalk it up to that, and forget about the 11 cents. Yeesh.

I've had rude people screw up my orders, overcharge me slightly....this actually happened to me last night at the Calgary airport. The staff there were absolutely rude and clueless. One guy started yelling at them and belittling them, and honestly he looked like a real self-important jerk. So I just bit my tongue and took my slightly incorrect order. They also overcharged me 50 cents.

Part of the problem with people today is that everybody feels the need to 'put people in their place' over every little thing. It's negative behaviour. I don't engage in it, or condone it. It's not my purpose in life to make someone else's day worse, even if they did it to me first.

[Rollerderby]

I agree with you blue. I just posted because I wanted to vent. I am over it now.

[bluesummer]

Fair enough. Next time, just take the hit and walk away. I bet your day (and his) would've ended up a lot better for it. You probably wouldn't have even ended up posting this.

[Junket]

I love putting people in their place.

Most cases though, retail or food employees aren't worth the effort. It's not like they're on cloud 9 while serving me.

If a waiter or waitress wants to give me attitude or neglect my table, fine. But it's going to reflect in their tip.

[Gribble]

He's a gas attendant. He doesn't get paid enough to give a damn about his job, much less you.

[1averagejoe]

I was at a gas station and bought a small snack for $1. Gave the guy a $20, that was all I had. He handed me $9 back. I was like wtf do you think you're doing? I gave you a $20 and you gave me $9 back? He exclaimed that I gave him a $10 and got really nasty with me. So I told him open the cashier and show me what bill is on top. He opens it up and quickly pulls out a $10 when clearly there was my $20 on top. So I told him show me the tapes of the video camera that's playing. He said I'd have to come back, then I said that there wasn't any way I'd drive out here for $10. Then he responds "exactly." I was like, is this guy ****ing serious?

I was sooo ready to just go ****ing off on this dumbass but knew it was better to just keep my cool.

[Illusional]

I hope you had a *really* great day for making some gas station guy feel dumb. Customers like you are what make them miserable to the rest of us.

What goes around, comes around, doll. Was it worth 11 cents, really to make someone feel bad?

hell yes it was worth my time... i'm the king of the world...

i hope he spits in your slurpee later.


raverboy

[IndiReloaded]

If that was really the only way he could handle the issue, why should I forgo my change? It's not like I'll never need gas in my tank again, but I'll very likely never go to that gas station again.

Because 11 cents isn't worth as much as someone's feelings?

I understand why you wouldn't go back tho. I'd be embarrassed too if I were you.

BlueSum, you're the best doll.

[IndiReloaded]

I love putting people in their place.

The trouble is, Fras, that there will always be someone 'better' or 'smarter' than you, able to put you in your place too. So long as you don't mind that, I suppose its alright then.

[lesa]

I'm as nice as it comes and don't sweat the small stuff, but what do you do if you were waiting for over 45 minutes for an order and when you tell them this they misunderstood and charge you again? And it was by debit card?

I have to say something but in a way to not sound offensive. I expect them to response to me in the same matter.

[Rollerderby]

I love putting people in their place.

Most cases though, retail or food employees aren't worth the effort. It's not like they're on cloud 9 while serving me.

If a waiter or waitress wants to give me attitude or neglect my table, fine. But it's going to reflect in their tip.

Fras, are you being prejudice against people based on what job they hold? Are you saying that only those who make gobs and gobs of money are the only ones people should be correcting? I'd prefer to call a spade a spade, stupidity is not subjective to classes.

Because 11 cents isn't worth as much as someone's feelings?

I understand why you wouldn't go back tho. I'd be embarrassed too if I were you.

Who said I was embarrassed?

Indie, what I posted to start this thread isn't an exact play-by-play of how the situation went down. The way I write is theatrical, I'm a writer by profession. I wasn't standing there calling the guy names and yelling at him. I was, however, getting irritated when he refused to do anything but give me an I.O.U.

I read average joe's post about how some guy ripped him off ten bucks at a gas station, and even then the money isn't worth it. 11 cents or 11 dollars, money is just money. This was never about the money. I can understand your point of view of "making someone feel bad" but that was never my intention. I didn't go out of my way to make the guy feel like an idiot, but the fact is he acted rather idiotically by how he chose to handle the situation. This is not my fault. I should not have to throw my hands up and say "Oh well! I'd rather let this poor guy stay in his bubble of stupidity rather than challenge him to wake up a little!"

And if that was the only option he gave me (which ended up being what I had to take) why shouldn't I go back? It was already started, so I finished it, and it makes a hell of a better story that way. You may prefer to let the loose ends fall down un-knotted for the sake of sparing someone's feelings, but there is much to be learned and gained in one's personal character through confrontation. He can choose to learn from this situation as much as I can.

You can look at it from a bird's eye and say "it's a gas station worker, it's 11 cents" but that's trivializing all human interaction when you dismiss that people are still people no matter what they do for a job. If this guy was a corporate CEO, I'd give him just as much hell. And that's basically what I did, if you look at it from the grand scheme of things. I refused to give anymore of my money to the oil thieves.

It's principal. You are well within your rights to disagree, and I do see your point. I do let a lot go in my life, I do choose my battles, and this is one that I freely chose. I just wanted to vent on this forum, since that kind of seems like the point of the forum anyway.