[wing]

Today I went to the grocery store to pick up some cigs and this little twerp gave me a smart *** answer when I asked for the kind I want. He says"You only have to tell me what you want once, that's all you need to say." I said, "No it isn't all I have to say because half the time you guys pull the wrong ones". Which is true, there's 4 different kinds of the brand I smoke.

What I FELT like saying was a smart *** answer about his attitude. For some reason rude people in a service profession really bring out the irritability in me when I'm trying to maintain my less than even mood, i.e. in a mixed state.

TG I didn't embarrass myself but it really pissed me off and I had to do all kinds of "let it go" exercises.

Sounds like a miniscule thing compared to some of the other crap that goes down, but I honestly have to keep my control big time when I deal with things like this when I'm paying good money in a store.

Ranting, again.

[hamster-bamster]

I think you said exactly the right thing to the rude guy. The only suggestion I would make for next time, if a next time happens, is this:

"I wish you were right, but unfortunately half the time..." and the rest from your sentence.

This is less confrontational, because there are no "no" or other forms of explicit negation ("isn't"), but instead the negation is implicit and subtler ("unfortunately", "I wish you were right").

Also, "I wish you were right", while being non-confrontational, is subtly condescending, so it would actually get your point across better than the sentence you used last time.

[sideblinded]

Hey wing

I can relate to this! I, too get very angry when people are rude to me. Especially if they are young twerps. I sometimes have to rant about these kinds of things, too.

I get employee names if they are rude to me in public businesses. I am not afraid to turn people in if they are rude. I was ready to do this about a month ago at a supermarket. I had to get his boss and I was ready to turn in his boss, too but this boss took care of the problem and sometimes we just have to stand up for ourselves.

[Crazy Hitch]

Hi wing,

It grates me too when there's poor customer service coupled with a snarky attitude behind it.

The server doesn't have much in the line of people skills, that's for sure.

I can give quite a few examples similar to yours. I can't stand it.

[ManOfConstantSorrow]

I would say that the public are pretty dire too - six of one, half dozen of...

[Standup2me]

And let's not forget rude
People don't say please & thanks anymore
They don't hold doors open for the people
The don't give up their seat to the elderly or pregnant ladies

[loophole]

These rude sales people usually get a hammer from me. It's their job to be polite and professional. I will call out the person everytime. I recently called out a store manager for lying to my face... Ticks me off because I don't look my age and people think they can be snot nosed people and do as they please. They pull a 180 when they realize I know my rights and they are the ones that are supposed to be professional not me. On the other hand I'm a good tipper and always praise a sales person for going out of their way. I used to be a salesperson myself so I know how it is.

Your sales person was certainly a jerk. (I know I would appreciate someone actually telling me specifically what they wanted instead of having to play 20 questions with them.)

Lets not forget though that there is a good chance your sales person has dealt with 50 people who decided that because the sales person is being paid to 'be nice' they can then abuse said sales person as they please.

I am done teaching people well into their golden years basic manners. If they want to act like a child I will treat them as such. (Get off the phone when you come to the counter, don't throw your money at me and don't push in front of other customers.)

I know being abused for doing my job doesn't do much for my mood either (If I had a dollar for every time I was abused for stopping the pumps because some idiot lit a cigarette while pumping gas...) so please spare a thought for what the person before you may have put that salesperson through.

Many of us are doing our best to smile, be polite and generally put on a brave face but often times there is a storm behind that face and we can't always be expected to be perky little cheer leaders.

When i was new in recovery rude sales people would set me off and i would cause a scene. I made some doozies like yelling in a cell phone place about their lousy service. It got so i couldn't take a bus without arguing with the driver.

I learned to tell myself that if i could just keep it together and get my business over with i could walk away and forget about it five minutes later. If i made a scene i would spend hours being upset. It worked well and i haven't made a scene with sales people in years.

[ManOfConstantSorrow]

Originally Posted by loophole

These rude sales people usually get a hammer from me. It's their job to be polite and professional. I will call out the person everytime. I recently called out a store manager for lying to my face... Ticks me off because I don't look my age and people think they can be snot nosed people and do as they please. They pull a 180 when they realize I know my rights and they are the ones that are supposed to be professional not me. On the other hand I'm a good tipper and always praise a sales person for going out of their way. I used to be a salesperson myself so I know how it is.

I quite like surly sales folk, it shows a contempt for these conformist, materialist times, (although there are subtler ways of showing this of course).

[faerie_moon_x]

Working in customer service myself, I get really annoyed with rude customer service people.

But I used to never stand up for myself. I used to be the invisible girl. But now that I'm older I am a little better at that and I'm also more likely to say something, especially when I'm mixed.

The other night I was at a KFC and I had waited 40 minutes. I ordered 2 boxes of fries and they tried to give me one box, saying they filled the one box. (Which is what they are supposed to do.) anyway, I used to work KFC so I just told the girl that that wasn't acceptable or what I had paid for and I had been there 40 minutes. She fixed it really quickly. But another lady standing in line for 5 minutes was yelling her head off about bad service. So, it all comes to the approach.