Generally Disgruntled - A General List

Hello, my name is Luke. The name of my blog is fairly self-descriptive. There's a lot of stuff out there and I generally feel disgruntled about most of it. In the spirit of being general, here is a broad list:

Feminism
Chauvinism
Consumerism
Long Lines at Movie Theaters
Armageddon
Ugly Babies
Pirates
The Economy
Mimes
The Military-Industial Complex
Bad Drivers
Parking Tickets
Killer Bees
Reality Television
Flesh-Eating Diseases
Bureaucracy
Politics
and Antidisestablishmentarianism (I assure you this one really is a word.)


On the more specific front, I'd like to begin my blogging career to rant about the service industry.

The thing about the service industry that's most recently ground my gears is forced courtesy. Everyone's been party to this phenomenon. Earlier today I went out and bought a hamburger and fries. The pleasant lady at the counter thanked me. Incessantly.

She thanked me when I handed her my credit card. Why?! It's not like she's getting any of it. I didn't even hand her any real cash, so she can't even pretend it's hers. Then she thanked me when she came back with my food. Isn't it my responsibility at that point? What the hell is she getting out of this. Excluding a few more grease stains, nothing. I'm the guy getting all the food. What the hell?

The whole problem is this forced courtesy thing that seems to plague our places of business. Anyone who's ever worked at one of these god-awful jobs should be familiar with it. "Be polite to the customers or else you're fired!" So what are you supposed to do if the customer doesn't merit politeness?

I've worked those jobs and I'm here to tell you that the customer is not always right. The customer is always retarded. That's the way it should be. The customer doesn't work there. They don't know the score. You're the one with the power, goddammit, the customer should be the one compelled to be polite to you.

For instance: I used to work at [Generic Retail Emporium] several years ago. It was an alright job. Or at least it would've been alright if it hadn't been for all those genetic defectives that constantly came to my counter to ask me questions.

"Do you know if that new movie/game/CD/dildo has come out yet?" Lady, there's an 8 foot sign outside the front door proclaiming that we have your movie/dildo. Then the customer would try something smart. "I didn't see any on the shelf, do you have any in stock?" Look, these kinds of places don't have a magical portal leading to a magical land filled with whateverthefuck it was they wanted. Besides, everyone working at these places is paid to keep those shelves stocked. If it isn't there, they don't have it. This person was circumspectly calling me a lazy fuckwit. What part of this person deserves praise? If you yell at your cat for sitting on the dinning table, what would you do if he insulted your intelligence and your work ethic?

I digress. This whole mandatory courtesy thing is just bunk. Being polite is easy. When you make it compulsory it just becomes a pain in the ass. Besides, it makes all of those smiles and greetings, and thankyou's cheap and disingenuous. If I walk into a store and they smile and such, I want to be comforted by the knowledge that they might actually be happy to see me. Maybe I'm looking particularly good that day. Instead  I'll never know and my mind will forever be tortured with insecurity because I know some dickhead is forcing this crap. Shame on them.

I digress some more. It would be really nice if we could all be free to treat people the way their actions and behavior warrants. Be polite to those who are the same, and treat assholes like assholes. If they don't like being treated like assholes, maybe they should change their attitudes. Anyway, it would be great if we could meet each other halfway and cut this forced courtesy crap. That's just the way I feel about it. If you don't like it, get fucked. (Or you could check out Nameless Cynic's blog. I hear he's got a lot more patience for the touchy-feely crowd.)