Little Annoyances

[Ugly Pig]

Heh heh... You sure you weren't featured on some 'candid camera' type show, Shadow?

[Anthro Girl]

I still remember getting in line behind a man at the grocery one day and the register guy said, "Good evening, sir" and the man got all offended and said something like, "I prefer to be addressed as MISS!" hehe. The register guy and I both kinda boggled at him. Register Guy apologized and finished checking the "lady's" groceries.

Heh. I live in San Francisco. That happens a lot.

On the flip side: at one point, the Safeway (grocery store) management decided to force all its employees to smile and say "hi". Force them, I mean...with shadow shoppers and citations and the whole bit. It was awful. I'd go in grumpy after work and be accosted by twelve different employees nervously saying "Hello! Can I help you find anything?" It wasn't the greeting that bothered me, it was the fact that they were so nervous about it. I felt sorry for them. I even walked staring at the floor and had several bend down in order to get in my line of sight to say "Hello! Can I help you find anything? <nervous grin>" Oy...thank goodness they seem to have stopped that.

[ShadowMaat]

When I worked at Blockbuster, Management was always on us about Good Customer Service and going up to customers and being nice and asking if they needed help and all that rot. I always hated that stuff because, as a customer, if there's one thing I hate, it's being pestered. If I want help, I'll ask for it, otherwise leave me the hell alone.

Oddly enough, it turns out I'm really good at interacting with the customers. The two times we had "secret shoppers" in, our store got negative marks because both times, I wasn't working. The second time, the manager was really mad at everyone. Even me. "Why couldn't you be working?!" hehe

As for things that annoy me:

spoilers in the subject line
no helpful info AT ALL in the subject line...

I mean, really. "I was wondering... (spoilers)" WTF does THAT mean? *sigh*

[ShadowMaat]

Things that annoy? Prejudism. Blind, stupid, arrogant attacks against people whose sole "fault" is to be born in the wrong country.

Ye gods, some people need to grow up and open their eyes...

[Anthro Girl]

Things that annoy? Prejudism. Blind, stupid, arrogant attacks against people whose sole "fault" is to be born in the wrong country.

Nay...not even "born in"...sometimes they're unlucky enough to be bashed by just becoming citizens.

Here's another annoyance that may just be the anthropologist in me speaking (can't have that degree be entirely for naught, now can I?):

I don't like it when people use the word "ethnicity" when what they really mean is "nationality" or vice versa. While the two terms may be interchangeable for some, they generally are not held to be.

[ShadowMaat]

Yeah, but "ethnocentric" sounds better than... er... what, "nationalistic"? I spent a good half hour one night trying to figure out the right word and finally gave up to settle on ethnocentric. Sticks in the brain better for some reason.

[Anthro Girl]

Yeah, but "ethnocentric" sounds better than... er... what, "nationalistic"? I spent a good half hour one night trying to figure out the right word and finally gave up to settle on ethnocentric. Sticks in the brain better for some reason.

"Prejudiced" and "xenophobic" come to mind, but I understand the conundrum.

[ShadowMaat]

Prejudiced isn't a strong enough word to express the level of my hatred and xenophobic always makes me think of space aliens as opposed to aliens from other countries.

[Anthro Girl]

Prejudiced isn't a strong enough word to express the level of my hatred and xenophobic always makes me think of space aliens as opposed to aliens from other countries.

Actually, I could think of a bunch of better words to describe such a person, but this is a family forum.

Agree. Xenophobic would be a better word if people knew what it meant. As it is, the last time I ever heard it used in popular culture was in Aliens...actually, that was "xenomorph". Heh.