If chavs have a go at me, I think "assholes, whatever". It's no big deal, I haven't earned their respect. But I think old people, especially war veterans, are the most deserving people of society's respect, and I honestly find it disgusting that these kids don't sort themselves out and remember who the people they are pestering are, and what they've done. AH
Personally fev regardless of "old people" moaning about trivial supermarket happenings You should still respect them for who they are.. you'll be the same at that age, it happens to be the way life is... I think this story was great and rather comical infact My favourite line being... “We stood up and kissed our wives, and the next thing I was marching with lots of others."
I agree with fev's last post, and what's been said so far. Older people do deserve respect, provided they are deserving of respect. When older people flaunt their supposedly-deserved respect, it's not right.
Agreed.. thats what i was trying to say... but i couldnt word it right.. but the way fev seemed to be talking was that all old people are bad..
ok so of the old people who asked questions or complained at Tesco i'd say a good 50% were as i described. I might be a moody ******* on forums or in real life, but when it comes to work I'm always professional when dealing with the public. So in no way could I have agrivated those who chose to step over the mark. I always took those serious complaints onboard and tended to brush off people like the carrot woman.
OK then, to re-state... I hate angry people, rude people, and stupid people, no matter what their age. Specofdust, I agree completely. On the flip side of the issue, though, old age is no excuse for rudeness either. (Thank goodness I don't have to interact directly with "the public"... It'd drive me batty.)
That's because they come from an age where there was actual service. These days almost all shops are anonymous self-service warehouses(I'm talking figuratively on that last bit). Old folks have forever longed for the times when they were young, they just want some decent service. Your friend there wasn't exactly giving a shinging example of politeness. I know tesco probably don't train most of it's employees to deal with customers in a highly polite manner, but anyone who understood how to communicate with a customer woulda said "I'm sorry madam, but the potato's sold out" or something along those lines. If you think the difference isn't important, then you're probably not giving the service to these oldies they expect either. You may say they should respect you, but they're paying your wages. There are certain defaults in society that have worked for a long, long time. One of them is that you respect your elders, because they know better then you, and even if they don't, they've been around longer and therefore deserve respect. Stupid? Yes. It works though, it keeps society ticking over, and that's whats suffering these days.
They should have respected me and they didn't pay my wages. I'd go into how "the customer" doesn't pay anyones wages at Tesco but it's techy.
So you have to deal with the occasional asshole at work. I sympathise, but dude, try (mental) health settings... A significant minority of people are assholes at least some of the time. Being an asshole is an equal opportunities thing: everyone can be one. Young, old, male, female, dumb, smart, rich, poor, any ethnic or religious denomination, any nationality, any profession. It's a human thing. If you want to respect them for being you, you can at least start by disliking them for being them, rather than for being a member of a particular demographic such as "old".
But then if they can tar us with the same brush because a minority has upset them, then I'm labeling 50% of the old as a nuisance. I never had a "younger" person turn around and complain because i'd given them the facts.
You should go out more... Look, it doesn't matter how they behave. What matters is that if you want to take the moral high ground on them, you have to behave better/wiser. In this case that means not generalising bad behaviour of one person to a whole demographic. Next we'll be saying: "All Muslims are terrorists", "All White people on the estates are BNP chavs", "All Asians are...", "All women are...", "All men are..." etc.
No, as I said, you respect them, and treat them well, then they should reciprocate. It won't always work, as Nexxo said some people are just jerks, but respecting your elders is something you should do. So many people seem to say these days "I'll respect them if they respect me" while simultaniously not doing a single thing to garner that respect. Oh and regardless of what you think about customers not paying your wages, unless Tesco doesn't actually make a profit anymore, then they're the ones who pay your wages. It does't matter if that filters through directly as in tips, or through 20 different levels of admin, they pay your wages.
That's the problem I have with this country... the customer always seems to say thank you more than the staff!!! You guys are in the service industry, to be blunt, you are there to 'serve' us. In a true free market environment, these places would be out of business, but the you guys are a forgiving and quiet bunch aren't you?
