Do you know how mean people are?

I know for a fact that if I took time out in my day to put mean or rude people in their place, I would never get where I am going. I live in Jersey (in my opinion its the home of the rude) and when I worked in restaurants, every other customer was just as rude or mean as the last and it got to the point one day where the place I was working was packed and this woman came to the counter and threw the chicken she ordered back at me, called me a piece of black trash and told me that if I didn't bring her back some properly cooked chicken, she was going to have my ghetto so and so fired..instead of hopping over the counter and punching her face off, I kindly got on the loud speaker and made sure all the customers heard me when I said that they all needed to remember that mostly everybody in that place was rude or mean to someone behind the counter at one point in their visit and they needed to be careful because chicken is greasy..its slippery and its very likely to fall on the floor..it might slip out your hand and hit the floor again...I also reminded them that it was cold and flu season and germs run wild when people are working. I bet after that everybody in there learned manners quickly... In the run of a day, I run into at least two to three rude/mean people and now I am more mature and learned to just let them go on and leave them for someone else to deal with..

Depending on the ages of the children you're talking about, I'm not sure if they're actually mean, or just uninformed on how to have casual conversations with adults. I only suggest that, because I see my kids (aged 8, 8, and 10), and how they can be a little dumbstruck when a cashier or other service person starts talking to them. To them, it's a "stranger"... and they're just used to ME being the one who has "those" kinds of conversations lol. But yes, there are many mean and rude people out there. I worked in retail for years, and came across more than enough of them. I figured the majority of the mean ones likely never had to work in the retail sector, and just didn't "get it". Oh well. Karma WILL get to them in due time. :)

I live in Florida and folks in the south seem to be much friendlier and more polite than those in the north. People greet strangers all the time with a smile and "please", "thank you" "M'am" and "Sir" are used regularly by young and old. On the flip side, I was in New York City once and bought something from a store. The clerk told me the total price in a very nasty tone and when she gave me my change she just glared at me without saying a word. People on the streets up there were also nasty. So, I guess it depends on who you come into contact with. I'm sure there are some polite New Yorkers and rude southerners but I can pretty much say with absolute certainty that the rude southerners aren't rude in front of their mommas! Southern mommas rule the roost down here.

I think that a lot of our common courtesies have broke down because people just don't appreciate things as much as they used to. I see people in a hurry or stressed and they just don't understand how much a thank you or good day can effect another person. Teenagers are a wonder and sometimes I think they carry a chip on their shoulder. You're working behind the counter and I'm your customer so I'm better than you. Not always, but some of them are like that. As for little kids. They are often shy around adults. Even in a place they come often you're still an adult they don't know and are shy to say hello. I also agree with what was said that they look at you as a stranger and we all know little kids aren't supposed to say hello to a stranger. It can be a mixed message really. All in all I've expeirenced it too. People call in to where I work and are rude or think I don't know enough about my job because I can't guess what they want. Geezz, they called me to order something so they should know what they want right?

Oh, I know exactly what you're talking about. I used to work in a fast food restaurant, and some of the customers were so nasty, even the teenagers. I caught the most attitude when I worked the drive-through. People didn't bother thinking about the fact that we actually had to cook their food before giving it to them, which would take no more than five minutes at most, and they got so, so, so cranky and start calling us names.

I know what you mean. I see a alot of kids that are totally rude. The parents of these kids a lot of times are rude also. I am really friendly and it is sad to see people so down and out.

I have met lots of mean people in my life. I am sorry that you met some of them daily. I think most of them makes our day very hard. I sometimes wishes there were lots of good people rather than mean people in the world. Most of the mean people helps to make our life better.

believe me,i know.any service industry job,you have days where you practically bite through your lip to keep your mouth closed.i've had days where i weighed how bad i wanted to keep that job rather than not say something. housekeeping's even worse,trust me. at least with food service you usually don't deal with people leaving body fluids here and there on purpose.usually. children can be the worst at either job though.

if you are working some place there is not much you can say or do because you need to hold onto your job and rude people are not worth losing your job over. we are not able to change other people but we can change our reaction to them. many people are rude and have no common courtesy. keep being the nice person you are. when i am a customer, however, and the person waiting on me is rude or does not respond when i say hi or thank you i do say something to let them know they are rude and unprofessional. when i am a customer i expect a hello and a thank you at the very least.

hey i live in Malaysia but im a German-English descendant, im in the Malaysia second home programme. and its pretty much the same here only some places are mean though. more places here tend to be nice but people never greet each other on the streets. helping strangers in need of help is common here. but walk into a store anywhere you will always be greeted wonderfully. workers and all sorts of people are always friendly but only in stores. people exchange the words please and thank you but once again only in stores and also food services. BUT when a Malaysian is looking for a parking spot or turning into a junction and someone accidentally does a mistake, mistakes do happen generally as we are only human, expect to hear an earful! so i guess in a way you can say that Malaysians are friendly but only to a certain extend but overall i love my country and im proud of where i come from but one things for sure I, myself always have my manners with me wherever whenever with whoever. cheers mate.

I can relate to you. I worked in a bank for years as a cashier and talk about touchy customers! Aside from the generally rude ones who would throw things at me instead of handing them to me, there were the ones who would become abusive if their Social Security cheque hadn't been deposited into their account. One man had to be forcibly removed by the Police! I left the job because I don't like dealing with the public, there are a lot of mean and rude people out there! Children who are rude have clearly not been shown the ropes by their parents. No excuse really.

They have problems deep inside and they vent it out to someone else.I know that it is bad but it happens

Yes, I know exactly what you mean. :-) Even though I do not work at a fast food restaurant I do live with a person who is what I call "beyond mean". :-) The best thing to do with these type of people is to keep your cool, in other words, do not let them get the best of you. :-) Your personal sanity should be worth much more than any mean/rude person should ever be. :-)

I think to say thank you or Hi when meet people is polite.Everyone need other's respect,even a bug,because we are all a mankind,or a citizen.when I go to some restaurant,when the cleck give me the change,they always with their two hands,and when I was to leave,they always say goodbye,and that restaurant is always with good income,so being polite is very important,no matter who you are.

Thank you for starting this discussion. It is a growing trend. Children becoming more disrespectful and rude. We are complaining but we are forgetting that it is our responsibility to show them the way. As a parent or in general, as an adult, we have to set an example for the children to follow. But I guess we have not been being good role models for the kids. Now, we are complaining that they don't even respect us. I think we should remember how our parents taught us good values and let's just pass these good things to the kids.

if they don't say anything to a stranger they are not mean. kids are cute never mean. I wonder if the kids are too young to speak :-) just say something sweet and remarkable to them and look at them speaking to you themselves. ok i am asking you " hi smiley how are you?" now i will delete you from my friends list if you not reply 1000 times. :-) just kidding. don't thank me you really don't need to. i love to answer your questions. :-)