Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...
My daughter hates cooking. How can one of my descendants HATE cooking? Cooking is good for the soul. It allows you to express your love and caring to others in a tangible way through your efforts.
Of course, if the last 3 or 4 times I'd cooked for my loving friends they had told me that I really shouldn't try to cook, I'd probably hate cooking too (or maybe turn the hate-on to my 'loving' friends!...hmph! that's the bitch goddess in me I suppose!)
This was supposed to be a post about cooking, but I'm wandering off the subject, as usual, I think what I really want to puzzle about is politenes, gratitude, and all that other social grease that so many people think is unnecessary. As a goddess, I find it very necessary. People in this world are hateful enough without adding to those feelings out of ignorance or sheer thoughtlessness.
A magic 'please' or 'thank you' and a smile can go a long way toward people feeling less nasty during their day.
When we moved to our current town a few years ago, I really thought the people here were some of the rudest I had ever met, no smiles, no helpful attitude, no refills, all gruff and 'here's your change' as they dump it in your hand when you buy something. I really couldn't understand it in a tourist town.
Then, the goddess was enlightened. My nephew, poor boy, has lived in this town his entire life. He has held jobs here. We were having dinner with him (at a really cool Chinese Buffet we found that has NO MSG! WOot! It hasn't got that great of reviews, but there is always something new there for me to try...peppered squid, sushi, octopus, dim sum) and I expressed how hard I found the rudeness of the clerks, etc in town to deal with and how it surprised me in a tourist town. His answer was that it was BECAUSE it was a tourist town and according to his experience...some tourists are really stupid...
Okay....? Had I heard the one about the tourist from back East who asked him when did they turn the Falls off for the night? (Multnomah Falls) ??? huh
Or then there was the one (sitting in a dining room almost under the bridge) who asked if the Bridge of the Gods went all the way across the river? (my dh told my nephew he should have said ....welll....only if you get a run at it.)
Then there was the tourist who asked what that island was over there across the lake (the 'island' being Washington State and the 'lake' being the Columbia River.)
So I guess maybe this goddess has to b*tch less about rude people and wonder why people who have seen me at least once a week for the past 3 years in a town of less than 2,000 might think I'm a tourist. :) huh... it's been a long time since I've been mistaken as dumb...maybe it's the grey in the hair and the missing teeth (until recently)....nah, nobody would think you were dumb just because you were old, right?
Hmmm....maybe this is teaching the goddess another lesson. "judge not..." or maybe just to, "consider the source..." or maybe just to not let them take your day. The day is yours to do with as you wish. Their rudeness or judgements should not allow it to be ruined because it is time you won't get back. I like that better.
Blessings from a Puzzled Goddess
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3 comments:
Speaking as someone who's done the retail thing and worked a customer service desk (and bitched about it!) I can relate. But. Part of being a quality human being is dealing with a customer's stupidity, stubbornness, willful ignorance, impatience, disregard and general taking of an employee for granted (because as we all know retail employees easier to abuse than computers) with grace. And you might be surprised at the reaction of said customer if you treat them with kindness and patience, even if it annoys the living sh!t out of you and you still want to strangle them after they're convinced you're their friend. Mostly, though, it's not to help them, it's to help yourself to laugh, to feel good about what you do and say, and to be able to look in the mirror and say hey, the customers may be asses, but I'm not.
As for the turning off the waterfall thing, I know someone who thought that. Grew up in the desert. Had never seen water on that scale. Couldn't imagine anyone allowing it to go to waste just running off 24/7/365. Eventually that person adapted to life in the Pac NW. Although that person is embarrassed about it to this day, I would never say they were unintelligent, rude, or anything else. Just puzzled and curious and willing to look stupid by asking, and I would hate to think that someone would treat this person poorly simply because they honestly didn't know. Go ahead and laugh behind their backs because it's absolutely laughable, but I think it's not the best thing to make them never want to learn anything or ask strangers an honest question ever again and to believe that when they visit places they're going to be treated like crud.
Not that I'm opinionated about these things. Not at all! :p
You are so preaching to the choir here! I have b*tched about the rudeness in this town from day one. Having spent many years, as you did, in customer service and trying to be friendly and nice to those I deal with...it's really disconcerting for the response to be so negative. :(
I never thought about the being born in a desert thing and not being used to running water...but I still think I'd get a chuckle out of it. :)
There has been a slow turn over of help in the town in the last year or so, and I'm hoping it will have a positive affect on the customer service.
But I think the rudeness that I've noticed here starts in the kids in Kindergarten and is directly contributed to by parents who are substance abusers and a high unemployment rate. (I think the last figures I saw were about 15% for the town so the poverty line here is very low and people are very depressed.)
It's going to be almost impossible to convince them that employment will rise and quality of life will improve if they give up their drugs (easier to live cheap that way) and treat customers better and spruce up the town so that tourists, you know, will *want* to come back and shop and stuff?
I know, I'm such a dreamer. As if people would treat tourists better. They might give up the drugs, but slap on a fresh coat of paint and smile when they say hi to a stranger? Never gonna happen. LOL
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