Stereotypes are bullsh**!!

[cloudiko]

At work again, doing my daily duty to the Resturant as usual, I was stuck at the till. An older gentleman comes up to me and hands me his bill, and decides to start what would be considered a "normal" conversation. (about the food, etc.) And then...out of nowhere...the following gem:

Me: self explainatory
JG: jerky guy

Me: *counts back change*
JG: So, let me guess...you have a little kid at home or a drug problem, right?
Me: *jaw drops* Excuse me?
JG: What, no five year old at home that you have to spend your paychecks on or anything?
Me: *closes mouth* No, in fact. I am a poor college student who goes to *private university* full time and is a double major and minor. I'm an honors student and work here so I can pay tuition. Is that alright?
JG: You are? You look too young to be in college.
Me: I am a junior in college on track to graduate in four years. I don't want the rest of my life to be spent in the Resturant while my potential wastes away. And, for the record, not everyone who works here has a drug problem or is a single mother.
JG: That isn't true.
Me: *trying so hard to not hit this jerk in the face* (at this point I am pissed off and out of things to say to this guy)
JG: You're mad because it's true.
Me: You can think whatever you want. *I walk away*
JG: *stands at the counter and then slinks away like the scumbag he is*

Honestly, why are the suckiest ones so deceptive at first?

[Anoki]

Well, if they weren't deceptive, they probably would have been shot on site at some point.

Survival skills or something, I'm so sure.

[Crazeyal]

People like that degrade other people because of low self esteem or other "issues". When he was proven wrong, he simply switched his arrogance to "the rest of THEM" and assumed you would agree. Anger is wasted on people like that. Self delusion is their only strength.

[rerant]

This is sort of relateable, I guess, but my favourite thing that I have ever heard come out of any manager's mouth happened at my work last year.
My then manager (she moved departments) was dealing with a masive SC. Irate, yelling, cursing, degrding employees, etc.
Since she's not the sort to put up with this type of behaviour, she basically told him to cut the fucking attitude or get out of her store.
SC: What do you know? You just work retail. People like ME are important.
Manager: Well if you're so important why am I the only one out of the two of us who is at work at 2:00 in the afternoon on a Monday?

BURN!!!

[Fawn]

The only stereo type I can remember is when a single mother is working at a restaurant place. A lot of movies have that.

I can't believe the ignorance of that guy! His brain cells must have fallen out of his ears!

[Becks]

SC: What do you know? You just work retail. People like ME are important.
Manager: Well if you're so important why am I the only one out of the two of us who is at work at 2:00 in the afternoon on a Monday?

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!

[RecoveringKinkoid]

So let ME guess...that pompous dickhead will die alone and be mostly eaten by rats by the time the neighbors start to complain to the landlord about the smell.

[slick]

That was awful, I feel bad for the loser that thinks he's better than you. Good for you, walking away from the tard, no need to waste anytime around his dumbass.

My dad gets that crap all the time, people see him, hear the accent, and think he just came to the country. He hears "you're going to be a poor immigrant all your life" and crap like that often. If they only knew. My dad believes in Karma, so he just smiles and lets the door hit the fool on the way out.

[Namrepus221]

I would've spoken to the manager and had that guy banned from the place.

If he thinks everyone that works there has a drug problem or something...then he doesn't need to eat there.

[zzapp the witch]

He actually falls into more of a stereotype than you do, hon. Idiot.

[Gabrielle Proctor]

You know what REALLY sucks about stereotypes? Most of the time they don't pop out of thin air, some group of people does something that gets them a stereotype. Jews are frugal and trifty, hence "cheap". Italians are involved in the mob (BTW a friend of mine is full sicilian and BOTH side of his family are in the mob), HBO made a great show around that stereotype, "The Sopranos". All people who work in food service or retail are scum that dropped out of highschool. All female food service workers are either old and crazy or have a kid at home.

I worked at Arby's last year. I was sad to learn there was a reason for that stereotype at THAT restauraunt. I was the only one in college. Two of the three kids that were in highschool were pretty trashy (one is currently preggers). The other was okay, he was a trekkie. The rest of the staff consisted of older women that dropped out of highschool and had kids at home or were pregnant. I swear there were 3 pregnant women working there at once.

But just because my co-workers were good example of about 1000 wrong choices doesn't mean that I or the rest of us should be treated that way. People really suck.

[GayleShy]

Even if he felt that way about your situation, he should have kept his freakin' mouth shut. What in the world did he think he was going to prove by bringing that up to start with?

Oh, silly me, if he thought about something before he said it, he wouldn't be on this board

[blas]

He does fit into a much worse stereotype than you ever will.

He's an angry old fart pissed off at the world and the youth of today.

There are MILLIONS of them out there.

[earl colby pottinger]

You know what REALLY sucks about stereotypes? Most of the time they don't pop out of thin air, some group of people does something that gets them a stereotype.

The problem is those stereotypes don't water in the long run for many people.

My ex-girlfriend was a single mother. She did not finish high school, and after her husband left for a younger and rich woman (do worry karma really hit him back) she started out cleaning houses. Moved up to clean homes for stay-at-home medical care needs.

Moved into front counter work at the computer store where I meet her, moved on to a test desk at a bank, moved up to the ground floor of a new product coming online at the time(moving up the ladder every year), and now she just switched departments so she could go up a level - was offered a lot to keep the old job but wanted the new horizons.

Oh yes, forgot to mention she just bought a new condo, and her salary is now over $65,000 a year.

Personally, I get odd comments because I work at Arby's for minimal wage - I am in my early fifties. What some fools don't get - as a computer tech I made good money. I already paid for what I have - no car payments - no payments for the cabin property - no payments for the house I live in - I went cruising to the Bahamas last year, this year in December it will be the Southern Caribbean, and hopefully next year Europe but that might have to wait till 2009. Plus I live only one block away from my work place and I finish at 12:30 each day so I have the whole afternoon to enjoy. What is so good about those work-yourself-to-death jobs anyway?

[Rapscallion]

Live to work or work to live, eh?

Rapscallion