You must be retarded if you can't read my mind [longish]

[Shengirl]

That person was, quite simply, a bully. I lack the capacity to take that much crap anymore, and I would have probably said something to get myself in trouble at the "you're not too bright," comment. I mean, I'm a biochem major, psych minor, and honors college member in a good state university. I'm no genius, but on the grand scale of things, I'm not anyone who deserves to be ridiculed for low intelligence.

In any case, should you get any similar bullies in the future, try this:

In a flat tone of voice, say something like, "Actually, ma'am, I read the order back to you as ___. I'm sorry if you misheard." There should be no sincerity in the apology, and it should be served with the best glare you have. That's not nearly enough to get you in trouble, and just showing that you're not about to take hits lying down is often enough to make someone like that back off. The glare is really the clincher, though. It has a lot of effect when I do it, anyways, probably because I otherwise look very harmless.

[the_std]

This comment isn't meant to belittle any of you guys in any way, kudos for all your excellent scholastic achievements! But I know a lot of people with that 4.0 GPA and all the distinctions and everything like that who would be hard-pressed to navigate a menu at McDonald's. And it kind of encourages the "I went to Yaddah Yaddah School therefore I am superior to you" SCs and their self-justified mentality. There are many kinds of intelligence and success in this world, and it seems that focus is sometimes unjustly given to one type over another.

[Listerfiend]

This comment isn't meant to belittle any of you guys in any way, kudos for all your excellent scholastic achievements! But I know a lot of people with that 4.0 GPA and all the distinctions and everything like that who would be hard-pressed to navigate a menu at McDonald's. And it kind of encourages the "I went to Yaddah Yaddah School therefore I am superior to you" SCs and their self-justified mentality. There are many kinds of intelligence and success in this world, and it seems that focus is sometimes unjustly given to one type over another.

I kind of agree--while an education is important, especially in retail the biggest thing for one to have is common sense... even if customers don't. Along those lines, I go to a college that's well-known in my state for being one of the best nursing schools. I've been in my share of classes with said nursing majors, and I can confidently say that most of them were/are vapid valley-girl-wannabes with no common sense who behave like high-schoolers and are overall extremely idiotic...
Which is terrifying, because, well, they're going to be frickin' nurses.

[Seshat]

Which is terrifying, because, well, they're going to be frickin' nurses.

No they're not. They think they are, but I'll bet a lot of them wash out when the time comes to change colostomy bags and clean the patient. Or change the dressing on a gangrenous wound.

The ones who are in a dream world and think they can be pretty Florence Nightingales with lamps are going to wash out. The rest are going to learn that Florence dealt with a lot worse than most modern hospitals ever deal with.

[SongsOfDragons]

No they're not. They think they are, but I'll bet a lot of them wash out when the time comes to change colostomy bags and clean the patient. Or change the dressing on a gangrenous wound.

The ones who are in a dream world and think they can be pretty Florence Nightingales with lamps are going to wash out. The rest are going to learn that Florence dealt with a lot worse than most modern hospitals ever deal with.

A lot of nursing student's I've met clearly think that kind of essential care is waaaaaaaaaaaaaayyy below their job status.

Uh...no.

[Shengirl]

But I know a lot of people with that 4.0 GPA and all the distinctions and everything like that who would be hard-pressed to navigate a menu at McDonald's.

This is true. We once hired a guy with a degree, intending to train him for the office. He was so bad at comprehending everything, he stayed as a cashier until he screwed up enough to be fired. And NOBODY liked him. There's smarts and there's smarts.

But what I hate are people that assume any given customer service worker MUST be retarded or a drop-out just because he doesn't work 9-5. Y'know, they couldn't be working their way through school, and it's just not possible they actually like the workplace when it's not infested by entitled asshats. Nope; dumb as dirt. HUGE pet peeve.

Some pissy old woman once said to me, "I don't trust you to add those numbers," and...actually, I'm not sure how I didn't kill her. Probably by dripping icy sarcasm and moving as slow as humanly possible through the rest of the order.

[qaxons]

I got my "Did you just call me in an idiot?" tale...

A few weeks ago, I was on a call for a study that I can't mention any more about due to the fact that I like my job, and don't want to spend 15 years in a federal pen.

"You sound like you're reading a scipt."
"Yes, sir, I am."
"Why? Too stupid to remember the questions?"
"No, sir, it's required that I read every word to you verbatim from the computer, or I would have my job terminated for falsification."
"You're just an idiot, you probably read those words from a sheet as well. How do I know you're even entering my answers right?"

At this point, I was about ready to blow, but I knew I was being monitored. There's a distinctive change to the sound quality when a QA hops on.

"Sir, I assure you that I am not an idiot. And my previous reply, about falsification is the same reason I assure you all of your answers are being input into the computer correctly. You have to pass a test to work here involving many words that not everyone sees in every day life."
"I don't believe you."
"Well, sir, as much as I would like to continue this discourse on my intellectual inadequacy, I'm afraid we really must get back to the study..."

At that point I went back into the questions, and he followed along fine... I wish I could've told him off, or that we had some sort of abusive caller protection policy to deal with people like him. I may not have finished college, but I can do a lot of stuff that people who've been through college twice can't seem to grasp. I'm not idiot, and it's one of my pet peeves when people call me that... I just want to run through mathematical formulas and things until they shut up... or beat them in the skull until they can't use their own brains anymore.

It's hard to decide sometimes.

[phuphuphnik]

I'm going to be extra nice when I go to the bakery/cafe places FROM NOW ON.
just for you.and To make up for all the crap you guys put up with.

[Rapscallion]

...One thing to note, though. It's generally considered good form to refrain from certain types of description (race, religion, etc) unless it's relevant to the story. Not sure if weight is in that category, but I thought I'd go ahead and throw out a friendly heads-up since you're new.

We relaxed that slightly recently - somewhere in the Site News. We're not going so gung-ho on it if it's only descriptive, though this is a trial thing. If it helps to define what's going on and set the scene, then fine. If it becomes a commonplace thing for a poster to do this, we'll take note.

Rapscallion