It may be my imagination but I could swear that people are becoming more rude, stupid and vulgar. It seems to be everywhere and since I've been online since the early days of the internet, I've particularly noticed the change in the 'online community'. What makes you cranky and weary with the way things have changed from what you remember? Is it society or our perception that's changed? Come and be crotchety with me.

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2000

Answers

Oh thank god, someone welcoming me to come in and bitch. You cannot even imagine how much I need to complain. People are so rude all the damn time and I just don't understand why. I hate the way people drive. Fast, fast, fast, change lanes fast, tail gate, fast, fast, fast, drive on the shoulder to get around people, tail gate cars doing 65 in the SLOW LANE on the freeway, fast, fast, fast. I have come so close to following shitty drivers so I can yell at them when they stop somewhere. Don't people know they can cause death and dismemberment driving like that?! Jeez, it makes me sick. And then there's just people's general rudeness. I was on the phone with that same telecommunications company. It was my FIFTH phone call to tech support of the day. The first 4 times, I'd spoken with technicians and been helped, or at least they tried to help. This bitch on the 5th call said "Do you realize you're calling the wrong number?" What?! Why didn't the first 4 people mention that? "I don't know but they shouldn't have helped you." Don't get me started on our neighbors. The ones who call the police every time someone parks on the lawn at our house (you'd have to see to understand why this shouldn't bother anyone). The ones who call the city and try to complain about our lawn being too long (which is a bother and a waste of time because our lawn might not be perfect, but it's not a danger or a menace or even an eyesore). The ones who are having their roof re-done and all the flippin noise started up at 7:30 ON SUNDAY MORNING. I shoulda called the cops on them, it woulda served them right. But you know what? I try really hard to be nice, even when other people aren't.

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2000

Heck, I get so annoyed at people I started a MORON AWARD and IDIOT AWARD which I award to people who are deserving. So far, the majority are bad drivers, and they just get their license plate number mentioned under the award on the website. But I'm working on printed out awards for all those stupid parking jobs, I'll put them under their windscreen like a parking ticket **evil grin** I EVEN created the "tip envelope" for all those times that you feel like leaving more than a penny in tips. Check it out! http://members.dencity.com/bad_day/ Today my hubby almost got run off the road by a semi in a construction area. Talk about total idiots out there on the road!

Cheers! Lilu

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2000

I see and understand the complaints about drivers. I deliberately didn't bitch about this in my entry because if I had, my entry would've taken three days to read. Oh and the darling phone company that was trying to call this morning apparently had two different people calling us because just as one was calling my mother at our old number, the other was calling us at our new number. They called to give us the comfirmation numbers for our order but even now that our order is supposedly confirmed, I wonder if we'll ever get the service and computer that we ordered!

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2000

Yep, people are becoming worse. I'm especially noticing it in little kiddos - every day I hear kids, no older than seven, screaming extremely vulgar things - or rather, things that I don't really care about hearing from an adult, but from a little kid, it's repulsive.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2000

I live in.... well.... a *questionable* neighborhood. Okay, it's in the subarbs and that's about the only thing going for it. (That and the cheap rent.) Anyway, what I've noticed is just a total lack of respect. I too have the bass thumping neighbors. It's actually the women next door's four stupid little rugrats. Damn, and I generally like children, but these kids are over the top. And you know going next door won't do any good, since Mommy isn't home and she's the only human being who's even remotely likely to listen to you. Gar.

Back to the lack of respect. Our neighborhood children play in the parking lot. (I live in a townhouse, rented. There are lots of parking lots.) Nevermind the big open field that's just behind our little row. They have to play in the streets. They dare you to hit them when you're trying to park. They stand in the space you want to pull into and watch you as you stop, waiting for them to move. But do they move? No! They just stand and stare. Or, how about the little rugrats that play ball in the parking lots. Now, my car isn't anything terribly nice, but it's in good shape and has no dents in it. I take care of it. I watched these little rugrats *throw a ball* at my car, right in front of me! This past winter, I watched a little girl *fall* right onto the hood of my car. My husband found his antennae flattened one day. We saw them using our vehicles for bases in kickball.... climbing all over them. I. Hate. This. Neighborhood.

So, here's the conclusion of my little rant. I don't think a lot of parents are doing their jobs anymore. Some just don't seem to be teaching their kids any kind of respect for other people and other people's belongings. I don't even want to go into the time the neighbor's boys came knocking on my door after 9:00 at night to ask for matches so they could "play with their candles". ARGH!!!

The point of that was.... I'm with you Sasha. I feel your pain. Yep.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2000

It's both society and our perception, because, in my opinion, I happen to be meeting new stupid people just about every day. I mean, the amount of insanely stupid emails I get from potential customers, like "I was just at your website - how do I order" and I'd love to say go back to the website and push that big ol' button that says "ORDER" stupid!
And the evening news - you would think the only man-on-the-street interviewees they could find were the ones who were on leave from the local mental institution.
That may seem harsh, but when the news does one story about how horrrible the dump is and we should all recycle, and then later does a story about the recycling program sucks big time cuz, you know, its a real hassle for people to participate in...
I'd better stop now, and refill that coffee.......

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2000

This is sort of irrelevant, but when I worked at Taco Bell when I was 15 as a cashier, people used to call me "sir" and "young man" all the time. I had a shaved head, but I really think a 38C ought to counteract that.

On the 'net, I mostly notice people asking me for naked pictures, which I feel is poor etiquette. Right now, in RL, I'm in Japan, and everyone is REALLY polite here--it's quite a change from being in the U.S. No one is loud; that's one of my favorite parts.

-- Anonymous, October 13, 2000

What I see on the highway -- day to day -- would make a saint barf. Me first, the hell with you, look out for me 'cause I'm too stupid to watch out for myself, Oh man I gotta turn from the high speed lane and cross four other ones to catch the off ramp, kill to gain a car length. Yeah -- it is true -- all of it.

But, being a white haired, crippled old man who having seen a young man in a cast, on crutches hurry on ahead of me to open the door for me and then quickly go inside and open that door too -- I am not really that bad off but many people will smilingly open doors and extend little courtesys to me. It seems to me that some people have been raised by the right folks -- I haven't been around them to see how they aim their four wheeled automotive guided (?) missiles so I know not their highway manners.

-- Anonymous, October 18, 2000

I feel that people in general seem to have run out of time too busy to use even those few extra nice words that make someone's day. Working in hospitality I see this all the time. It unfortunately seems to be the way the world is going...drive too fast, work for too long, eat on the run. Time we all took some time to remember what really matters huh?

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2001

I agree, there are a lot of stupid people out there who don't have any respect for other people. It's the kind of world we live in, a capitalistic economy, and people have just strayed from basic values and began migrating towards the belief that what THEY want is all important. What they don't understand is that the world they're creating is a backstep is societal structure. The ones who do understand this need to keep trying to be nice, no matter how hard it seems, and believe in the basic goodness of people and their ability to realize the error of their ways and change. Stay Strong!

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002