# Am I an asshole? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 11, 2007, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586 "2007-12-11T04:05:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/81 "2007-12-11T10:00:28Z")
[QUOTE=copperwindow] When they heard me speaking in correct English, shouldn’t they have spoken back to me in correct English? [/QUOTE] Is that how it works? Say you work at a business in Harlem. A black guy comes into your shop and says to you: “Yo, 'sup. Where the manager at?” When you hear him speaking in jive, shouldn’t you speak back to him in jive? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/82 "2007-12-11T10:13:42Z")
Could I please get an Indian to write an OP on this? Preferably Cherokee? I’m not sure I can understand you what with “I was explained this to ‘Robert’, a black employee,” not being a proper sentence and all. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/83 "2007-12-11T10:17:01Z")
How in the world is this not trolling? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/84 "2007-12-11T10:28:09Z")
[QUOTE=madmonk28] How in the world is this not trolling? [/QUOTE] Well, the OP could be simply asking a serious question. There aren’t a lot of happy options, that’s certain. ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/85 "2007-12-11T12:36:48Z")
[QUOTE=copperwindow] There was an incentive to be nice to me if they want my business in the future! [/QUOTE] I’m sure they’d be more than happy to live without your business in the future. The standard reaction to “I’m never coming back here!” at my old retail job was a public apology and a private “Thank God.” ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/86 "2007-12-11T12:59:35Z")
Clearly we are reading this wrong. We are reading “The first mouse don’t work” when the employee MUST have said “Thizzle fizzle mizzle dizzlnt wizzle?” Because otherwise, the OP would be totally stupid! ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/87 "2007-12-11T13:14:20Z")
wow. I normally don’t join in on pile ons but what were you thinking? This almost strikes me as a joke thread or someone posting under someone elses name because it can’t be serious. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/88 "2007-12-11T13:30:26Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] You win the thread. [/QUOTE] Why do he? ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/89 "2007-12-11T13:38:34Z")
[QUOTE=cochrane] **copperwindow** , you’re not an asshole. You’re just defective. Your brain don’t work. Come back with the original packaging and you can exchange it. [/QUOTE] He would but his mama don’t want him back. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/90 "2007-12-11T13:50:06Z")
Yes you am. You also probably always was. Most likely you always will have be one too. I hope this was all clear to you, if not surely you can take it to CC where someone with lesser grammatical comprehension could translate for you. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/91 "2007-12-11T14:11:17Z")
A _bleached_ asshole, no less. Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/92 "2007-12-11T14:19:39Z")
[QUOTE=FriarTed] Clearly we are reading this wrong. We are reading “The first mouse don’t work” when the employee MUST have said “Thizzle fizzle mizzle dizzlnt wizzle?” \ [/QUOTE] I’m totally using that next time I have to return a defective product. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/93 "2007-12-11T14:32:46Z")
To answer the OP: Of the first water. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/94 "2007-12-11T14:47:03Z")
[QUOTE=Czarcasm] **copperwindow** , would you like me to fix the thread title for you? You’ve seemed to have transposed the first two words. [/QUOTE] Ohhhh How I laughed. It’s unfortunate large cooperate chains are so concerned about pissing off customers that they allow such behavior to go unchallenged. If you’re too fucking clueless to understand the store policy they both expressed you’ve got some nerve criticizing someone’s grammar. By overlooking your blatant racism and gross stupidity they treated you a lot better than you treated them. I hope you said thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/95 "2007-12-11T15:00:05Z")
I think some people are going to need to up their game if they expect to catch up to this. Well played, OP. _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Thalia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ba8739/32.png) [@Northern\_Thalia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Thalia)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/96 "2007-12-11T15:02:56Z")
[QUOTE=copperwindow] There is a difference in “perfect grammar” and “This mouse don’t work?”! I expect people who are competing for my dollar to know what is blatantly incorrect! [/QUOTE] If you are the grammar and English language guru that you claim you are, clearly you already know that differences between two objects are _between_ them, not _in_ them. Or… do you? Is it possible that you do not know everything about sentence structure and grammar? How can that be possible, considering you demand no less of everyone who deigns to speak to you? _begins questioning everything around her._ Asshole. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/97 "2007-12-11T15:05:44Z")
[QUOTE=copperwindow] For all I know they were speaking Ebonics to me. I don’t live in NYC, I was visiting my parents. They weren’t rude to me, and I don’t feel I was rude to them. My demeanor remained polite for the duration of the conversation. [/QUOTE] I’ve met a few people who think if they speak in an even tone they can say anything and it’s not rude because they didn’t raise their voice. You are incorrect. Rudeness is content not volume. The fact that you posted here indicates you entertained the thought as well. Saying “May I speak to a white employee” in an even tone is stupid and racist. > [@](#): > > There is a difference in “perfect grammar” and “This mouse don’t work?”! I expect people who are competing for my dollar to know what is blatantly incorrect! If you sincerely can’t understand what the employee is saying because of their accent that’s one thing. That’s not the case here is it? > [@](#): > > I probably would have written to the company headquarters and taken the issue one notch up. Great. Then they could send you an apologetic form letter while passing your letter around and mocking you for a being a petty moron. ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/98 "2007-12-11T15:14:33Z")
[QUOTE=copperwindow] I do feel that I received ambiguous answers from each of them. Why would one employee let me exchange the mouse while another employee wouldn’t? [/QUOTE] You got the exact same answer from each, showing that each was perfectly familiar with store policy–they both said store policy required the box for returns. The first guy was willing to let it slide; the second guy wasn’t. What is so hard to understand about that? Oh, and a lot of blacks in American speak [African American Vernacular English](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_Vernacular_English). It’s perfectly comprehensible to most whites. Except for those whites who pretend not to understand in order to give themselves an excuse to be racist douchebags. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/99 "2007-12-11T15:24:05Z")
I’m just waiting for the “gotcha” line. Isn’t this likely to end up along the lines of the OP being the store employee, but white, and the customer being black, and that it is a cunning way of exposing all those libruls who supposedly can’t admit a black person could be racist… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586/100 "2007-12-11T15:38:37Z")
You know, I think asshole is far to general a term to accurately describe the OP. BTW, has a single one of his posts in this thread been free of spelling/grammar errors? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-an-asshole/429586.md?page=6)