And sometimes they’re not. You at least need to take that possibility into account and not make a knee-jerk assumption like the OP did.
That last line broke my irony meter :dubious:
My FIL had dementia at age 90, and he wanted his cigars. I’d buy them for him, and he would always ask what they cost. I’d tell him, and he would blow a gasket!
“No, just get the 5c ones, in the jar by the register”, he would scream at me.
I’ve spent the past 20-ish years dealing with the general public in one job or another, and can usually tell the ordinary crabby old farts (fr’ex the woman who shouted at me “THOSE ARE NOT CLOTHES!!!” because they weren’t the sort of thing she wanted) from the ones with dementia (fr’ex, the one who screamed that he was gonna get me fired because I told him my name isn’t Nadine).
As an old(er) person, I say we don’t get a free pass. If we’re being assholes, tell us to shut up. Or maybe just say “Quiet down or Big Sven from Security will escort you out.”
Or you can bite your tongue and vent to a messageboard. That’d be my plan… “I am gonna be pitting this guy SO hard…”
I don’t think it’s an either/or. I think we can be understanding and maybe find out why they’re acting up and try to be patient… AND call them on being a jerk.
Most everyone who works with the public learns quickly that there are a fairly large number of difficult people out there. They are difficult for a variety of reasons. The best thing to do is just smile and in moments they are out of your life. Someone else probably has to deal with them on a full-time basis.
One of our jobs as non-difficult people is to spread smiles and tolerance as much as possible.
He doesn’t have a lot of time left. he can’t be standing around waiting for someone to get him his cigars godammit.
I used to say this all the time when I worked in fast food. “At least we only have to put up with him for five minutes. Somebody else has to live with him.”
And he has to live with himself all the time.
I WANT ONE OF THOSE CIGARS, DAMMIT!!!
[sub]screamed Doctor Jackson, who has been out of his mind since he came out of the womb[/sub]
Bet it was Walmart. Had to be Walmart. Where the effing hell was the greeter?
How is my post offensive? A man entered a store and started yelling at already harried employees. What problems gives the man the right to yell at people?
The “disturbed” senior’s actions weren’t “odd”, the were assholish!
Yes, I’ve had first hand experiance with the condition. My own grandmother died from it! He wasn’t acting confused, he walked into the building, went to the tobacco case and yelled out what he wanted.
Almost correct. It was my state’s version of Walmart. Basically a marginally more expenssive Walmart.
So your Walmart-that-isn’t-a-Walmart has displays of cigars? But locked so crazed grandpas don’t start chewing on them?
I’m trying to picture what kind of store it is where Granny can say “I’ll be in the Ladies’ Lingerie and Jigsaw Puzzle department. You just stand here quietly and watch these boxes of cigars rotate behind bulletproof glass”.
Well he probably had Alzheimer’s so not sure you can hold him personally accountable.
Walmart cut the greeters awhile back to save costs.
No they didn’t. They still have them during peak hours.
This is one of the things that really irritates me about this place sometimes. Being mildly annoyed by the unusual or disruptive behaviour of a stranger and venting about it online seems like a pretty unremarkable thing to do. But no, apparently it’s been decided that the elderly gentleman in question has some sort of health issue and therefore the OP is a horrible judgemental asshole for not politely smiling and nodding and carrying on with their day, regardless of the fact they disapproved of the situation.
Would you all have preferred the version where the OP picked the lock on the cigar cabinet for the old man and filled his pockets with fine tobacco?
And FWIW, I’ve got plenty of experience dealing with the elderly. I worked in retail for more than a decade. I’m an experienced journalist who has done a lot of stories about elderly folks and elder issues. I have elderly parents and relatives. I don’t live in the Logan’s Run universe.
He WAS the greeter. 
The voice of reason, thank you.
I can guarantee you that the employees have dealt with much, much worse than some old dude yelling that he wants his smokes. At the very worse, it’s probably something they’d laugh about back in the break room.