yes leslers, I agree… my main point remains the same.
Teach your child manners. They were still ASSuming he was uneducated because of his job. That fact has NOT changed.
And Mama Tiger, I don’t care if it was at Sam’s. I don’t know if it was or was not his job. Neither do you.
I take it at your job if you see someone who is behind in their work, you jump right in and takeover right? As a nurse, if I see the woman taking insurance information is backed up, I can assure you that I don’t go over, sit down, and give her a hand because there are people waiting. That is HER job, not mine. So I guess that makes me a poor worker too.
Eh, I made my point in my OP- any more emphasis is just retyping. I guess you get my point or you don’t. I have no personal beef with Mama Tiger, but this set my teeth right on edge. I’m willing to bet there are Dopers who work retail that would certainly take exception to the notion that it’s assumed that they’re there because they “didn’t study”. Please.
$40 or $50 an hour? In this right-to-work state? With some of the lowest wages in the US? Nope, folks, not a chance. Heck, even the most highly skilled union members who work at the Avondale Shipyard (officially Northrup Grumman but still known to all as Avondale) don’t make more than $14-$15 an hour. Most of them make less than $10 an hour.
And like I said, this was at a Wal-Mart-owned wholesale warehouse, not a regular grocery store. They are definitely non-union.
I see your point, Zette, but it just doesn’t fit the facts in this case. I’m sure the plenty of Dopers who work retail also don’t go out of their way to be rude to customers who do make polite requests. This guy had jumped down my throat initially; I’d started to say, “There aren’t any chickens out; are more going to be put out soon?” But before I could get past “chickens,” he interrupted me and snarled at me that he’d get to it when he could! I’m sure your father wouldn’t do that to his customers. There are a lot of nice people working at that Sam’s, this guy just wasn’t one of them. And he couldn’t even just fix a few chickens for the people who’d asked for them; no, he had to stand there and box up 50 before he’d pass out any. Again, he was just plain rude. Would your father do that to his customers, either? No, I didn’t think so.
And can you please explain to me in more detail just how and on what planet it was wrong for this woman to encourage her son to study hard and get a good education??? I appreciate that you don’t appreciate her pointing out a man unhappy with being overworked and underpaid as a good example of the value of an education; then what, pray tell, WOULD be???
I think it’s the comparison that’s a problem. Consider the following examples:
“You should eat right and excercise.”
“Why?”
“Otherwise you’ll be fat like her.”
versus
“You should eat right and excerices.”
“Why?”
“Because you want to be healthy and strong.”
“You should go to school and study.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t want to be a loser like him.”
vs
“You should go to school and study”
“Why”
“Because you want to be successful at whatever you want to do.”
There is absolutely no reason to compare yourself to other people as a “yardstick” for failure. It’s rude and unnecessary.
pepperland, you hit the nail RIGHT on the head. That’s my EXACT point. It has nothing to do with customer service or anything else. Thanks for the clarification very much.
My only problem with these comparisons is that they don’t really represent the conversation in question. I don’t see any implication on either side that the person was a “loser”. Mama Tiger in fact said that he was “overworked and underpaid”, which is an expression of sympathy for his situation. To me, that’s the complete opposite of casting him as some deadbeat moron that everyone seems to be reading into her remarks.
Just because the mother didn’t go into a huge dissertation on the multitude of reasons someone might be working a retail job they hate doesn’t mean that her simple message of “Study hard so you don’t wind up in a job that makes you unhappy” should be twisted into a big “OMG, you unfeeling, classist snob!!”. It was one comment in what was obviously an ongoing lesson she was trying to teach to her son, and taking it out of context and working oneself into a lather over it just seems like a tempest in a teapot.
Never mind the plump bloody chicken, I’ve never seen so many clucking old hens make so much out of nuthin’ on a lazy Sunday afternoon in all my days . . . . dear oh dear . . . .someone put the sport on teevee fer crissakes . . .
Count me as one of those “professionals” who is going from making $35 an hour to whatever the going rate is for retail, slave labor…
I am not educated like most people because of my ADD yet if the economy were were it was in 1998-1997 I would still be making $35 an hour for work in the computer industry. Education or not, everyone is different and an education doesn’t guarantee success.
I have, in my possesion (sp) an application for Hobby Lobby. For those that don’t know, it’s a craft retail store.
Education doesn’t guarantee the best of jobs, nor does NOT having a tradition education.
I used to make a lot of money, money that was damn fun to play with and I did it without the typical education that most people have.
Oh, and so did my dad who is living his retirement years quite well thank you very much despite his lack of a college degree. Oh and the founder of Wendy’s (may he rest in peace) also lived a well to-do life without the benefits of a higher education.
Education doesn’t mean smart. Education means advantaged, a big difference. When things are tight, even educated people work at service jobs. I live in a city that is experiencing such that right now.
Well, techchick, that was exactly the point this mom was trying to make to her son. A good education would provide him with more advantages, and the way to a good education was to start studying young. She never suggested there was anything inherently wrong with working in low-paying jobs, just that an education might provide a person with more options.
Seems to me that it’s hard to quarrel with that point of view, even though clearly a number of you have.
In the interest of educating the public, I have this to say:
Unless you personally know someone, it is best to never assume that they don’t know another language. I mean, what if the lady said something rude in Spanish and he did understand?
If you looked at me, you would probably never guess that I am fluent in Spanish.
You’d be amazed at the things I have heard because ‘obviously’ I am white and not hispanic. Well, they are wrong.
Also, just because one doesn’t speak the language doesn’t mean that they don’t understand. My husband’s co-worker as an example. He understands Spanish completely but does not speak it. If you saw him, again, you would never guess this.
One last thing: even id a person doesn’t speak or fully understand a language doesn’t mean that they can’t comprehend what people are saying. Many people now take Spanish in High School and pick up phrases here and there. They can also pick up on body language.
I am not saying this to pit you, Mama Tiger. I just really needed to add this, is all.
It would be nice, but it would cut in to the multimillion dollar bonuses for the CEOs of this country, and we just can’t have that. Where would they come up with the millions of dollars it takes to buy the political access they need to keep getting all the taxbreaks they so greatly deserve?
Sorry, overactive sarcasm module was inserted somehow.
Yes. If one works at a fulltime job, one should be able to support one’s self without resorting to begging, chicanery, food pantries or petty theft to have basic necessities of life. It’s scary to see families with 2 kids and both parents working, and they’re going deeper and deeper into debt because there’s a major disaster like a kid with an ear infection, and the meical bills ate up the electric bill money. (Here in Texas, we take away their access to Children’s Health coverage so that the Governor can play politics with the money.)
You almost had me Mama Tiger, until you assumed that this worker you have so much sympathy and goodwill for, changed the price on the chicken simply out of spite. If it was really as busy as you say it was, there’s a strong possibility that it was an honest mistake.
