msmith - taking care of mentally retarded people is cleaning up 'retard shit'?

[yosemite]

Feynn, thank you for the information you have contributed, and thank you for your kind words.

I have to admit, I sometimes jokingly call my job “dead end”, because it is low-paying, and the way the system is set up in my state, it can be rather thankless. But there is no shame in the way I say it - it’s just the System has a dead-end mentality somehow - the job is always full of honor.

I am working in the entry-level position, as are many of my friends and co-workers. The vast majority of workers I see are at that entry level - that’s where we are most understaffed, and most needed. But the level entry position does not require a degree. When we are hired, we go though over a month of training, in things like CPR, First Aid, and other things that people in our field should know. So even if the job requires nothing more than a high school diploma to get in the door, we do have to learn a few things to be ready for it. And, needless to say, turnover is incredibly high during training, and during the first few months of employment. True, a lot of that is just the fact that the pay is rather bad, but quite a bit of it is just frayed nerves, and the realization of what the job REALLY entails.

Some of my co-workers are not what you’d call “educated” - a lot of them have never been to college. But it doesn’t make any difference - it’s not about that. They have SO much common sense, and “people skills”, and they are bright, compassionate, and flexible. I can think of several people who I always look up to - I just think they are brilliant. When I first started the job I was always seeking their advice. I suspect I have far more formal education than they do, but so what? Big deal! This is a job about common sense, and compassion. A good education is never a bad idea, but if someone has got what it takes for this job, they have what it takes. The level of their education is not usually a huge factor.

I will say again, I really think I could be better at my job - I don’t feel I’m that special. But I am able to feel proud about what I do. It’s a good job - not only because I am helping other people, but because it’s laid back in many ways. Well, at least I’m laid-back, so that’s how I take it! I think the clients pick up on that. I don’t get upset too easily, and go with the flow. When I come home, I am not stressed out because of work. I have so many outside interests and hobbies, so not being stressed out about work really helps. It’s a good job, (I just wish it paid more!)

[Linear_Crack]

*Originally posted by yosemitebabe *
You never cease to amaze. And, I didn’t quite say “anyone” can do it, rather I said that they’d HIRE anyone to do it, as long as they passed a security check. But not “anyone” can do it. It sounds like you’d pass out and go “ick ick!” rather than do it. I could be wrong - just a hunch.

Originally posted by msmith
Just about anyone has the physical and mental capacity to do your job. And I could certainly wouldn’t pass out just from handling some retard shit.

I thought I would add both posts in their entirety since the one sentence you quoted seemed out of context based on the info stated in this PIT thread.

yosemite “cry” babe,

Though the use of the word “retard” in msmith’s post was inappropriate, he wasn’t “summing up” your entire job duties in the above statement. He was merely assuming that handling “mentally challenged people’s shit” is one aspect of your job.

After reading the entire “Jobism” post, it appears to me that you are extremely sensitive about someone “looking down” on your position that requires little or no education or skill. Why is it so hard for you to grasp that someone with an MBA would consider you and your job at a lower level of competence, hierarchy, lifestyle, etc? If you are so defensive about the ranking status of your career and how it relates to other careers, maybe it just proves the point that a solid college education helps define your choices in life.

Aside from that, stop your fucking whining and face the fact that 9 times out of 10 a CEO is going to be higher up on ANY list than a position in a “dead-end” job.

Sheesh!

[wormtongue]

Yeah umm you go linear crack.

What is with these boards and all the posts by people looking for a pat on the head from the fairy of political correctness?

If one really has nothing more to say than rosie o’donnell or the hosts of “the view,” one should really shut the fuck up.

[yosemite]

*Originally posted by Linear Crack *

I thought I would add both posts in their entirety since the one sentence you quoted seemed out of context based on the info stated in this PIT thread.

I tried for brevity. I did give a link to the thread, so I am assuming that at least some of the people here are familiar with what was said. But oh well, I will add some more quotes, then. Here are a few more from msmith:

I’ll admit that I totally give in to jobism. When I hear someone works at a Burger King drive in window, I think less of them than I do someone who works as a banker or lawyer. Why is that? Because a banker or a lawyer has to have the discipline and ability to pursue an advanced degree compared to the sub high school requirement of the McDs employee.

Sure, I value and appreciate education very much. I have put in quite a few hours at college, and some of the best years of my life were in art school. But most of us on that thread have concluded that you just don’t know enough about a person just from their job. There are so many other factors and facets to a person, to “think less” of them based on their job alone seems rather hasty, to say the least.

And then there’s this:

But, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m jobist. I tend to date girls who are professional (as in lawyers or financial analysts, not as in protitutes) because I like smart women. I’ve dated dumb women in the past and I find them totally uninteresting. Most of my friends are also professional. Partly, because I met them at work or college. Also, because I don’t have much in common with someone who drives a truck or lays roof shingles. I have nothing against those people, but my friends and I like to do things that cost money. Someone who doesn’t make as much would feel left out since they couldn’t afford the $20 cover or $8 drinks at the clubs we go to. Not to mention they probably don’t want to blow a lot of money on the $60 dress shirts and pants that you need to get past the bouncers.

Several of us had a problem understanding why expensive shirts were so important.

So I asked him how my job rated. He did give credit that it involved helping people, but also wrote:

What do I think about your job? Of course I don’t rate it very highly. I have no desire to spend my days cleaning up after the mentally disabled for a pitience of a salary. (Is “retarded” even PC any more?). And in your own words, anyone can do it.

(I find it extremely ironic that he asks if “retarded” is PC, but doesn’t mind using “retard” later on.)

As featherlou says, he buys into the whole “American Dream” status thing too much. He has made contradictory statements - on one hand, he’d think less of a burger flipper, and he dates professional women because he “likes smart women” (like there aren’t any smart women anywhere else) and whatnot. But then he’ll backflip and say he doesn’t “judge a person by their resume”, and that he doesn’t judge the person, just the job. But that’s hard to swallow, after so many of the other things he wrote first. It’s all in the thread. Oh sure, there’s more. And sure, I was pissed, I rambled. I did say the thread got heated, I did say we were “duking it out” on that thread.

Though the use of the word “retard” in msmith’s post was inappropriate, he wasn’t “summing up” your entire job duties in the above statement. He was merely assuming that handling “mentally challenged people’s shit” is one aspect of your job.

Oh yeah, thanks for the smiley. That makes it all so much better.

“Retard shit” was ONLY aspect of my job he chose to mention - and there is no doubt that “retard” is a gratuitously MEAN word to use about the people that Feynn and I look after. I also hasten to add, I didn’t start this thread by raving at him, and saying he was evil or should be banned. I just said that it was really not a nice thing to say. It wasn’t. That word he used really cuts to the quick, for many of us.

After reading the entire “Jobism” post, it appears to me that you are extremely sensitive about someone “looking down” on your position that requires little or no education or skill.

I guess you didn’t read Feynn’s post then. I think he described very well of what our kind of job is about. But, whatever.

Aside from that, stop your fucking whining and face the fact that 9 times out of 10 a CEO is going to be higher up on ANY list than a position in a “dead-end” job.

You are beginning to sound like a clone of msmith. And I guess it just depends on what kind of lists you are talking about. Lists of social merit? Salary? What? Some lists will rank my job higher, others lower. But msmith’s list was about “high end” and “low end”, which imply certain things. Especially in a thread specifically about jobism. And “jobism” is about how some people are treated different, poorly, or with prejudice because of their jobs. Why shouldn’t I, or anyone else get hot under the collar for being treated poorly, based on our job alone? When is prejudice, or the pre-judging of someone based on their job alone, something to be ignored?

As Tamerlane (another poster on that thread) put it so well. The issue for him in regards to this is:

**d.)Not judging people by implied social class or economic standing.

e.)Not assuming a higher-paying job or one requiring a degree is automatically more meritous to society.

f.) All human beings should be dealt with as individuals whenever possible. And that’s the bottom line.**

And of course there’s more to his list. He puts it well. Everyone has a different set of standards, and prejudices. But, as Tamerlane puts it,

But it is arrogant to assume your views are right at all, let alone all of the time. And it’s morally bankrupt to act on them.

If someone can keep all their condescending thoughts and attitudes about me, a burger flipper, a temp worker, or whoever to themselves, and treat us with the same respect they give everyone else, then what we don’t know won’t hurt us. But that’s often not the case. And that’s what that thread is about.

[yosemite]

Hmmm… I have been perusing the other thread more thoroughly, and I think I need to add some more quotes to give a more complete picture: (Sorry for the copious quotes, I guess I’m on a roll!)

Msmith also wrote this:

The only reason I think your job is worthy of respect is because I believe helping the less fortunate is a noble cause. I don’t “look down” on you, but I don’t envy your position.

Now, that is a better way of phrasing it, but it was hard for me to take it completely at face-value, since he’d had a habit of talking out of two sides of his mouth, (saying something, and then backflipping later.) However, he has conceded several times that looking after retarded people does deserve some respect, (even though “anyone can do it”.) So I thought I’d better quote that as well.

But it still doesn’t take the sting away of “retard shit”, or much of the rest of it, though.

[Feynn]

This bugged me too…

“Someone who doesn’t make as much would feel left out since they couldn’t afford the $20 cover or $8 drinks at the clubs we go to. Not to mention they probably don’t want to blow a lot of money on the $60 dress shirts and pants that you need to get past the bouncers.”

$20.00 cover? $8.00 drinks?

Now THAT’S fucking retarded.

If I am going to spend $20.00 to get in the door there had better be more than overpriced drinks waiting for me.

Now, is anyone else wondering where msmith is? Perhaps he spent the weekend blowing wads of cash on clothes, drinks, and cover charges at all those trendy clubs he frequents and didn’t see this thread.

I have to run, those “retards” and a whole bunch of other people are counting on me to be walking in the door at the crack of seven.

I’ll be checking back.

[BoBettie]

If you have a mentally retarded (or ‘developmentally disabled’ - they use both terms where I work) loved one, would you appreciate hearing them spoken about in such a manner?

Well, my brother in law is developmentally disabled, and as far as I know, his helpers don’t clean up any “retard shit” from him. Get a clue, msmith.

yosemitebabe, the people who help my brother in law maintain a nice lifestyle, complete with assistance in his vocational needs, budgeting, recreation, and personal growth are so valuable to my husband and I. We thank them often for their hard work, and on behalf of the families you assist, I thank you too.
Zette

[kabbes]

yosemitebabe I agree with your position, stance and beliefs on this one. Furthermore msmith has repeatedly demonstrated to me a lack of humanity that beggers belief. Nevertheless on this one I think you may have reacted to something that was merely parsed poorly, albeit with extraordinary lack of tact.

If you carefully look over those two key quotes, you’ll find that you said that

It sounds like (msmith would) pass out and go “ick ick!” rather than do it."

It is easy to see how this might be interpreted as suggesting that it is the physically unpleasant side of the job that he wouldn’t be able to do.

He evidently disagrees with such an “accusation” and in his usual charming manner responded

And I could certainly wouldn’t pass out just from handling some retard shit.

Note that this does not imply that all your job entails is cleaning up. It is a denial of the specific charge that he wouldn’t be able to handle same.

Yeargh, I’ve defended msmith. Now I must go wash my hands. Excuse me.

pan

(hitting submit before he changes mind, so beware no preview!)

[Hibbins]

yosemitebabe in the jobism thread:

It was a shame. He could have had college paid for by the GI Bill. But, I guess after a certain point, he just didn’t see why he should go back to school. He did OK at the Post Office, he was able to support his family well. We had modest needs, and a modest lifestyle. Books and records are far less expensive than expensive clothes, expensive clubs and expensive cars. Books and art and music feed the soul, something he taught us all well.

We all think he made a big mistake, but too late now.

What does it matter if your father didn’t go to college? His character and the person he was shouldn’t be judged by that, correct?

He was proud of being a Postal Worker, but enjoyed poking fun of it at times as well. He was a postal worker for 41 years, and could have easily made supervisor many times. But he didn’t want it, because he wanted to be home with his family, have time to travel, listen to his music, and read. He definitely had the right idea, I think!

You essentially state that your father was happy with his occupation, that it fulfilled his needs and that he was not embarrassed by his occupation. Yet you are not sure he had the right idea? Why? Would a college degree or a more prestigious occupation have made him a better man/father?

Their level of education (at that point) carries no extra weight for me, at least.

Your aside seems to suggest that you do prejudge people (at least somewhat) by their level of (formal) education. How is this different than prejudging someone based upon their occupation?

That addressed, on to this threads subject msmith537.
yosemitebabe said this:

So, I will bring it up again: my job (working with retarded people) requires (to paraphrase you) for the employee to apply at the right time.

And this:

Would you be able to guess all these things about me (or my entire family) just with the information that my dad worked in a Post Office, I work with retarded people?

Prior to msmith537 responding with:

What do I think about your job? Of course I don’t rate it very highly. I have no desire to spend my days cleaning up after the mentally disabled for a pitience of a salary. (Is “retarded” even PC any more?). And in your own words, anyone can do it.

All of which proceeded your accusation that msmith537 could not perform your job and elicited his response which is the focus of this thread.

I am interested in how you explain that your use of the word “retarded” without the qualifier mentally is acceptable. So what does wring think of you now?

Especially in light of this (from this pit thread):

Now, I just didn’t that was a very nice thing to say. Is that all that there is to my job? Is that all these people I take care of are - “retards”?

I think you got frustrated and picked a nit in order to bring msmith537 to the pit, to get reassurance and support for yourself.

I particularly liked this statement from the jobism thread:

I had left open many areas in this debate where you could have (if you had been paying attention) argued or nit-picked my stance on this or that. But you missed 'em. I was waiting for you to “counter attack” with certain things, and you just flat out missed 'em!

It almost looks as if you intentionally left information out. Baiting?

[yosemite]

*Originally posted by kabbes *
He evidently disagrees with such an “accusation” and in his usual charming manner responded: “And I could certainly wouldn’t pass out just from handling some retard shit.”
Note that this does not imply that all your job entails is cleaning up. It is a denial of the specific charge that he wouldn’t be able to handle same.

I think you have made a good point. I think he was thinking primarily of my “ick” comment when he penned the brilliant “retard shit” remark. However, on that other thread I did also say that I didn’t think he was “good enough” for my job for many reasons, because it required someone with patience, and someone who wasn’t a snob. (Yes, I was irritated and somewhat pissed at him!) So I just didn’t use the “ick” description of my job when addressing him, but yeah, I can see why it was primary in his mind.

I found the choice of “retard shit” so unnecessary. He needn’t have chosen that phrase, or that word - he did it for a reason. And I wanted to tell him it wasn’t very nice. Hence this thread.

After having slept on this, I want to add - he did say he “respected” such a job, and probably, in a grudging sort of way, I think he believes that. (Perhaps he thinks, “Well, I guess I gotta respect 'em, since they help humanity and all, but they still are uneducated schlubs, and don’t wear expensive shirts!” ) As featherlou said, he’s not bad - just SO rigid in his world view. And obviously not above making cruel little cracks to take a jab at me, others who work in my profession, and the people we care for.

Well, it’s all on the other thread, and I’ve given enough quotes and ramblings for now. (I’m going to dare to submit this without preview… here goes!)

[yosemite]

Man, this board is too slow.

Hibbins, I am confused. Why did you bring up all the stuff about my father on this thread? Couldn’t you have addressed that on the jobism thread?

*Originally posted by Hibbins *
Would a college degree or a more prestigious occupation have made him a better man/father?

He enjoyed learning, and he would have LOVED to have spent years getting an education paid for by the GI Bill, That’s all there is to it. He seemed to live a little vicariously through the college classes that my sisters and I took. He LOVED learning. His books were great, but why wouldn’t it have been nice for him to learn in a college setting as well?

Their level of education (at that point) carries no extra weight for me, at least.

Your aside seems to suggest that you do prejudge people (at least somewhat) by their level of (formal) education. How is this different than prejudging someone based upon their occupation?

As I said (ON THAT OTHER THREAD) I try to use several criteria when judging a person. SEVERAl criteria, which I call “more dimensional” than msmith’s. And you took my quote out of context, if I believe. (I don’t want to take the time to drag up that thread, so I’ll go by my memory here.) I believe I said that IF a person showed other qualities that either proved them to have special merit, (or perhaps a particular lack of merit - I can’t remember which) that their level of education would carry no extra weight for me at that point. You know, this issue is also addressed in the “arrogance of academics” thread in the BBQ Pit. I believe it’s about a month old, if you want to search for it.

That addressed, on to this threads subject msmith537.
yosemitebabe said this:
So, I will bring it up again: my job (working with retarded people) requires (to paraphrase you) for the employee to apply at the right time. I am interested in how you explain that your use of the word “retarded” without the qualifier mentally is acceptable. So what does wring think of you now?

Yes, I figured someone would catch that. I probably should have mentioned it sooner. A lot of my co-workers and I just say “retarded” when we are talking about our clients - it is sort of a shorthand we have become used to saying. Obviously we all love our clients, and we are proud of our job, because we wouldn’t be there if we didn’t. We don’t say it like “RE-tard”, obviously. So, do you really think it’s the same for someone to say “retarded” (for the sake of brevity, and out of habit) when they are talking in a favorable and fond manner about their clients, as compared to when someone who says “retard shit” in irritation and pique?

Especially in light of this (from this pit thread):

Now, I just didn’t that was a very nice thing to say. Is that all that there is to my job? Is that all these people I take care of are - “retards”?

IT WASN’T A VERY NICE THING TO SAY. That’s what I said in the OP. What? Was it a nice thing to say? It cuts to the quick for a lot of us. I explained that. I said in the OP, I didn’t want it to be a big huge flaming rant. I just said, it wasn’t a very nice thing to say.

I think you got frustrated and picked a nit in order to bring msmith537 to the pit, to get reassurance and support for yourself.

I saw red at a hotbutton mean word that there was NO excuse for him to use. Had he never said “retard shit”, I never would have seen a need to go to the Pit.

I had left open many areas in this debate where you could have (if you had been paying attention) argued or nit-picked my stance on this or that. But you missed 'em. I was waiting for you to “counter attack” with certain things, and you just flat out missed 'em!

It almost looks as if you intentionally left information out. Baiting?

Sigh. Read the damn jobism thread. Go contribute over there. I just thought he missed out on a lot of debate opportunities over there. The jobism thread covers a lot of stuff, not just “retard shit”. I started this thread about a MEAN comment that needn’t have been said. If I had taken it up over there, it may have been buried in that already huge, convoluted and bloated thread. It might have been easier to blow off, or ignore. Hence I started this thread, which, as I said in the OP, wasn’t “going to be a huge flaming rant”. IT WASN’T A VERY NICE THING TO SAY. OK?

Taking the plunge and pressing the submit button without preview…

[yosemite]

I see I messed up one of the quotes. Hibbins did not say - “Now, I just didn’t that was a very nice thing to say. Is that all that there is to my job? Is that all these people I take care of are - “retards”?”, I did. But I got the quote thing wrong. I’m sure you’ll be able to figure it out.

[BoBettie]

For what it’s worth, in our area, we still have the ARC (Association for Retarded Citizens). I wouldn’t, however, go up to a client of theirs and say “Hey, retard!” They likely refer to their clients as “retarded”. Terms for developmental disabilities vary, but I know of nowhere that you could say “retard shit” and be OK.

Both terms- retard and retardation can be used as an insult, which is why many people no longer use it in a professional setting. “You’re a retard! What are you, retarded? Ewww- I’m glad I don’t clean up retard shit” are three examples of how this is done.

Professionals often still use the term “retardation” to describe their clients, since it is assumed among themselves that they do not mean it in the derogatory sense and are instead describing their client’s developmental state.

Zette

[Hibbins]

Yosemitebabe, I brought up the quotes about your dad in this thread for two reasons, one I believe they show that you tend to judge people unfairly also (nowhere near at some peoples level though), and two for the same reason you didn’t want to go back and re-read that thread. Too long to load.

Do professionals say “I work with retarded people”? Apparently they do. If so, they should be a little less quick to jump someone for using the term. That whole if you have empathy or good intentions excuse is BS. It doesn’t or shouldn’t work for any of the other offensive descriptions for classes of people. If it’s offensive, it’s offensive! Don’t use it. There are plenty of other words you could use. The whole shorthand reference is just an excuse for laziness.

He wasn’t saying the shit was retarded, he was describing from whence the shit came.

That was after he questioned you on your use of retarded. Your failure to respond seemed odd to me in the least, especially now in light of this thread.

I regret if it appears I am attacking you. I am finding you to be as obstinate as the misguided msmith537. I saw contradictions in your statements. I pointed them out. I thought the pit rant was in poor taste, as I have to assume that with your time on the board you knew most posters would skim or ignore the originating thread entirely, and therefore you did it for a “pat on the back”.

[msmith537]

*Originally posted by Cartooniverse *
**I’ve got a slightly more vicious response to what Msmith had to say to Yosemite.

Listen here you narrowminded cocksucker. The day will come- and if we are all very luck here at the SDMB, it will come much sooner rather than later- when you will be infirmed. You will be incapable of maintaining your own hygeine.

You arrogant liitle piss-ant. You don’t speak for the entire SDMB, so suck it.

Besides, my firm has a really good health plan so don’t expect to see me wallowing in my own filth any time soon.

Besides, all I’m saying is that I would rather have a great education, make a shitload of money, live in a nice NYC appartment, and have a lot of interesting friends than have Yosemitebabe’s job of cleaning up after retarded people all day.

Does that make me a bad person?

[yosemite]

*Originally posted by Hibbins *
Yosemitebabe, I brought up the quotes about your dad in this thread for two reasons, one I believe they show that you tend to judge people unfairly also (nowhere near at some peoples level though), and two for the same reason you didn’t want to go back and re-read that thread. Too long to load.

I probably do judge people unfairly at times - I’m sure we all do. I will urge you again to look at the “arrogance of academics” thread, though. To further my feelings about educational merit: I don’t think it’s right to have an attitude like, “Well, he’s smart as a whip, well-read, and articulate, but, well, you know, he doesn’t have a degree…sooo…” (I’ve pretty much witnessed this attitude displayed.) I also don’t think it’s right to say, “Well, he is kind of stubborn, doesn’t get along well with people, and seems quite arrogant, but, well, he has a degree…so…” (I’ve seen that too.) And, by the same token, I hate it when someone says “I don’t care what kind of degree you have! Whaddya know anyway?” (Sure, I’ve seen that a lot too.) They are all bad. For me, there’s a point where a person’s education doesn’t carry any extra weight for me. I experience this a lot in the art field (I rambled on about on the academics thread) in which people who had art degrees (but never did any art anymore, and who have displayed no real outstanding artistic talent) somehow felt that they deserved more respect than the active, vibrant, capable and talented artist who happened to have no degree. And I just didn’t think that was right. So, if I have displayed some sort of prejudice because of what I’ve said above, I am guilty, guilty, guilty of that.

Do professionals say “I work with retarded people”? Apparently they do. If so, they should be a little less quick to jump someone for using the term.

I think you are missing the entire point. Read Zette’s post. “retarded” can, and is often used in a professional setting. “RE-tard” is NEVER used. Ever. That is why I started this thread - it was a hotbutton word that I didn’t think was very nice.

He wasn’t saying the shit was retarded, he was describing from whence the shit came.

Once again, I think you completely missed the point. “RETARD” is a hotbutton word. Also, read my response to kabbes. I make certain consessions there about what msmith may have really meant.

That was after he questioned you on your use of retarded. Your failure to respond seemed odd to me in the least, especially now in light of this thread.

Read Zette’s last post again.

I thought the pit rant was in poor taste, as I have to assume that with your time on the board you knew most posters would skim or ignore the originating thread entirely, and therefore you did it for a “pat on the back”.

I gave a link to the original thread. I did admit that he did (somewhat grudgingly, I think) say that he “respected” my job. I even quoted a somewhat positive remark he made, to make sure everyone knew that he DID say some positive things (even though I see them as a bit grudging.) I did say from the beginning that my main beef was with “retard shit”, which he DID write, and which was totally inappropriate, and which, (I will say again) cuts many of us to the quick.

I will quote what I said on the jobism thread, in the next post I made after his “retard” comment. I think it sums up nicely what my main motivation was in starting this thread:

msmith, I didn’t think your use of “retard shit” was a very nice thing to say, so I started a (rather mild) rant about it in the Pit. I just think you pushed it too far with that one. No, I don’t want to to be a big nasty ugly pit thread, and I assume it won’t be. But that wasn’t very nice, the way you worded that. Maybe the pit thread will sink to the bottom like a stone, maybe not. But I just wanted to air that out somewhere else.

[Giraffe]

*Originally posted by msmith537 *
**Besides, all I’m saying is that I would rather have a great education, make a shitload of money, live in a nice NYC appartment, and have a lot of interesting friends than have Yosemitebabe’s job of cleaning up after retarded people all day.

Does that make me a bad person?
**

No, that doesn’t make you a bad person. The fact that you’re a condescending asshole is what makes you a bad person. Good people are modest, kind, respectful of others, and, when they can be, selfless. From the evidence of the thread in question and this one, you are none of those things. You are greedy, insecure, arrogant and pretty darn unlikeable at first glance.

Maybe I’d rather have your job, but I’d definitely rather be yosemitebabe than you. Being you sounds really depressing.

[Jeannie]

yosemitebabe, I also work with people with DD, and I completely understand the reasons you started this thread. I think you’ve provided plenty of quotes (not to mention the link to the other thread) to show us why you feel the way you feel.

That being said, I agree that “retard shit” was an extremely rude thing to say. I don’t mind when people don’t understand my job, or the people I work with. I am more than happy to answer questions or give information when I can. But I also expect people to show some respect. I would no sooner call a lawyer a bloodsucking thief than I would refer to part of my job as cleaning up “retard shit.”

[andros]

Does that make me a bad person?

Nope. Just shallow.

[bdgr]

*Originally posted by msmith537 *
**
You arrogant liitle piss-ant. You don’t speak for the entire SDMB, so suck it.

**
I think Cartooniverse speaks for great number of us, at least on this issue…

**

Besides, my firm has a really good health plan so don’t expect to see me wallowing in my own filth any time soon.

**
until they find a reason to can you before retirement, as many corporate entities do…

**
Besides, all I’m saying is that I would rather have a great education, make a shitload of money, live in a nice NYC appartment, and have a lot of interesting friends than have Yosemitebabe’s job of cleaning up after retarded people all day.

Does that make me a bad person?

[/b
no, but the fact that you still think that that is what the job is, makes you a moron…and if your interesting friends are only your friends because of your job, then they aren’t really your friends are they? I had loads of interesting friends, even when I was flat broke and on the verge of being homeless. I now have a decent career, own my own home, and I still have interesting friends(I have no desire to live in NYC though) and I make a pretty decent amount of money too. So what. I know complete idiots who make more than I do.
I have worked in the corporate world, and I have worked as a psych tech in an inpatient psych hospital. I can tell you this, although most of the people I worked with didn’t have degrees, and were not that well payed, they were some of the most dedicated, intelligent and courageous people I have ever had the priviledge to work with. In contrast, the “educated”, professional people I have worked with in the corporate world have often been the most dimwitted, bigoted, cowardly, and dishonest people I have ever had the misfortune to work with.

Public school teachers make little money, but they have my respect, as do police, firefighters, and especially people who work with the disabled.

Middle management suckups, and other corporate vermin, however, do not have my respect(unless they do something to earn it), no matter how much money they make, where they live, or how many degrees they have.

That seems to be the problem, a lack of respect for people who really deserve it. When I worked as a psych tech, most of the people I met treated me with some degree of respect. I think this was often because they knew, regardless of what thier educational backround was, it was something they could not have done. You probably wouldn’t last 5 minutes in that sort of job. Most people wouldn’t.
**
[/QUOTE]