I see it everyday too. When I'm out driving ninety percent of the people I see that aren't on a cell phone have this look of hate on their faces. When I'm at the grocery store the people seem to wear a frown on their face and hardly look up at you. I just want to shout it out loud to them to practice smiling more it'll make you feel better and look better. But then I'm standing in line at a subway with 4 or 5 people in front of me and more behind me. It's taking awhile and we're all standing there, but everyone's smiling and talking about different things and the madness wasn't there. The workers were joyful and speaking to us and it felt good.

It reminded me that there are bad things and grumpy people all around us but there is also good people who still wave at you, smile and are willing to have a conversation with you. So I'm not giving up on the human race or people in general. It's part of life.

The world is in total free fall if you ask me.

I've watched over the years how we have become more violent, we fight over anything to the point of death over nothing. Respect has long since gone, I see teens attacking an old crippled man just because they can.

A major majority of the teenagers in my area refuse to work, indulge in drugs and drink all day and live by violence & robbery. It's now a mark of social respect to get an ASBO (anti social behavioural order) here, a million miles away from the world I knew growing up.

The world now relies on greed and king of the hill, everyone is in it to get, take steal what they want regardless of the effect upon a person.

At the speed this is going the world of order will collapse soon, Escape from New York won't be a film, it will be a reality. I feel as a parent awful for bringing my daughter into this madness, what kind of future has she got in a world set upon self destruction. A world where I can't let her go anywhere without me or my wife seeing her safely there because the streets have paedophiles cruising or drug dealers harassing or theives waiting to steal and knife anyone.

A truly awful situation and it's getting worse by the day...

The Great Depression has been overly romanticized. Remember it also gave us the biggest crime wave the country has ever seen:
Baby Face Nelson
John Dillinger
Pretty Boy Floyd
Ma Barker and family
Bonnie and Clyde

Hoovervilles of shantytown homeless in every major city

General Patton leading the army into Washington, DC to disperse protesting World War vets who only wanted the army to deliver on its promises to them.

And set the stage for J. Edgar Hoover's five decade reign of terror.

When the SHTF dont go to work at the store. I will be a slaughter house.

When the stores are empty the survivors will exit the cities in mass, looking for food, heat, guns or just to get away from the violence. There will be no place to hide that someone cant find you or me. When they come. I will take out as many as I can before they overwelm us.

I wish it wasnt or isnt going to happen but. It dont look good does it? I still havent been able to save up enough for a gun and ammo but I have a freind who will probably need some food and has guns.

Maybe some of you are right and that after the initial chaos and half the people are starved or killed the good will come out. That is if any good is left.

Originally posted by UMayBRite!
When I look at any male American under 35, I ask myself, how many simulated murders has this guy committed?

No stereotypes here eh? In my family, the women have had much greater rage issues then the men...regardless of age. Why not tag on a race in this remark too? Oh I'm sure America is the only land where people get upset...

To the original poster, I have to admit being in the service industry from food service to banking for a decade and a half the angry people seem never to stop coming. It's bound to happen when working with such large volumes of people (especially in a city). Some factors I've noticed are the following:

1.) Spoiling - we're raised to get what we want when we want it. Parents are light on discipline, especially since spanking is frowned upon as 'child abuse'. Parents can't seem to say "no". We're not a "no" society, we're a "let's pay it back later" society which tends to default sometimes.

2.) Fear - Being the drama induced society with news, shows, movies, etc, when someone says "we're out of Mrs. Smith's Appie Pies" it gets heard and translated to, "We have no food. You're on a path towards slow starvation if you don't say something now or talk to someone important."

3.) Dependency - Very few people own their own land to grow crops. Food being a daily necessity, we must rely on others to grow it, process it and delivery it to a location near us. Saying something isn't there is causes us to realize we as individuals are not in control of our basic necessities. Sure we could go for something else, but often this reverts back to the above fear and helplessness.

4.) Expectation - My spouse has a general 'faith in humanity' and is expecting them to do the right thing on a regular basis and oft is frustrated/disappointed. I expect people to do whatever they feel like doing at the moment for themselves and am sometimes pleasantly surprised when they extend a courtesy for others. Customers have an expectation of stores because they see the commercials that say "we have this!" then when they get there and it is not there, they feel fooled or lied to.

Finally, a word to those who say this is something new, that it didn't happen thirty years ago. As someone had mentioned about the Great Depression, we tend to romanticize the past as if things were better back then. It was not "The Great...Eh, We've Had Better Days". Throughout history however, people have been the same. This is why the Bible is such a helpful tool. Not only does it tell us about the nature of God, but also of our fellow human beings:

"What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

Is there anything of which one can say,
"Look! This is something new"?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time." - Ecclesiastes 1:9-10

[edit on 13-1-2009 by saint4God]

When I see people in a store fighting over something it reminds of vultures fighting over a carcus. In many ways that is what we humans are. We consume everything that nature creates. We are like maggots eating the earth. Maybe the only reason for our existence is to consume a dying planet.

I wish I could have faith in humanity I see how people are including myself, always looking for the next thing to temporarily fill the void, and feed a craving for more.

Sorry about this Bummer of a post. On the bright side I find that most elderly people a nice, I think we should take better care of them.

Peace,
Trustnobody

Can't help but add a little rant here myself.

When I enter a food store, and especially the major ones- I get but one feeling; the feeling of how insane and sick our demands have become.
Why the hell am I given the possibility to buy freakin rambutan all around the year? Why is the shelves stacked with all kinds of useless crap all the time? What kind of non-existant need is being filled here?

I can say, with hand on heart, that I so much more appriciate the local shop way out on the country side in Russia where there is basic food, a few kinds of beer, fresh vegatables that are in season and some pickled ones. If there is anything exotic they might have a crate of bananas or oranges in- and then it's a freakin feast!
It make so much more sense!

If something is out of stock or just not part of it, I rather think: "alright, a challange! I get to think! I get to come up with the solution! instead of just droning around in some sort of food-intoxicated stroll, oogling the shelves and feeling so un-inspired even though all kinds of wierd products from everywhere but locally stares at me...

You get what I mean?

If somebody would rant at me because of hot pockets out of stock, I would give them the lecture of their lives!

Maybe Customer Service representatives could be licensed tranq guns. Video surveillance can ensure they're using sound judgement, then security can come and move the person to a cot at the end of the row. The only difficulty then becomes all the occupied cots. Even though I don't tend to go off on other peopel in my frustrations, a good forced nap might've done me some good.


[edit on 13-1-2009 by saint4God]

One of the things that appears to be dying is "good service".

Have you gone to a grocery store lately and had to bag them yourself ?
(after waiting in line for twenty minutes ?)

Have you looked up and seen 18 cash registers, but only three open ?

Have you gone to the gas station, pumped your own gas, walked in and
paid for it, gone back out to put some air in your tires, and had to go back
in and get some quarters to buy air ?
(while the cashier sets in a nice warm room and forgets to turn on the gas
pump or the air compressor for you ?)

I remember when a gal at the cash register could ring up prices faster
than you could possibly believe and carry on a conversation at the same
time. (nowadays they can't even scan as quickly . .without a price check).

You can take lousy service for only so long. Then you HAVE TO find the
pizza pockets, because someone said there was an image of Christ on the
pepperoni ones. And now they're out of them ? What the . .who the . . .
son of a . . . mother . . . . . . .

[edit on 13-1-2009 by SIEGE]

War! Customers versus Customer Service. Pick a side of the register and arm yourself with receipts and blood pressure pills!

Here's the alternative: self checkout (incoming self checkout story). My friend and I went to a grocery store. To skip the line, he goes to self checkout. He begins to scan. The cube of soda rings up twice. He asks, "Did you see that?" to which I answer yes. He has to hail one of the other cashiers dealing with a long line. The cashier finishes with one customer, says "be right back" and goes to assist my friend. She punches on the keypad. The machine beeps at her. She punches again. It beeps again. She goes over to hail a manager who comes back with a key, inserts it, punches on the keypad and removes the extra charge. I said in light humour, "Wow, the self checkout is amazing! Instead of having one person help us in a regular line, we got two!" Apparently, I was the only one who thought that was funny.

I'll take a person over a machine any and every day. Press 1 for English.

Its very difficult to find service when in today's marketplace, it is mostly a self-service arrangement.

That trend began years ago, most of it starting at the gas stations. But also when you have a shrinking economy to tag along, buisnesses do not hire the customer service workers in droves like there used to be.

Another part of the problem is impaitence. Society today is into the instant fix, the instant satisfaction. Ive heard of people complain that 30 seconds in a microwave is too long to wait! No doubt these "hot pocket" addicts skim on the cooking time in the microwave then gripe that it isnt cooked completely!

When I worked at a consumer electronic repair shop some years ago, people were often quite rude. I recall a few instances when folks would bring in their broken camcorders and actually stand there trying to convince me that it was the camera's fault, when clearly it was the customer's fault. They dropped it, forced the tape into the mechanisim and jammed it up, was filming at the beach and let a wave of water splash all over it, let sand get into it, spilled coke or coffee all over it, and then insist its the camera's fault! I would get the Nth degree from these people when I tell them, well sorry but this was dropped, has salt water residue, coffee or coke residue etc, and they would shout so loud the entire store would go silent as they ranted and moaned and groaned. Then they would get even louder when they hear the cost to fix their broken cameras!

I usually did one of two things. Put the camera back on the counter and say, "Thanks for visiting us today, have a nice day...next", or if they really got me angry, I would say something like "Well maybe you shouldnt have spilt your coke or coffee or let the ocean splash all over it, next time watch what the "F" your doing", and even sometimes I would say "Ya keep going sir/madam, piss off the head technician..the only technician in this place and see how fast your pos camera gets fixed"! That one usually calmed their butts down real quick and I would get an apology.

In the end, its all about paitence and manners. Most people do have paitence and manners. But it doesnt take any rocket science to spot the impaitients and rude ones that simply want to have everything done for free or for them to be worshiped or want to try to intimidate. Its amazing tho, how fast they can be put down a few pegs by simple reverse-psycology.




Cheers!!!!

I wonder what would've happened if you wagged your finger at the camera and said, "Bad camera! Don't you dare let yourself be dropped or spilled on again! There your go sir/ma'am, it shouldn't happen again."