I remember it like it was yesterday. Ian and i had been in LA for about a month, working, playing lots of Diablo II at night because of a lack of anything better to do. Our lunch routine had not been set in stone yet so we would drive around looking for any type of place that looked to be of our nature. I had found a Honey Baked Ham store about 3 miles away which i had been eating at about once a week and i suggested it to Ian on that day. We came in, ordered our sandwiches, paid for them, and sat down at one of the small tables they had setup.
Our lunch time conversations are always the same. Whats wrong with life, what we want to fix it, and digressions of that. A lady, her son and her daughter enter the store and walk up to the clerk. I listened with one ear automatically and heard the drift of what they were talking about. The lady apparently had received a coupon for a product which this specific Honey Baked Ham establishment didn't carry or never carried. When the clerk explained this to her, she became exteremly irate and began speaking in a higher tone of voice to where Ian and i both look over. The clerk, some guy who was getting paid 6 bucks max, kept explaining and apologizing to the lady but she really seemed to be upset by it. She kept asking him why she received this letter if they didn't have this product in stock. As if this clerk, when not making sandwiches for humble XML convertors like ian and i, sat in the back printing up these letters and sending them to local residents and he really messed up by saying they had this product when they didn't. This lady really thought it was his fault. She went on and on for about 2-3 minutes about how Honey Baked was going to receive a letter about this horrible tragedy and how she was very very upset that her precious time was wasted. When her and her son and daughter left and the clerk walked back into the back while shaking his head we finally started talking again.
I was in a bad mood, this pissed me off. Maybe a person yelling at another person when it was obviously not his fault brought back a customer service flashback of mine or maybe it was something else. What is wrong with this country? Why do people get so upset about meaningless little crap like this? To quote the late Bill Hicks, “Reasonable people don't write letters, reasonable people get on with their lives”. He's right. A reasonable person would have taken the advertisement in, found out that it wasn't possible for the clerk to fulfill the advertisement, shrugged and walked out without having their day shattered in anyway.
But no, not in America. In the late 80's the focus was “take one for team”, sacrifice your own well being to benefit the corporation or the greater cause. Then in the early 90's when the computer field began to require more people then our society was requiring, the focus went back to the individual and people began to get content again. Employees had more rights, less dress codes and worked just fine. Alot of cases better. Problem is, we went to far. Now our once great country is filled with letter writing soccer moms who think they are the center of the universe and that they have the right to walk over people because they are a consumer. How this will end? I'm not sure but it needs to.
My point? You are not special. You received a letter in the mail just like me. The difference? I have a purpose and you are annoying some clerk who isn't paid enough to care about your petty feelings. You need to understand that every single person you meet is on the exact same level as you. Until this becomes at least somewhat clear in your mind, you are a subhuman. Now kill yourself so you don't ruin my lunch
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