the demanding folk

I have many faults, but none of them are of the "I'm the most important person in the world" variety. I wait my turn, I don't expect special treatment, and I'm reasonable when people at help counters, restaurants, cafes, etc. aren't able to help me right away. I can certainly get annoyed and/or angry if something is taking way longer than it should, but I really don't understand the folks who seem to want to pick fights with any people who are serving them in any public capacity. What is that about? How were these folks raised, that they think they have a right (or a mandate from Heaven) to skip to the front of the line, to demand that complex things be done both immediately and perfectly, to insist that their time is much, much more important than anyone else's?

I'm thinking about this today because I am in a sort of service position. My job, though not incredibly complex, takes times and thought. I deal with a lot of teachers and school administrators, and I've found that they are the most demanding, the most entitled group of people that I've ever worked with. I've dealt with some eminently pleasant people here, so obviously I'm not saying that every school teacher or principal is an awful person, but on the whole, my impression of the entire group has not been great.

Indeed, just today someone called, wanting to jump the line. Their situation is much more important than anyone else's, and I need to drop everything else and work on them. Oh, and I'm an idiot.

I do not get paid enough for this.

Lately, every time I'm out and about, and I see some poor worker being upbraided by a snotty, condescending, demanding-for-no-good-reason person, I start to wonder if the person doing the upbraiding is or has ever been a teacher.

(Sorry - I know that there are decent people who are teachers out there. I just deal with them rarely.)
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Comments

A Fuss said…
I wonder if it's because teachers get it from the kids and their parents. Rob keeps telling me how many parents come in to apply for jobs for their kids. There's a little bit of a whole entitlement-too-much-involvement thing going on in the world. Ah, well, my kid's gonna be perfect so I won't have to deal with this.
Literary Auntie said…
Yeah, that might be it, but I also have problems with people who get shit from other people and then feel justified in passing it on. Don't take your bad day out on me, teachers!

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