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Your Attitude Determines Your Altitude
by Gary ~ August 6th, 2010
Hi,
Well, today something happened and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. It’s all to do with attitude.
I’ll bet you know people who have wonderful attitudes. I’ll also bet you know people whose attitudes stink too.
Today I came across somebody whose attitude was abysmal. It stunk to high-heaven from the moment I laid eyes on him. Let me tell you what happened…
OK. I’d been working in my office since early morning and I really needed a break, so I decided to go out and buy some lunch. I drove to a local fast food outlet that sells all that really healthy stuff – you know… chicken, chips, soft drinks. Only joking. But that’s where I ended up. I just needed FOOD! Anyway, in I walked and ordered my food.
The young lady behind the counter was pleasant but quite young and obviously inexperienced. So I made allowances for that while she took some time to ring up the order, take my money and give me back the change. No problem. No big deal. Then in HE walks… this guy.
I turned and casually glanced at him because there was a bell on the door and I wasn’t doing anything except just standing there, waiting.
He has this angry scowl on his face and looked like he was REALLY enjoying his day – probably his whole life. Not! Anyway…
… he walks up to the counter and growls: “Chicken and chips!” No smile. No greeting. His body language is saying it all.
I’m thinking two words: “Rude pr*ck!” Sorry for that but it’s exactly what I thought.
The young lady rings it up. Then he decides to go to the refrigerator and grab a drink and something else. So, the girl cancels the cash register entry then rings it all up again to get the new total. Pleasantly enough she says, “That’s fourteen dollars and sixty cents thanks.”
Rude pr*ck – I’ll call him that (because that is EXACTLY what he was) – opens his wallet and retrieves a crunched up ten dollar note and just throws it on the counter in front of her. I watched him do it, sighed and mentally just shook my head in disgust. The young lady had her hand open to receive the money. She looks at him enquiringly and he just looks back at her.
She repeats the amount owed. He opens the side flap on his wallet, pulls out five dollars in coins and drops them onto the counter so they run everywhere.
I take a deep breath…
This reminded me of a certain boofhead who incurred my wrath at the bar of the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas in January – only he was in the reverse position. He was the so-called “service provider” – the bar-tender. I won’t go into it here but those who were with me at the time saw what happened to his BAD attitude that day.
Back to the story at hand…
… The young lady picks up the coins and puts this guy’s money in the cash register. She’s obviously rattled and closes the cash register. Remember the amount? I was thinking: “Oh, oh. Now she’s so upset she’s forgotten his change.”
I’m also thinking… “if this guy arcs up he’s gonna have more than a 80lb waif of a young girl to deal with.” Coz I am FURIOUS with what I am witnessing. In my book, there are NO EXCUSES for this rudeness.
Rude pr*ck, in a nasty tone says: “I suppose I’ll get some change!” He glances at me with a snaky look on his face so I squared up to face him and just stared at him. If he was looking for support then he was looking at the WRONG guy!
Well, what he said just wasn’t QUITE rude enough to have me intervene. And I can assure you, my reader, that I don’t take too kindly to this sort of thing – bullying, rudeness, false “superiority” over other people. So I just stood there and drilled this guy with the icicles coming out of my eyeballs. He looked at me several times then went and sat down and shut his mouth. Thankfully.
I felt really sorry for this poor kid. Why should she be subjected to this treatment? I see it a fair bit in my travels and I wonder what the proponents of this rudeness get out of having a lousy, stinking attitude. Is it some sort of perverse thrill? Or don’t they even KNOW they are doing it? Do they live such hideously miserable lives that they just want to spread their infections?
I thought about it while I waited to get my meal. Then I remembered something. I remembered him opening his wallet. The scrunched up ten buck note he pulled out was all that he had in it. It made me wonder if his attitude was a result of his lack of money or if his lack of money was a result of his attitude. The latter I would suggest.
I have always been of the belief that, when dealing with people – especially people working in lowly-paid, menial jobs – that a drop of honey is more valuable than a gallon of vinegar. Anyway, I made sure that I thanked the young lady and gave her a big smile before I turned and gave the guy one last BLAST of a look that left him with absolutely no uncertain impression that I was NOT impressed with his disgusting performance.
I may come back and tell you about the beggar woman that I observed in Los Angeles a few years ago. That’s an interesting story too.
So, what do YOU think? Have you had similar experiences? Share them with us.
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August 6th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
Hi Gary
Ooh you did manage to tempt me to pop over from the forum to read the rest of the story
There is no excuse for rudeness. Even if I have a bad day I try to be polite to people.
Today, for example, I had a phone call from a guy from a directory website where I had put a free listing for my business. He spent 26 minutes of my time trying to convince me that I needed to upgrade my listing. I had no intention of doing it and I was getting a bit frustrated at him wasting my precious time. I remained polite but I think I should have stopped him near the start and told him straight. Gosh, he could gab.
Enjoy your weekend Gazzman.
Chris Beamish
August 6th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Hi Gary:
I feel that a person needs to be happy with him/herself and with what you do with your life, in order to fully be happy in this world. My idea of success is loving what you do for a living, and being able to make a living at it. This wretched soul has no joy in his life. He probably has a miserable little job where is gets raked over the coals by his wretched little boss who in turn, hates his job as well. He needs to “pass it on” in order for him to feel good about himself and his puny little life. This is the type of person who buys a dog just so he can kick it when he gets home. That poor girl at the counter is somebody’s daughter. He’s extremely lucky that it happened NOT to be yours…
August 7th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
@ Christina – LOL. Just using a bit of intrigue by cutting that tempter off where I did.
I get time-wasters on my phone too. There is a really good way to tire them out without being rude. All you do is repeat their sales pitch and then add “but I don’t want to do it.” Whatever they say, repeat it and attach that last bit. This frustrates them and they eventually leave you alone. There is simply NO way to counter that strategy.
@ Denis – That is true. You need to be happy with what you do. Oh, I wish you hadn’t mentioned kicking a dog. If I EVER see anybody do that my boot will go up their a** so fast. They won’t walk for a month. I cannot STAND cruelty to any animals. It is just so gutless!
Heh… heh… my daughter doesn’t need me to stand up for her. She has inherited several traits from me – that being one of them. When she unloads (which is very rarely) – head for the hills. That bloke wouldn’t have lasted 10 seconds.
But you are 100% correct. This a**-wipe was disrespecting somebody’s precious daughter. He was vile. I SO wanted to say something but I need to learn to keep my nose out of other people’s problems. He was walking a very fine line but I’m glad I stayed out of it coz I can get pretty ugly and end up being a perpetrator myself. LOL!
I think he may have been racially motivated too because the young girl was of Indian or Pakistani descent, I think. His face turned into a scowl the second he saw her. I didn’t mention that before but I think that was all part of it.
Thanks Chris and Denis for taking the time to comment about this.
Gary
August 8th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Hi Gaz,
Didn’t come here from the forum. Who said I did?
My story is from a recent cruise my wife and I took. we were on a lower budget cruise; good service but no dinner suits. Also seats weren’t assigned for dinner.
We sat at a table for 8. Soon a group of 6 turned up and asked the waiter what we were doing at THEIR table. The waiter explained. One says to us “well good evening anyway”
They then proceeded to be rude to the waiter for most of the meal. He was being more patient than I would have been.
We had to explain to the waiter that they were not with us and that we found their behaviour disgusting.
Next night we had a table for 2 ready for us and almost personal service from the same waiter and this continued for the rest of the holiday.
See? Drop of honey wins again.
All the best,
Dave
PS We took the same cruise the next year. Same waiter remembered us. Same service. Brilliant.
August 8th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
@ Dave – I just KNEW you wouldn’t be able to resist my cliffhanger over on the Gangsta Forum – despite what you said. I read that first before coming here to my sanctuary of relative peace. I did say “relative” coz I do tend to stir things up over here from time to time.
I see things that trigger emotions and ideas and I think: “Hey Gazza, that would make a good blog post.”
Oddly enough, just this evening I walked into another shop in the middle of some looney-tune going ape-sh*t at a young fellow behind the counter and chucking money down. It was a fish and chip shop (yeah, I know – not a lot of health food for the Gazzman this week. No wonder I am sliding over the 260lb mark). Anyway…
… there were about 8 or 9 people just gawking at this latest display of bad manners and angry behavior when in I walk with my brand new, ultra-gaudy, right-in-your-face karate jacket on with Japanese kanji splattered all over it and a great big Shotokan Karate tiger logo on the back of it. (My buddy in another State posted it to me last week and I LOVE it – despite being told – “You are NOT wearing that bloody thing out in public with me!” – Guess who? Yeah, the Department of Anti-fun.)
So the guy gives me a kinda weird look then just storms out grumbling to himself. The d*ckhead! Crikey. What’s got into people lately?
Regarding your less than favorable experience outlined above…
Golly. What a bunch of prats those people were. Surely ONE of them must have been embarassed by the pompous attitude of the others. I would have leaned over and broken wind on them (God, I’m laughing at that. I can’t believe HALF the stuff I say. In fact I can’t believe hardly ANY of the things I do. Just as well I often have minders who settle me down and steer me away from certain humanoids).
The disgusting behavior of others only serves to show to us how NOT to behave – says he who just made that awful remark himself. Seriously, I can come up with all sorts of loaded comments to make to people like those you just described. Stuff like: “Having a good life, are you?” or “It’s really great sitting next to people like you. You make me look so good.” or other similar provocative remarks.
There’s NO EXCUSE for bad manners.
Glad it turned out OK for you in the long run. The waiter probably put boogers in their food. I’ve heard that they do that sort of thing with nasty people. That is why I am always SO nice to waiters!
Thanks Dave.
Gary
August 8th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Interesting that you would point me to this post today. I just finished adding some quotes about “anger” to my site today.
Here’s one that might give you a different perspective on the situation:
“Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can
anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.”
~Epictetus~
I used to be the one who could flip the switch from being the nicest guy you ever met to one the devil wouldn’t deal with if you pissed me off.
Then I learned not to be offended by the actions of others. Everyone is exactly where they are supposed to be, doing what they are supposed to do.
Rude people are put in our path not to piss us off, but to help us learn.
Just some food for thought Gary.
Thanks,
Gene
August 8th, 2010 at 11:29 pm
Hi Gene – That quote you shared is true. Yes, we can always turn the other cheek but when a principle that you believe in strongly is compromised then sometimes you just have to take a stand – depending on the severity, of course. And sometimes we are dutibound to protect those incapable of defending themselves against the outrageous actions of others.
Here’s another relevant quote: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” – Edmund Burke.
World history is full of conflict. Wars have started because neither side would back down and one side invaded the rights of another side. Conflict is generally a very negative pursuit. I appreciate that and avoid it at all cost.
I can still be disgusted by the actions of another person. I’m sure you can too. Though, as I mentioned above, too much forceful intervention then puts you in the position of the perpetrator. It’s a fine line.
I really enjoy the wisdom of these type of quotes. Thanks for coming over Gene and sharing that one. It’s a beauty.
Gary
PS: Gene, I just popped over to your self-help site and took a look around. You have some useful information there. I bookmarked for a better look when I have more time.
August 9th, 2010 at 3:02 am
[...] Your Attitude Determines Your Altitude http://motivationselfesteem.com/talk/1806/your-attitude-determines-your-altitude.htm [...]
August 9th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
Hi Gary
You are absolutely correct – life is about attitude. The poor young girl as you say is in a low paid service job and really doesn’t deserve to be treated like this.
The bottom line is we all have our trials and tribulations in life – everyone has had things go wrong and probably more often than not it probably is to do with ATTITUDE but sometimes can come down to misfortune.
Whatever this guy’s problem was, as you correctly stated this is no excuse to behave in this way towards someone stood behind a counter doing their job.
Regards
Pete
PS – My Alexa ranking has risen 200,000 places in the last week from 2 blog posts, still a way to go before catching up with yours though (600,000) so I’d better start churning out more content.
August 10th, 2010 at 4:19 am
@ Peter – I felt pretty sorry for her having to put up with this bully. It was a really ugly display by that guy and I didn’t appreciate what he did one little bit. But what she didn’t know (nor he – LOL – but he got a few “hints” as the scenario progressed) was that somebody was there who would take control of the situation if it escalated to an out-of-control status. I’m glad it didn’t. But it was borderline. The whole disrespect thing really irks me. Why do some people feel the need to be such jerks?
Attitude is indeed a big key to success. I agree that misfortune can affect the aura of some people. Lots of bad things happen to good people, unfortunately. But that’s life. It’s how we respond that matters. I’ve had my share of misfortune.
On the other matter…
My Alexa Ranking was hovering at 50,000 a few weeks ago but I have noticed that ALL Alexa Rankings have been affected lately. Maybe a ton more p*rn sites have been added over the last few weeks. They always take out the top rankings – says a lot about people, huh? (Yeah… I know… obvious question: How would I know? Research folks. Research.)
Thanks for contributing Peter.
Gary
August 11th, 2010 at 1:40 am
[...] For a similar (and from another point of view) story about your attitude, check out this post from Gary Simpson: Your Attitude Determines Your Altitude [...]
August 14th, 2010 at 5:32 am
Hi Gary
I visited your site in March last time and fell in love with it – I do yoga. It is still as good and I know that mindset is so important in anything we do in life.
If you don’t remember me ( and I don’t expect you to)….
A little about me – My name is Sue McDonald and I am a student of Mark Terrell and I am actually going through the course a second time – by invitation. I love it and know if I do all he says, I will be successful. I am Australian but the US is my second home as I have family there and visit quite often. This is why I started Internet Marketing so I can travel whenever I want and have the money to do what I want.
Well I hope you are doing well and you become very successful. I would love you to come visit my blog and leave a comment.
Kind regards
Sue