WTF is it with fast food, grocery stores, gas stations, etc?  It doesn't matter where I go, it's rare that the person working there speaks fluent english, and they always act like your inconveniencing them by wanting to purchase something.

And when they they give you your food and you pay them, I barely ever get told "Thank you.".  Is that too damn much to ask?  I'm only 23 so it's not like I've been around for years and can remember when everyone was polite all the time, but it seems like thing have gotten a lot worse in just the past 4-5 years.

When I was working retail I never would have treated a customer that way, and would have had the ass of anybody working under me who did.  This country is going straight to the crapper unless we turn things around, and fast.

[pissed]  Rant off

I notice too. From the other side, you would be amazed at how surprised people are these days when they [i]do[/i] get good service. I have had more than a few customers relay to me how astonished they are that they were treated like human-beings. Isn't that the way it is supposed to be?

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I agree, all of the motels, hotels, supermarkets, gas stations, and truck stops are all owned by rude cubans or other foreigners, and not a one of them enjoys helping anyone. Everytime a customer came through a line when I worked at a supermarket, I always said thank you or thanks if I knew them. Friggin foreigners.

I agree there are many more inconsiderate people than there used to be. (And I'm considerably older than 23!)  Not all of them are foreigners either.  My wife trades at a service station (oops! gas station)  run by an Asian family and they are [b]always[/b] polite and friendly.  That's one of the reasons she makes a point of filling up there when she can.

My brother's 4 yr old cat was dying
(urinary blockage of some sort))
and all of the vets in town refused
to see it
because they were not taking
any new clients.

I was in the restaurant (fast food) business for close to 20 years.  There was a time when you could actually hire polite, hospitable people. About 10 years ago these people started getting harder to find and now, it's close to impossible.
This dwindling resource is one of the reasons I decided to get out of this business.

Service especially sucks at gas stations.

That's why I mainly use the ATM/ debit card.  Only seldomly does the machine give you attitude.

Customer service reps( banks, phone co., etc... ) seem to give me the most problem.

Mainly because they don't have all the answers pertaining to my inquiries.

MosesAmos, I always get good and polite service from foreigners. They all seem happy to be here. The bad service always comes from people with little education and breeding and class. Funny, they always seem to come from Al Gore country. [:)]

It's a general decline in civility.  "Immigrants" fill these generally low-wage jobs because no one else will.  They are generally treated poorly by their customers, and respond in kind.  Entry-level positions seem to be too [i]menial[/i] for [i]our[/i] kids to fill, and generally they aren't too polite either.  As for speaking "fluent English", listened to a teenager recently?  I don't know what it is they're speaking, but it isn't English.  And I doubt they can write either.

I have a suggestion - try being extrememly polite to everyone you can.  Especially when they're being an asshole to you.  Perhaps you can shame them into better behavior.

I know I sound like every generation of adults who ever complained about the disaster of the upcoming generation, but we have a real problem here, folks, and we caused it.  I don't know what to do about it, either.  

KBaker I resent those statements.

If you insist upon using them please add a disclaimer that removes me from any of those kinds of statments.

I am a teenager and I do not fit into any of the bellow catagories that you have steriotyped me with.  I speak fluent English.  As you no doubt can see I can spell it as well.  I do not hold a meanial job but have in the past.

I respect those who respect me and most of the time I respect those that disrespect me based on the fact that my current job requires me to do so.  I have lived by the motto that yo treat other as you would wish to be treated.  And I don't like to be treated as a steriotype.

Done ranting
[sniper]

[Edited for spelling mistake] Hey no bodies perfect :)