It's Not Revolutionary to Be An Asshole to the Working Man

I really hate it when people get all "Whoo! I'm a culture warrior!" about being rude to some poor customer service agent/waitress/secretary.

Let me give you an example. When I worked at the Fleet Bank call center (back when there was a Fleet Bank), we weren't allowed to say anything when people sneezed, not "bless you", not "gesundheidt", nothing. The rule was enacted to keep us from offending anyone, and ruthlessly enforced. That just about killed me, because personally, the compulsion to say "bless you" when I hear someone sneeze is so strong, that were I being tortured to death, I would probably say it to the person torturing me.

Anyway, most callers would sneeze, pause a second, realize they weren't getting blessed and keep talking. Some people, however, would launch into a tirade about how rude I was and how dare I and blahblahblah. Hello, I'm not getting fired because you sneezed. Get over it.

My point is, the person who answers the phone is not the person who makes the rules. Ever. Don't yell at them for company policy, they're just trying to pay the rent and put food on the table. They may well agree with you about the policy, but they can't say it or they will lose their job. Just let it go.

Unless you're a Christian, in which case you should torment Census workers and brag about it.

dirtdartwife left this as a comment:

I filled in our census form and mailed it in. I made sure to put "American" for the race of all in my family. We got a call over the weekend to "verify that the information is correct". My husband ruined my good fun because he was asked if anyone was black or latino and he says "No" and then the person asked "so you're white" and my husband responds "yes". ugg... I wish I had answered the phone. Than again, he said the person couldn't read the script he was given because he was told "Thank you for your precipitation."

Please feel free to leave your stories here. Maybe we can gather them for a book. . .Chicken Soup for the Census, anyone?

Look, you know as well as I do that "American" is not a race in this situation. Just leave the poor script-reader alone. He's making a little over minimum wage to talk to assholes like you all day long. He doesn't make the rules concerning the Census. As for "Thank you for your precipitation", let me tell you something, jackass. When you say the same thing over and over and over again, all day, 5 days a week, you don't even know what you're saying anymore. When I answer the phone at work, it's a vague approximation of "Good morning/afternoon, law offices". I never get the time of day right. Sometimes I've heard myself say "paw officers". Some people think it's hilarious to tell me it's not afternoon yet- yeah, whatever, you're a comedian. Asshole.

So, I guess we'll know the Christians by their love- of being mean to people on the phone.

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BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! (or: Teabaggers, the problem that solves itself)

Just like this, only with redistricting.

Remember Michelle Bachman encouraging her fellow maniacs to refuse to fill out the Census because it would result in Japanese internment camps? Well, the teabaggers listened and haven't been filling out their Census forms, presumably afraid of ending up either in Japan or actually Japanese. Which turns out to be a case of a problem solving itself:

Some Republicans are worried that an anti-government surge among conservatives will lead to lower participation in the U.S. census, which they fear could reduce the number of Republican seats in Congress and state legislatures.

The census, which is currently being collated and is gathered every ten years, dictates the distribution of federal funding, how many House members each state gets and how congressional and legislative districts are drawn within states. [...]

The unstated concern [among Republican leaders]: An under-representation of conservatives could mean fewer Republicans in Congress and state legislatures for the next 10 years.

Oh, sweet, sweet irony, how I love thee. Bachman, Beck, et al. convinced their followers to not fill out the Census- and now they'll get even less of a chance at power because of that.

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Some Suicide Note

glenn, beck, frog, 912 project, liberty, census, undocumented workers, death, hanging, extremism, conservative, wingnut, bachmann
On September 12, the day of Teabagging Madness, a census worker was found hanged with the word "Fed" scrawled across his chest.

WASHINGTON — The FBI is investigating the hanging death of a U.S. Census worker near a Kentucky cemetery. A law enforcement official says the word "fed" was scrawled on his chest.

The body of Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old Census field worker and occasional teacher, was found Sept. 12 in the Daniel Boone National Forest in rural southeast Kentucky.

Investigators have said little about the case. A law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and requested anonymity, tells The Associated Press the word "fed" was written on the dead man's chest.

FBI spokesman David Beyer said the bureau is helping state police determine if Sparkman's death was the result of foul play, and if so, whether it was related to his census work.

I suppose it's possible "Fed" was a rather inscrutable suicide note, and that the only place he had to write such a note was his own chest, but that seems rather unlikely to me.

It seems a little more likely to me that somebody got a wee bit riled up by the likes of Michele Bachmann, who said that she was worried if she filled out a census form, she would be thrown in a Japanese internment camp run by Acorn. (What I can't figure out is, when did Bachmann become Japanese? Or is the internment camp in Japan?)

It also strikes me that with Glenn Beck (who, at the very least, simulated boiling a live frog on TV yesterday) calling upon people to "water the tree of liberty", the 9/12 connection is a bit suspicious.

Yeah, that DHS report is looking like a load of bullshit, now, huh?