Distracting Research by Bonnie Le Hamilton

Time is running out, and I am way behind in my writing this month. I’d like to say my transportation issues are what is causing me to be so far behind on Nano but the truth is it's still social media. Really need to stop scrolling through the stories on Facebook.

I’ve read so much about rude people, entitled people, and dumb people and it totally surprises there are so many stories like this.

I was just reading a story about a guy who helpfully raised his hand so the witness could identify him! And that wasn’t even the dumbest story in the post. And some of the "rude people" stories were so outrageous I wondered how they could keep their jobs, but then in some of those the employees did lose their jobs, just not all, in most of them, they only lost a customer.

And that doesn’t even come to the entitled people.

I mean I’ve read stories where these insane people think they can claim to know the owner of some business to get away with all sorts of shenanigans, but the funniest ones are when they claim to know the owner and they are speaking to the owner! Though I read one where the business was owned by three siblings, and one customer claimed to know the oldest of the three and even used his first name in the claim, but the next second one of the sibling owners walk past and the customer says hi to him calling him by the younger brother’s name – it was the elder brother.

I read some were about the customers claiming to be a wife, or some other family of the owner while talking to an actual relative to the owner, but the best one was when a guy tried to claim to be the owner’s favorite grandnephew, he knew the name and everything.

Only two problems. The owner’s oldest (and favorite) grandnephew was in his late teens but the guy making the claim was clearly closer to thirty. And the second problem? That idiot was talking to the owner of the identity he'd claimed as his. The kid had a name tag on and everything.

One story had a woman claiming to be the wife of the owner. The so-called “mere” employee she claimed she was going to get fired stared at her and said, “That’s funny; you don’t look like Mom.”

I mean really, how can dumb can you get? Claiming to know people you don’t know! Things like that can be proven.

I read one where the customer wreaked some havoc and then claimed the owner would believe him, a supposed best bud, over some mere employee and the employee was going get fired. The so-called employee turned and called into the next room and said, “Hey, Dad, you want to come out here and hear this customer’s complaint?”

That’s even better than all the various stories I’ve read where disgruntled customers go into a tirade demanding to speak to the manager, only to have the person they are ranting at, give the fool some version of, “You’re speaking to him.”

But the one I really liked was the kid who, in response to a request for the manager, said, “Sure, I’ll go get the manager on duty,” then walked into the other room, turned around, and came back out and asked the ranting customer, “How can I help you?”

Cute.

The best part was the customer had been calling the kid all sorts of names, mostly deriding her about being female, and that manager would put her in her place. Yeah, right.

Like the grandmother arguing with the manager (name tag indicating that and all) and asking a nearby employee to please go get her boss. The said employee pointed to the person she was railing at. The grandmother refused to believe a person of color could be the manager and demanded to speak to another manager in the place.

The only other manager on duty that day was also a person of color.

I admit I got hooked on these stories a few months ago when I was doing some research to be sure the antics of the “Karyn” in one of my stories weren’t unbelievably over the top. Folks, I had to amp it up, because I wasn’t even close! Not by a long shot!

But I keep reading to find more fodder for my story. Except it's not the one I’m working on!

I really need to work on this new one. And I hate the idea of not finishing but it looks like I may not finish this year. I’ll keep plugging away, though I clearly will not be done by Thanksgiving, not a prayer.

Happy writing everyone!