Rudeness In The Air  

Yesterday I was enjoying breakfast at my favourite greasy spoon ("The T**** ") when a rather unprofessional incident occurred.  Now this was not the first time I've seen (the woman whom I assume is) the manager be extremely rude to her workers in front of customers.  I was in the middle of eating when I heard Mrs. Grumpypants letting her limited rude vocabulary flow freely out of her unfiltered mouth and into the restaurant.  "What is this SHIT all over here?" she inquired with a disgusted face looking at her most courteous server.  (And trust me.  This server, no matter how busy it is, no matter how rude she is, no matter what; is always amazingly nice and polite.)  She didn't even pull him aside and ask.  She said it at the bar area (which is a good length of the restaurant) and in definite hearing distance of every customer.  She went on about it for a while. She then followed up by shit talking employees not standing right next to her, to the new server.  He looked very uncomfortable with her behaviour.  I know I was uncomfortable with it and I wasn't even the one having it thrown at me!  I've seen this woman (in the past) threaten to fire employees right there on the spot for the lamest stuff.  She wakes up on the wrong side of the bed or is PMS'ing and thinks she has the right to be queen bitch.  It's horrible.  No manager (or owner or whom ever she is) has the right to behave and treat his or her employees like that.  My friend was tempted to go over and tell her how appalled he was by her behaviour.  I normally would let him do that, but I had a feeling the employees would just get it worse if anything.  Plus I eat there a minimum of once a week, and really do not feel like having my food spit in or whatever the next time.

Off we went to catch the bus so I could do my grocery shopping.  The bus pulls up and we jump on.  I flash my Metropass (public transit pass) to the driver and then wait for my friend to find his wallet to pay his fare.  Now firstly, I want to say the following.  I am in my late 20's, am a tax paying citizen and don't look like a "punk" (not like punk rock music, but in the sense that older people call kids) by any means. I've been buying a Metropass for 13 years straight and NEVER cheat the TTC (public transit) system, as I have no interest in fare hikes.  As I'm waiting for my friend, I ask him if he has his fare (because I always have a couple tickets on me just in case).  Immediately the lady turns and says to me "No pass backs of your Metropass".  First of all, I was just standing there not even reaching into any of my pockets.  Secondly, I wanted to strangle her for even saying such a stupid thing to me.  I do not appreciate being accused of something so stupid by someone who is trying to give herself a dumb little power trip.  

Now this is where it gets fun and a little crazy.  My friend turns around and as he is putting his ticket into the box asks her why she is accusing me of something I'm clearly not doing.  She just looks over and offers no apology and shrugs. My friend reminds her she should get her facts straight before she goes around accusing people. She mumbles something or another.  My friend tells her she should reconsider her job if she doesn't like it.  She says she enjoys it quite well. (We find out in a couple minutes why exactly it is she likes her job so much.) She actually tells my friend maybe he should reconsider his and maybe that is why he is so unhappy.  My friend and her exchange some more words involving him getting pissed and swearing (which he definitely should not have done, but she was being rude) and reminding her Welfare might be in her near future (again bad, but actually quite humorous at the time).  He asks her what her name is and is told all he needs to know is her bus number, which he takes down.  The minute he asks her name/bus number she calls the TTC headquarters.  This is exactly what she tells them: "I have a guy here and his friend tried to pass him back her Metropass.  Now he is swearing at me."  I couldn't believe my ears.  I was taught by her generation to be honest and truthful.  That lies are bad bad bad, very bad!  

Suddenly, (with these fancy hi-tech buses) a man is on the intercom of the bus saying: "To the passengers on the bus if you don't behave properly we will have to contact the police and have the bus put out of service."  Wow, that's pretty extreme if you ask me.  Their employee makes accusations, and then lies and we get told the cops may be contacted!  So the moral of what happened yesterday is: People in power (so to speak) lie and/or act like assholes to cover their own asses and possibly make themselves feel good.  The funny thing is, that in my line of work and them in theirs, there is a decent chance one of those two ladies may end up where I work.  I might happen to be one of their therapists one day.  So the actual moral of this incident is: watch out who you're an asshole too.  They might be one of your therapists one day.

Don't get me wrong I would never really be an asshole to any client I have.  But I like to think in my mind that I could be.  It's my happy little thought that keeps the day all good.