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Women who gossip all the time and are indecisive! Here we go, its one of my pet hates and I fully expect to be flamed well and truly for this one. Okay, I’m one of those office workers and I like to go and grab a sandwich from the canteen. Lots of people like to do this between twelve and and two in the afternoon, so as you would expect lunch times can be quite busy.
Now my gripe isn’t with the food or the contents of the sandwich, which is sometimes mediocre. My issue is with my fellow workers, particularly the female ones as I find it quite irritating the way their brains’ suddenly switch off the moment they queue up for lunch.
They spend about ten minutes whilst waiting in the queue gassing with whoever will listen about their kids, their boyfriend, their diet, what happened on ‘sex in the city’ last night. What they really should be doing is deciding what they want to eat. So what’s wrong with a bit of polite conversation or gossip in the lunch queue I hear you ask?
they can’t make up their mind what they want...
The problem is that when it’s their turn to be served, they can’t make up their mind what they want and this delays everyone else! If they had read the menu to see what ‘today’s special’ was, they wouldn’t be trying to decide between that and the bowl of salad when they get to the front of the queue. I know this probably all comes across as a bit petty and maybe even arrogant, but it’s all time wasted queuing and that is something I find very irritating. Another part of it all really is the fact that I have to stand there and listen to the gory inner details of their personal life. No thank you, way too much information before I’ve had my lunch!
Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest, and while we are at it let’s talk about personal space. Standing in line isn’t difficult. It doesn’t involve meandering back and forth between gossip buddies. It also doesn’t involve being a few inches from me with your arms flailing around! In short, respect personal space and think about lunch not gossip!
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I too abhor the culture of despising those with an education; I believe it's widely thought that this is the reason that so many young black men do so poorly at school, it's not "cool" to do well.
When I briefly ran a customer service division I heard one of the staff referring to me as 'that posh ****' that sits in the back office! Why? Because I speak proper English. Is it some sort of inverse snobbery or just jealousy?
I was not in any way looking down on other people and, at that age, didn't even realise that I spoke differently to the people around me; I just read a lot and had a vocabulary that was a bit advanced for my age. Also, my parents raised me to believe that if you worked hard and treated people with courtesy that it didn't matter where you came from because you could go anywhere and hold your head up among any company.
I realise that I was very lucky to be raised by parents like that; poverty of expectation is a much bigger burden than financial poverty as it can last for life.
What really irritates me is that in the UK everybody has the opportunity to be educated, even if it's only to a basic level, and yet there seems to be an underclass of people who delight in mocking proper speech and behaviour. It contrasts with people in so-called developing countries (many of which are not developing at all but falling further into savagery and despotic rule) who take pride in speaking English properly and accurately.
Based on my own experiences in the UK, it seems that there is a stratum of immigrant society whose English, in particular our Polish and Indian colleagues, is better than much of the native population. It does not bode well for the future.
Irritating isn't it?
Even worse than the above is : "So I was like, you know, and she was like ......."
What the hell does it mean?
It drives me up the wall the inane babble of "she sez and I sez and then I sez" of verbal garbage. Can't they wait till they get off the bus before discussing their life in its minute detail for anyone to hear, what the hell is wrong with them?
GRR!
However the grumpyoldman can "chat" on the phone or in person for hours!
-Eleanor Roosevelt
Donna