{"id":1426,"date":"2014-08-08T10:02:21","date_gmt":"2014-08-08T15:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/?p=1426"},"modified":"2014-08-31T15:44:18","modified_gmt":"2014-08-31T20:44:18","slug":"are-we-becoming-an-angrier-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/are-we-becoming-an-angrier-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Are We Becoming An Angrier Society?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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An unhappy customer called me the other day. He had every reason to be displeased, because we had given him poor service.\u00a0 His approach was to use foul language, which I endured. I figured he would eventually settle down and then maybe we could reason together.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t like getting cussed out any more than the next person, but sometimes that just goes with the territory. In my younger years, I might have bowed up and told the fellow to quit using words we don\u2019t print in a family newspaper. But with age occasionally comes wisdom, so I generally let angry customers blow off steam. Eventually, they calm down and realize they have used some language and said some things they should not have said. Apologies follow, we try to figure out how to keep what went wrong in the transaction from happening again, and move on from there.<\/p>\n

Being in the newspaper business, as in any business that deals with the public, means one is going to deal with angry people. Being around angry people both fascinates and appalls me. It seems to me that public outbursts of anger are more common these days. Last week, I watched a young woman with pink hair get in a screaming match downtown with her partner\/boyfriend\/husband. He was parked on the street, and she leaned in the window and unleashed a loud torrent of curse words and threats. After about 30 seconds, he sped off, nearly knocking her over. It was not dissimilar to watching a car wreck \u2014 horrifying but impossible to turn your gaze.<\/p>\n

My hometown of Longview several years ago was named the Angriest City in America \u2011 a title almost certainly unfairly bestowed upon it. Having lived there and elsewhere behind the Pine Curtain over many years \u2014 plus a couple stints in Austin and sojourns to Kansas and West Texas \u2014 it doesn\u2019t seem to have a higher quotient of trigger-tempered people than anywhere else. And surely the pollsters must have neglected to ask about New York City. Fuggehdaboutit.<\/p>\n

However, it does appear to my unscientific eye that many of us are far more willing to vent our spleen and use harsh language toward someone who has done us wrong, actual or perceived. I blame the Internet, which has loosened the bounds of what folks will say to and about one another, as well as the overall coarsening of popular culture. People get online and leave comments that most would not dare say to someone\u2019s face. After a while, that type of discourse, if you can call it that, becomes so commonplace that it somehow seems OK to treat a sales clerk who is too slow in ringing up a purchase as if she is a lowly serf who can be tongue-lashed with crude language.<\/p>\n

When films and television shows use foul language and portray folks pitching a hissy fit, cussing people out, and losing their tempers over small matters as normal, even accepted behavior, then it increasingly does<\/i> become accepted behavior in real life. And our society ends up becoming a less congenial place in which to interact.<\/p>\n

I rarely get angry, unless someone messes with my family. If I receive poor service, I either attempt to get the situation resolved, or I quit doing business with that company or service. I worked my way through college as a waiter, cooking steaks at Bonanza, as a pizza delivery driver, animal control officer, in a poultry processing plant, janitor, a movie projectionist and finally at the newspaper. So I remember what a grind those types of entry-level jobs can be, and try to cut some slack when the people with whom I come into contact do not exactly provide stellar service.<\/p>\n

Maybe they were up all night with a sick baby. Or they\u2019re worried about how they are going to make next month\u2019s rent. Whatever the reason, my yelling at them won\u2019t make the service or the situation any better. A kind word of encouragement almost always gets a better result than haranguing someone, I figure.<\/p>\n

That fellow I was talking about? After a few moments, he indeed calmed down and apologized for cussing. He promised to stop by and meet me in person sometime. I look forward to it.<\/p>\n

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