pop quiz

scenario: you approach a schedule book with several columns, one for each person with whom you may make an appointment. Some boxes are empty and uncolored (white); some of these white boxes have names of appointment-holders written in them in pencil; some are grayed out; none of the grayed-out boxes has a name written in it.

question: where would you write your name to schedule an appointment?

answers (choose 1):
a. in an empty white box
b. erase a name from a filled white box and replace it with my name
c. in a grayed-out box
d. who needs an appointment? i'm the king of the universe and you exist only to serve me whenever i feel honoring you with my presence. you'll be lucky if i let you "help" me.

solution:
let me tell you what the answer is not. it's not b or d. the number of people who don't seem to understand that if a person got to the appointment first, the appointment is that first person's. and the number of people who think that we should drop everything we're doing and everyone else we're helping to jump up to serve them is staggering. and offensive.

still, those "answers" are just based on general rudeness, which i can handle to some extent. rude people respond to one of three responses: (1) overbearing kindness that makes them recognize how shitty they're being, (2) retaliatory rudeness, or (3) sarcasm. my favorite #3 is this: "sure i'll squeeze you in. here: look at the schedule book, choose the name you like least, and i'll erase the name of the person who planned ahead and made an appointment a month ago so that you, who did no planning whatsoever, can get your extra credit." then, the key is to stare coldly while the wheels creak around in mr/ms. entitled's head until s/he finally says, "oh." "oh" is right, you selfish ass.

the other incorrect option is d. and this one chaps my hide because it's just based on stupidity. why would we have two different colors on the schedule? because it's prettier? why would no one else have signed up on the gray boxes? wtf?

sadly, it was d i had to deal with last night. a girl came in. she saw that we had circled her name in the book. she became irritated. i explained that she had signed up where no one was available to help her. she asked how she was to know that. i said that we thought it rather intuitive. she said it wasn't. i said that in five years we've had no mistakes. she said we should have a sign. i asked if she'd taken the time to read all of the rest of the signs in the room already. she said no. i asked why she thought, then, that she'd have read the explanation of the very complicated white-gray boxes system. she got pissed. i got pissed. (it had been my third 10+-hour day this week.) i came back to my senses and told her that we'd arranged for her to have a space with a ****. (btw, i'm the one who advocated for her to get that spot. inga and others have such little tolerance for idiocy that they said not to give her anything and to send her away. ironic, no?) she asked who her **** would be. i told her. she asked who that was. i pointed. she said, "good. because i don't want it to be you." i nearly lost it. but walked away instead. i was in the mental and emotional place to have what is commonly called a "bitch fight" right then and there, and methinks that such behavior might be inappropriate in the supervisory staff member of the night.

i'm so through with people who can't follow the most basic instructions or figure out the most intuitive (non)problems and then get pissed off that the world doesn't stop to solve the problems created by their stupidity. fuck them.