Are You a Jerk?

Packerjohn

Packerjohn

Packerjohn
Location
Canada
Today, I learned something about what a jerk is:
• If you ignore human beings who are sitting in front of you because you are too busy texting people who aren’t even in the room, chances are you’re a jerk.
• If you are one of those people who go to movies
and, just when it reaches the dramatic part, begin loudly talking on your cellphone about how (bad word) rude the grocery-store cashier was to you the other day, chances are you’re a jerk.
I hope most seniors are not jerks.
 

Not me, I have never done either of those things, it's the height of rudeness IMO

I was at the nail salon a few weeks ago, and a woman plonked herself down at the manicurists table next to me, barked at him what she wanted done, then held the phone between her neck and ear, and had the most inane but LOUD conversation for the next 40 minutes... I was glad to get out of there in the end if I would have been there longer I might have struck her on the head with that phone...

Another is at the cash till in the supermarket.. why do people feel the need to be on their phone while packing and paying for their goods... ? it's always some inane convo but oh well they obviously don't give a fig that all the rest of the queue and the cashier have to endure it whether we want to or not...
 
When I’m out n about my phone stays in my pocket. When I’m in the doctors waiting room I have heard some of the most amazing stories, I also know what illness brought them there, if you need to discuss things like that just text!! I always turn my phone off at the doctors.
I’m not sure I would call them jerks tho. I think people are so use to using their phone 24/7 that they don’t even think how annoying it is for the rest of us.
 
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I do use my phone in public but only to surf or post, never to talk. My time is limited and I hate wasting it doing nothing but waiting for appointments.

I do think those who carry on loud and long conversation in public are attention seekers.
 
Lvstotrvl said:
When I’m out n about my phone stays in my pocket. When I’m in the doctors waiting room I have heard some of the most amazing stories, I also know what illness brought them there, if you need to discuss things like that just text!! I always turn my phone off at the doctors.
I’m not sure I would call them jerks tho. I think people are so use to using their phone 24/7 that they don’t even think how annoying it is for the rest of us.
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In our doctors waiting room we're instructed to turn phones off.... not everyone complies but at least most people do...
 
I rarely break out my phone, in public. I will check my shopping list on it, or what I need at Home Depot, but that's it.

Interesting: I closed my tattoo shop in '05. Even back then, I remember prospective clients coming in, coming up to the counter, and talking on their phones while asking me questions about tattoos. More than once, I sent them out the door if they wouldn't disconnect.

I had forgotten how long this type of rude behavior has been going on, until this thread jogged my memory.
 
Rosemarie said:
What exactly is a jerk? It isn't part of our vocabulary in Britain.
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lol you may be surprised.. ( I've known the word all my life, my family always used it )...but here's the origin...:D


This “jerk” was known from the mid-1500s, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Originally the verb “jerk” meant to strike or lash, as with a whip or a switch, and the noun “jerk” meant such a stroke or lash, Oxford says. The word in both forms—verb and noun—was “apparently echoic” in origin, the OED says.16 Sep 2016

it didn't actually become common slang language in the USA until 1935...

"tedious and ineffectual person," 1935, American English carnival slang, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from jerkwater "petty, inferior, insignificant" [Barnhart, OED]; alternatively from, or influenced by, verbal phrase jerk off "masturbate" [Rawson]. The lyric in "Big Rock Candy Mountain," sometimes offered as evidence of earlier use, apparently is "Where they hung the Turk [not jerk] that invented work."
 
It's rather sad that people have to constantly be doing something. While waiting in my doctor's office, I sit back and close my eyes until I'm called. Others are playing games on their phones with the sounds on. There is a sign saying phones should be turned off, but people make and receive calls without removing themselves.

I have no problem with those who need to be connected, but people don't seem to be able to walk and talk at the same time .. especially at crosswalks.

Are these people jerks? I don't think so .. just completely oblivious to others.
 
There are times when I have to resist the impulse to be a jerk. By and large I am not, but I have to stay on guard.

I always imposed some kind of atonement upon myself on those occasions when I come to believe that my behavior was not appropriate. Usually, that involves a check (at the painful level) to the Salvation Army or another good charity. Charities have provided atonement to me several times. On one occasion where I was unnecessarily rude to a homeless person in New York city, I called the Salvation Army in that district and discussed how I could help people like that. The Salvation Army Captain advised me that the size of the check that I was about to send would buy "a lot of atonement" and that he would put it to good use in the neighborhood where I had gotten frustrated.

So I know that I am perfectly capable of being a jerk if I don't think about things.
 
Hmm-----Per the above: I was in a hurry, for no reason at all, driving down the street. A squirrel ran out, and I hit him. I felt terrible. I had been a jerk to drive so fast, needlessly. I went home, depressed, got online, and made a BIG contribution to Austin Wildlife Rescue.

Interestingly, a few years later, Max was barking up a storm, outside. There, clinging to a corner of my patio wall, was a baby squirrel, about six weeks old. His little peeps tore at my heart. I got a shoe box, carefully pried him off the wall, and took him to the rescue place. Maybe the Karmic wheel turned full circle. I hope so.....
 
Pecos said:
There are times when I have to resist the impulse to be a jerk. By and large I am not, but I have to stay on guard.

I always imposed some kind of atonement upon myself on those occasions when I come to believe that my behavior was not appropriate. Usually, that involves a check (at the painful level) to the Salvation Army or another good charity. Charities have provided atonement to me several times. On one occasion where I was unnecessarily rude to a homeless person in New York city, I called the Salvation Army in that district and discussed how I could help people like that. The Salvation Army Captain advised me that the size of the check that I was about to send would buy "a lot of atonement" and that he would put it to good use in the neighborhood where I had gotten frustrated.

So I know that I am perfectly capable of being a jerk if I don't think about things.
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The Salvation Army is a great organization! And I’m like you Pecos I need to be vigilant when it comes to monitoring my behavior or I can be a real jerk. It comes naturally for me so every day I’m on guard. 👍
 
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