Are People Bothering You? Don’t Let Rude Jerks Ruin Your Day.

1. Waiters that look like they are doing you a HUGE favor – bringing you the menus.
2. Ticket salespeople who throw your money back at you.
3. The man who pushes past you like he’s the only one in a hurry.
4. Colleagues at work who seem to have no courtesies whatsoever in emails or phone calls, forgetting their please and thank yous or even hellos or good mornings.

Any of these situations sound familiar to you? Ever wanted to slam down the phone and just scream and shout profanities? Don’t. Not only will it increase your stress levels, it would make you become one of them! Read below on how to maintain your cool, in these frustrating situations. (Reactions from someone who has an allergy to rude people – seriously – my blood boils, my face turns red and I would almost break out in rashes of frustration – an unfortunate an easily triggered disease, I must admit!)

1. Assess the situation

• Did you give them a reason to be rude to you? (ie. You yourself were rude and obnoxious?) If you were – please exit this page, this writer has no tolerance for people like you.
• No? – sorry you had to experience this – kindly proceed to…

2. Do you need something from said rude person?

• Yes – be patient, try to get what you need and try to avoid getting spit on your food or booked on a one way ticket to Alaska. There are many reasons as to why there could be tension – language barriers, bad weather. But only you are in control of your own actions – try to communicate clearly and firmly to get what you need. (Hint : hold that temper, and stress your Ts. (eg. That is noT The way I ordered IT) It’s a way of communication in which you tell people not to mess with you. – speaking with an exaggerated (fake) British accent sometimes gets me my way. I am not sure why, and I’m looking for someone to explain it to me.
• No – Take a deep breath; and walk away. It’s not worth it

3. After receiving what you need (eg. Food / tickets/ answers to work related problems) – CHECK IT

• Is it correct / sanitary? – say “thank you.” You asked for something, and you received it. It is the least you can do. More points to your conscience if you smile.
• No? – time to change approach – look for anyone else around you – switch counters if you have to, ask for a different waiter. You are wasting your sanity on a person, for no reason at all. There is no one way of doing things – change your methods, and you might change you results.

4. The aftermath

• After the whole incident, are you still fuming? That is okay. In this day in age you CAN express your dissatisfaction, passive aggressively. I am not encouraging this – However, it is a good solution for those of you who do not enjoy confrontation. This is where the beauty of the internet comes in. Write reviews! Give Stars! Rate them! Business thrive on their online presence, and if isn’t squeaky clean they can forget a visit from us millennials who are so eager to spread the word! – if anything you’ll be doing the world a favor. A shout out of gratitude to all you people who give honest reviews. Travelling would really not be same without you.

5. Finally

• Breathe, count to three, and breathe again. You don’t know their story, maybe their dog just died, or they just got broken up over a post it. We cannot control the action of others, but we can control our reactions towards them. Smile, leave the minimum tip, and a gracious thank you. Show them, it does not help to be rude. And feel that much better – that instead of making someone’s day worse, you made it a whole lot brighter.

As the New Radicals once said, “You get what you give.”