The stupid way people talk

As a writer, and a customer service rep, I try to pay attention to speech. I pay attention to my own speech to make sure I'm not saying "um" and "okay" and other such things all the time.





I pay attention to other people so I can make better dialogue in my writing. Unfortunately, that means that I sometimes have to suffer through the things they say. And some of those things make my very skin crawl.





"Do what now?" This has to be one of the worst phrases. Especially because people don't use it to clarify the command I gave them. It's usually in response to a question. "So, what's going on?" "Do what now?" Grr.





"Cut if on/off." Cut it off is vaguely appropriate. Vaguely. But cut it on drives me up a wall. Do you even know what you mean?



"Plug it up." "Mash them buttons." *screams* Seriously, do you know what you're doing to the language? I feel like English should just be put out of its misery. Or these speakers should be put out of English's misery.



And that's just the way my customers talk. Some of my co-workers are just as bad.



There's one guy who says "go ahead", "going ahead", and such variations for everything. Even things that are completely incorrect. "Yeah, we can go ahead and do this." "Once I do this you'll be able to go ahead and..." "The sky is blue, so if we go ahead and look, you can see there are clouds up there." And other ridiculous shit. And it's all the time. It's not like an occasional thing. It makes me cringe every time I hear it. It's worse than when people say "um" in the middle of everything.



I'm sometimes amazed at how ignorant and stupid people can sound. Not just that they don't speak eloquently, like the old Civil War letters that always get played on the History channel. I mean down right stupid, like they never learned to talk. I have to struggle not to snap at people when they can't articulate something simple, like telling me what their phone does something when they try to make a call.



As my roomie would put it, "Use your words to express your thoughts and ideas."



Unfortunately, that just doesn't exist with the majority of Americans I have to talk to.

Time's a flyin'

June sure is passing by quickly. Almost surprisingly fast.

It doesn't help that it hasn't broken a hundred here yet. It's been all mild, and spring-like. It was supposed to warm up today, and start approaching real highs, but I don't think it managed to. This global warming thing sure is a bitch, eh?

I have another month of waiting to hear back from a publishing company about my book. THAT seems to be moving slow enough.

My snake has shed three times since I got her. She's a ravenous baby, and I'll keep feeding her as long as she keeps eating. When she's really pissy, she acts a lot like a rattlesnake; lifts her head off the ground in an S-curve, and just strikes and strikes and strikes while rattling her tail in the dirt. She's also finally big enough that I can feel her teeth when she bites. I love little Flash.

Work ethic

I am SO the last person to complain about a work ethic. If I didn't like to eat and play games, I wouldn't work. I hate working. I hate being dependant on a job for money. It sucks.

But I understand that in order to get money, I need to make concessions to my job. Like a dress code, and attendance, and other "little" things.

But twice in the last three days, I've heard people complaining about the little things they have to do for dress code. One was a kid overheard in the food court of the mall. "And they wanted me to take my piercings out, and put bandaids over the holes." He sounded disgusted, and surprised, and like he was somehow entitled to do what he wanted.

The other is one of my co-workers here who thinks he shouldn't have to wear khaki pants because some of the big-wigs are coming through the call center. He doesn't even think he should have to wear a button-up shirt with his non-tattered jeans.

Because it's such a strain to wear khakis now and then, right?

I seriously don't understand people who feel entitled to do whatever they want, and can't possibly bend even a little for a job.