I was in town last weekend and decided to get a few beers for the stroll up to Ron’s. So I popped into that Dunnes Stores on George’s Street, grabbed a few cans and went up to the counter.
I waited in line then got the ‘next please’ call from the lady behind the counter.
“Hello”, I said putting the cans down on the counter so she could scan them. She said nothing, not even a grunt, but she looked at me like I was the biggest piece of shit she had ever seen in her life. She scanned the cans and asked for the money, all the while staring at me with utter contempt. I gave her the money, asked for a bag, which she whipped out from under the counter like I’d asked her to cut off her own clit, threw it on the counter and slapped down my change on top of.
“Goodbye”, I said, perplexed at what I had done to make this women hate me so much. She took one last look at me, a look which said ‘I hope when you leave here you get hit by a bus, or raped by a gnu, or stabbed in the neck, or set on fire, or a crane falls on your head, you fucking bastard’.
It was most odd. Slightly pissed up as I was at the time I didn’t really think too much of it but it’s bothering me now. While I don’t expect anyone working in a shop on George’s Street on Saturday night to be full of the joys I don’t think it’s too much to expect some basic manners, especially when you’re being polite to them.
We’re developing a real problem in our service industries here. Employers are hiring people as cheaply as possible, maximising profits, whilst minimising customer service. About three weeks ago I was in a newsagent in Rathmines trying to buy a drink and a newspaper. The woman behind the counter was talking on her mobile phone and quite pointedly refused to acknowledge my presence even though I was standing right in front of her. When two other people joined the queue and she ignored all of us I threw the newspaper up in the air and the bottle of water on the ground and walked out. I got my paper and drink in a shop where the shop assistant wasn’t an ignorant, ill-mannered cunt.
It’s getting to a point where you start noticing as unusual things that should be common place. I find myself going to back to places where I know they have some kind of commitment to customer service and refusing point blank to go anywhere near other bars/restaurants because it has been so appalling. And the list of no-go places is growing, sadly.
In other countries bar and restaurant service is so good it’s almost an art. And while there are places like that, and people like that, too often you feel like it’s a chore to them. And for all our talk we Irish don’t like to make a scene in public places. Unfortunately there’s no point bitching in the pub after the fact, bad service needs to be highlighted there and then.
So my solemn vow is to never let anyone away with bad service, poor manners or looking at me like they hate me for no good reason (it will still be fine to look at me like you hate me if you have a good reason to hate me).
Bring. It. On.
Was the shop in Rathmines that one beside Subway by any chance? some shower of cunts in there. young one always behind the counter sitting on a crate reading Heat magazine or on her phone that looks totally put out whenever someone has the audacity to approach the counter and try and buy something. I used to nick stuff out of there on a daily basis out of spite for that cretinous weapon.
Also, you seem to have develop a fixation for gnus. Why is that?
Have a nice day.
There’s a place on O’Connell street where I sometimes grabbed a pastry and a drink. I walked out of there twice, leaving everything on the counter because of the same kind of service.
I did a similar post there a while ago too:
http://www.johnbraine.com/2007/11/rant-services-in-ireland.html
You sure you weren’t in Stinkin’ Pete mode, an unwashed, unshaven smelly wanker with bad breath and a worse attitude such that her eyes were narrowed from watering and her mouth clamped shut in a determined grimace lest she inhale in your presence and fill her lungs with whatever noxious gases that emit from one’s various orifices [orifii?] after a feed of pints, two raw kebabs, four Bisodol and a Red Bull?
I am not making excuses but if you pay people shit then you can expect shit service.
I was in PC World this week and walked out again (third time this year) because I was ignored, no cashier and a cunt telling me it wasn’t his job. I walked next door to Currys, I was greeted by a young man, who told me he didn’t sell what I wanted and then gave me two alternative shops where I could get what I wanted. He was pleasant and informative. The sad thing both these shops are owned by the same group.
As an addendum as I grow older I become more appalled at the level of service we receive and have started writing letters to CEOs of companies. I don’t want that over the top shit you get in America, I want basic courtesy.
“I don’t want that over the top shit you get in America, I want basic courtesy.”
Y’all have nice day now! Me bollix.
Perhaps that newsagent is employing a mentally ill person because they’re very cheap? She might be mildly paranoid and hearing voices in her head telling her that you molest gnus? Hence the dirty looks.
“I was in PC World this week…” – that’s your problem right there. Go to IT-Direct on Parliament street. And, no, I don’t work for them, but they are sound and always willing to help.
PC world are the scabs from an diseased knackers cunt.
J5 – it was the newsagent beside the entrance to the Swan Centre.
And say what you want about the American ‘model’ being over the top but I’d take that any day over the shit you get here.
If the worst you get is someone saying ‘Have a nice day’ after serving with manners and efficiency then I’m well able to cope with that.
Twenty – maybe she fancied you and was embarrassed ? You should return and discuss
this with her.
I remember once buying about €200 worth of tickets at the box office in the Olympia from some bloke who did not stop composing a text message while he was serving me. Barely looked at me.
Can’t find any reason to write anything vaguely amusing or off the point. Agree with every word.
Spot. On. Twenty!
no no it’s a chore for me too…….I just hide it well……it’s a bit like which came first, the chicken or the egg……the rude customer or the rude staff?
which came first, the chicken or the egg
That’s easy – the egg. Beyond all doubt.
Yep, easy – the chicken
not so PP – your claim is easily disproved.
Yep, it’s time to feck stuff back at these wasters. Ordered a cappucino (fuck off you slagging bastards)in an Italian place in Malahide (fuck off you slagging bastards)one day after a pizza and they gave me instant coffee with some foam on top. And a big shiny Gaggia sitting on the counter. They seemed genuinely confused when I told them to stick it up their arses, I wasn’t drinking it or paying for it. It was €2.50 or something on the bill. Useless cunts.
OK Mr Maggot, Prove away
When they’re being that silent and ignoring you – just be loud and obnoxiousvand right in their acne raddled faces. Then when they’ve totted up and bagged all your shit tell them to shove it right up their fucking arse-sideways and then leave. Fuck em, it’s not our fault that they’re in a shitty job that they hate.
Oh yeah – Do say “Please” and “Thank You” it does go a long way.
Only when the niceties fail should you release the consumer cunt from hell……
Easy PP – chickens evolved.
So something which wasn’t a chicken laid an egg from which hatched the first chicken.
Fair enough Professor Maggot
Only Asians work in that shop, Twenty, and as you well know, Asian people are not real.
heh, I wasn’t bringing the race of the people into it but the George’s Street lady and the lady in Rathmines had that in common.
Race is an easy target but the Irish staff (when you find one working these days) are just as bad. My last trip home reminded me why I left. I had “please” and “thank you” beaten into me – my scars made it into some of the finest medical journals. Or maybe we are just all getting old and thinking back to the good old days/ No, I don’t think so, in the bad old days, those nosey fuckers in the shop/butcher/undertaker/bar were far too interested in why your elder sister was “mysteriously” pulled out of school to spend a few months with her auntie in Fermanagh. I used to just tell them that she was in training for the revolution. Then I would get all the fucking questions about the revolution.
Art form on the continent is not far off it although the standard falls through the floor at railway stations, except the pubs where they are always thrilled to see someone looking for a beer at 9am.
So why was she pulled out of school?
Were you responsible ?
For the revolution.
I was never a revolutionary.
Apropos of nothing, there’s a asian girl in the Esso Garage in Kilmacanogue, a Lucy Liu lookalike who makes the best Sausage Baguette in the world..
Well a lot of it has to do with post Celtic Tiger Irish people thinking retail jobs are beneath them. I for one welcomed the first wave of chinese imigrants with open arms as for the first time in living memory, I wasnt snarled at by some fat Sharon and looked up and down as if they were doing me a favour whenever I went to buy something.
The coming recession will be interesting to watch in this respect as the newly layed off breakfast roll eating builders will find themselves with the choice of either drawing the dole or selling breakfast rolls in Spar to the rest of us who actually still have jobs. Will retail still be beneath them then? One to watch.
Maybe it was the shopkeeper/butcher/undertaker/barman that was responsible.
You cannot tag this on race, in this case its a bit more complicated. I lived in a city where the asian population was far highr than non-asian, and there are some distinct differences between generation and actual country of origin. I could break it down but it may seem racist but just know that Hindus and Sikhs are the soundest people in the world.
Whiskey – the shopkeeper/butcher/undertaker/barman was female so she probably did have something to do with it.
Dunnes Stores menswear (fuck off you slagging bastards) in the Pavilions in Swords has a very strange (Irish) girl who talks like she is reading from a script and never makes eye contact. She only issues instructions like “Enter your PIN now”. I sometimes go out of my way to make chat just for the craic but I can’t seem to provoke a reaction of any sort. Zero.
Try speaking to her in Irish SG?
Tried that – “Póg mo thóin”
Trust me, this one is not multilingual.
Anyone ever in the tesco on baggot street?
They’re all a bunch of freaks behind the counter.
Some of them are pleasant enough but theres an irish guy who looks like he’s had a lobotomy, a chinese pig girl who is really fucking rude.
I don’t expect a smile or anything but a “hi” and a “thanks” would be plenty. And maybe wiping the disgusted look of their faces might help.
By the way twenty, since I’ve been reading your blog I’ve been finding it increasingly difficult to stop swearing. Must fucking try harder.
So basically what twenty is saying is that all Asian people are ignorant cunts.
I have to say I agree. Extra for the indian bloke that hands out the metro at the train station every morning, he seems very friendly. I still shouldn’t have sucked his dick, mind.
I`ve had more than one “experience” with that person in Dunnes, Pavillions SG.
To be honest I think she`s special needs, which I thought after I had reminded her manners cost nothing, and she nearly burst into tears.
What a bitch I am
What were you doing in Dunnes mens wear SG?
I just walk out the door now.
We don’t have to give them our money.
If we dont complain on the spot, service will never improve. They just don`t get the scarcasm when you`re a smart-arse / rude fecker back to them.
sarcasm even
Easy PP – chickens evolved.
So something which wasn’t a chicken laid an egg from which hatched the first chicken.
So if the question was “which came first the chicken or the chicken egg”? Well clearly its the chicken. Clearly!
Does that mean you also believe the one about God creating Man ?
What about the theory of evolution….huh huh
Peadar – two things-
1) it was not specied that it had to be a chicken egg!
2)and even then, as the chicken emerged from it, I would say that it was a chicken egg even though it wasn’t actually laid by a chicken, merely by a chicken progenitor.
The Pavillions cow sounds like she mgiht have Asperger’s syndrome or even mild autism
No reason not to punch her in the face though
That was a joke btw, for all you pc gnomes out there
How bad would it be to laugh at Giver`s comment ?
i always treat customers the same as they treat me X10, which in most cases actually means very well.
Have I strayed onto Twenty Meldrew’s blog?
I live out in asia and hong kong is one of the most rudest countries in teh world … they slap the change down on the counter … dont even look at you
ive had people bump right into me on teh street and not say sorry or even acknowledge the bump
second worst is singapore …
not to beat on the chinese but manners arent a big thing culturally for them …if you go to beijing for the olympics you can see for yourself.
so there really sailing close to the wind taking up customer facing positions in ireland
Its all down to the employer / business. In the past number of years in this country there has been a noticeable decline in customer service standards due to an attitude on their behalf of making as much money before the country / ergo the business, goes bust. Its not profitable to ensure customer satisfaction with this attitude. And nobody complains in this country, not properly anyway. We whinge about it, and threaten to boycott places and then we are back in doing business with them the following week.
Huzzah for the review of your novel from RTE, Twenty.
Not all Asians are rude – my good lady wife is Asian and is the nicest person in the world with a lovely smile.
Then again, she doesn’t work in Spar.
I found the shop staff in Prague to be the worst i’ve encountered. Surly bastards.
I so agree. I’m one of these customer service people (albeit part time, in England). But I find the same thing, so many of my co-workers are belligerent and just exhibit a pathetic lack of people skills that I often get told I’m too happy and nice for the place. I’m hardly a bubbly person. I just know that you get more tips and less complaints if you treat customers like people, oh and you might enjoy your job more if you don’t spend every second of it despising the fact that you actually have to work for your wage. If you dont like what youre being paid, why dont you try to find a better job? Or I know, drop out and collect benefits instead.
And more so, because I actually make the effort to smile, to listen to what someone is saying to me & respond, to get peoples orders right and to thank them for their custom, I get extremely annoyed when I get rude, bored, apathetic service in other places.
of course not ALL asians … japanese are the most courtious group you can ever meet, same with thais and filipinos
Im talking PRC chinese (People rupublic of china)
statistically I would say 80 % are rude
and its just not within there culture … you try living with a billion people and see how you’ll eventually jump teh queue and think about yourself FIRST rather than anyone else
Twenty,
I have an experiment I want you to try ?
Dress up in your best suit and tie ..comb the hair and generally spruce yourself up to look like a million dollars.
Then go into those shops again and I fuckin guarentee you ..you will get a different reaction.
Why … its down to the cultural values of those people who are serving you …
Go on and try it and have a follow-up post
I would add : not smelling of the drink
Yep, such ignorance is all too prevalent. Think Dunnes, Tesco etc. as well. If you want to hear about more such ignorance, with a good deal of old fashioned meaness thrown in for good measure, check out the bullshit I was faced with at my local last night –
http://measuredview.blogspot.com/2008/04/explain-please.html
Has anyone had similar experiences?
It works both ways unfortunately, I refuse to serve anybody while they are on a mobile phone. I will stand back and wait till they have finished. This really perplexes some people who think their little points and hand jerks should be enough instruction for any fool who serves others for a living.
Couldn’t agree more. I was getting kneed in the bollocks by my girlfriend when I’d my gag in and I couldn’t get the safety word out. Had she the common sense to establish a secondary safety measure I would have avoided the excess pain. Somewhat of a tangent granted, but I agree with the basic manners issue. Not sure how these two topics are related, sorry.
Of course it’s always better to be professional and courteous especially in the face of a twatty customer, but make no mistake, the customer is very often the twat
“I was getting kneed in the bollocks by my girlfriend when I’d my gag in and I couldn’t get the safety word out”
Is that some obscure spy code or something?
Jeb …haha
yeah my girfriend and me self were having a session as well before … christ those thigh high boots she wears sure can give a scalding kick
try going to Slovakia. rudest cunts ever. Czechs are great though. And Slovaks not in Slovakia are fine.
I know that one yer talkin about from the newsagents in rathmines. Oldish Chinese woman? apsolute cunt.
She used to hand change back to customers by throwing it on the counter. Rudest retailer ive ever encountered.
i work with loadsa slovaks, great people imo
Jeb: hahahahahahahahahaha
Just made my Friday…funniest comment on here in a while…
How are the liathroidí now?
Do you all have girlfriends then?
You bunch of fucking bennys.
Whats a Benny?
You’re a benny.
Fine now. I couldn’t blame her really. Injuries like that come with the territory. Wasn’t too fuckin chuffed when the gag came out though, lying there sobbing like a child with my mashed plums!
Your face is a Benny
I am of for a pint in Rathmines tonight, will look up said Chinese woman and see if I can charm the arse off her
hah! Organ Donor is a Benny on the loose.
If you’re in Rody Bolands beat the shit out of culchie for me. Ta.
hah! Organ Donor is a Benny on the loose.
That’s worse than being a benny tied to a pole!!!!!!!111
weird, gus vant sant film ‘elephant’ on in the background and just as i was reading these i glanced up and the word Benny was up on the screen – scene 17, 67:13 on the dvd.
bad service is not usually a serious problem-unless it´s government provided services which are rather more important than those of shopkeepers etc.
If the service is bad enough it can turn into a major emergency.
Fortunately Fianna Fail have pre warned us to be prepared and ready for every possible eventuality.
The handbook “Preparing for Major Emergencies” is available by clicking on the “Handbook” button.on their web site http://www.emergencyplanning.ie
It can be downloaded in its original format, in large print, in easy to read, as an audio file and also in the Polish, Russian and Chinese languages.
Office of Emergency Planning, Department of Defence, Parkgate, Infirmary Road, Dublin 7
Tel 00 353 1 8042439 • Fax 00 353 1 8042357 • LoCall 1890 251890 • email oep@defence.irlgov.ie
Here are some of the situations it warns of:
Unlikely emergency scenario no1:
You are a tourist driving through Limerick and you hear the rat-ta-ta of submachine guns.Your car is accidently riddled with bullets as you pass by a housing estate near the city.
Appropriate response to unlikely scenario no1A:
It is likely you have wandered into a Fianna Fail sponsored “Regeneration area” by mistake. (You might as well have wandered into Fallujah.) You have been caught in cross fire. If you are able- drive quickly away from this location and contact the Emergency Response Unit of the Gardai, and request an armoured tank column to escort you until you are clear of Limerick city and county (by calling the Willie O´Dea freephone (above) at army GHQ Parkgate street Dublin).
Unlikely emergency scenario number 2:
You are motoring through Galway(or Cavan) and a you notice number of ambulances passing by at high speed.Noticing a roadside public house you pause for refreshments.as a nondrinker you consume a glass of water with your sandwich-instead of a pint of porter. Leaving the pub a few minutes later, you collapse in agony as spasms of pain, tear at your abdomen.
Appropriate response to unlikely scenario 2A:
You have been drank tap water,sourced by Galway county council, from the local farmers slurry reservoir or water from a lake in Cavan, containing carcenogenic chemicals put there by Veolia to purify the water.(Veolia are the largest private water supplier in the world-worth 50 billion and now contracted to Irish county councils nationwide .Your intestines are riddled with a coctail of debilitating parasites the titles of which are too difficult for a non medical person to to spell or pronounce. Proceed to hospital immediately.bring blankets and enough food and bottled water to last you a minimum of 3 days lying on a hospital trolley in an overcrowded hospital annexe.
Unlikely emergency scenario 3:
You were washing yourself in the shower and felt a lump on your breast/buttock/ bolli*ks or wherever. You thought nothing of it until it got painful and you made an appointment to see your GP. He referred you to a specialist. You phoned the hospital and were given an appointment for two years later.
Appropriate response to unlikely scenario 3A
Check that you life insurance has not lapsed. It is vital that you continue to make the payments.If you are a lapsed Catholic/Protestant/ Muslim/Buddist resume your relationship with your maker as diligently as possible.
Make a last will and testament.
By selling your assets and transferring the proceeds (in cash) to your loved ones, before you go, you can simplify their inheritance, avoid death duties and cheat the state out of the taxes, they never spent to try and save your hide in the first place.!
Unlikely emergency scenario 4.
Local elections are held across the country and the Fianna Fail candidates are overwhelmingly rejected by the survivors of the previously outlined “unlikely emergencies”,(because they actually happened.!)
Appropriate response to unlikely scenario 4A:
There is none. It is likely that the whole population have taken leave of their senses. There is no credible response to such an act of collective madness . It can only be described as Grotesque Unprecedented, Bizarre, Unreal.
Get to the nearest airport and get the hell as far away from that crazy disfunctional island called Ireland, if you value your own sanity,-and never come back.!
Remember next time to turn your invisibility cloak off before you go out.
I went to read the RTE review Medbh mentioned. A glowing recommendation and well deserved. Congratulations!
The American ‘Over-the-top’ attitude seems to be winding down here. I have also walked out of quite a few shops due to poor service. I once was at a shop with three others behind me in line while the 20-something zitster was just yaking away on her cell phone. I had enough and said quite out loud…”Get off the God Damn phone and do your feckin’ job”. She was dropped jawed that someone would have such audacity. Ha! The others in line cheered me and thanked me.
#8 Oh yeah! Came in there once to buy a hard disk. Didn’t have the one I wanted but the lad had a bigger drive behind the counter. Just out, but the last one. He wanted it himself but sold it to me, and was willing to wait until new stock arrived. Great service!
Unlike the Spar opposite of the shop. Was in there to get my 3V topped up. They have the sign outside, they have the machine inside, but couldn’t help me because they never used it because nobody knew how. Told them to get rid of the sign then. It was on the same day I send a package with an Post abroad. Looked on the site first and wanted registered post. But according to the lady in the postoffice it was not possible as this service was not introduced yet. She didn’t even ask how I wanted it, she just printed out the standard postal fee. I was stunned, thought it was bollix, wrote customer service that there was somebody in need of training over there. And they agreed it was indeed possible. I’ll be sending off something else soon. See how it goes this time. Will write down the name of the lad in customer service and tell her to give him a call right at that moment.
Oh, and last but not least. Had my parents over and went to a nice restaurant in Howth. Ordered a Guinness and received a Guinness, in a Special brewery series glass. Took one sip, noticed it was Northstar and refused. Giving the pint back to the lady and said that I ordered a Guinness not a Northstar. Owner came over with a normal Guinness and told me flat out that they didn’t even serve Northstar. I told him I knew very well the difference between a Northstar and a normal Guinness. But still he refused to admit. Thought we where just bloody tourists that didn’t know the difference.
BTW, is it true you can refuse a Guinness if it’s not poured correctly?
Nice work with the review, Twenty. I like how they make it sound like Ulysses :)
why do people tip the charity box instead of the bag boy?
bag boys packs and carries the bags.
charity box just looks at the customer with a sad face(usually a dying african child or padre pio)
There used to be a total weapon in the local Londis back in the area I used to live in, a pace I like to call, ‘before suburbia’.
She was a frosty cow and she always put change down on the counter, despite a person’s outstretched hand. So naturally that pissed this me off after a while. One day I decided enough was enough. I went in and paid for my goods with a tenner. She whipped the money out of my hand and rang it up. I stood with my hand outstretched for my change and she looked at me and then put it on the counter.
‘Right you old gee bag’ I thought to myself, ‘I’ll show you.’
I stood there, with my hand out, unmoving, ramrod straight. She looked at me, I looked just slightly over her left shoulder. My hand remained outstretched.
After a few moments, she took exactly one step to the side and said, ‘Next there please.’
Yep, she sure showed me. Don’t fuck with gee bags, they ALWAYS win.
Daniel, no idea about the pouring of the guinness, and if it tastes differently, but last time I was in England, speaking of it…
I was in a pub in England about a week ago, guy got a flat pint. He didn’t complain (being Irish), but I said it when I went in (being Irish, and being me, and knowing most of the staff behind the bar). Woman behind the bar said no worries, she went to pour another, realised that that was gone, asked what he wanted otherwise, and went through three beers (I think the gas was gone? something like that?) and gave him a Guinness. Granted it wasn’t stood, but considering what he bought the first time, and then got Guinness, he was given a great mark up. I was also told to tell him to tell them immediately if there was a problem – they’d have fixed it ages ago if they’d known.
I’m the same. I used to be one of those people that rings you about banking, and how it’s going. Tried to do as much as possible for whoever was on the phone, and the same when I worked in the shop. I always take that idea with me. As someone said earlier, the words please and thank you were beaten into me. So was being polite. It costs nothing, and it gets you VERY much everywhere.
You should deal with it on the other end Twenty. I used to work in the service industry and the bosses would hang you if you were anything else than artificially nice and friendly. Plus, a large subsection of the public are utter, utter cunts.
Being disgustingly chirpy and smiley is actually the only way through the day alot of the time; if your far too nice it really pisses off the nasty people. Throws them off their game or something and they generally get out of there pretty quickly.
Feynmans Ghost said it all, living in a country with so many people you tend to just jump the que, or at least try to
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=GlNyCHlLt1Y
I fucking hate the public, and I don’t have to face them, so who knows how they feel.
and frankly, who cares, it’s not my fault that they are miserable in their jobs.
But it is now my mission to make them a little more miserable.
thanks twenty
Hell is other people.
Catholic, VERY much elsewhere? You need to elaborate.
Ah, fuck it actually. Don’t bother.
I have boobs too.
so, ehhh, hey… hi
remember for every way you have to “fuck back” at the waiter, barman, shop assistant we have ten…….check your soup/pint……
I was expecting to find a maggot.
“I threw the newspaper up in the air and the bottle of water on the ground and walked out.”
I wish I was there to see that! Great response. I remember having the same feeling for one shop assistant in my home town who adamantly refused to make eye contact or say anything to customers.
And that was in a midlands town of 1,500 people where everybody knew her and vice-versa. Since she got a new hairdo, about 3 years ago, things have changed a little. Now she talks to other customers whilst serving me. Small progress, but progress nevertheless.
Here in Poland I find the service quite similar to Ireland. Although my feeling is, despite the shite wages many receive, some people just happen to be infected with bad manners.
Same scenario in apartment blocks. 2 people or more are waiting for the lift. The 2 lifts open simultaneously. Rather than share a lift, even when there is loads of room, some cunts are so bleedin asocial, they just waltz into the other lift deliberately. I must have an awful ‘I’m gonna eat your fucking fingernails’ demeanour to be the recipient of such impoliteness.
50% of the time people barely mutter a response to my deliberately loud ‘Good morning’ or ‘Hello’. But fuck them.
What sort of brain-dead assholes have we become that we can’t even manage a token hello to a neighbour?
Gnus are cunts
Its an absolute disgrace damien, Its the parents fault id say.
why dont you ring up Joe Duffy and tell him about it.
Johnny 5:I’ll ask again,Whats a Benny?
New dub slang for something or other..well done ,you showed me i guess… cunt.
Benny is an old slang term, meaning Gay. (from Bent, Bender)
Johnny5 is new slang, meaning Cunt. (cunt, CUNT)
I have nothing to add. nothing at all.
But I felt the need to tell you.
Of course, the answer is to vote No to Lisbon. That’ll show em.
Probably.
Lisbon ! cunts .
Unfortunately this happens all the time. Usually it just annoys me unless I happen to be in a bad mood, which rarely happens. It happened the other night at Tesco. I hadn’t been able to find half of what was on my list because people in Offaly consider Parsley gourmet. I was generally pissed off and then realised I had forgotten to get cigarettes and damn did I need a fag. I went back into the shop where some aul one was at the fag counter talking to another employee. The employee appeared to be buying something, but they were obviously chatting when there were now three other people behind me in the line. After what seemed like ages she finally got to me, slammed my cigarettes on the counter and glared at me. I was in such a foul mood that I snapped. I asked her if a smile would kill her. She looked at me in utter shock. Everyone behind started snickering. She didn’t know what to say, so I said “It doesn’t hurt, you know… smiling.” She couldn’t even answer. I got my change and left. I felt better. Aul bitch.
That’s strange – to me Benny is a pillock, derivation “Benny” from Crossroads
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossroads_(TV_series)
However, the most memorable character by far proved to be the village-idiot character Benny Hawkins (Paul Henry), whose trademark was a woolly hat worn all year around. His fans included British troops serving in the Falklands War in 1982, who nicknamed the Falkland Islanders “Bennies” after the character. (Instructed to stop using the derogatory nickname, the troops then came up with the term “Stills” for the locals – because they were “still Bennies”.)
best way to get these cunts back is to load a trolley up with loads of shit i mean really fill the fucker load the lot on the belt let the sour faced cunt scan the lot and she bark out the price just walk away without a word!
Overheard in an American supermarket….customer says, after paying for groceries – “What about a thank you?”
Cashier replies, pointing to the plastic bag – “It’s on the bag.” Which was, indeed, printed with a large “Thank you.”
Crock, I just mean in general. People are happier to do things for you when you’re polite to them, give a smile, and say please.
Without using the boobs ;)
They just help from time to time ;)
Does that make her the cunter lady??
The bad service that pisses me off in Dublin is the Dublin Bus drivers. Bunch of cunts the lot of them. They’re almost always rude, aggressive and bad drivers. When you try to complain, you get nowhere.
I get a private bus now from Lucan and while they are also crazy drivers, they say good morning and thank you and also stop for you when they see you legging it for the bus!
I’m not a Dublin Bus driver, but I’d like to speak in their defense. There may be a fair few of them who are cunts, but I’ve come across quite a few who are absolute gentlemen.
They do a demanding job, have to deal with the scummiest scumbags in the city all day, and suffer abuse on a regular basis over things they cannot control.
Heroes, every single one of them!
If some random till-monkey doesn’t want to throw empty pleasantries my way, it’s not going to break my heart.
They’re miserable from serving wankers all day and getting paid peanuts for it… if it improves their working conditions to not have to plaster on a fake smile just because I’m buying something from their employer, then I’m happy to drop the pretense.
I mean, they really don’t give a shit how I am, I don’t give a shit how they are, we both just want to be out of each others faces as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
Being a complete prick to people is another matter though… if you can’t at least carry out your basic function as a till operator without giving people attitude then you really need to be sacked.
OK, so which of you bitches is working for rte online doing book reviews???
I don’t know about this theory that just because you’re on crap money you will do your job badly. If you’re doing a menial job then you don’t have much options so why screw up what little hopes you have? In any case there’s plenty of people who earn loads who are ignorent cunts – Doctors for example.
Anyway manners in Irish society are a thing of the past for the most part particularly in the cities. I had a guy ask me to change his password recently whilst on a call I did it, he asks me what his new password is – I said, I’ll tell you when you’re finished with your call. He immediately hung up, people aren’t taught manners any more so it’s up to the rest of us to point it out to them.
NH, you’re too soft. A bloke once stopped me on Grafton Street and asked me to change his password. I just gave him a swift kick in the bollix.
Cheeky cunt.
PS
Will the person who keeps changing MY password please stop it right now? It’s gone beyond a joke at this stage.
Monkey Balls, I agree to a point. Driving a bus for a living isn’t something I’d do. But I’m pleasant every time I get on a bus – why can’t they be?
Off topic,Twenty….but worth a comment.
If you can find it, get the Irish Times for Saturday, 19th, Weekend Review, page four and consider the photograph at the top of the page (Hilary Clinton at a function.) Look at the little girl with her mouth open, the microphone, shape and position. I cannot believe any newspaper would publish that photo, as suggestive as it is.
And they call me a dirty old man !!!
Jus, I know three different drivers on my local route who are courteous, helpful and friendly to everyone who gets on their bus. And it’s one of the so-called ‘troublesome’ routes. (Hint: It’s the 77) I don’t know how they do it, but I’m thankful they do.
Okay, that’s fair enough. I’m from Tallaght but it’s a long time since I’ve been on a bus from there. On my Lucan route, they’re all ignorant. I guess you can’t go around generalising. Ah fuck it, cunts the lot!
You are right Mr. Major, it is an enormous problem here. The service sector is rapidly growing. It is in many respects the last hope for the poor auld Celtic Tiger. Our economy is riding on the back of it and what do businesses and managements do? Fuck all, they don’t give a shit, they let staff do what they like and not just in shops, everywhere, you get into a taxi, most of them are filthy and your ripped off, go to Mac Donald’s, they don’t know what a Big Mac is because they don’t speak English and like you said go into a shop and the assistant will look at you like you just shit on her lap. I was in a nice restaurant today with my little niece on Grafton Street and we had to wait 25 mins to be seated because the waitresses were to busy engaged in conversation. If my little pet hadn’t been ‘stawarvin’ I would have left. It is disgraceful. Inflation is at 5%, one of the highest rates in Europe. The English pound has plummeted to a record low so why are we, the customers not seeing the benefits on our shop shelves? What do you get in return for over priced commodities? Nothing, accept bad manners and contempt. If we are going to be ripped of you would at least expect first class service. I know some people believe in earning respect but as a general rule would it not be better to treat people with it until they prove undeserving. At the end of the day the customer is your business and if nothing else should be shown a little common courtesy. Irish people need a good kick in the arse, if the service is bad do not go there again, If the waiter is rude do not tip him, if you think your getting ripped off go somewhere else. I hope you have the good sense not to go there again.
I reckon it all comes down to accent and what country you are in. If someone had done the same to me I would be thinking, ‘You fucking rude minging bint.’ However if it happened to me in your country I imagine I would be thinking, ‘Fantastic accent, it’s kind of charming she’s so grumpy.’
Yacuncha…I saw the same picture and thought the same as you. A microphone at crotch level. Hilarious!!
Come the recession brothers and sisters we can all decide where to shop and, if service standards are bad, vote with your money.
Why to people still blab on about the Celtic Tiger? It’s generally accepted that the boomtime, properly speaking, ended ca 2001-2002.
Whoever coined the term Celtic Tiger in the first place was clearly infected with pretentious wankery of John Waters & Chris De Burgh proportions. The term btw, was inspired by the earlier Asian Tiger economy and we all know what happened to that
And I agree, Dublin bus drivers richly deserve to be AIDS-raped, the miserable cunts
Especially the ones with ‘taches
I’m about to fly back to the Auld sod for a ‘see the family’ trip. First time to be going home in decades. I had heard about how to expect shite service in Dublin shops and cafes so thanks for reiterating it here. I hope I don’t spend my whole holiday pining for the old days. Like when we’d go into the corner shop and ask for ‘two Carrolls and a match please’, the friendly shopkeeper would give us a cough drop and say ‘suck that and THEN see if ye still want to smoke’. We’d smoke all right and then go straight to confession to tell the priest what we’d been up to…….ah, the golden memories of a Dublin childhood. These ‘New Irish’ have no idea about good old fashioned service by the sound of it.