The Problem with People

This story annoys me, but not for the reason you may think.  In case you didn’t feel like reading it [you big lazy] I will sum up: A woman walks into a Burlington Coat Factory and announces she’s just won the lottery and will pay for everyone’s purchases (up to $500).  Turns out, she was lying and took off before paying for anything.

I’m not in any way condoning her actions, but let’s look at the behavior of the people receiving this “generosity”:
*”Apparently they were in line calling relatives who were not at the store and told them to come.”
*”People flooded the registers as cashiers began ringing up purchase after purchase”
*”Shopper Candace Jordan said she told Brown she didn’t need clothes, she needed help paying her rent.”
*”That’s when angry customers, realizing they weren’t getting free coats, began throwing merchandise on the floor and grabbing clothes without paying for them, Nace said. ‘Everybody was like, ‘I still want my free stuff,’ and that started the riot.'”

Pretend, for a moment, that this woman had been legit and felt good about having won some money and wanted to do something nice for the people around her.  Look at how they took advantage of her!  Customers called relatives and told them to come get something for free, they went crazy with purchases to get all of the $500 offered, and they said “Thanks lady, but that’s not good enough.  Pay my rent, instead?”  [Also, I have to ask why a girl who was having trouble paying her rent and didn’t need clothes was shopping there in the first place.]

These greedy people got what they deserved.  Give people an inch and they take a damn mile.  When they found out it was all a hoax, they sacked a store that had NOTHING to do with it.  They stole merchandise with the belief that they were somehow entitled to it.  They caused a riot regarding coats.

These people make me sick.

While I’m on the subject – here’s another prime example.  A Massachusetts man and woman began throwing things at McDonald’s employees when they received a small french fry instead of a large french fry with their order.  “The man and woman turned violent, hurling coins and plastic safety cones at cashiers in the North Quincy restaurant, injuring one, police said.”

Seriously?  These people have serious anger-management issues.  Either that, or need to be smacked in the face with a serious dose of perspective.  Getting the wrong size fry is not a big deal.  This intense of a reaction is entirely inappropriate, and these idiots should be ashamed of themselves.

At the bottom of this article is yet another instance: “Last Thursday, a couple apparently upset that their food order was slow in arriving allegedly punched and kicked another customer at the Kentucky Fried Chicken in Norwell. Jared Garfagna, 31, and Sara Mohn, 24, allegedly yelled profanities at restaurant employees and attacked another man who asked them to stop because children were in line.”

I think we [being society or the government or whatever] should develop mandatory classes, in same the vein as driving school, that people guilty of crimes such as these must attend for a certain number of hours.  The classes would address anger-management of course, but would be primarily centered around the theme of, “THE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND YOU, SO PULL YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS AND GROW THE HELL UP.”

That’s a damn good theme.