I am so fu*king sick of a$$hole$.

[mnhtnbb]

Neighbors, politicians, business people, criminals...anybody who wants to take advantage of someone else,
or insist that EVERYBODY should accommodate whatever it is that they want.


Seriously. How has it come to be that there are so many a$$hole$ in this country?

[hamsterjill]

1. I don't know, but I feel your pain.

I went to a pharmacy last night to get a decongestant. In Texas, the kind I like is kept behind the pharmacy counter and you have to show your driver's license in order to buy it. I asked for a specific kind, but the clerk brought out a different type. I asked her to go back and get the kind I wanted.

The clerk returns WITH the pharmacist who starts telling me WHY I don't want that type of decongestant, and WHY I probably don't want it at all. Good grief! I know what I want, and on top of that, *I'm* the one paying for it. I didn't ask for a consult and I resented the pharmacist telling me what I want and don't want.

The REAL reason she was trying to steer me away from the type that I'd requested to begin with is because the store doesn't carry that type.

Would've been a helluva lot easier if she'd just told me that to begin with.

[mnhtnbb]

5. Anything for a sale. Jerk.

[ohnoyoudidnt]

2. I agree.

There's way too many self-centered, self-absorbed, self- important pricks out there.

Older DUers out there, has it always been this bad or is it getting worse?

[mnhtnbb]

6. I am an older DU'er--63--and yes, I do think it's getting worse.

[femmocrat]

16. I don't know if it's worse. I think some of it has to do with location.

I have found "country" people to be fairly nice. I am more aware of rude people in the city. Actually, the biggest a-holes I ever encountered lived in an upscale suburb.

And not not start a generational dispute, but I think younger people are more self-centered and less aware of being considerate to others.

[hamsterjill]

11. I think it's getting worse, too.

There have always been a share of asswipes, but I think it's becoming more "acceptable". People are not corrected when they act like an asswipe as most people are tolerant enough to just ignore the behavior. It's become a societal issue of just ignoring things and letting them roll off your back. But too much of anything is NOT a good thing.

I know that I've started to speak up more of late. I try not to be a jerk myself, but there are times when you simply have to stand up for yourself. I find when I do that, that the asswipe on the other end is genuinely surprised that I dared say anything.

[mnhtnbb]

26. I think Dr. Big Shot was surprised that we challenged him on parking his truck

in our limited parking area.

NONE of the residents on the street park any of their vehicles on the street. We all park in our driveways/garages/carports. Because it's only a single lane road, there is only turn out space for parking on one side of the street, and due to the
configuration of driveways, there is turn out space for parking only on about half the street. It really
makes for limited parking and we all try to respect each other's needs for visitors.

Along comes this jerk, expecting to leave his damn truck parked in this limited parking space all the time!
And he literally did not move that truck for at least two weeks when I first called the police. We've had
other vehicles abandoned on another street in the neighborhood--one you have to enter on to get to our
little dead end street--and I walk my dog several times a day in the neighborhood. I'm aware of what vehicles
have been moved, or left sitting there, for days at a time.

[Brigid]

13. 56-year-old here.

Yes, it's getting worse.

[Jamaal510]

3. There have always been

assholes aplenty, but I think that there has been a culture of trying to justify selfishness especially within the past 30 years or so, and basically decrying politeness and sensitivity (e.g. usage of the term "political correctness" as a pejorative). And the Internet hasn't helped matters too much, as it has given people anonymous platforms to act their worst with no risk involved.

[mnhtnbb]

7. That's basically what I think Dr. Big Shot was trying to do.

He rented a house--for a year--knowing the garage and driveway would not accommodate all his vehicles.
So he tries to push the problem on to this little neighborhood of a small, dead end road, by taking up
limited parking space with one of his honking big red neck trucks. And no, he never even registered any
of his vehicles within 30 days in NC like he's supposed to--they've all carried out of state registrations for
the entire year he's been here.

In other words, his problem should be our problem. My husband and I resolved his problem by suggesting he park
one of his trucks on the street on the downhill side of the rental house property line. There are steps in his yard
going down to that street, and parking is not an issue on that street. He's probably been pissed because he has
to walk up/down the steps to his damn truck.

[ohnoyoudidnt]

9. His unregisrered vehicles might be an issue code enforcement would like to know about.

[mnhtnbb]

14. I'm wishing I'd turned him in about 8 months ago.

[ohnoyoudidnt]

15. some cities are better than others.

At least he will be gone soon.

[mnhtnbb]

4. What? Nobody has an a$$hole story to contribute?

Here's the one that ticked me off today.

A year ago this guy and his wife--with his 4 kids--moved in on our street. Renting a house that the
owner couldn't sell (just like us!) in 2011. So, there are two drivers (oldest kid is middle school age)
and he has TWO big honking red neck trucks, along with a car. The house has a two car garage and
small driveway. Well, Dr. Big Shot (yeah, he's a surgeon living here for a year doing a fellowship at Duke)
can't seem to park his two big trucks in his driveway, so all of a sudden a F-150 ends up parked right
near our house. Georgia plates. Sits there for two weeks. I call the cops because the truck hasn't moved,
appears to be abandoned. Turns out it belongs to Dr. Big Shot. He's asked to park his truck in his
driveway, or move it in front of his house, instead of down at the end of our dead end street where there
is so little parking. He eventually does move his truck off our little dead end street.

Around Christmas, I get a request from the tenant in our little house (that we haven't been able to sell and it's been rented
since 2009) whether Dr. Big Shot can park his truck in the gravel driveway of our little house. No thanks, I tell the tenant,
I don't want his truck tearing up the gravel every time it goes in and out.


OK. Today, I go to drive out of our little one lane road and there is a moving truck--10 foot size--abandoned in the middle
of the street--can't get around on either side. No driver. Just parked there in front of the house next door to our little
house (Dr. Big Shot lives in the next house down). So I get out and look for a driver. Nobody standing around outside anywhere.
The recycle collection guy drives up behind me. Now, two of us wondering how we get out. Truck belongs to Allied, so I start calling, "hey, Allied, where are you?" No answer. Some guys are working outside at the house between our little house and the one
where Dr. Big Shot lives, so I ask them if they saw where the driver went? Uh, into Dr Big Shot's house. So I go down, and one
of his kids is outside and I ask, is the driver in side? Yes. Ok, why don't you go tell them they need to move the truck. So, out
comes Dr. Big Shot--whom I've never actually met--and tells me he didn't park it there. I ask him whether the people who did are
in his house. Yes. Well, how about you send them out to move the damn truck because it's parked in the middle of the street and
no one can get around. (And they would have only had to drive it 10 more feet to have parked it in a turnout next to the driveway
going down to Dr. Big Shot's house.) And what does he tell me? "You and your husband are the rudest people I've ever met."


Can you fucking believe that? I'm one of the two rudest people he's ever met--and I actually had never laid eyes on
him until today--and I'm not the one that abandoned a moving truck in the middle of the street blocking access in/out of our street?

So, the people come out and move the truck and I go on my way to an appointment--for which I'm not on time, thanks to him.

But, here's the kicker. When I drive down our street coming home? HIS FUCKING PICK UP TRUCK is parked in the gravel driveway
of our little rental house--WITHOUT OUR PERMISSION! I know I'll lose it if I confront him, so I come home and tell my husband the story and ask him to go down and tell Dr. Big Shot A$$HOLE to move his damn truck out of our driveway.

So, hubby wimps out. Says the truck will be gone--obviously they are moving out--and to let it go.

I am furious. I am so SICK of fucking a$$hole$ taking advantage. I told my husband if that truck is still there at 5 PM. I'm calling
the cops to come tow Dr. Big Shot's truck.

45 minutes to go.

Anybody care to comment or tell a story?

[ohnoyoudidnt]

8. I do, here is recent post of mine.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018644623

[MrMickeysMom]

20. Awe… where do I begin?

Besides, I liked your story for the strangulation factor. I would have probably retorted to Dr. A. Hole's giving you the rudest title award with, "Gee… I have that honor? I thought YOU were the rudest person in this neighborhood. You certainly are in the running under the municipality you live in… You're rude to take advantage of every requirement you had for vehicle registration, on street parking, trespassing, and obstructing an emergency lane. What if someone called an ambulance, you clueless DICK?"

I can compare notes, and they vary from assuming remarks that are rude, to outright road rage, or kids that you see growing up in your neighborhood and all of a sudden they are 20 year old SUPER assholes, flipping you off and calling you a bitch when you tell them to stop speeding down your street.

The trouble with getting as mad as I do is that I run the risk of someone going BEYOND normal rudeness. I value my life too much, if you know what I mean.

Hope this helped offload your pain. Personally, I think parenting skills are the exception and not the rule, and people are turning into anti-social animals. They have no practice in day to day normal public interaction. Is it a sign of a weakening state of the U.S.? Mmmm… Yeah, I'm beginning to think so.

By the way, all this seems to fade away when someone is truly kind to you. That kind of person is liable to be over the age of 70 or 80, IMO.

[mnhtnbb]

25. As I was driving away after the moving truck was moved, I thought of a good response.

Annd that's the strangest thing, too. That driver only had to go about 10 more feet and could have parked
the truck out of the way in a park out space. For the life of me, I can't understand why both the driver
and other person left the truck there and went in Dr. Big Shot's house.

The whole thing made me late for an appointment. It was so unnecessary. And for a jerk like that to
tell me I'm rude? I should have told him I was sorry he'd had such limited experience, because he
undoubtedly needed to learn that he wasn't the center of the universe and everybody else didn't
exist just to meet his needs.

[kairos12]

21. I recently watched saw this in my town...

Last edited Wed Jul 30, 2014, 09:00 AM - Edit history (1)

There was a long line of cars waiting to go through a fast food drive through line. No problem. Everybody is waiting. When one of the cars doesn't pull up immediately another car, coming the wrong through the parking lot, cuts in front of the car that failed to close up the distance. The driver who got stiffed gets out of his car and goes up to the lady who blatantly cut in front of him. He says to her "what do you think your doing, get out of line and wait your turn." She says, "get over yourself" and refuses to to budge.

Maybe she was the wife of your asshole doc neighbor.

[mnhtnbb]

24. Probably!

Sheesh.

Years ago, I was rear ended by somebody in a similar situation. 5 o'clock traffic in Hollywood. Long line of
cars waiting to go through a signal. So, here comes this woman, bypassing the line, driving on the right
hand shoulder passing cars. She gets up as far as she can go, next to me, but I don't let her in. The guy
behind me does. Next thing I know, I've been deliberately rammed by her! I look in the mirror and see this
crazy woman making all kinds of faces and gesturing at me. Well, no way I'm getting out of the car. So,
I write down her license plate (thank you California, for requiring license plates on the front and back of a car,
unlike here in NC where there are only plates on the back of a car) and drive to the local police station and report
the incident. A couple of weeks later, I get a call from the station and they ask me to come look at a photo
book to see if I can ID her. I do, pick her right out. So, they tell me she's had run-ins previously, known alcoholic, and they
are going to make a little visit to her house. Thanks, guys. That's the last I hear of it.

Can you believe it? She's trying to bypass the line and deliberately rams me because I won't let her in. These days, she'd probably
haul out a gun and shoot me.

[steve2470]

10. this book is dated but decent: The Culture of Narcissism by Christopher Lasch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture_of_Narcissism

I'm not going to say I completely agree with it, but it gets you thinking. Check it out.

[gratuitous]

12. Yeah, you're right

But I think the assholes are outnumbered. We just hear more about them, because that's what sells newspapers and air time. I think a lot more people fall into the good-hearted category, as evidenced by the story of the little boy in Massachusetts:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/07/24/daniel-nickerson-birthday-cards-cancer/13089613/

We hear a lot about millionaires complaining about having to pay a smidgen more of their earnings in taxes, because that's who gets interviewed by other millionaires on the teevee. But consider these thousands of people voluntarily "taxed" themselves a couple of dollars for the card and postage to send to young Daniel and brighten his day. I tend to think that the vast majority of people would gladly pay an extra five bucks a week in taxes to bolster all kinds of programs to make life better for everyone; it's the selfish greedheads who have more than they could possibly spend already who make the loudest noise about building a more just and equitable society.

The way things are isn't the way things have to be.

[BainsBane]

17. Are you in Florida?

[mnhtnbb]

19. No. Liberal oasis of Chapel Hill, NC

[BootinUp]

18. Ronnie Raygun is their hero?

[Marie Marie]

22. I'm with you on this.

No stories - just every day little events that irritate the crap out of me because some A-hole does not have an ounce of awareness that he (she) is not the only person on this planet and wouldn't know common courtesy if it walked up and introduced itself.

In fact, I was so fed up the other day, I actually googled asshole - just to see what would appear. Apparently, it is a very popular subject - We are not alone in our disgust..

[mnhtnbb]

23. That IS funny. Googling asshole.

Thanks for the laugh.

[Populist_Prole]

27. 52, and it is getting worse

Most people don't want to upset the herd, or let a small conflict escalate. Bullies/narcissists take full advantage of this and use this to their advantage. Others in this thread have noted this as well. They're not necessarily strong or physically robust people, rather their "toughness" lies in their utter willingness to escalate a conflict to the highest degree, knowing that most don't want this and will back down and diffuse things. If this type of person is wealthy or successful the arrogance can poison matters further. I note, as others have, that shitheadery seems most apparent in affluent suburbs: Populated = more chance of running into a douchebag.

It can take the form of a minor skirmish in a store parking lot. In line somewhere. Pushy salesmen or preachy types that get angry you're not "buying" what they're "selling"...yet get incensed when others try to talk them into something. That's face to face stuff.

Then you have anonymity of being a motorist. It's become quite common for cars entering a major road from a side street with stop sign, NOT yield the right of way unless a collision will result. I mean by flying up to the intersection to the point they scare the living hell out of the motorist on the main road; said motorist rapidly panic brakes: rude side street car uses this to bully their way on to the main road, "stealing" your right of way. They'd just as soon cut in front of you in a counter line at the post office.

Don't even get me going on internet discourse ( DU excluded ) as anonymity can bring out utter savageness in people.