I hate people

I used to be a nice person. I was a friendly child, had lots of friends growing up and even through college. Unfortunately, my first job out of college was running an internal IT Help Desk at a company that had absolutely zero standards for intelligence and seemed to actively encourage rudeness among its employees. My tenure on the help desk hardened me to people (and telephones, though my Pavlovian reaction to the ring of a telephone is another topic altogether). Working at that job, I developed a theory about people that is best expressed via the following chart (look! a graphic in my blog!):









This week, I have had to deal with a ridiculous number of people who were both stupid and mean (see category IV above). Not just the regular fast food employees and telemarketers, either - I have had horrific encounters with the following:

• Doctors (I went to beg for assistance with a heart problem that has been ongoing now for 9 months and was told that it was all psychological, despite the fact that the same doctor later heard the skipping beats and acted surprised that they were really happening)
• Government employees (in re: the preschool and ridiculous regulations I'm convinced are only in place to discourage people from trying to help children)
• Insurance companies (took my money as a deposit so I canceled my old policy, then had a call from the new company asked why I opted NOT to do business with them)
• Heating oil companies (was on hold for 17 minutes to get a representative to say yes, this is the only dept you can reach directly but no, they have no information and can only put you on a wait list to receive a return call within 3-4 days, and this is their SOP not a reaction to recent shortages).

This is why I'm for gun control. Look at the chaos in New Orleans - how much worse is the situation there because lunatics have been pushed to the edge with guns available for looting from the nearby Walmart? I'm being driven to drink by the idiots I've dealt with this week, I can't imagine how the refugees in the South must feel. I know I'm not to be trusted with heavy weaponry, why should I trust my fellow man?

I do feel for all of the people affected by Hurricane Katrina. I hope that this administration is at least as responsive to our citizens as they finally managed to be to the tsunami victims earlier this year.