Hating obnoxious morons: three examples of rude behavior

Just who do you think you are anyway? That’s what our petitioners would like to ask the selfish, obnoxious blockheads who’ve prompted our entry this time. All three examples are symptomatic of the evaporation of good manners in an ever-increasing “me first” world that’s only getting worse.


Cell phone yakkers.
Are people getting stupider? Or is it that nowadays we can actually hear what they’re thinking (whether we like it or not) as they yammer on and on, on public buses, in supermarkets, even just walking through an otherwise quiet park? “And then I go…and then he goes…” Shut UP, will you?

Our petitioner moans, “I once had to listen to a girl tell her friend all about her sex-filled weekend, how drunk she got, and how happy her bf was that she wasn’t pregnant.” Just one example of many. We hate these rude people.

Mercifully, as cell phone rudeness continues on the upswing, there are equally increasing examples of cell phone rage. One report: Two men in a cafe were beaten and their phones destroyed by two others after the pair ignored repeated requests to curb their loud and continuous yakking on their phones. Yesssssss!

Yogurt-container scrapers.

Noise bothers us, too. And each of us has his or her own peeves. Music in the workplace? No, gracias. Windchimes when we’re trying to sleep? See our March 28 posting. Here’s a complaint with a decidedly “niche” slant.

Our petitioner writes: “You know what I hate? The sound of people scraping yogurt containers with a spoon.” OK, we’re on it, mister. Now we hate it, too.

Obsessive photo-maniacs.
A petitioner from overseas writes: “I hate camera-toting people who insist on shooting everything in sight in a museum or at a popular sightseeing venue. It's one thing to take a snapshot of yourself or friends in front of the Louvre. That's perfectly valid, even desirable. But hordes of museum-goers cannot resist the temptation to shoot anything and everything on exhibit -- instead of looking at the objects through their own eyes.

“I mean, who needs to take a photo of the Mona Lisa? What is going through these people's minds as they race through galleries snapping hundreds of pictures of EVERYTHING -- yet failing to pause and appreciate ANYTHING?” What, indeed? We hate them!

Obnoxious morons:
three examples of rude behavior
Officially registered at Hate for Hire, June 20, 2010.

Hating Via Matta

One of the unfortunate side effects of the recent deification of “celebrity chefs” is the unfortunate degree of snobby rudeness that some restauranteurs have developed. Where do they get off being so deliberately nasty to their customers? And since when are we supposed to just take this behavior without retaliation. Our petitioner this time is fighting back.

“When two friends and I visited Boston's Via Matta, we ordered ‘Seasonal Roast Vegetables’ ($10) with our entrees. The main courses arrived along with one sliced tomato, one sliced cucumber, which we assumed was a salad. We inquired about our roast vegetables and the waiter indicated the tomato and cucumber. This was in September at the peak of harvest season, so vegetables were not in short supply. The waiter disappeared.” Wait, it gets worse.

“When the waiter returned, he said the chef had a message for us, ‘Tell them if they want a carrot, I’ll try to find one.’” Excuse me? What warranted this abrasive, unprofessional reply from someone in the hospitality business? The menus are printed daily; if an item doesn’t exist, then don’t list it…and be civil to your high-paying guests. (Entrees alone at Via Matta average $26-39.)

We hate Via Matta and will never return there…or to any of the other “chic” restaurants that Via Matta chef Mike Pagliarini (above) and then-owner/partners Michael Schlow (left) and Chris Myers (below) have a hand in. (We’re giving former general manager Esti Benson Parsons the benefit of the doubt.) The list includes greater Boston's Radius, Alta Strada, 606 Congress, Great Bay and Myers & Chang. We encourage you to boycott them, too.

Let these abusive morons know that this type of reprehensible behavior is just not acceptable. There are plenty of kinder places to eat. With better food. And, from time to time, seasonal roast vegetables.

Via Matta:
Officially registered at Hate for Hire,
June 13, 2010.

Hating HR morons (one in particular)

Have you noticed how the most inappropriate people tend to gravitate toward certain professions? For example, how many unbalanced people do you know who have become therapists? And we need both hands to count the active alcoholics we know who are (or were for years) substance-abuse counselors. That kind of thing.

Perhaps the most heinously ironic match, however, is that of the Human Resources “professional” who is completely lacking in any modicum of people skills. (Anyone who works in a business should be nodding in agreement right about now.) In many of the jobs we’ve held through the years, we learned early on that in order to get something done efficiently or to get accurate and necessary information, avoid HR at all costs. (We think they got on their high-horse just about the time of their unfortunate name change from Personnel. There are exceptions, of course, but damn few. Damn few.)

Our petitioner this time, an experienced web/print writer and published author, sends along a brief note from one particular HR moron, a tossed-off email reply to an inquiry about the status of a job application (and follow-up requested writing sample) that had been submitted weeks before. The email reads: “We’re interviewing 3 people this week. If they are not suitable, we may be back in touch with you.”

Excuse me? How rude! Is this someone whose job should be dealing with people? It gets worse. Following the above text, she adds “Thanks for reaching out.” Period. No signature. Gag.

As it happens, an additional H4H petition about this same HR “broad” was submitted independently by a third party: “To be Officially Registered at Hate 4 Hire, WITH A BULLET… May they rot in Hell.” Man, this dame is on somebody’s shit list big time. And now, happily, she’s on ours, too.

No one needs to be told that times are hard. Many talented people are looking for work. They should not have to endure the insulting shenanigans of an insolent RueLaLa malcontent such as this. We hate her.

HR morons (one in particular):
Officially registered at Hate for Hire, June 3, 2010.

Hating Katie Lee

Oh, Jesus! Must everything be dumbed down? And down and down? It’s bad enough when Hollywood changes its Demi Moore screen version of The Scarlet Letter to have a happy ending. (Moore claimed, “It’s OK. Not that many people have read the book.” So noted.) But when food gets messed with, specifically by “celebrity chefs,” it’s time to man (or “to person”) the battle stations.

Our petitioner this time around singles out one Katie Lee, though any number of eligible candidates leap to mind. Ms. Lee, the former child bride of singer Billy Joel, has parlayed her photogenic face, figure and Greenwich Village townhouse into instant entrée to the ever-increasing ranks of food wannabes. Rachael Ray, Paula Deen, Katie Lee, the list goes on. Who are these people? Where did they suddenly come from? And how can we send them back pronto? Enough!

Lee’s claim to fame, it seems, aside from her five-minute marriage and her former hosting duties on Top Chef, is a deft hand at making cheeseburgers, an award-winning skill she proudly displays online, on TV and at celebrity events. (A recent New York Times profile with accompanying online video had its tongue planted comfortably in its cheek as it ooohed and ahhhed over Lee and her oeuvre.) Sounds like something we should be laughing at on community access TV, not reading about in the newspaper of record.

Julia Child and James Beard were the first to bring the art of preparing fine cuisine to the masses via television, and through it all they remained dignified, respectable, entertaining and true to the art they espoused. This new crew of backwoods experts seems happy as all get-out just to be on TV…and so what if they use canned frosting, garlic powder and processed cheese-food? (Though not all in the same recipe. Not yet anyway.)

Kiss of Death: Katie the L (along with her ex, “William”) is extolled in the pages of Gwyneth the P’s unctuous newsletter, Goop.

Ms. Lee, you seem like a sweet young lady with a lovely family, you really do. Why not just shut up and go home? Thanks.

Katie Lee:
Officially registered at Hate for Hire, May 13, 2010.

Amusing if amateur

Doesn’t anyone listen? We’ve already gone over the fine points that distinguish real hate from plain ol’ whining.

Landing squarely within the second category, the insipid caviling found on this upstart website. Claiming to be the latest in a long and respected line of public shaming vehicles (from Puritan pillories to Hollywood studio PR execs), the Thriillist.com Violation Report brings “disgrace mongering to the everyman,” urging users to submit phone photos of routine offenders whose individual behaviors might be considered rude. Whatever.

We’ll assume their hearts are in the right place…and move on.

Role model 2

We just couldn't resist posting this photo of an ardent H4H fan, so totally does he embody the high moral standards that we hold dear. And while we're a bit more focused in how we direct our hate, this guy takes an admirable, broader view that could accurately be described as "world class." Onward.

Hating the Nike Tiger ad

Swoosh!

OK, everybody, had enough time to let "last week's" TV spot simmer for awhile?

Embodying the high moral standards that American advertising has come to represent (“Sincerity and honesty, back seat please”), this tumor recently appeared on-air and fired-up several petitioners enough to make almost-instant submissions to H4H. (At least two of them, alas, have labored long in the service of marketing communications, so they well know whereof they speak.)

To wit: “That Nike commercial was so ridiculous. It's a piece o' shit as an ad and it's also laughable: Like his horndog father is his moral compass? The old man was a notorious womanizer and now he's Yoda?

“It's just more of the same ('I can screw everybody…without penalty') from the whole entitled crew: political, corporate, Wall Street, banking, sports, celebs, clergy, not to mention the media machine that keeps enabling this behavior while piously decrying it. Worst of all, it forces me, once again, to face my shaudenfreude habit. I HATE that!”

Another ad veteran laments: “I wasn't sure it was possible to dislike Nike anymore than I did, but the Tiger commercial might be the creepiest thing I've ever seen.

“As if it weren't bad enough that Nike pays some kid who can play great basketball $90 million to be its public face while it pays the kids who stitch together the shoes 90 cents a day, now they've really outdone themselves with the newest commercial starring a dead guy and his philandering son.”

Wait, folks. She’s just warming up. “Everyone should stop pretending he's coming back from battle, or that he's overcome some life-threatening illness. He's been caught up in a completely self-inflicted nightmare brought on by his own selfishness…made even creepier by bringing back his dead father to lecture him -- and pretending it's some touching father-son moment. It's gross!”

The wrap-up: “Tiger, if you wanted to impress people on the father-son front, you should have kept it in your pants and stayed home with your actual son once in awhile.”

Sing it, sister! (And this bride-to-be is from Maine, well-versed in “the way life should be.”)

On top of it all (shudder!), we don’t even think the spot is “world class.” So, if the many spoofs of the Nike ad don't do it for you, we offer for your palate-cleansing refreshment this agenda-free classic from the H4H archives. Forty years old and still as fresh as ever. With none of that icky moral aftertaste.



Nike Tiger ad:
Officially registered at Hate for Hire, April 18, 2010.