Don't be shitty

I would assume that experience with a job would lead to sympathy for someone else doing that work.  I’ve delivered pizzas through crazy weather or just unexpected rushes, so I understand if my delivery doesn’t show up in 30 minutes or less.  I tip better.  I don’t throw a tantrum if a cash register isn’t cooperating or if the person working it is having trouble figuring things out.  I’ve been on the other side of the counter, so I get it.  And I know how thankful I was when I would have an understanding customer if I made a mistake.

I constantly see people treating service workers like shit, but I guess I had it in my head that most of the jerks hadn’t ever been in those shoes.  I figured they weren’t understanding because they didn’t really understand.  And sure, some people are just entitled assholes; the kind of people who lose their shit if they have to change lanes to pass you on the highway (another rant).

Then I joined a writers group online and applied those same crazy assumptions…

Maybe it’s just the sort of people who join these groups (or who aren’t smart enough to bail) who are predominantly dicks, but I have gotten the impression over the last couple of months that the last person I would want for a reader is another writer.  It’s just one pissing contest after another.  More than once I’ve seen people post that they don’t want to “waste time” being polite in a critique.  Evidently, it is a lot of work to not be a piece of shit. 

Then there’s this ongoing debate about what even constitutes a “writer”.  It’s a debate that, for the most part and from what I can tell, is being carried out by a bunch of self-published or unpublished folks.  I’ve got no problem with self-publishing and I’m in that second category, but I’m also not telling anyone that they’re an inferior writer, or not a “writer” at all.  Honestly, I don’t think any number of best-sellers entitles a person to decide that for someone else.

I guess I just don’t understand what’s so hard about being decent.