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  • Rude Americans

    Rude Americans Seen Proliferating
    Wed Apr 3,10:28 AM ET

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ugly Americans are everywhere, and in greater numbers than before -- so say Americans themselves.


    A survey released on Wednesday by Public Agenda, a non-profit organization dedicated to unbiased public opinion research, said three out of five people believed rude and selfish behavior had increased on highways and in stores in recent years.

    "Lack of manners for Americans is not whether you confuse the salad fork for the dinner fork," said Deborah Wadsworth, president of Public Agenda.

    "It's about the daily assault of selfish, inconsiderate behavior that gets under their skin on the highways, in the office, on TV, in stores and the myriad other settings where they encounter fellow-Americans."

    The survey -- "Aggravating Circumstances -- A Status Report on Rudeness in America" -- said 73 percent of those polled thought Americans treated each other with greater respect in the past, although 21 percent called that idea false nostalgia.

    A solid majority felt Americans had become more thoughtful and caring after the Sept. 11 attacks, but far fewer thought the good feeling would persist. And just over half of respondents said they believed the money donated to Sept. 11 victims would be misused or misdirected.

    Bad service from sales staff drove 46 percent of respondents out of stores in the past year. Among those earning more than $75,000 a year, 57 percent had left a store because of the service, the study said.

    A common complaint was that salespeople acted as though the customer did not exist. Eight out of 10 respondents said store owners were to blame for cutting back on hiring and making customers wait for service.

    Survey respondents also voiced displeasure at inconsiderate cell phone users. Asked how to address the problem, 61 percent backed legislation banning cell phone use in public settings such as restaurants, movies and museums.

    Also, 58 percent said they often encounter rude drivers, with just 35 percent admitting to such behavior themselves.

    The study, prepared for The Pew Charitable Trusts, surveyed 2,013 adults in a nationwide telephone poll between Jan. 2 and Jan 23. It included focus groups in Cleveland, Ohio; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; St. Louis, Missouri; Frisco, Texas; Danbury, Connecticut; Fort Lee, New Jersey; and Berkeley, California.

    The margin of error was plus or minus 2 percent.


    Whether you are American or not, do you believe this is true?
    Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust!

  • #2
    Indubitably.

    However, my recent move to the South has led my to believe it is not true of Americans universally. These peple are so damned friendly and polite you want to hug them. However, not having been here in the past, it is impossible for me to know if they were even nicer and more politie in the past.

    edit: Uh-mur-uh-cun.
    Last edited by chequita guevara; April 3, 2002, 21:53.
    Christianity: The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree...

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    • #3
      I've never read such truth.

      Comment


      • #4
        Oh, I agree with it as well.

        But, just for curiosity, could you say whether you are American or not?
        Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust!

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        • #5
          I can, and am not.

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          • #6
            I think Americans are amongst the most polite people in the world, so if standards are dropping its from a very high level.

            Why are Americans so polite? The cynic in me says its because there is no gun control in the U.S. That would make me very polite to strangers too
            Any views I may express here are personal and certainly do not in any way reflect the views of my employer. Tis the rising of the moon..

            Look, I just don't anymore, okay?

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            • #7
              If you want rude, go to France...
              "The Christian way has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found to be hard and left untried" - GK Chesterton.

              "The most obvious predicition about the future is that it will be mostly like the past" - Alain de Botton

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              • #8
                Originally posted by C0ckney
                If you want rude, go to France...
                I don't find the French rude - as long as you try and speak french.

                If you want rude, go to Hong Kong........
                Any views I may express here are personal and certainly do not in any way reflect the views of my employer. Tis the rising of the moon..

                Look, I just don't anymore, okay?

                Comment


                • #9
                  I do speak some French and believe me they are rude
                  "The Christian way has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found to be hard and left untried" - GK Chesterton.

                  "The most obvious predicition about the future is that it will be mostly like the past" - Alain de Botton

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    That's because you're English
                    Any views I may express here are personal and certainly do not in any way reflect the views of my employer. Tis the rising of the moon..

                    Look, I just don't anymore, okay?

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Americans are ruder than before because they spend more time in high density traffic nowadays.
                      I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by chegitz guevara
                        Indubitably.

                        However, my recent move to the South has led my to believe it is not true of Americans universally. These peple are so damned friendly and polite you want to hug them. However, not having been here in the past, it is impossible for me to know if they were even nicer and more politie in the past.

                        edit: Uh-mur-uh-cun.
                        In the past??

                        Ask some older blacks how polite and nice many white Southerners were in the 1950's.
                        A lot of Republicans are not racist, but a lot of racists are Republican.

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                        • #13
                          blame this on boy bands

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                          • #14
                            Re: Rude Americans

                            Originally posted by Tuberski
                            Bad service from sales staff drove 46 percent of respondents out of stores in the past year. Among those earning more than $75,000 a year, 57 percent had left a store because of the service, the study said.
                            It's not unusual for me to walk out of a store if I'm getting bad/no service. I did it last Sunday. --Hey, does this mean I'm getting a raise?!?

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
                              I don't find the French rude - as long as you try and speak french.
                              If you want rude, go to Hong Kong........
                              Ain't that the truth. Americans are saints compared to what goes on here. And it is as bad among the expats as it is among the locals.
                              Golfing since 67

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