LETTER: People need to respect their elders
Published: June 30, 2009
This is in response to “A ‘word’ to the wise,” Senior Heritage, by Dene Nichols.
Nowadays, much too much disrespect (rudeness) is displayed. Now, there is disrespect shown to one of our well-known “senior citizens” who has lived in Prince William County for many, many years.
Dene Nichols is an honest, respectable, intelligent senior citizen who deserved more respect from the female waitress at the well-known restaurant than what she received. How disrespectful for the
female waitress to call anyone “honey.”
When the female waitress called her customer “honey,” she told a great deal about herself in one word. I’m sure that some people don’t mind being called “honey,” just as they don’t mind being called
any other words.
But there are some of us “senior citizens” who demand respect and respect we will get. We spend our money just like everyone else.
As for the female waitress — I hope she gets fired. Jobs are indeed hard to come by, but there are other people who would love to have her job. She showed no respect to Dene Nichols . . . show her no
respect. Fire her!
ELLEN MEIR
Woodbridge
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Reader Reactions
Sorry Smitty, the places I’ve heard “honey” are not the places you must frequent - beer roadhouses, honkeytonks, poor halls, etc. Pinching a behind must be one of your method of operation. You unfortunately have missed out on US culture.
I even call my spouse “honey” - and I’ve heard others do so also. What do you call yours? B^itch?
And I know lots og good songs about “honey”.
You have to be a miserable person.
smith, you need to reread what I wrote. I never once called Dene “stupid” I said that if she did not leave a tip the waitress would “assume” that she was too stupid to know better. I also said that the waitress was the one who made the mistake by arguing with the customer about what she ordered. If Ms. Nichols wants to make a “clear” point, the only way to do that is to complain directly to the manager. I have a great respect for many senior citizens, but just being old does not automatically earn you respect, just look at the man who shot up the holocaust museum or Charles Manson, both could be considered senior citizens but not very respectful. I also do not have a great deal of respect for someone who when offended by someone calling her “honey” calls the person “honey” in return. It is a juvenile response.
maimemom, didn’t you READ in the article that Ellen Meir stated “Dene Nichols is an honest, respectable INTELLIGENT senior citizen…..“? Or did you not COMPREHEND what you read? INTELLIGENT does not mean STUPID, you need to read the definition of INTELLIGENT and then read the definition of STUPID. Dene Nichols knew ‘exactly’ what she had ordered, it was the “younger generation” stupid waitress who thought she knew what Dene Nichols had ordered and, in the end, it was the ‘younger generation’ stupid waitress who was STUPIDLY wrong. If waitresses work so ‘hard’ perhaps this particular waitress needs to concentrate on what her customers order so she can ‘earn’ a tip. Leaving a ‘small’ tip only gives the impression that the customer didn’t have enough money for a ‘reasonable tip’. mainemom, you think you know what is correct but you don’t, so just ‘give it a rest’. No matter what Dene Nichols did, you will find fault with it. It must be a habit of yours to find fault with ‘senior citizens’. mainemom, everyone has a ‘right’ to her/his opinion, but you really need to ‘think’ things through before you ‘put it out there for everybody to read’ smith signing off this article.
mainemom
That being the case, a talk with the General Manager would have easily taken care of the situation. All these restaurants do pride customer service and like feedback both positive or negative. They can’t fix a problem if they are not aware. Fully agree with what you said.
Smith,
“the younger generation should be taking lessons from the senior citizens”, well here is a lesson for the senior citizens from the “younger” generation. When you leave a tip without commenting to the manager, the waitress will never assume that she did a bad job, she will instead assume that you are too stupid to know better. You are much better off to leave a small tip and explain to the manager why. And I read the original article, the waitress did provide bad service, but not because she called anybody honey, because she did not listen when the woman complained about her order.
Hello “smith”
I can understand where you are coming from, but people are free to read and express opinions negative or positive.
ELLEN MEIR decided to write her article and folks responded. Remember the show “Alice?“ She could have been told to “Kiss my Grits,“ which would have placed both these women in cardiac arrest. Most of the time I listen to what the older folks have to say. Being the baby in my Disabled American Veterans group, we have a lot of folks from WWII and they are all very interesting people. We go out to a lot of dinners and both men and women that served would not take that as being rude. When I hear people go out of their way to complain and kvetch for petty issues, I turn down my selective hearing. She should have simply told the server to please not refer to me as “honey,“ or more so take it up with the General Manager. These girls work very hard, and in all cases make about 2.50 per hour and must depend on tips to make it through a very tough world. As we have the right to have our views on this board, ELLEN MEIR expressed her concerns and like it or not people will post their feelings. Perhaps the two should go to a fast food joint where they can sit for hours and not tie up a server’s table for hours taking money out of their pockets.
If calling customers (total strangers) “HONEY” is acceptable in some areas of the country, then the waitress needs to go back to the second class roadside beer halls, liquor joints, pool hall bars, etc., from whence she came and call her customers “HONEY”. Perhaps as she is walking away from her customer, she will get a ‘friendly’ pinch on the hind end. As Ellen said, calling someone “HONEY” is totally inappropriate. If you are “tired” of reading Dene Nichols articles, then DON’T read them. No one is ‘forcing’ you to read her article or any other article for that matter. Seniors have lived and experienced life more than the “younger” generation who think they know it all. The ‘younger’ generation should be taking lessons from the ‘senior citizens” instead of ‘taking handouts from their parents’.
wilco
Navy laughs because you said yentas. I am Jewish and love that word. Never the less you are correct and I ageree with your remarks.
OKAY, I found the article that Dene Nichols wrote. Its people like her (Dene) that give ‘seniors’ a bad name. Get off your high horse and stop demanding special treatment Dene. You aren’t any more special than anybody else who goes out to a restaurant. If I had been that waitress, I would have called you something other than ‘honey’. You may have drawn so much attention to this poor woman that you will cause her to lose her job because you chose to show that you are ‘better’ than she - just because you are ‘up in age’. That is totally ignorant and as far as I am concerned, you need to have your writing priveleges revoked. You don’t make this newspaper any better than the fish wrap it is intended to be. I am sick to death of your stale articles about you, you, you!!! Don’t care about you or what you did or didnt do, or what your family said or did - You are an old BORE and should just retire and go to pasture.As for the waitress,she was probably overworked, had a table full of yentas to serve - and subsequently didnt get a stinking tip. Dene Nichols, aren’t you proud of yourself?????
So I missed the article mentioned here but was Dene Nichols offended because a waitress called her ‘honey’?
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