TIZ THE SEASON TO BE A JERK!

PLASTICVILLE-USA

TIZ THE SEASON TO BE A JERK!

Stories about cold hearted jerks at Christmas are as old as Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. Each year in our newspapers and on television there’s a story about some creep who tosses some widow out in the snow for not paying her rent and so on.

Now if you are a resident of The Villages, you practically have to sign a paper when you buy your home certifying that you are a jerk or they won’t let you buy in! Like drinking, being a jerk in TV is an Olympic sport.

To be a Villager is to take on the mind-set of a wealthy 7^th or 8^th grader. Only you have no parents or teachers to answer to and you have a full bank account to press your wishes.

One of the places where Villager jerkdom plays out its loudest is in the local restaurants. Villagers treat servers and store clerks like dog shit on their shoe. They are crude, rude and above all..CHEAP! Villagers know..they KNOW..that if they raise any sort of ruckus in a restaurant, they are in for a free meal. They know it and they use it to their advantage. I have never truly understood why the management of the big chain restaurants in TV put up with this. All it would take is for a couple of these managers to grow a spine and stand up for their employees when the Villagers come in and bully them, and it would stop quick. But they do not. Maybe they fear retribution from their landlords at the Morse Machine. But whatever it is, the Villagers know their weakness and they exploit it mercilessly.

My wife spent the majority of her career as an ER Nurse. Recently she transitioned her career to teaching nursing, and is now a professor of nursing at a local college. A great many of her students are single mothers looking to improve their lives and are enrolled in the nursing program. A number of them are also working as restaurant servers, to support their families, and some of them work in the dreaded Villages.

One of her students recently told her an awful story. She works as a server and bar tender in one of the big chain restaurants in TV. Now to begin with, Villagers are notorious for being lousy tippers. Villagers will spend wildly if it is for SHOW. They have no problem with 10 grand for a Rolex to wave under somebody’s nose, a hundred thou for a Mercedes to show off in, or 35 large for a tricked out golf cart. But pay a 20% tip for a meal? Not a chance! For the most part if 2 villagers are eating, the tip will be $2 no matter what the bill comes to. Plus, they will have been rude and unpleasant to the server at ever possible turn.

In this particular case my wife’s student had a table of 8 people and they ate and drank a bill totaling over $600. They were as all Villagers are..difficult to please and rude. At the end after hustling all this food and drink they gave her $20! They took up 3 hours of her time, which essentially equaled $6.66 an hour for her time and service. How sad. And the tale was that the tip was given quite grudgingly.

This happens day in and day out. One day a server at another place where my wife and I were eating told us that if the restaurant gets any complaints about a server from a Villager the server is dismissed! We have always found it amazing how once a server knows that we are not “one of THEM” it is not hard for me to find out information about how they are treated. In fact virtually any server, store clerk..even policeman will tell me how tired they are of the way they are treated by the Villagers.

In the latest story as proudly told on that website for Villager arrogance and stupidity..Talk of The Villages..a couple goes to one of the local chain eateries for a meal. They have their meal, and pay for their dinner. The male signs the check. Somehow, the server forgot to return the man’s credit card. Now instead of calling for the server and asking about the card, the Villagers..being what they are..call for the manager, and accuse the server of STEALING! When called over the server found the card in a pocket in her apron and apologized. Instead of backing up their employee, the manager comped the meal, and the Villager proudly announced that he didn’t leave the little crook one cent as a tip!! While I do not know the ending outcome, I suspect the server is now looking for a new job.

So right at Christmas some young lady is probably looking for a job, and some smug jerk of a Villager is on line telling everybody how he set her straight!

Tiz the season to be a jerk! And what better place to be a jerk than in America’s biggest collection of jerks…The Villages!!