Frustrated Mom Lashes Out At Driver, Regrets It When She Sees Sign On The Car

A Startling Revelation

Alison Green, who has fielded workplace questions on her popular website Ask a Manager for more than ten years, has noticed a startling trend: workers in every sector claim that they have experienced a “dramatic increase in abusive behavior from the public.”

Alison’s inbox is a good gauge that rudeness from the general public has been on the rise for years, but it got even worse during the pandemic. Some of the emails she receives are shocking.

People Being Their Worst

“I’ve been in retail over 10 years and there has been behavior from people in the last few months I’ve never seen, even in pandemic times, where it seems the convergence of war, rising energy prices, ongoing pandemic, etc.,” one email reads.  

“This has resulted in some of the crappiest behavior from the public en masse I’ve been subjected to yet. … People all over are really being their worst right now.

Another Example

“I work as an EA in the largest health care system in my state, and employee safety has been a topic among executives and board members in the past six months,” another anonymous email read.  

“Rude behavior and physical violence from patients, family members, and visitors is at an all-time high. We’ve had to beef up security measures in our facilities in order to help protect our nurses, doctors, clinicians, receptionists, and other employees who come into contact with the public.” But, interestingly, Alison has also received emails from the Karens themselves.

The Other Side Of The Coin

“I will sheepishly admit that over the past two years I was rude to a few service employees/call center agents over things that were either out of their control or because of minor mistakes that we ALL make at some point. I was never like that before,” one email read. 

“Not an excuse, but the pandemic stress/isolation just got overwhelming and it manifested in me acting like a jerk a few times, unfortunately.”