No she didn't!! I thought as I turned around in slow motion to see if I had heard correctly, that she had in fact snapped at me to get my attention. Not the direct verbal delivery of some message, but the finger to thumb snapping action.
And, yes she did.
At this moment, I can't even remember what she said after I turned around in response to her snap. Instead, I'm focused on why someone would snap to get a person's attention.
Have you ever *snapped* to get someone's attention? Seriously, that could be one of the most rude and disrespectful communication tactics I have encountered. Forget about the looking down the nose type, forget about the type that introduce their job title as if it were their name. I'm now going to focus on the person that *snaps* to get attention of a lowly server.
I snap for my dog. I've even had a cat that responded to a snap. I have friends that snapped instead of clapping in their sorority and I've seen it at a poetry reading. But to snap to get the attention of someone that is serving/waiting on you - this I have only heard about. Until today.
Today, she snapped.
So to you, Snappy Stacey, I have a wish. Indeed, I will spend my 11:11 wish on you. I wish for you a win. A win of a radio promo that requires you to change jobs with someone, anyone in a service job. I want you to see what it feels like to wait on, rather than be waited on. I want you to feel what it feels to be one of the people that keeps our society operating in the manner it does. The trash is removed, the food is prepared, the streets cleaned, farmland tilled, shelves are stocked, streets are guarded and yes, the coffee is made and poured. All this is done, perhaps because someone is fulfilling their dream, perhaps because someone is doing what they have to do to take care of themselves. Likely, this is all done for the myriad of reasons in between.
But Snappy Stacey, I'd like you to have a service job so you realize that everyone is someone, regardless of the job they do. No one should be snapped at the way you'd call your dog.
Great, now I have this song stuck in my head...
OK, I searched the web to see if other stories of being snapped at surfaced. Shocked, I saw:
7 snap your fingers to make a short, sharp noise by moving one of your
fingers quickly against your thumb, for example in order to get someone's
attention or to mark the beat of music
Thankfully, I've never heard of Longman's Dictionary of Contemporary English ... And, just to restore my own faith in online information, I quickly searched m-w.com (always my first choice) and they do not include such rudeness in their definition. Neither does my second choice.
Next up is a site with a pic of alligators... but the caption indicates an appropriate response to someone snapping their fingers to get attention!
So from snapping fingers to get my attention, to an old song stuck in my head, to looking at sites that define snap, to a picture of alligators, I close with a final thought...
Don't forget to tip your baristas (and don't *snap* to get their attention!!!)!
Currently Caffeinated, Dee
I have had dogs for as long as I have been alive and not once have I even snapped at them I most certainly wouldn't do it to a person. [Not that I see anything wrong with snapping at pets, they do respond to that - I just never had to do it].
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a waitress I would simply refuse to acknowledge a "snap" from a customer. Sorry it happened to you.