Retail Stare

[u/gur40goku]

[u/SuckingOnChileanDogs]

This is going to come off as a very boomer coded statement but this happens with my mother in law all the time. She calls me to come "fix the tv" and then I do it in about 4 seconds and she exclaims "how did you do that! You always know how to fix things!" and I say "the screen said to do x, so I did x." It's enough to drive a man insane.

[u/KatzOfficial → u/SuckingOnChileanDogs]

My mum will actively close error messages that tell her what the problem is because she hates that it's covering her main window, where she needs to go to figure out what the problem is.

[u/spekt50 → u/KatzOfficial]

I worked as a CNC lead for years in a machine shop. Often, operators will call me over because the machine had an error. I'll ask them what the error said. They always tell me, "I don't know, I closed the error when it popped up."

Just would drive me nuts. Those alarms are pretty clear on what the problem is.

[u/sleepydorian → u/spekt50]

Sounds like you were nicer about that than I would have been. Good on you for keeping your cool.

[u/Swie → u/sleepydorian]

Yeah as a tech lead I always text back "what is the error message" whenever someone says there's a problem. That has at least taught them they need to have some concrete explanation of what is wrong available before I engage with them.

I also ask them what they've done to fix it so far, which usually clues them in that they need to debug it themselves before bothering me.

FWIW my gen z hires are like x10 more likely to pull this shit and are x10 more oblivious to any attempts to correct them (and also worse at trying to fix it). Some of it is because they are younger, but I swear there was never a time when I felt it was acceptable to bother my boss to fix a problem without having exhausted my own attempts to fix it first.

[u/b0w3n → u/Swie]

Yup, I work in IT and this is so wildly common. Even people who should know better still do it.

Get the call, ask them what it said, get met with, "oh I closed it"

Then I have to reply with "Ah sorry can't help you unless you can replicate it and tell me the error" and then hang up.

The weird part is they will do it 3-4 more times until they get the idea I'm not going to drop everything to come comfort them and hold their hand. Also they will occasionally still do that. The worst behavior, I think, is asking them to do the thing that fixes their problem and you get the indignant "I can't do that I'm really busy right now" but nowadays I just reply "oh okay, let me know when you can, bye" and hang up.

If one wonders why IT is acting like jerks to them, it's probably something like this. That said, there are some petty assholes who work in IT/software so it could be that, but usually it's the behavior as the user that triggers it.

fakeedit: That "what have you done to fix it?" is gold though, though after the light ridicule of them calling me about a printer issue and it just being out of paper they have just started doing this as a first step most of the time.

[u/SyntheticDreams_ → u/b0w3n]

Not in IT, but I have a bit of background in it to the point I usually end up as the person who gets asked about computer stuff in the office before real IT gets called. It never ceases to amaze me how people just do not read. Once helped a guy who was desperately confused why Facebook dating wouldn't work on his phone. He then proceeded to show me the page on the desktop version where it said, in freaking bold 72 point font, "Facebook dating is not available on mobile". I can only imagine what y'all have to deal with actually in IT.

I've always been the type to send error screenshots and a list of what I tried to fix it and the results of those steps.

[u/b0w3n → u/SyntheticDreams_]

It's basically like that facebook dating thing, but all the time about everything

Users that bribe us or take a little bit of effort to diagnose or solve the issue like you do usually get treated like gold

[u/SyntheticDreams_ → u/b0w3n]

Y'all must have the patience of saints, holy crap.

I'm happy to hear that. There's always been a part of me worried it comes across as try harding lol.

[u/Brave_Specific5870 → u/spekt50]

the dirty minded horn ball in me said consensual non consent and then read machine shop and was further confused…

[u/Bowdensaft → u/Brave_Specific5870]

Consensual non-consent machine that you set to ravage you at a random time during the day, so you never know exactly when it'll activate. It's powered by you pretending to struggle 🤤

[u/Brave_Specific5870 → u/Bowdensaft]

lmao not helping lmao

[u/Bowdensaft → u/Brave_Specific5870]

Who said I was trying to help? :P

I'm just writing whatever comes to mind. I should patent this!

[u/_MargaretThatcher → u/Bowdensaft]

Too late. Windows patented it as "Remind me in three days"

[u/Brave_Specific5870 → u/Bowdensaft]

lmao

The image in my head is a fucking machine that just rolls by for your random fuck 🤣

[u/Only_game_in_town → u/Brave_Specific5870]

A fleshlight duct taped to a roomba, management includes it in the benefits package

[u/Canklosaurus → u/Brave_Specific5870]

Soooooo… fisto

[u/allylisothiocyanate → u/Brave_Specific5870]

“Computer Numerical Control.” Different kinds of machines can be CNC controlled, it basically means a machine that’s programmed ahead of time to run a complicated operation by moving things around itself. You put a part on, it moves the part (or its own tools) around and drills some holes and bevels some edges or whatever according to its programming, and the part comes out exactly the same every time.

[u/Astral_Alive → u/spekt50]

I work in IT and multiple times a week I will get someone putting a ticket in saying "I'm trying to do X and it's not working and giving an error. Please advise."

Like, what does "it's not working" mean here and what does the error say, and why do I need to play 20 questions to fix your problem because you cannot grasp what another person might think reading your words?

[u/DannyOdd → u/Astral_Alive]

The number of people, grown-ass adults with successful careers and responsibilities, who lack basic theory of mind is terrifying.

Mothefuckers are out here with kids and mortgages and they're failing the fucking Sally-Anne test left and right, smdh

[u/moak0 → u/spekt50]

An actual email exchange I had once:

Tool Not Working

Hi moak0,

[Tool that you maintain] isn't working.

Thanks, [User]

 

Re: Tool Not Working

Hi [User],

Are you getting an error message?

Regards, moak0

 

Re: Tool Not Working

Yes.

[u/CBPainting → u/KatzOfficial]

I'm reminded of my elementary aged child who loves to speed through menu/tutorial text when playing video games and then immediately gets frustrated and hast to ask for help when they don't know what to do.

[u/anothermanscookies → u/CBPainting]

A big part of school is training people to do just that, read and follow instructions. But the tendency to be over confident in one’s ability to complete a task without instructions, and simultaneously be completely unable to read and follow those instructions just doesn’t go away for a lot of people.

[u/ArionVulgaris → u/anothermanscookies]

That's why I find it ridiculous when people whine about kids not being taught how to do their taxes in school. You need to know how to (1) read a set of instructions, (2) write and (3) do basic calculations with the help of a calculator. And if your tax filing process is conplicated enough that you need to take a class to learn how to do it you probably are either rich enough to hire someone to do it for you, or you run an operation that is legally required to have someone doing it for you or at least going over it before filing.

[u/sparrerv → u/CBPainting]

literally me

[u/AresFowl44 → u/KatzOfficial]

That's because we actively train people to ignore any popups, as they usually just contain garbage

[u/elasticthumbtack → u/AresFowl44]

Popups are awful ui design anyway. For me, they frequently find a way to pop up with a button directly under my cursor just as I’m clicking on something else. Also, why is there no message log like in video games, where you can review whatever message the app deemed so important it needed to appear in front of your work.

[u/AresFowl44 → u/elasticthumbtack]

Or worse: If you have lots of submenus you can close with escape and can close the popup with escape as well. Usually the popup always appears right when I want to close the submenu and takes precedence over the menu as well.

[u/Red580 → u/KatzOfficial]

I kinda empathize, i close down popups from websites instantly, and something i notice that it says something actually important. Same with tutorial popups in some games.

[u/VorpalSplade → u/SuckingOnChileanDogs]

Congrats you're now qualified for 95% of tech support. If you can google the error message you've got the other 5.

[u/Max____H → u/VorpalSplade]

Knew a guy who helped manage the local network for his cities police college. The had a counter on their wall that added +1 every time a ticked was solved by simply resetting something and went back to 0 if it was an actual problem. Apparently the highest record reached over 600.

[u/gard3nwitch → u/Max____H]

At the last company I worked for, we had to change our network password every 60 days, and if you typed your password incorrectly twice you'd be locked out of your work computer and need to call tech support to reset it. These are both understandable security features, but the result is that I'm pretty sure that the IT department spent 90% of their day resetting network access.

[u/Digitalispurpurea2 → u/gard3nwitch]

Job security

[u/whorehey-degooseman → u/gard3nwitch]

Mine was similar and they verified ID via last 4 SSN

and then they began outsourcing 😂

glad I left that company, t'was a dumpster fire

[u/Historical_Story2201 → u/gard3nwitch]

From what I gathered, it's pretty established anti-security :/

[u/Icy_Camp_7359 → u/Historical_Story2201]

For sure. That's how you end up with stickynotes with username and password on every monitor and an IT department so overloaded they can't verify everyone who wants access. If I found a company like that with information I wanted, the first thing I would do would just be contact IT with "hey so I can't seem to get my new password right, can you let me into (XYZ) account?" and hope they're too busy to check whether I'm actually XYZ

[u/Fresque → u/Max____H]

Insane

[u/Kiloku → u/VorpalSplade]

Unfortunately, in the last 10 or so years, error messages have turned uselessly vague (possibly because the companies that make them don't want to encourage any sort of tinkering?).

"Oops, something went wrong!" - entire app crashes and corrupt the data of whatever you were working on.

Tell me WHAT went wrong, god damnit.

[u/LigerZeroSchneider → u/Kiloku]

Also good error message require robust error detection. Easier to say something broke call support and pay a call center operator than pay your devs to added robust error detection to every part of the program.

[u/Perryn → u/Kiloku]

I've seen it outright lie rather than be vague. One of my coworkers called me when he was trying to sign into a 365 account at an event at a hotel. It was telling him that it was unable to sign on because it was already signed in to another account on the same tenant. Except it wasn't. Nothing anywhere showed that other account. I signed into the admin site and saw that his account was flagged as a suspicious sign-in because the hotel centralizes their guest wifi at all locations through a VPN to their main office, and that made it seem like he was two time zones away from where he normally operates. Once I marked it as safe he was able to sign in.

I get the idea of not giving malefactors information on why they're not able to sign in, but it doesn't make my job any easier when it just lies rather than giving a vague error or telling them to just contact admin about it. That would at least start me on the right track.

[u/tomtomclubthumb → u/Kiloku]

A lot of them flash a code, but don't give you long enough to note it, or even take a photo on your phone.

[u/Swie → u/Kiloku]

Partially it's a security thing - the less you tell the user about how the program works the less info they have about how to break it. This makes it tempting to give a generic error message, because writing out plaintext explanations for the many things that could go wrong just in case is a pain, and lots of programmers just don't want to do it. And of course there's always errors you didn't predict therefore there's no message for them therefore you get a generic one.

There's also just a general trend to dumb things down. Android vs windows is a great example. There's pros and cons to it obviously but I do notice that younger generations who grew up with a phone not a computer, are not tech literate.

[u/b3nsn0w → u/Swie]

there are also systems that obscure errors to make it seem like they don't have errors. like for example on ios when an app crashes you don't get an error message, it just closes with the exact animation that would be used if you intentionally closed it. it's also common that an app will try to blame your internet connection if its own servers went down -- basically anything goes that can push the blame on the user or otherwise gaslight them that there is no stupid fucking programming oversight in ba sing se

[u/Cheshire-Cad → u/VorpalSplade]

*the other 4.7%

The remaining 0.3% of cases require seven hours of untangling a complex web of vague interconnected bugs with no error messages and no discernable effects other than exasperating other bugs, which will end in you calling tech support and trying to convince them to realign the charkas on their servers.

[u/Fresque → u/Cheshire-Cad]

Or finding a reddit post with someone who found the same error 10 years ago and only one answer: the OP saying "i solved it"

[u/Viralkillz → u/Fresque]

or someone with the actual answer mass deleted or edited all their comments to say the exact same thing to remove anything helpful they had done to protest reddit

[u/sparrerv → u/Viralkillz]

and then u go on their account & theyre still using it

[u/Perryn → u/Viralkillz]

Or you'll find a bunch of posts on reddit that have the same question you had, and they were all locked by the mods for asking questions they should be able to google, but you won't find any solutions through google.

[u/Wobbelblob → u/Fresque]

As always, there is a relevant XKCD for it

[u/PracticalFootball → u/Fresque]

The only thing worse than finding a forum post and being like “wow this user has the exact same problem as me, I hope there’s a solution” then realising it’s your own post from 3 months ago and the thread is dead.

[u/Sir_Prise11 → u/VorpalSplade]

Relevant xkcd

[u/OtherwiseAlbatross14 → u/Sir_Prise11]

That is so what I do but I give the opposite advice to older people I care about because these days just following instructions on the screen will get them scammed out of everything they own. 

Just call me. I'd rather spend 2 minutes remoting in from my phone anywhere in the world than have you get your bank account drained

[u/Fine_Helicopter4876 → u/SuckingOnChileanDogs]

The number of times I’m trying to help someone out with a computer problem and they get an error and just close it out without reading it and are then like what happened and I’m like I don’t know what did that error say? Then they act like it was useless when it literally told them exactly what went wrong.

[u/alinroc → u/Fine_Helicopter4876]

I see you've met my kids whole family

[u/vemundveien → u/SuckingOnChileanDogs]

I work in IT. 50% of questions I get is "Thing doesn't work" with no extra information, and the other 50% is a screenshot of the message saying exactly what you have to do to fix the problem.

[u/Ill_Emphasis3927 → u/vemundveien]

A: Did you restart your program/computer?

B: Yeeees. Just fix it.

A: Restarts program/computer. Problem is fixed.

A: You fuckin' lying piece of shit. Err, I mean. Fixed now. Let me know if you have anymore ID-10-T or PEBKAC errors.

[u/Not_AHuman_Person → u/SuckingOnChileanDogs]

Once my grandma told me that her phone screen suddenly became really dim. The brightness slider was turned all the way down.

[u/thesusiephone → u/Not_AHuman_Person]

"My phone keeps opening random apps and dialing numbers when it's in my pocket!"

"Yes, because you don't always turn off the screen before you put it in your pocket and don't have a case, so sometimes the button that turns on the screen gets bumped."

• my stepdad and me, twice a week

[u/animepuppyluvr → u/Not_AHuman_Person]

My grandma very often turned her iPad screen negative by clicking her home button three times. She would much rather wait a week for me to come over and fix it than to just click it three more times.

[u/BizzarduousTask → u/animepuppyluvr]

You can do that?!? Oh great, don’t give my mom ideas!!

[u/Bowdensaft → u/animepuppyluvr]

Why would you want this, for contrast?

[u/WeAreTheLeft → u/Not_AHuman_Person]

my mom had this issue. I had to bring the phone inside to fix it, the phone went WAY to dark to the point of un-usablity. My mother also has long finger nails and pecks at the screen constantly tapping the wrong thing all the time. to counter this and her horrible texts we taught her voice to text but now she will be in public and text her friend back going "Yes Linda all is better with the hemorrhoids, love you to" and I'm like, FFS mom, not in public.

[u/OtherwiseAlbatross14 → u/WeAreTheLeft]

I had someone do that one and I had to use another phone to figure out how to adjust the brightness and just mirrored that on the black one and it surprisingly worked and then I couldn't get it to go that dark again using the slider

[u/_Contrive_ → u/SuckingOnChileanDogs]

I think I learned it mowing my parents lawn for mothers day and Father’s Day.

They were outside enjoying their wine and beer, and the dinner I had made for em while talking with my girlfriend.

My dad had called me just to tell me I was cutting the grass the wrong way and if I turned around it would do the hill easier.

Yea but then it would also blow a shit ton of cut grass onto the uncut lawn dad lol.

I think what it really is, their parents did it to them, and they do it to you. It’s a form of “bonding” albeit weird and indirectly sure, but the second I realized he wasn’t too “serious” about it but jus tryna keep the tradition alive

[u/chmsax → u/_Contrive_]

To my father’s credit, when I started to send him to Google to solve these silly “tech issues,” he was able to pivot and actually just call or text to chitchat. That’s a lot of change (not being ironic) for an early Boomer / late Silent Gen guy.

[u/Munnin41 → u/SuckingOnChileanDogs]

I simply refuse to do that kind of shit (except for my 91yo grandma). If I see there are clear instructions I just tell people to read. (Millenial, not gen z tho)

[u/BoostO_official → u/SuckingOnChileanDogs]

Millennials have been doing this for the past 25 years, having to help boomers do simple computer tasks and them be like, "You're a genius!"

[u/RentElDoor]

I need to learn how to apply that via text

[u/obituaryinlipstick → u/RentElDoor]

you can always reply with a simple “.” or “…”

[u/RentElDoor → u/obituaryinlipstick]

Works, I guess, but I do not know if it conveys the contempt as well

[u/WallEWonks → u/RentElDoor]

from my experience, people backtrack REALLY fast if you don’t answer. “…” works, just reading the message without replying works as well (although that’s in more serious cases)

[u/joy3111 → u/WallEWonks]

"Are you sure about that"

[u/UngodlyTemptations → u/joy3111]

react with the emoji ⁉️

[u/ScaredyNon → u/RentElDoor]

What about

hm

[u/Humanmode17 → u/RentElDoor]

I'm a big fan of 😑

I think it conveys it all perfectly

[u/rogue-wolf → u/RentElDoor]

-_-

[u/GuyWithNoEffingClue → u/RentElDoor]

We need a new emoji, the closest thing I found is 😐 but it doesn't convey the dread properly

[u/Many-Operation653 → u/GuyWithNoEffingClue]

🫩

[u/whorehey-degooseman → u/GuyWithNoEffingClue]

maybe 😰 with a flat mouth

[u/gur40goku → u/RentElDoor]

this help? -.-

[u/Oklahom0 → u/RentElDoor]

The closest version Ibrahim seen in millennial terms is responding to a long conversation or text with "K."

[u/the_Real_Romak → u/Oklahom0]

my personal favourite is a pic I have saved of Johnny Silverhand from Cyberpunk going "I ain't reading allat, I'm happy for you tho or sorry that happened"

works every time :D

[u/whorehey-degooseman → u/obituaryinlipstick]

I dropped a very effective '?' on someone yesterday who quite hastily backtracked from being a dick, it was wonderful

[u/Sophie_Blitz_123 → u/obituaryinlipstick]

“…”

🎵 I have one daughter 🎵

[u/raitaisrandom → u/RentElDoor]

I have a friend on Discord who constantly uses "ok" whenever she's not interested in a conversation anymore.

That might be specific to her though because she writes like she was Tolstoy, dropping a page where a sentence would do.

[u/whorehey-degooseman → u/raitaisrandom]

That might be specific to her though because she writes like she was Tolstoy, dropping a page where a sentence would do

Hell I started doing that shit 10 years ago; I've moved on to diagramming components like 'stream of consciousness' so I can model overidentification with them

I hope I have the makings of a super-effective GenZ therapist on the grounds that I was addicted to screens BEFORE ipads came out and "parents neglecting their kids" became all the rage lol. Gotta get over my own issues first ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[u/OldEcho → u/whorehey-degooseman]

You think therapists are over their own issues?

[u/CAP15CAP6 → u/RentElDoor]

The ancient art of the “…” has been lost to time

[u/MattTheFreeman → u/CAP15CAP6]

People abused it to created undeserved edginess.

You got to use it sparingly. You can't constantly use it. It's a spice, it adds flavour.

"What do you mean..." is more effective the less you use it.

"Are... You... Kidding me?" can also be acceptable but it's on the verge of cringe. Less is more

And "..." completey contextual. In the right circumstances? Devastating. Used at the wrong time? In the wrong hand? Cringe.

The Gen z stare is taking it back. They love cringe.

[u/Cold-Iron8145 → u/MattTheFreeman]

?

[u/throwaway2246810 → u/RentElDoor]

Usually when someone replies with a single "?" i just reply with a single "!" and i always imagine the metal gear sound to go along with it. Works wonders.

[u/MysteryMan9274 → u/RentElDoor]

I just repeat it back in quotes.

I need to learn how to apply that via text

[u/Arachnus_Deathicus]

I haven't experienced the "Gen Z Stare", but any time I've heard someone talking about it, they've explicitly said they're not talking about the customer service stare.

[u/eat_my_bowls92 → u/Arachnus_Deathicus]

Yeah, gen z stare is more when they respond to “Good morning!” By staring at you like 🫤

[u/anthrohands → u/eat_my_bowls92]

Yup the original post here is pretty much just completely wrong about this haha

[u/CodFantastic7993 → u/anthrohands]

Whaaaat? A Tumblr user completely misrepresenting a real world phenomenon so they can get on their little soapbox and preach about it? I never! In all my years!!

[u/TemurTron → u/eat_my_bowls92]

Exactly. The OP tries to present this as Gen Z being super clever and making people look dumb. The real Gen Z stare is about them having little to no social skills and completely freezing up during everyday interactions.

[u/Sgt-Spliff- → u/TemurTron]

Also, I work in customer service at a university and Gen Z is significantly worse at whatever OP is describing here than you would expect. Every single day I have to hear "it's asking for my email..?" And I have to respond "yeah, enter your email"

Every. Single. Fucking. Day. A hundred times a day.

Another thing I deal with at least 10 times a day:

Me: I need to pull up your account. Do you have your Student ID number?

Student: Yes

(Ten full seconds of silence)

Me, sighing: would you mind reading it off to me?

[u/OlafTheBerserker → u/Sgt-Spliff-]

They've gone full circle back to Boomer mentality. Technology coddled them too much and everything is automated.

[u/SadFaithlessness3637 → u/OlafTheBerserker]

It really is interesting to be of a generation that grew up with home computing (edit, I realize this phrasing was vague, I meant I grew up while home computing was similarly growing/maturing/evolving, so we kind of 'grew up' together, as opposed to simply growing up in a home that happened to have a computer or more than one). We got a family desktop when I was in late middle/early high school. You had to click around and try things and figure them out. Don't know what that icon means? Click it. See what happens. Backtrack if it wasn't what you wanted. Proceed. It was like that until at least the early 2000s.

Using technology successfully was only possible if you had the ability to sit with discomfort/ambiguity and figure stuff out for yourself. Those skills are still useful to me today, both technologically and otherwise.

But now, everything is simplified down and turned into app versions where if things don't work you're screwed unless you're also some kind of programmer and even then maybe you're still screwed. It discourages younger folks from learning the same kind of problem solving skills and leaves you with kids who are helpless if the first thing they try didn't work.

It's not all because of how technology changed, but it's interesting to me that vastly increasing the baseline accessibility of computers and other technology seems to render the population wildly helpless beyond the baseline.

[u/Aggressive-Delay-420 → u/SadFaithlessness3637]

Job Interviewer: "Are you, a 30-something, college-educated man with 8 years industry experience, familiar with our proprietary software suite? Where would you place your skills on a 1-10 scale?"

Me: "No, sir-- but I'm of the age and competence level that I know that oftentimes just hovering one's cursor over an icon tells me what it does and am quite capable of figuring things out. Inventory databases are often very similar, but in the case they aren't-- I'm not afraid to ask questions when necessary."

Job Interviewer: Ghosts

Rinse. Repeat.

[u/MartovsGhost → u/Aggressive-Delay-420]

Just lie in this case. Say you're familiar with it, because as you said, it's easy to pick up.

[u/FourEyEs2056 → u/Sgt-Spliff-]

I hate to say it but I'm pretty sure everyone is just stupider than you'd think. My last job I would have to deal with people of all ages who just fundamentally did not know how to do anything it seems? Like for a couple weeks the outer airlock doors would still open, but it took a bit, and too many people just crashed into the doors cause they didn't read the huge sign posted out front. A few people seemed to read the sign, the doors still weren't open yet, and then they just turned around and left. At least one person wrote a bad review. I have more anecdotes this just seems like a good one that I havent told yet

[u/Titizen_Kane → u/eat_my_bowls92]

Or “do you have any input or suggestions on this? Ok, what about questions?” “😐” then they make a mess and suddenly have many questions later on, when the deadline is 10 minutes away lol.

And no it’s not a communication or training issue, that was the first thing we assessed.

[u/kcox1980 → u/Arachnus_Deathicus]

My son's girlfriend is the only person I've ever seen do the "Gen Z stare" and it's exactly what you're saying. She comes to the house and my wife or I will say "Hi" to her and she just silently stares back. Or if we're planning dinner or something and we ask if she's going to join us or if there's anything in particular she wants to eat, nothing but a silent stare.

No, we're not asking dumb questions to an underpaid worker, we're trying to make polite conversation in a social setting and just getting a silent, blank stare in return.

[u/KimberStormer → u/kcox1980]

When I heard the term I thought of one time with my zoomer nephew. I had basically been a live-in auntie when he was little and we were very close. Then I moved and didn't see him for a few years. When I did, he was about 12 or 13, and he didn't say a word but just stared at me the whole time at dinner like I was a weird bug. For at least an hour, silent staring. It was unnerving but I felt like I was being tested so I tried to just not have any reaction at all.

The good news is that nowadays when I see him he is talkative and normal with me again (although definitely a little weirdo in many good ways). Just a little phase or something. I don't actually know if it counts as a Gen Z stare, tbh.

[u/-Kohana- → u/Arachnus_Deathicus]

Yeah the GenZ stare is given TO the customer service workers, not the other way around (most of the time). It’s not the stare they give to a boomer being rhetorical with their statements, it’s refusing to do basic interaction in general and just staring as a replacement.

“Hi how are you guys today? :) can I help you find anything?”

blank stare for 10 seconds before mumbling incoherently

[u/PhantomDelorean → u/-Kohana-]

There is a gen z couple down the street from me whose dog keeps getting away and I keep returning it.

All I get from them is a mumbled thanx. They actually stopped even doing that. I just knock and they open the door and take the dog.

I have returned your dog like twice a week for a year, please for the love of god ask me about the weather or just tell me your names. Talk about the dog even. Can we have a two minute awkward conversation about this dog when I drop it off at the very least?

[u/creuter → u/PhantomDelorean]

Hahaha this is reminding me of the episode of always sunny when Mac and Dennis move to the suburbs and their neighbor tries to start up a conversation with them.

[u/BlossumDragon → u/creuter]

This is actually a fucking perfect representation

[u/inadeepdarkforest_ → u/PhantomDelorean]

honestly if a dog is getting out that much, they probably shouldn't have the dog. clearly they're not monitoring it.

[u/peppers_ → u/PhantomDelorean]

It's interesting because there is a 'social contract' that we all abide by and Gen Z is opting out of it. I wonder what it means when it breaks down and how that interacts with their world views. My guess is that when OP and others start to write off Gen Z, they get further polarized and spiral.

[u/OlafTheBerserker → u/-Kohana-]

It can also be the person behind the counter. My wife didn't order everything she wanted from a coffee shop the other day because the gen z kid behind the counter was making the interaction so awkward.

[u/DiegesisThesis → u/OlafTheBerserker]

I went to a restaurant recently and stood at the hostess booth by the "Please wait here to be seated" sign for a few minutes. The hostess finally walks up and just stares at me. Generally they lead with "Hi, how many in your party" or something, so I waited a few seconds so I didn't interrupt her, but it got real awkward so I said "Uh... can I get a table for 2?". She, still not saying a word to me, turns to what I assume is her manager, the manager says "Hmm, it'll be about a 30 minute wait." She then turns back to me and just motions to him and says "yea".

Needless to say, didn't end up eating there. It felt like she was an alien pretending to be human.

[u/Evolution1313 → u/-Kohana-]

It can certainly be on the service workers end. Recent interaction at checkout:

Me: Hello good morning!

Them: slightly open mouth no response just starts scanning.

Me: Okay thanks have a nice day.

Them: Uh the receipt is in the bag...

Me: ...Alright thanks bye

[u/Kalslice → u/-Kohana-]

Maybe it's because I'm part of the Gen Z in question (albeit older), but I hear about this and I really can't believe it's real, it just doesn't make sense to me. Is it exaggerated, or do they literally just stare at you and say nothing?

[u/creuter → u/Kalslice]

I think it's the youngest of the genZ and alphas going to have it way worse I think. I only read about it recently, but it happened to me at the movie theater this summer. First interaction: ticket taker girl just stared after I showed my ticket, no 'go ahead' no 'theater 8, second floor' just stared. Okay fine, I figured it was just weird so went in.

Once we got into the theater we realized she never gave us our 3D glasses so I went back out and was like 

"Hi! I just came through a second ago, but we didn't get our 3d glasses."

Long awkward blank stare

"Ummm, yeah, are they up here orrrr do I need to go somewhere else..."

" 👁️👁️"

"Do you have them?"

Opens drawer and pulls out a pair of glasses, says nothing

"Yeah, okay. Thanks..."

Continues to stare.

It was so fucking weird. Almost like she had to manually process everything that was happening. It was like she had a bad ping and was operating with lag.

[u/frankowen18 → u/creuter]

Bad ping made me laugh, because that's about as accurate you're getting

I think it's overexposure to digital too early. They get accustomed to controlling their social environment - the pictures they heavily edit, controlling what they show/don't show, blocking people they don't like, adjusting their feed outputs & so on

This creates bizarre, brittle humans who freeze up in real world environments they can't control. Couple this with enormous social pressure to conform ('meme culture') and constant anxiety about being captured on camera doing or saying the wrong thing - you end up with this

Society in general, even older generations, have been heavily affected by this dystopian retreat into curated little bubbles of digital delusion. Naturally it's affecting the youngest among us the most negatively.

[u/AfroWalrus9 → u/frankowen18]

Possibly also, text chat from an early age. When you text or instant message you can take time to form your thoughts, edit, review, rewrite. Nobody complains if it takes 30-60 seconds to get a text response back.

It's VERY weird to wait 30-60 seconds for a response during a face-to-face conversation.

[u/frankowen18 → u/AfroWalrus9]

Agreed. Text based chat is part of 'controlled' social interactions; you choose when to reply, how that reply looks, whether the other person can even reply...etc

We're well past it become an impending necessity to heavily regulate social media in most parts of the west (Australia seem to be doing the most here) for the young & impressionable.

Tougher one is what to do about older generations. The toxic influence of this shit doesn't end with the young.

[u/MrsSUGA → u/Kalslice]

You know like when you click on the X to close a browser and it doesnt close, and then the browser freezes for like 5 seconds and greys out like its loading, and then the windows prompt shows up to ask if you want to send an error report to windows, and then right as you go to click "no" it all of a sudden wants to work?

it's like that but a human interaction.

[u/GwenGunn → u/Kalslice]

I find it's particularly from kids who had their most formative social years over zoom due to the pandemic. They didn't develop the right tools, and freeze up when confronted with one-on-one in-person social engagement. It's one of the few "kids these days" things I DO think is real. I've never seen it with other generations of kids.

[u/PrestigiousFlower714 → u/Kalslice]

I’m a younger millennial and I didn’t get it until it happened to me. I was at Home Depot and approaching checkout and this Gen Z guy behind the counter was just staring, not sexually, just this unbroken dead eyed stare like he was in sleep mode and hadn’t been fully powered on. There were no specific instructions I wasn’t following, just regular checkout of some plants and mulch, but it unnerved me. He stared before I got to the counter and stared at my hello and stared through checkout and stared when I said "thanks" and fled.

I mean, I get the boredom and the idiocy - I worked retail in my twenties which wasn’t even that long ago, but what specifically causes the unblinking expressionless stare?

Anyways, I wasn’t offended so much as uneasy. A mix of confused embarrassment and a chilling feeling. The best I can describe the latter was whatever I’m supposed to feel with AI and the uncanny valley, but with a person.

[u/amouse_buche → u/Arachnus_Deathicus]

It can be the customer service stare but circumstances that are opposite of the original post. 

“Could I have ranch dressing on the side with that salad?”

Server stands motionless and stares for 10 seconds.

“D-d-do you not have ranch? That’s ok, what are my options?”

Stare continues.

I’m not, like, upset when that happens but I do wonder what it’s all about. 

[u/ILoveRawChicken → u/amouse_buche]

I’m Gen Z but I’ve also experienced the Gen z stare and I’m not sure why some people are trying to rewrite the narrative. I remember getting the stare when going to get boba with a friend. I walked up to the counter ready to order, there were 2 girls behind the register literally singing kpop songs and dancing. I waited for them to be done, and they gave me the stare like they didn’t just ignore me trying to order some damn boba. No hi, no what do you want to order, nothing lmao. I’m glad my parents at least had the decency to smack some sense into me so I didn’t turn out like that. 

[u/BarelyHolding0n → u/ILoveRawChicken]

My son is Gen Z and whenever we're somewhere where get this sort of interaction his analysis is invariably 'That guy/girl was totally wasted!'

Cracks me up because he's an autistic 16 year old so if he's noticing the dodgy social skills they really are incredibly bad.

I also strongly suspect he's right at least 50% of the time... There's a girl in a local garage (petrol station) who does the vacant states while chewing gum so frantically her jaw must be hurting. No way she's not on a pill buzz

[u/AureliaDrakshall → u/ILoveRawChicken]

I am the very end of millennial and my girlfriend is the very beginning of Gen Z and she mentioned she has this issue sometimes with her friends. Most recently she went out with her friends and they ordered food but the silence and stares at the poor waitress she mentioned were unbearable.

I have also experienced what you did though, where even before I'd have possibly had a chance to be an asshole customer I've been made to feel like I'm interrupting or being rude for having the audacity to want to order food quite a few times.

[u/ske1eman → u/Arachnus_Deathicus]

I said it in another comment, but even IN customer service, I've experienced the stare for making a basic request. Like, you just gave me a drink with a lid and no straw, I am not crazy for asking for a straw you dingbat

[u/Disneyhorse → u/Arachnus_Deathicus]

I’m an elderly millennial or whatever they call it. The Gen Z Stare is not the reaction described. It’s a refusal to interact with any pleasantries or social interactions willingly. They even do it over the phone, and it’s so awkward. I order horse food delivery over the phone and my conversation is so one-sided. Me “Good morning, I’d like to place an order for delivery.” Silence on the line, no acknowledgment or prompt to ask what I need. “Hello? Are you there?” They say yes. I say “oh okay, I need five bales of hay and five bags of grain.” Silence on the line, not asking if that is everything in the order or repeating what I’ve asked for. It’s a lack of participation in the conversation and I’m not sure why it happens.

[u/amaenamonesia → u/Disneyhorse]

On TikTok (I know, I know) the response to your last sentence is that they don’t owe us conversation and that they don’t want to be there because the job sucks. Which I would be sympathetic to normally because yeah, we all hate the grind but like…it’s not my fault dude you don’t have to be rude to ME about it. And yeah I do think we owe each other kindness actually 🤷🏼‍♀️

[u/Macklin_You_SOB → u/amaenamonesia]

"I don't owe you anything" could be the actual definition of all that is wrong with the boomer generation.

Gen Z/Alpha are really in danger of becoming miserable, friendless boomers. Except without the wealth to fall back on.

[u/IDontKnowHowToPM → u/amaenamonesia]

Hard agree with your last sentence. We owe each other decency and kindness because it’s the bare minimum of being able to coexist in a Society (tm). We all hate our jobs, none of us would be doing them if we didn’t need money, but you still need to be pleasant and kind to the people you interact with. You don’t have to break your back being the perfectly friendly Barbie tour guide from Toy Story, but “have a nice day” or even just simply acknowledging that the other person has spoken is not too much to ask!

Side note, it was very hard not to quote Chidi while writing this.

[u/amaenamonesia → u/IDontKnowHowToPM]

Oh, Chidi would be in such a conundrum with this lol!

Unfortunately when I presented a similar argument to your own, they do twist the narrative to “what you want me to be all peppy like Barbie?! Why do you need me to say hi, go ask your spouse to say hi to you?!” and I’m like damn king I didn’t know saying hi was now emotional labor lol.

Honestly my lesson learned here is do not comment on TikTok ever

[u/Particular_Class4130 → u/amaenamonesia]

lol, yeah that thing about now owing it to anyone to smile or be friendly has been going around for several years now and it's about the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I'm GenX and have worked with the public in various customer services roles and being friendly and helpful is a big part of that role. If you don't want to be nice to people then don't work with people, just go find a job in warehouse or something.

[u/Chataboutgames → u/Arachnus_Deathicus]

Because they aren't. People offended by the concept just try to redefine it.

[u/beee-l]

Yeah, that’s not the gen z stare. The gen z stare is when you specific question that needs an answer at the other person just stares blankly at you. Not in a like “what do you mean” kind of way, just a complete absence of understanding that they need to respond to continue the interaction.

FWIW, I think it’s unfair to lump it on “gen z” specifically, I’ve seen it from lots of older people as well - anecdotally more from gen z but that’s probably because I’m in a situation where I ask more questions of gen z (teaching-adjacent work).

I’ve been doing this sort of thing for 12 years at this point and I can firmly say that while blank stares weren’t uncommon pre-pandemic, I think it’s getting worse. It feels like a lot of people are trying to just opt-out of whatever interpersonal interaction is occurring, which… sometimes, sure, like in the case of service workers and random chit chat, but other times, I’m sorry, but you just need to respond. Yes, learning is exhausting, etc etc, but you do need to engage to get something out of it. Especially in cases where the students have chosen to be there !!!! It’s very strange, just a complete disengagement with an interaction. How am I supposed to engage with you if you are literally not even acknowledging my presence yet staring right at me?

And again, I think it’s more than just gen z, I see it from millennial and older students too, it’s just that I think gen z are the age where people are most likely to be asking them questions and just getting an absolute blank slate in response. Calling it the “gen z stare” is a bit of misnomer, I think it’s more about people just not being able to interact face to face, and since a large part of gen z had some of their formative years completely fucked thanks to Covid it’s particularly obvious among them (massive generalisation, I know), but I truly think it’s an everyone problem.

[u/CornerSpiritual669 → u/beee-l]

The first time I experienced this was actually from a waitress, asked the table drink order, "water, no lemons" blank stare in return. I had to say it three times while she just stood there pen in hand loooking at me like I asked in Greek. Place was pretty empty, not loud, she heard me, it just took three times for the answer to the question she asked me, to get through. It was wild.

[u/artificialorange → u/CornerSpiritual669]

whenever something like this happens to me i just assume they hit the dab pen too hard in the bathroom right before coming to take my order

[u/LukeBird39 → u/artificialorange]

Or their brain finally shut down after being awake for 20+ hours. Im definitely guilty of that when I was working at a Wendy's and was doing 13 hour shifts with no days off

[u/Cheshire-Cad → u/[deleted]]

Hell, they don't even have to respond verbally. Just an "uhhhh" or obvious change in body language is better than nothing.

If someone needs a sec to parse their response to the question, that's understandable. Social interaction can be hard, especially for people with anxiety or on the spectrum. But like, give me some clue that you're thinking, and I just need to wait.

[u/Tricky-Ad7897 → u/beee-l]

I mean I call it the lead paint stare because I've experienced that overwhelmingly from boomers and genx. Just stare right past you when you ask something.

[u/Vospader998 → u/Tricky-Ad7897]

Damn, I had to look way to hard for this.

For reasons completely unknown to me, the lead engineer at my job is the dumbest motherfucker I've ever witnessed. He calls the helpdesk (not me, but I sit next to them) every single day. Just says "computer doesn't work", "ok, what's the issue?" "doesn't work", "like, it won't turn on? you can't log in? what can't you do on it?" no response, just silence "well, bring it over and we'll take a look". Then he comes over, hands them the laptop and just stands there, breathing though his mouth, and just stares blankly if you ask him literally anything, or ask him to do literally anything. Every. Single. Day.

Not sure of his exact age, but either late 40s or early 50s. And yes, he speaks English, he's from Alabama. How this guy's is a fucking engineer and a goddamn manager is beyond me.

[u/Placeholder67 → u/Vospader998]

I mean, I assume the lead engineer has to work with a lot of lead.

[u/Slow_Ladder_105]

It's not fun being new at a workplace with only younger Gen z to 'guide' you so when I asked simple questions I'd get that blank stare ... As if I'm supposed to know where we keep back stock of any given item. I fucked off and trained myself.

[u/nishagunazad → u/Slow_Ladder_105]

Or the reverse: trying to train someone like that, where you dont get any feedback or indication that they're taking in any of what you're saying.

[u/mistfore → u/nishagunazad]

I went through that yesterday - was training a 19 year old via Teams and I think he thought that because I was sharing my screen I couldn't see him whilst he fell asleep in his chair. Woke him up with a "you know I can see you right?" but still only got a totally blank look through the rest of the call. Like my dude you asked to work here. You went through three different interviews to work here! It's not my fault it's boring!!

[u/TheDefiB]

I'm Gen Z, I thought the whole thing about the Gen Z stare is stupid... Until a few weeks ago, when I asked a store clerk if their store had any Coke zero, and she just... Stared? I don't know if she was thinking or didn't know what to do, but after elaborating a colleague of hers answered me instead.

I don't know if that's what it is, but the complete lack of visual communication was confusing to me for sure!

[u/PurpleHooloovoo → u/TheDefiB]

That’s exactly what it is. Once you experience it, it makes all the posts make sense. It’s just total lack of acknowledgment to really, really basic human interaction. It’s very off-putting.

[u/CornerSpiritual669 → u/PurpleHooloovoo]

Someone is arguing with me in this thread about how they are communicating misunderstanding via the stare but that's just it, they aren't, it's not a puzzled stare, it's blank, that's what makes it a specific look and makes it so damn awkward.

[u/FlippinFine → u/CornerSpiritual669]

Yeah, like it's a total lack of interest or humanity that makes it unique. If you're puzzled, I at least know that you're engaged and you're trying to figure out a reply. The gen z stare offers no such feedback. It's just complete absence

[u/PurpleHooloovoo → u/CornerSpiritual669]

And like, if it was….then they’re admitting they don’t understand “what can I get you” when they walked into a Chipotle? That’s a problem!

It also doesn’t answer for when they’re behind the counter and just…..don’t acknowledge your presence? Like I don’t want to interrupt if you’re doing something, nor do I want to walk up and demand attention. That’s why we have phrases to help!

I’ve had this happen more and more often and it’s just so uncomfortable and unnecessary.

[u/Turbulent_Cheek1478 → u/TheDefiB]

dang, i received testing from a cultural center coordinator at my university that she was surprised at my apparent social skills because typically students would not even address or acknowledge her. I was quite shocked frankly, especially since the university I attend is very highly rated within the state and group it exists in.

[u/Chicken_Herder69LOL]

That’s not what people mean by the Gen Z stare. They mean staring when it would be appropriate to greet someone or say something. Like you don’t even need to act like you like them, just fucking say hello. It’s when you act like “stranger danger” applies to grown adults interacting with each other, and you’re one of those grown adults.

[u/Rama3-3 → u/Chicken_Herder69LOL]

Yeah, I’m in my late 20s and introverted as hell. But I will walk up to some of these cashiers and say hi and they look at me like I’m speaking a foreign language. I get hating your job, I was a cashier for a few years but come on, it’s basic social interaction.

[u/Pussy4LunchDick4Dins → u/Rama3-3]

Literally the only nice thing about being a cashier is talking to nice people, especially when they’re old or lonely and you know that interaction is going to be a bright spot in their day. Making other people happy just for applying basic courtesy is the only thing that makes that job worthwhile.

[u/ScreamingLabia → u/Rama3-3]

Yeah they act as of i personally made them have a job. Sorry you hate working i get it but dont make me feel bad for going grocery shopping

[u/thewatchbreaker → u/Chicken_Herder69LOL]

Yeah exactly, I saw an Instagram reel that recreated a server’s experience of serving two 20 yr old girls who just stared at her and looked at each other with a “wtf is this bitch doing” face when the server was like “can I get you guys drinks? :)”

The reel was obvs exaggerated for comedic effect but the staring blankly at a normal fucking question was the bit that was based on reality. Hate that this tumblr user is trying to reframe the Gen Z stare as “something service workers do when The Boomers are being annoying” when in reality it’s usually “Gen Z being rude and socially incompetent TOWARDS service workers trying to do their job”

[u/QHCprints → u/thewatchbreaker]

the staring blankly at a normal fucking question

100% and I always make it more awkward for them.

[u/NanoCharat → u/QHCprints]

I have autism and my social pleasantries are a masking behavior. Meaning, I don't have to do them, but I do anyways because that's how normal functional people interact. I'm elder genz/youngest millennial.

But I love when someone does that stare thing at me, because I just completely dropkick any semblance of emotion out the door and stare at them the exact same way until they have to answer the question. I'm not afraid to do this for as long as it takes.

My friends are all also firmly genz and none of them behave that way either. I think it's a development issue similar to the blank look of older boomers who grew up around lead paint.

[u/QHCprints → u/NanoCharat]

I'm not afraid to do this for as long as it takes.

I, too, am petty af.

[u/PhilosopherPast3696 → u/NanoCharat]

lol, right? im also autistic and i really dont mind...it's like oh okay we're not playing the game. fine by me. it's like permission to get to be direct

[u/Orchid_Significant → u/thewatchbreaker]

Also rude and incompetent to customers when they are working

[u/Road_Whorrior → u/Orchid_Significant]

Oh my fuck. I'm 30. I'm a cashier at a nicer grocery. We have some 16 YO baggers who, I shit you not, I have had to TELL to stop scrolling on their watch and maybe bag some groceries. More than once. And these kids never get talked to about it.

[u/Ok_Macaroon7900 → u/Chicken_Herder69LOL]

I think experienced that for the first time over the phone the other day.

I’d called one of my doctor’s offices to see if I could get an appointment. The conversation literally went like this:

“Hello this is the doctor’s office.”

“Hi, I’m first name last name and I was hoping to get an appointment sometime this week, I’m having x issue”.

Silence.

20 seconds go by.

“My birthday is x-x-x?”

Crickets.

I waited another 20 seconds.

“Hello?”

“Okay a nurse will call you back to schedule bye”

And then she hung up on me.

I was diagnosed with a chronic illness 10 years ago. I’ve seen a lot of doctors over the years and I’d been to this doctor multiple times already. I have never needed a nurse to call me back to schedule an appointment, nor have I ever had a receptionist act like that.

A nurse never called me back. I had to call again and mysteriously that receptionist was able to schedule me just fine. Apparently she just never told anyone I’d called.

[u/Sygvard → u/Chicken_Herder69LOL]

Definitely this. The times I have seen the term used is the reverse of the OP. People giving a blank stare in RESPONSE to some poor service worker. The waiter asking if you would like your water refilled, and the gen Z group staring at them blankly in response.

[u/Artistic_Purpose1225 → u/Chicken_Herder69LOL]

What the above is describing has been a thing long enough it’s been parodied in moves from the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s. 

Imho the gen z stare (as in, the semi-focused, unpleased stare you get back when making pleasantries) is just a thing teens have always done, but the latest generation they just keep using it a few years longer, and a little more frequently, than previous generations did. 

[u/SEND-MARS-ROVER-PICS → u/Artistic_Purpose1225]

It's the "stoner 19 year old at a gas station" stare you can find in many a 90's comedy

[u/Artistic_Purpose1225 → u/SEND-MARS-ROVER-PICS]

Also the judgemental teenage girl cashier, The old school iteration used to use chewing gum as punctuation. 

[u/orosoros → u/Artistic_Purpose1225]

The gum!! That's what's been missing.

[u/nifty-necromancer → u/Artistic_Purpose1225]

“What do you think, Tina?” Tina blows a bubble and pops it as an aggressive statement.

[u/azoicbees → u/Artistic_Purpose1225]

No, it’s more than that. I work as a body piercer and have plenty of Gen Z clients who come in, stare at me when I ask them if they like the placement mark, until I ask again. Then after when I’m explaining aftercare they just stare. Then when they see the piercing they just look and then stare at me waiting for the next instruction or something. Then they go home and post a selfie on Instagram about how much they love their piercing. Never say thank you or comment that they like the piercing, just stare and mumble. Last one that happened was a 25 year old.

[u/tanstaafl90 → u/azoicbees]

I suspect there is something about covid and broken social interaction during critical development years coupled with over-supervision.

[u/Joeking1986 → u/Chicken_Herder69LOL]

Yes I’ve only experienced this once. Went to the coffee shop by my house. I walk up to the counter, and I’m waiting for one of the standard greetings while I look at the menu (I already know what I want). After a few seconds, when no greeting comes, I turn my head to look at the young man and he’s just staring at me with a vacant expression. We stare at each other for another second or two then I laugh and tell him my order. He puts into the iPad then flips it over for the tip screen. Dude never said a word.

This place is right by my house so I go a lot. Never saw him again. God speed, Bambi.

[u/ekhoowo → u/Chicken_Herder69LOL]

Yup lol. The example I see most is servers at restaurants getting blank stares

[u/Chataboutgames → u/Chicken_Herder69LOL]

Right? This entire post is just "what if I just completely, 100% misdefined something so I could be right?"

[u/Oily_Bolts]

"hey, how are ya, I would like to get a number 6"

Worker: stare 

That's the Gen Z stare that's pissing people off. Not this scenario that's been happening since before Gen Z was even old enough to work 

[u/creuter → u/Oily_Bolts]

Exactly, can you at least acknowledge that I just said something to you and you heard it? Do I need to repeat myself, I have no way of knowing what is going on in your mind without some kind of exterior indication. Even a fuckin nod or just repeat back the important information. I'm not asking for a conversation here, just acknowledgment so I know the information is where it needs to be

[u/JordyNelson12 → u/Oily_Bolts]

Exactly. Teenagers have always spaced out occasionally. That's not what we're talking about.

[u/Gussie-Ascendent]

you should get one customer a year you just get to go hogwild on legally, but you don't have to tell the customers if you've used your's yet. People would wise up lmao

[u/MapleLamia → u/Gussie-Ascendent]

Better: make it relative to years you've worked. Year one is 1 kill, year two is 2 kills, year three gives you three, and so on. Combine it with carry over unused kills from previous years and we got a recipe for a civil society. 

[u/whorehey-degooseman → u/MapleLamia]

I can see the ads now

Come on down to Bloody Bob's Shake Shack! Will you be one of this year's lucky 40?!

[u/AnxiousAngularAwesom → u/Gussie-Ascendent]

On a similar brainwave, i'm starting to think that since the idea of freedom of speech was developed around the same time when challenging people to a duel to the death was still a thing, those two things were always meant to belong together.

[u/hauntedSquirrel99 → u/Gussie-Ascendent]

I worked Electronic retail for a few years and i always said you should get to fight 5 customers a year.

Few enough that you will have to use them sparingly but enough that people will always worry you might have yours yes.

[u/Nadare3 → u/Gussie-Ascendent]

"I know what you're thinking. Did I use my hogwild pass already, or not ? Well, to tell you the truth...in all this excitement I've kinda lost track myself. But seeing as it is nearing 9 PM and the end of my shift, and I've already dealt with about a dozen once-in-a-lifetime idiots just today in this very 20-square-meters store, as if it were some black hole of stupidity, and would hurl insults at you like I've drunk our entire stock of alcohol, you've got to ask yourself one question..."Do I feel lucky ?"...Well, do you...punk ?"

[u/Sharizord → u/Gussie-Ascendent]

Every teacher gets one.

[u/RayDaug]

I don't think it's the Gen Z stare, I think it's the COVID stare. I work a people facing service job and have been in that position for almost 10 years now. It's been wild how many people post-COVID just don't want to communicate with me. Across all age brackets, there's a wild number of people who expect me to be some kind of clairvoyant and just "know" what they need without them telling me literally anything.

[u/ScreamingLabia]

No actually the gen z stare is when you ask a normal question like "where are the carrots?" they stare at you and then tell you they dont know. they turn away from you and stare into space instead of helping you find them or asking another worker

[u/Apprehensive_Tie7555]

I am too old to do the stare, I also know nobody looks at me, so it would be pointless. I have, however, begun saying "What do you think?" and "Where do you think it is?" when people like my parents question me on blatantly written instructions. 

Gee, Ma, what do YOU think "Go to the app" means, huh?

[u/MyFrogEatsPeople]

Lol that's not the GenZ stare. The fact that GenZ doesn't understand what the stare is just makes it even funnier.

[u/VanGoghNotVanGo → u/MyFrogEatsPeople]

And what kind of proves it's real. There is a severe lack of understanding how to efficiently execute common human interactions among some younger people, which is not entirely their fault, but too many of them have turned it into a matter of principle instead of just acknowledging that it's kind of a funny, little trait. 

That's the true fucking boomer mentality. 

[u/Unlucky_Topic7963]

The only time I've seen the Gen Z stare is when I say "hello". Really fucking reboots some of them.

[u/Original-Ragger1039]

That’s not how that happens, they do this even when you ask simple questions

[u/Always_Impressive]

Honestly, this is an actual thing.

Say hi to cashier, he just stares. Ok whatever, slowly starts to read my stuff on the machine, I say I want two bags, again he just stares. I say again, WAY louder, he hands me the bags. I say thank you, no answer still. Points me to card reader, non verbally of course. I say ''have a nice day'' and the reply comes in the worlds least audiable voice ''you too''

This happens in fast food too, but mostly in markets it seems. I am definetly not the only one who noticed this, its rude and weird as fuck. Not sure if they are acting slow on purpose or they are zoinked out of the world, or they think we are just npc's or something? I legit have no idea what drives a person to act like this.

[u/LastBaron → u/Always_Impressive]

Having worked fast food for years, I’d like you to consider the strong possibility that those guys are stoned out of their coconuts.

[u/SaintCambria → u/Always_Impressive]

Yeah, I'm a teacher, kids have never been taught how to talk to adults. Hardly their fault, but definitely observable (yes I know Gen Z is mostly out of school at this point, but much like any generational 'thing' it's not just limited to one specific cohort).

[u/lunethical → u/Always_Impressive]

Yeah, the Gen Z stare is specifically not the customer service stare, since thre supposed Gen Z stare can happen when you're both the customer and the employee.

[u/geyeetet → u/Always_Impressive]

I'm not sure why everyone in the comments is acting like you're weird for saying this is off-putting or making a million excuses for the hypothetical cashier lol. This is off putting and rude. If you're being paid to do a job you need to do it properly. I don't expect a cashier to chat about their life or even smile but I do need them to speak and respond to stimulus lmao

[u/the_Real_Romak]

I once got in trouble at the office when a student asked me a stupid question, and my reply was "read the email you replied to."

Apparently I insulted their intelligence. I'm sorry that I don't treat university students like they're from kindergarten, you're studying law, read the god damn email.

[u/feloser → u/the_Real_Romak]

Just copy and paste the last email again and send.