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Comment by hackinthebochs | Hacker News Reader

>As well, how you treat people that you don't need to treat well reflects on the type of company (and person) you really are.

This is really an underappreciated bit of wisdom here. The true nature of a person is revealed by how they treat those that are "beneath" them (socially) or are otherwise not useful to them. Someone who is rude and demanding to waitstaff, or rude to a stranger passing by is someone who will eventually turn on you once you are no longer beneficial to them. Take these instances as warnings.

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“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.” — Malcolm S. Forbes

Totally agree. Even worse is when a company promotes a certain set of values on their blog and elsewhere but then fails to actually be what they "preach" :|

I think you took it too far by pandering to wait staff. Their jobs are to wait. I don't think they're below me. I think they should take as much pride in their job as I do in mine, and if they don't care to even try to do well at their job, I'm going to let them know. It's one thing to be rude or obnoxious, but it's another to let them know that their service is not up to snuff.

You say it's bad to treat people "below you" badly, but I think it's even worse to believe anyone's below you, and thus, beyond scrutiny.

You are defending a position he did not take. When did he say to pander to waitstaff? All he said is don't be rude and demanding. There are ways to address deficiencies without being rude or demanding.

> You say it's bad to treat people "below you" badly, but I think it's even worse to believe anyone's below you

That's why he put it in quotes. hackinthebochs never said he thinks they are below him, just that many people do, and treat them badly. You cannot deny that there are people who think this way or that there are not some standards that society in general uses to compare people.

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