Irreverent Columnist Amy Alkon Blasts Rude People

Posted: December 9, 2009, 6:38 pm

Syndicated columnist, humorist, life observer and author Amy Alkon appeared on our radio show The Business of Life on AM 1400 KKZZ to discuss her new book, I See Rude People; One Woman's Battle To Beat Some Manners Into Impolite Society.

Funny, witty, irreverent and always straightforward, Alkon amused Coach Ron Tunick, Holly Brooks (Miss KKZZ) and me with her stories of combating rudeness in today's society. Her central thesis is that the size of our society has outgrown our brain's capacity to process number of people in it - which Alkon reckons to be about 150. We've reached a point where most people are strangers and our actions towards strangers is different than with neighbors. In other words, we'll flip off a stranger whereas we would never do such a thing to a neighbor because we have to see the neighbor again.

Alkon shared her strategy for dealing with telemarketers who call during the middle of dinner. She goes directly to the top and calls the executives of the telemarketing companies bothering and berating them at home. She then sends them an invoice for the valuable time they've wasted for her. Sometimes, they even pay the invoice.