[GhotiFish]

There is a website http://notalwaysright.com/

It's an aggregation of stories from people working in the service industry who have horror stories to tell from the customers they serviced. If you read through a few stories you might pick up on a anomaly that seems to pervade. Particularly any story from the "Awesome Customers" category.

For some stories we see normal, self-righteous, mildly ignorant, comical behavior, typical of human beings in general I would say. Other stories have this strange, caricature, like quality about them. People come off like comic book villains, cackling maniacally as they monologue about how demographic X is inferior in way Y. They say statements which are way beyond the pale of current society, and in these stories one brave individual stands against their unwavering ignorance in a triumphant display, shaming the villain.

I think you'll pick up on it as well. These stories are fantasies. Spirited teenagers imagining themselves slaying the ignorance and wrong-doings of their bigoted elders, and reporting it as if it actually happened for the mass approval of people on Facebook.

This story has such a quality about it.

93 points and counting.

[bcoates]

Except for the part where the OP says he didn't confront the guy but wishes he did.

[GhotiFish]

That's the thing, if things had happened as the OP said, the reaction from any of the human beings I know would of being proportionately extreme. Something is just a bit surreal here.

[bigiain]

Really? You don't see around you the "bro-grammer" culture, and the promo girls at tech trade shows? While, like you, I like to think I surround myself with like-minded rational people - and I honestly think I manage to do that in my social/friendship circles - it's _abundantly_ clear that there's many many people in programming/tech profession that'd laugh along with the comment related in the story.

I think your skepticism is misplaced.

[defen]

I had the same reaction. After years on the Internet you have to develop a sensitive bullshit detector. I'd love to hear this story told from the perspective of someone else at the table.