JuzCuz - A view from Retail

Thanks to Flyovercountry I just found a new (to me) Oklahoma blogger called JusCuz. He/she has an entry today about his/her experience in retail. As JusCuz points out a lot of people are rewarded with discounts if they are willing to act like jerks. JusCuz doesn't like to see retailers coddle jerks and reward them for being a societal debit. I'm with JusCuz on this - jerks suck.

Speaking of jerks, where does this word originate? Here's what Wordorigins has to say:

A jerkwater train was originally a small locomotive that serviced branch lines. Its small boiler requiring frequent filling by train crews which would have to dismount, form a bucket brigade, and jerk water from a river to feed the steam engine. The term dates to the 1870s and is American in origin. The term jerkwater town eventually came to mean any rustic or backwards town, along a train line or not.

Finally, the most common usage of jerk, meaning a fool or inept person, probably derives from jerkwater. A jerk being a resident of a jerkwater town. This usage dates to the 1930s.

I particularly object to the driving jerks that will do anything to cut in front of other people with the civility to queue, or wait their turn. There is a telephone number in Oklahoma that witnesses to littering can call to report the license tag numbers of litterers. I wish we had a number to call to report jerk drivers. But, somehow I think a letter of reprimand to these people would only result in more littering.