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You wanna know what bugs me? Having to answer questions like this. This little corner of the internet ain't exactly, Tiger Beat Magazine, if you get my meaning.
I mean, sure, W3 compliance is a bear. Go scream at Jakob Nielsen, if it makes ya feel any better, and maybe kick him a few times in the chops for good measure.
my biggest pet peeve is when peole think that copyright crap doesn't apply to the intarw3b.
;9
aw c'mon, I had to after skrik and agropyron! It was just like a TARGET was painted there man!
Actually, you know what my smallest pet peeve is but I can't seem to shake my annoyance when it happens: when I'm buying something from the grocery store in my neighborhood and I've paid they give me change by putting the bills on their hand and then putting the change on top of the bills and then handing me everything like that. It necessitates a feat of acrobatic hand balance to keep the change from falling off (especially when there are many coins) and, even when successfully accomplished, leaves me with one hand full of money in an awkward situation so that I have to use both hands to separate it and put the change in my pocket and then put the bills away. How about counting out the bills, and handing them to me while you count out the change? Or vice versa. So much easier. Less mess. Less fuss.
And don't even get me started on the people behind the counter who act like they're hanging out on the stoop chattin' with their friends at the register next door and us customers are an annoyance they occassionally have to deal with.
papercake - i always leisurely separate the change from the bills, pocket it, then seperate the bills from the receipt and put them in my billfold, rearranging them carefully if necessary, and then place the receipt in the bag of groceries where it belongs while blessing the cashier with a big smile and not moving one inch out of the way.
q - I'll have to try that next time. As it is, I come really close to saying something and then stop myself for fear of coming off as a crank, which I am, and then walking out with a little dark cloud of annoyance floating over my head.
moond- well, hey, there's a silver lining on everything, isn't there? Glad to hear that. How did that exactly happen?
when I'm buying something from the grocery store in my neighborhood and I've paid they give me change by putting the bills on their hand and then putting the change on top of the bills and then handing me everything like that. It necessitates a feat of acrobatic hand balance to keep the change from falling off (especially when there are many coins) and, even when successfully accomplished, leaves me with one hand full of money in an awkward situation so that I have to use both hands to separate it and put the change in my pocket and then put the bills away
I like it---the bills act as a barrier/tray. Also, i've heard that culturally many of the people behind the counter in bodegas, delis, etc are from places where you never handle money from hand to hand, but put it down on a counter/tray first, so this is a compromise i think.
I hate it when people aren't read to pay for their purchases when the cashier is finished ringing them up AND THEN they stand there arranging their money like their wallet is set up on the dewey decimal system. Stuff it in your pocket and take care of the sorting when you get home.
I'm with LeeJay on the change thing, amber. I always wind up doing that one-handed money juggle while holding my purchase. My corner bodega has no AC, so they have 3 big-ass fans blowing. The other day it almost blew a $20 into the street, but thanks to my lightning reflexes it was saved.So we always go hand to hand now. But a week ago I accidentally left my first edition hardcover of Richard Price's Bloodbrothers (bought 1 block away for $5, I love NYC) on his counter. Apparently a few minutes later some dude tried to alk off with it, but my man behind the counter snatched it up and returned it to me a day later when I dropped in for smokes. So, they're cool no matter what.
Actually, I would like to know how to clean the chunks of decomposing flesh off of my genitals after sodomizing a recently deceased family member of mine.
On bus drivers. In Leeds, if you ask a bus driver if he's going t' university (dropping the "the" as neccesitated by the local accent) they'll *always* answer "No, I'm a bus driver." Funny for the first few times, but after that...
My mate's also started slapping me on the thigh if he or I say anything amusing, and I'm sat next to him. That's damned annoying.
On metafilter, I hate it when (and I do it too), you'll say something that's right and logically argued and incontrovertable followed by a minor sentence that hasn't been thought out properly or is incosequentially offesive and loads of people jump on that one sentence as proof that you're talking nonsense. God, those people are retards.
gas, that was me and my brothers when we were little, and we used to swing from the metal swingy loops too, and have races up and down the length of the car ...
Screaming, shrieking children in general. Sweet zombie hot-buttered turgid corpseflesh of Jesus! I don't know how bus drivers do it.
I know kids just don't know how insanely loud and shrill they are, so I'm patient and I simply bite my tongue and don't grump, but shrieking spastic kids in bad places are just terrible, terrible things.
Saturday I was unloading the dryer part of the washer-dryer set the SO and I scored at a local thrift store. I've got this honkin' big chunk of oldschool applaince metal precariously balanced and ready for re-entry upon the earth and the neighbor-spawnling starts shrieking like Beezlebub himself had just impaled her on a red-hot mound of spiky rebar. Why? Because a small wasp flew within 10 feet of her head. I was rather upset, considering I almost dropped the dryer on myself.
The neighbor-spawnling had already placed herself in harms way several times in the space of about two minutes and currently wasn't my favorite humanoid. (Skateboarding in front of the moving car, skateboarding behind the reversing moving car, laying in the middle of the parking lot and standing right at the back of our bumper as I'm attempting to unload said pile of metal, completely out of my eyesight.)
Then she came up later and asked if she could use my skateboard, because she broke hers, and "she just wanted to sit on it" - heh, and then proceeded to ask me a dozen times why she couldn't use it. I entertained the idea of employing my best death-metal growl and uttering terrible things like "LARVAE! WHERE ART THOU BREEDSTER PARENTAL UNITS! TEMPT NOT THE BLOOD-HUNGER OF A HELL-DEMON, FOR MY BBQ IS ALWAYS HUNGRY FOR DELICIOUS HU-MON CHILD!" at her, but her dad is a rather violent drunkard of an ex-drywaller.
Besides, she'd probably shriek, and that hurts my ears.
When I was 15, my mom gave birth to my youngest sister. I was right there through all the usual childhood insanity. Squalling babies don't bother me ever so much. In fact, I'm usually pretty good at calming them down and entertaining them.
Then you could make a lot of money on the subways jonmc. I'm sure people would gladly tip you to calm down the squalling brats. In between doing chin ups on the bars, of course.
I've actually done it for free and had parents thank me for it, gaspode. One time on Metro-North, this Christina Aguilera-lookin' chick was in effectually trying to calm down "little Jacob" by unenthusiastically mumbling "Jacob, calm down...Jacob.."
When Jacob looked at me, I made a popping noise with my cheek, which delighted him to no end. He ran over to me and began racing his toy car up and down my seat while going "vrooom-vroom." When I stood up for my stop, he grabbed onto my leg. I shook it hard and the little bugger still hung on. Mom managed to detach him. I'm guessing that baby-daddy don't show his face too much. But what can I say, to the Pre-K set, I'm David letterman, somehow.
The screaming kids thing is kind of a two-edged sword for parents, BTW. We (well, by "we" I really mean "I", of course) do know how loud our kids are, but are probably more used to it than those without kids and, because of that, are used to a constant stream of noise on our lives in the same way that people who live near busy roads don't register the traffic noise. The problem we face is that, in order to make the child quieter, we have to shout at them or they do not even notice us because they are so focussed on whatever it is they are shouting about. So, we can just let the noise remain or make it worse with the hope of shutting it down, but we know that only works for about 3 seconds and then you can hear the volume steadily increasing until it is at least as loud as it was previously, if not louder.
The other constant fear is that, if we shout at our kids in public, some busybody is likely to report us to one of about 14 different agencies set up for the exclusive purpose of making parents feel like they are doing a bad job and ruining any chance of a future their kids may have, all in the guise of protecting children.
DG: Yeah, that's why I generally just try to stay out of the way of parents. Unless they're like obviously beating the crap out of them or whatever on a regular basis.
Kids do need to be noisy, I realize that. I just don't want them to be noisy right in my ears.
Disrespectful visitors to/from other countries (especially at religious sites)
Proud ignorance in all its forms
Poor argument etiquette -- particularly refusing to concede noncontentious points in order to block points of view that would otherwise be difficult to refute
dream hit one of mine--tourists at places where they don't give a shit about where they are or what they're seeing--they're just there because it's listed in a guidebook. (Anne Frank House was especially aggravating)
God, Yes! Here in Lawrence, people almost *never* use them, and I almost get hit by a car every single day by someone not using a turn signal, TALKING ON THEIR CELL PHONES WHILE DRIVING.
You could just raise them to be polite to begin with. Or, leave the public place when the kid starts making too much noise.
I can see that you have no kids. My kids are polite as much as young children can be - they are also noisy, which it is impossble for normal young children not to be. As for "leave the public place when the kid starts making too much noise", who are you to judge what is too much noise anyway? Unless you are always quiet in public and never annoy others around you with your behaviour, you have no right to say this. Rude and/or loud behaviour is far more common in adults than it is in kids, in my experience.
Kids do need to be noisy, I realize that. I just don't want them to be noisy right in my ears.
Who does? At least you can walk away and get some peace - spare a thought for the poor parents who are stuck with that noise all the time ;-)
Also, the change thing pisses me right off and I react in pretty much the same way that quonsar does. I also get pissed off when people in the queue in front of me do it. Yes, I reserve the right to be inconsistent in my behaviour.
spare a thought for the poor parents who are stuck with that noise all the time ;-)
I don't feel sorry for you about this. You did it to yourself.
Having noisy kids around is like having *really, really stupid* drunk people around. They make all that noise, you can't convince them to shut up, and they don't understand that their behavior is offensive.
I agree with interrobang in every way. But what drives me craziest about kids would be a tie between (a) not even trying to shut them up (b) taking them totally inappropriate places--nice restaurants, movies after eight in the evening, the freaking bank.
I dunno. Most of my nieces and nephews were somewhat respectful children in public, and as for the ones that weren't, there was a clear line between them and parents who were willing to just look the other way.
interrobang, I wasn't asking for sympathy, just some consideration. Your comparison with really drunk people is an apt one, actually.
dame, there are certainly inappropriate places to take kids and I agree wholeheartedly that nice restaurants and late movies are some of those places. But what the fuck do you expect people to do with their kids while they go to the bank? Leave them locked in the car, maybe? Not everyone has readily available babysitters for routine chores.
Most parents do contain the noise their kids make most of the time, but kids are people too and have a right to express themselves in public just as adults do. As with adults, there are limits to what we as a society expect in terms of public behaviour and a few parents who don't care about those limits mean that people are annoyed in the same way as they are annoyed by adults who ignore the limits.
I hate it when the counterperson at Dunkin' Donuts doesn't bother paying attention to my request that my coffee has "just a little cream and sugar." How hard is that?
The escalators? Oh yeah. Don't even get me started on that. They're BONUS STAIRS. Meaning they function as normal stairs but as a bonus you go up them twice as fast. IF YOU WISH TO REMAIN STATIONARY WHILST GOING UP PLEASE USE THE LIFT BUTTHORNS.
And the change/receipt thing? Just put the fucking receipt in the fucking bag already.
Thank you for providing me with this forum in which to vent. I could go on but...
On a brighter note, I went to Canberra, the capital of Australia a while back and noticed that they had excellent escalator ettiquette. I NOTICED.
The other day I walk past the Amnesty International canvassers on my street -- and I pass them by. For one: I am a member. Two: I didn't have the time to just chat, and they're out there every other week during the summer. So what do I get? Sneered at. Had I actually any time, I would have given them a talking to. Had I less respect for their organization (but for some reason was still a member) I would have congratulated them and told them that they could tell their office that they just lost a member today due to their inconsiderate and judgmental canvassers.
Know not of what I speak? I was a canvasser (for Greenpeace), and I took a lot of abuse. Never once did I think that gave me the right to take it out on anyone else. Like tipping a server who's unhappy to not be getting a bigger tip, it ticks me off to give anyone money and for whatever reason have them throw scorn in my direction. Grrrrrrrr...
Wait, was my topic know-it-all canvassers? Cause the Greenpeacers three streets over aren't a whole lot better. Better in the sense that they don't sneer. Not so good in that they aren't pleased when someone knows a few things they don't (I worked as an environmental lawyer for a while). But then, our little GP office was a pretty ridiculous den of speculation and conspiracy thinking, too, even if the official printed materials weren't. (I actually thought it was a great experience, but quit when I found out that 90%+ of the money we took in was to pay for our jobs and the overhead necessary for them) So yeah, know-it-all canvassers. I wonder if there would be more goodwill if they'd just stick to the phone.
people who rush up the escalator and people who complain about those in a stage of life that they themselves either were in once or will be in one day... (^_^)
and chatty lecherous gum-diseased drunk businessmen
Oooh, yeah, people who suddenly stop short in a crowd - I hate that almost as much as groups of people who feel the desire to dawdle along the footpath beside one another, blocking the entire path for those of us who don't have time to stop and smell the fucking roses.
It's cooler here now, so I'm vewy, vewy tolerant of everybody and everything, but yeah, those people who, when walking together, take up the entire sidewalk so you can't pass them without getting out on the street - but the cars are parked on the side of the street, so you would also have to go around them... Aargh.
I walk fast... Strolling is torture for me. Please, just skootch over six inches so someone can get by you, please?!
But what the fuck do you expect people to do with their kids while they go to the bank? Leave them locked in the car, maybe?
Well, yeah, I spent that ten minutes in the car--reading. Because you had to be extra quiet in the bank (and restaurants and other adult places), so sitting in the car was really the preferable option. Or go to the bank when you're at work and your kids are wherever they are when you're at work.
You know, I used to think I was just oversensitive to the kid thing, but then I took a vacation in France. And though there were children everywhere, they were never the screaming holy terrors that American kids are. So I'm pretty comfortable blaming the parents. And despite my having been a very evil child, I at least got the "You have to quiet in adult places" lesson right quick.
In mitigation, I will say that a parent who is actually trying gets my frustrated sympathy pretty fast. But these days New York is filled with entitled parents who think my life should be rearranged because they decided to spawn. So goodwill is at a low. (Especially since that woman with a baby strapped to her and her stroller-wielding husband rushed me on the subway. I couldn't even shoulder check her. Using your children as a shield indeed.)
Well, yeah, I spent that ten minutes in the car--reading.
Well, you try leaving a 2 year-old in a car while you go to the bank and see how long it takes for someone to call the police.
I must admit, there are many parents out there who don't give a fuck about the aggravation their kids cause - we try hard to keep ours in line and they are usually pretty good, but sometimes kids will be kids. It may be that kids in the US are worse than kids here, too.
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