Pet Peeves: Aka Things That Make You Go "Gah!"

[ari333]

2 hours ago, 3pwood said:

This happens to me all the time on neighborhood streets early in the morning (when it's frequently still a bit dark) with joggers 2 or 3 abreast in the middle of the street.  These are narrow streets with cars parked along both sides, so no room for me to pass the joggers. Sometimes they have their backs to me & are usually chatting, so may not be aware that there's a car approaching --  I hate to honk, but I'd hate even more to mow them down.  I do observe the 25 MPH speed limit, so there's plenty of time for them to move out of my path (once they realize that there's a car driving on the street, imagine!).  I assume they don't want to use the sidewalks because those are often cracked by tree roots, & asphalt is softer to run on, but choosing to risk their lives every morning doesn't seem like a wise option. At least they'll look fit & toned in their coffins.  Hate to say it, but they're always women.

This dude was not jogging. He was strolling with a backpack.

I understand the need for exercise. Why not go to  gym on a track? I know they are expensive in some situations, but damn. I need to drive without hitting a pedestrian or oncoming car.

[bilgistic]

Yeah, if there's a sideWALK, it's for WALKING on. I was taught to get my ass out if the road if a car was coming, but then, I was raised in the 1970s, and I knew I wasn't special.

[AuntieL]

I thought of all of you here this morning when doing the dance of doors at Wawa.  It was Wawa Day, meaning free coffee  - fortunately for me, that includes tea  - which meant it was more crowded than usual, which is saying something.  So we had "the two people entering the double doors at the same time" dance, the "entering and leaving at the same time" dance, and my personal favorite, "holding the door open when I'm just a bit too far away so I hurry up because I don't want to inconvenience the person who is inconveniencing me by being nice" dance. But, free tea, so...

[DeLurker]

1 hour ago, AuntieL said:

 

I thought of all of you here this morning when doing the dance of doors at Wawa

 

Me too although not at Wawa.  I was making my way towards a smaller side door at a store and a young man held the door for me even though I was a fair distance away and am a gimpy turtle.  

Wasn't necessary but it was a nice gesture and I appreciate that.

[AgentRXS]

Yeah, walkers and bikers are constantly in the middle of the road down here, at all hours. And they won't move if you honk, in fact they will walk slower on purpose. Isn't South FL paradise (/sarcasm)?

[Blergh]

10 hours ago, AgentRXS said:

Yeah, walkers and bikers are constantly in the middle of the road down here, at all hours. And they won't move if you honk, in fact they will walk slower on purpose. Isn't South FL paradise (/sarcasm)?

 I have that where I live. I can [somewhat] understand it if there IS no sidewalk to walk on but many times folks do this when there's a perfectly good one parallel to the street they're hogging! Now that I think of it, I'm seeing FAR fewer street joggers/sidewalk foresakers than a few years back but MORE sardine-can zombies [AKA Smartphone gawkers] on the sidewalks.

[MrSmith]

23 hours ago, AuntieL said:

I thought of all of you here this morning when doing the dance of doors at Wawa.  It was Wawa Day, meaning free coffee  - fortunately for me, that includes tea  - which meant it was more crowded than usual, which is saying something.  So we had "the two people entering the double doors at the same time" dance, the "entering and leaving at the same time" dance, and my personal favorite, "holding the door open when I'm just a bit too far away so I hurry up because I don't want to inconvenience the person who is inconveniencing me by being nice" dance. But, free tea, so...

You shouldn't feel rushed. If people are holding the door for you, their time is less valuable to them than being nice to you is. They'll wait. If it were me and I were holding the door open, I would wait. After all, if I don't want to wait, I can just pass through the door myself and continue with what I was doing. I actually feel bad when this kind of thing happens because I don't want the person I'm holding the door for to feel rushed. I just want them to know that when they get to the door, I was happy to hold it open for them.

[Moose135]

On 4/13/2017 at 8:56 PM, AuntieL said:

...my personal favorite, "holding the door open when I'm just a bit too far away so I hurry up because I don't want to inconvenience the person who is inconveniencing me by being nice" dance.

That happens sometimes at work, and I'll say "Take your time, I'm only heading back to my desk."

[Maharincess]

On the flip side of all of this is when a person is at a door in a wheelchair/walker and trying to get the door open and there are 15 people inside the room watching but but not one person gets up to open the door. I dont expect help and I've actually practiced getting in and out of doors at my house so I wouldn't need help out in public. It still sucks though when people just sit and watch somebody struggling.  

What I hate is when I hold the door for somebody and they breeze right through without a thank you, a nod or anything.  Those people usually get a loud "you're welcome" from me. 

[bilgistic]

Ha! I do that "YOU'RE WELCOME!" thing, too. My mother inadvertently taught it to me. Also, if I'm checking out at a store and the cashier is completely silent (no hello, no thanks, nothing), I'll complete our interaction with, "Thank you for shopping at [store]! Please come back soon!" I'm an asshole.

Speaking of people in the road (upthread), the road on which I drive to work goes by the government center, police station, courthouse, etc. Due to months (and months) of hotel construction, this one-way, four-lane road has been trimmed to two lanes a few blocks further into the center of downtown, making an already congested road even more so. Also, the bus station/transportation center is right where the lane closures are located. As if all of that isn't dangerous enough, the following mind-blowing things are allowed to happen.

1) People STOPPING their cars in the road to let out passengers at one of the government buildings. I must mention that there is a half-round drive at the government center. One could drive through it and drop off one's passenger! NO ONE EVER DOES.

2) People leisurely jaywalking as traffic is speeding toward them.

3) Cops parked in the right lane. PARKED. Several cops every morning.

4) Cops leisurely jaywalking as traffic is speeding toward them.

Good job, Charlotte's finest.

[AgentRXS]

Quote

1) People STOPPING their cars in the road to let out passengers at one of the government buildings. I must mention that there is a half-round drive at the government center. One could drive through it and drop off one's passenger! NO ONE EVER DOES.

I hate when that happens in a parking lot full of empty spaces. Especially when people are waiting for a passenger/texting someone/speaking to someone on the phone to advise of their location. Just pull into a damn empty spot and wait!

Another peeve that drives me insane is when a place of business has an entrance ramp, and people climb through/over the railing in order to skip people who are using the walkway correctly. When I worked at Starbucks years ago, we had an entrance ramp and I loathed watching these idiots climb the bars like monkeys just to cut off people during rush hour.  

[theredhead77]

11 hours ago, AgentRXS said:

I hate when that happens in a parking lot full of empty spaces. Especially when people are waiting for a passenger/texting someone/speaking to someone on the phone to advise of their location. Just pull into a damn empty spot and wait!

This happens at my office. Just pull in the damn visitors spot.

[auntlada]

In February, my son received an invitation to a classmate's birthday party that was supposed to be today. I say he received it, but really I received it by email from the teacher, which is allowable if you invite the whole class to the party. (For my son's birthday, I found out home addresses and mailed invitations to the kids and did not invite all 20-some 5-year-old kids in the class because I'm not crazy.) Anyway, I replied right away and said my son would be there. We never heard anything else, so this week we bought a present and today we headed to the party. When we got to the site, there was a party, but we didn't recognize anyone and all the kids were too old. We asked, and it was not the right party. The mom who invited us was not on the site's schedule.

So I called her and got no answer. I texted and got no answer. I Facetimed her and got no answer. So I left a Facetime message on her iPhone. Another family showed up looking for the same party. As we were all giving up and leaving, I got a message on my iPad from the mom, who said they'd canceled the party because her husband was out of town, and she had emailed and messaged people a week ago. She did not email or message me or the other mom who was there.

I understand she probably just missed us, but I'm still pissed off. Our schedule today (the day before Easter) would have been a lot easier if we had known we didn't have a party. Also, my son would not have been upset. And we wouldn't have spent money on a present. Also, it brought back childhood memories for me because it seemed like I had that happen to me a lot, that people changed plans and forgot to tell me. I'm annoyed.

[theredhead77]

How frustrating for you and disappointing for your son, @auntlada.

[bmasters9]

On 4/4/2017 at 7:58 PM, Maharincess said:

@bilgistic, I'm so happy that you're feeling better.  

I had an estimate done today and after she left, I canceled the rest of the appointments and I'm going with my guy from yesterday.  He had a fantastic dry, kinda twisted sense of humor and he promised to bring his adorable doggy every day so he's my guy.  Plus he's really good and he's the only one who listened to what I wanted and didn't try to get me to do what he wanted like the rest of them did. 

I just can't face another week of appointments.   

Work starts on the 17th. 

Why do some of these people seem to act like if you don't make your house over in what they're pushing, that your house isn't going to look good?!

[bubbls]

My latest pet peeve is preceding words with super. Super this, super that. I was watching an advert for a gardening product recently, and the product was described as super helpful by a millennial. Call me old, but it was so unprofessional. If you're trying to sell adults products don't talk like you're in high school. Of course, now I'm hearing it everywhere! 

[MrSmith]

@bubbls Isn't that just super annoying? (LOL. Sorry, had to do it!)

[bubbls]

Why, yes! Yes, it is super annoying! And super unprofessional. And super stupid. Ha! 

[BookWoman56]

Yesterday afternoon and evening, I had several things I was doing and didn't remember until it was roughly midnight that I needed a few things from the store. Of course, the grocery store I usually go to, which is normally open 24 hours, closed at midnight because of Easter, so I ended up going to Walmart. This particular trip reminded me of a pet peeve, which is parents who drag their young kids to the store in the middle of the night. By the time I was in the checkout aisle, it was around 1:30 am, but the woman in front of me had two kids with her, a boy around 10 and a girl around 6. The woman was buying clothes for herself, and while in the line she picked out some frozen treat for the boy. The girl wanted a Barbie doll, and was in tears asking for it, but the woman ignored her most of the time except for telling her at one point, "I'm not buying anything for you," in a really spiteful tone. I understand she was upset because the girl was having a meltdown in public, but here's the thing: If you bring a fairly young kid to Walmart in the fucking middle of the night when the store is packed with Easter baskets, candy, and toys for small kids, and then your young kid has a meltdown, you brought that on yourself. I've been a single parent before with no good options other than to take my child with me to the store, but not in the middle of the night for a non-emergency such as buying some jeans and tops. FFS, there was nothing the woman was buying that couldn't have waited until the next day when the kids would not be cranky because of being kept up way past their bedtime, or even better, when someone might have been available to babysit them for an hour while the woman did her shopping. 

[ari333]

3 hours ago, bubbls said:

My latest pet peeve is preceding words with super. Super this, super that. I was watching an advert for a gardening product recently, and the product was described as super helpful by a millennial. Call me old, but it was so unprofessional. If you're trying to sell adults products don't talk like you're in high school. Of course, now I'm hearing it everywhere! 

It IS super annoying, but not as much as hella amaze balls and wicked awesome sauce.

[bilgistic]

I completely forgot it was Easter because I had no time off Friday or tomorrow, and realized when I arose from my nap to go to the specialty pet food store. I need cat food and groceries. I have enough cat food (hoping the store is open tomorrow), but groceries? Let's hope there are some places open for delivery, because I have zilch in the pantry except nuts and soup. It's 80 degrees. No thanks on that soup.

[AgentRXS]

In the vein of the peeve a few pages back regarding scammer phone calls, I must give my virtual friends a head up:

I received a call about a week ago from FBI "Officer" Catherine Richardson stating that this was my final notice regarding my case with the Dept of Tax and Criminal Investigation. According to the automated Ofc. Richardson, my physical address was being monitored and an arrest warrant has been placed in my name (even though the message didn't address me personally).

Yeah, so I'll let y'all know if I'm ever posting from the slammer.  Its been a week now and no FBI "officers" in sight.....so far, so good.

Edited April 16, 2017 by AgentRXS

[bilgistic]

I'll testify as your character witness.

[AgentRXS]

3 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

I'll testify as your character witness

Much appreciated!

[zxy556575]

Netflix has stopped displaying aggregated user star ratings in favor of individual up/down votes to better "personalize" recommendations. That was annoying because I liked seeing the general consensus before starting on a show.

I also seem to hold minority opinions on a lot of shows and may break their new algorithm.

Netflix:  You like standup comedy? Great! Here are a bunch that are 89% match for you!
Me: Ahem. I don't actually like ALL standup. Up vote, down vote, up vote, down vote.

Let's see what they do with that.

Edited April 17, 2017 by Lord Donia

[MrSmith]

@Lord Donia Netflix. What annoyes me about them right now is that stupid auto-playing feature. By the time I've figured out I don't want to watch whatever it is, it's nearly impossible to just back out. Anyone know if there's a way to disable that? I think that feature is terrible.

[editorgrrl]

1 hour ago, MrSmith said:

@Lord Donia Netflix. What annoyes me about them right now is that stupid auto-playing feature. By the time I've figured out I don't want to watch whatever it is, it's nearly impossible to just back out. Anyone know if there's a way to disable that? I think that feature is terrible.

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/2102

Quote

To disable Post-Play's autoplay feature on a Netflix profile, navigate to Your Account, click Playback Settings, then uncheck the option to Play next episode automatically. Other Post-Play features will still be enabled—this setting simply turns off automatic playback of the next episode.

[MrSmith]

@editorgrrl Thank you so much! I hadn't had time to look into this yet as I only discovered it last week (I don't use Netflix much), and we've had relatives visiting the entire time. I'll be able to disable that tonight when I get home. I'd give you more than one like, if I could! I am unable to properly articulate just how much I appreciate you taking the time to post those instructions. Two more miracles and you'll be sainted! :)

[janestclair]

I admit to using "super" as a modifier...often.  I think I picked it up from my students, along with, "Get your life together", but at least I haven't started calling things "lit".  If I do, please shoot me.

[zxy556575]

Here we are. Taxes.

I usually don't have any complaints but last year I got a large special bonus after the sale of the company. I am and was retired at the time and bonuses aren't included as earned income for purposes of Social Security.

YOU'D THINK.

Because I was working as an independent contractor for the same company, SSA says that I was actually still employed by them and the bonus is earned income. So I now not only have to pay 50% tax on the bonus, I also have to repay a portion of my social security earnings and most of the $5K subsidy I received under the ACA.

Basically I have to repay almost the entire bonus.

It's small potatoes in the scheme of things, but I'm particularly annoyed at having to cough up a $132 penalty for underpaying my quarterly tax payments. Seriously, I didn't even know I was getting the stupid bonus when I made my first two payments, and even though I tripled the amount the next two quarters, it still wasn't enough.

[JTMacc99]

I like that you settled in on this as the worst part:

6 minutes ago, Lord Donia said:

but I'm particularly annoyed at having to cough up a $132 penalty for underpaying my quarterly tax payments.

That's where I would have ended up as well.  Get annoyed that I have to cough up money because that's the way the law says I'm supposed to pay, but eventually make peace with taxes are taxes and you pay what you have to pay.  And then transfer the anger to the stupid penalty. Because that's the salt in the wound you really don't need. Jerks.

[MrsMoltisanti]

Quote

I understand she probably just missed us, but I'm still pissed off. Our schedule today (the day before Easter) would have been a lot easier if we had known we didn't have a party. Also, my son would not have been upset. And we wouldn't have spent money on a present.

That is really bad form on the mother's fault @auntlada.  Sorry to hear about your runaround.  The cancelling mom really should have went out of her way to confirm from everyone that they understood the party was not on after all. 

I had an experience years ago from the opposite end of the spectrum if this gives you a giggle - I sent hand written invitations out to all the boys in the kindergarten class for my sons birthday.  (*before the internet was super popular when hand written invites were about the best you could do where you included your home phone number for questions) 

My son handed them all out to the boys.  One boy never rsvp'd and never showed up which was totally fine with me and I never gave it another thought.

 One year later I get a phone call from this kids mother stating he was rsvp'ing to the party.  I was confused - I thought perhaps my son had told kids he was having another party.  I asked her what party she was speaking about.  She said she had found the invitation in her son's backpack (no year was on it, just the month, date, time and venue of party)

I told her that party was one year ago - she said she had just found the invite in the backpack now.  I said oh my goodness, and that I was sorry she hadn't found the invite earlier but really what else could I say?  She said to me well what do I do now?  She was ticked.  I heard her say to the kid standing by her on the phone that the party was a year ago.  The kid started wailing.  The mom said to me: "now look what is going on" and she sounded like it was my fault.  At that point I was reeling - what does one say in this situation?  She huffed off the phone and I just shook my head.

[ari333]

This is not such a peeve, more of a sadness. I just read about a  22 year old woman who was strangled in her apt. She was active on twitter. I am not blaming her, but trying to warn others. Don't tell the world on twitter and or facebook etc your real name, your gender, your state, your age, and that you live alone. Please just don't.

Please make it stop.

Whoever said (maybe someone here? IDK) that our times are a blessing and curse hit the nail on the head.

There is some lunatic (or just plain evil person) who shot an elderly man and streamed it live on facebook. Why? bc he was "mad" at his gf. This is beyond sick. It happened in Cleveland. It seems he wanted attention and he got it. Apparently he chose the older man at random and just shot him dead and posted it.

That is so far beyond a peeve, but IDk where else to vent it.

Edited April 17, 2017 by ari333

[ari333]

sorry. double post . oops

Edited April 17, 2017 by ari333

[bilgistic]

I looked that up on Snopes because I thought it had to be fake. Nope, everyone. It's true. We really do live in Hell.

And fucking Facebook, after of instances of RAPE, SUICIDE and MURDER on "Facebook Live", is just like, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. "We'll figure out a way to 'monitor content'." How about SHUTTING IT DOWN?!?

[Maharincess]

I deleted my Facebook account a couple of months ago after I was called a racist and received a bunch of private messages from strangers saying horrible things to me.  It was on a local-ish page and somebody was asking about jobs and that she was having a hard time finding one. I asked if she spoke Spanish and told her she would have a really hard time finding a job in this area if she didn't. I told about my daughter who was more qualified for a job than another applicant but the other one got the job because she spoke it, even though it wasn't a job requirement. I said my daughter has also been passed over for promotions at her job now because she doesn't speak Spanish.  I said I didn't think it was fair and all hell broke loose.  I had people looking at my page and finding a picture and insulting what they saw in the picture.  All of my stuff is private so they were just insulting stock photos I had shared.  It was horrible. I had something like this happen before but not on this level. I got at least 15 messages from people. One of them told me they want to see ISIS cut off my head.  The scary thing is that it was a local site so these people are within a hundred ish miles from me and they were vicious.  I'm just glad I don't use my real name on there,  I use a nickname and my dad's middle name and I don't have any visible pictures of myself or my family and all of my stuff was locked up.  I deleted the entire account. 

I'm done with social media. I never used Twitter or Instagram or any of those, I just had a Facebook. It's just not worth the drama.   

[Qoass]

I survive quite well without Facebook.  I prefer to maintain my relationships in person and if I haven't reunited with any of my classmates from elementary school, it is because I live in the present without much looking back.  On the rare occasion I browse around on somebody else's credentials, I frequently see things I'd rather not know about my peers:  sexist jokes, scary political leanings, etc. 

[JTMacc99]

Of late, I've become tempted to bail out of Facebook. Things are bouncing around my head about privacy, about unnecessary drama, and other stupid stuff.  

I also know that I have about a dozen connections on Facebook that I really enjoy and would miss and not be able to replace if I bail out. And Facebook kept me in contact over the years with people who I've recently leaned on for support and advice. If I had been out of Facebook, I wouldn't have benefited from those old friendships.

Maybe I'll just back off being a regular content provider, but still hang on to the account and see what others are doing.

[StatisticalOutlier]

2 hours ago, Qoass said:

On the rare occasion I browse around on somebody else's credentials, I frequently see things I'd rather not know about my peers:  sexist jokes, scary political leanings, etc. 

Yes, yes, yes, yes, a million times yes.

I have people I've known for almost 50 years, who I went to school with and have kept up with and for periods over the years have been close friends with, and I realized I never knew their political leanings.  Until I saw who/what they "like" on Facebook.  And it changed things for me (and this was 8-10 years ago, before the current climate). 

I grew up in a conservative area and assume that the people who chose to stay there are conservative and probably religious, but that didn't affect my delight at seeing these acquaintances again at high school reunions, for a few hours.  But I can't have that vacuum-ish experience any more if I spend more than half a second looking at somebody's FB page.  Maybe it was a dream world, but I feel like FB has robbed me of these relationships, and even some closer relationships because people put everything on FB and nowhere else, never mind in a juicy personal missive written with just the addressee in mind.

[Qoass]

A million more times yes:  I have a friend who is very active on FB and yet I sent her a birthday greeting via e-mail and she couldn't be bothered to respond!  I have a very complicated web of friends some of whom prefer to talk on the phone but never check their e-mail vs. those who use FB but don't make phone calls vs. those who love e-mail but don't text, etc., etc.  For one brief shining moment all this electronica brought us together and now it's more complicated than ever.

[Hanahope]

58 minutes ago, JTMacc99 said:

I also know that I have about a dozen connections on Facebook that I really enjoy and would miss and not be able to replace if I bail out. And Facebook kept me in contact over the years with people who I've recently leaned on for support and advice. If I had been out of Facebook, I wouldn't have benefited from those old friendships

I've always kept my FB limited to family and friends I actually know, and I enact as much privacy settings as I can.  In fact, but for a few friends that I "met" while gaming (Everquest, WoW and others we all played together - and are categorized as "aquaintences" with more limited access to my content), everyone on my FB page is someone I've met IRL.  FB has helped me keep in touch with family and friends in different states and countries, especially since I can't travel a lot to see them.  I enjoy that I get a good spectrum of political talk, and it is interesting to see that some people have opinions I didn't expect (like a cousin from Nebraska who's a firm democrat - yes, they do exist in the midwest!).  

I've had a few people ask to friend me on FB, saying they were from my old elementary, junior of high school.  Maybe they were, but if I don't remember them, obviously we weren't very good friends and I'm not going to friend someone, who'll see my kid's photos or have info to figure out my vacation plans, if I don't know or recall who they are.  I don't care about having a "huge" friend list, I use FB to keep in touch with people I know.

So the other day, I got like 25+ friend requests, with more than half in other languages (chinese, russian/cyrillic, and arabic), and the rest with decidely foreign sounding names that I didn't recognize.  I denied the first 6 or 7 and then started reporting the rest as spam.  Haven't seen one since.

[Blergh]

There have been stuff I've done and not done that I've regretted down the decades: not joining Facebook is NOT something I regret in the slightest.

 

Not only do all the above teapot tempests, spammers, etc' mentioned give the impression that it's far more trouble than any benefit would be worth but the fact that in recent weeks a GANG RAPE and MURDER were streamed on it live makes me wonder if THOSE will be the straws the break the collective camels' backs re whether it gets dumped en masse. I sure HOPE SO!

[StatisticalOutlier]

7 hours ago, Maharincess said:

I deleted my Facebook account a couple of months ago after I was called a racist and received a bunch of private messages from strangers saying horrible things to me.  It was on a local-ish page and somebody was asking about jobs and that she was having a hard time finding one. I asked if she spoke Spanish and told her she would have a really hard time finding a job in this area if she didn't. I told about my daughter who was more qualified for a job than another applicant but the other one got the job because she spoke it, even though it wasn't a job requirement. I said my daughter has also been passed over for promotions at her job now because she doesn't speak Spanish.  I said I didn't think it was fair and all hell broke loose. 

Fluency in another language could be an attractive/valuable skill that an employer could want but not rise to the level of a requirement, and it could tip the scale in favor of a person who has it, even over someone who might be more qualified in other respects.  In the case of Spanish, there is a possible racist element because while there are non-Hispanic people who are fluent in Spanish, the vast majority of people who are fluent in Spanish in the U.S. are Hispanic.

Compare it to knowing American Sign Language.  An employer who deals with the public and occasionally has deaf customers wouldn't make fluency in ASL a job requirement, but might look more favorably on a job applicant who has it. 

Or a place that caters to tourists in the U.S.--an employer might not require fluency in French or German, for example, but if someone has it, it might tip the scale in that applicant's favor because the employer thinks it could come in handy some time.  

[Quof]

Ok, moms, I guess I can understand that you need some pampering time.  What I don't understand is why you take your 18 month old child to Sephora, at a time when the child would normally be eating dinner, and expect her to sit quietly while you have a makeover.   And park your double stroller where it completely blocks the centre aisle.  Oh, that's right, you didn't care if she sat quietly, since you engaged her in a game of echoing shrieking, because that's just adorable.  What would happen if I just decided to sit down in the middle of the aisle and shriek?   Would that be okay? 

I handed my full basket to a sales associate who knows me, and said "I'm out of here."  She said soto voce "Oh, girlfriend, at least you get to leave." 

[theredhead77]

I went to the movies Sunday, at one of those reserve your seats in advance theaters. I get to my seat and someone is in it. He asked if I would mind switching so he could sit by his friends. I should have said no but I didn't want to be in the middle of a couple. I did tell him it was a real dick move to do that, he should have picked different seats and I picked the seat I picked because it was dead center.

[MrsMoltisanti]

Quote

What would happen if I just decided to sit down in the middle of the aisle and shriek?   Would that be okay? 

I needed that laugh thanks!  Yes I agree.  I raised a couple of kids and they were not always perfect but I knew when and where to take them so they wouldn't get in the way of others who have the right to a quiet nice dinner in a restaurant etc.  

I never did understand why people would take small children to a nice restaurant when the kids basically are bored, don't appreciate, and then play or run around or under tables, or loudly play ipads with movies on them.  If I wanted to listen to a disney movie or stupid youtube videos played so loud 3 tables over can hear it, then I wouldn't go to a nice restaurant.  I pay for my food and the ambience and time with special people.  I don't want to see/hear loud kids running around.  Am I wrong?  

Same thing happened when I took a bus to Montreal from Toronto.  I was looking forward to the 6 hour bus ride to read, and watch the scenery.  Instead I got a kid behind me playing the cartoon "Rango"  super loud for hours.  I say: buy headphones mom and think about everyone else on the bus.

[backformore]

18 hours ago, Quof said:

Ok, moms, I guess I can understand that you need some pampering time.  What I don't understand is why you take your 18 month old child to Sephora, at a time when the child would normally be eating dinner, and expect her to sit quietly while you have a makeover.   And park your double stroller where it completely blocks the centre aisle.  Oh, that's right, you didn't care if she sat quietly, since you engaged her in a game of echoing shrieking, because that's just adorable.  What would happen if I just decided to sit down in the middle of the aisle and shriek?   Would that be okay? 

I handed my full basket to a sales associate who knows me, and said "I'm out of here."  She said soto voce "Oh, girlfriend, at least you get to leave." 

Good lord! A makeover!  

My kids are grown now, but I could never understand how other moms were able to trust that their kids would be safe in situations like that.   My kid would have climbed out of the stroller (yeah, seatbelts never stopped him) and made a mess of things.   ( I didn't get to shop much when my kids were little)

I remember taking my older one to school, and taking my younger son out of the car to walk in with us, on a cold day. I noticed another mom had left her car ON, and left three small kids in the car.   I thought she had forgotten to turn the car off, so I walked up to her and said - you left the car on. 

She said "yeah, I left it on so I could leave the heater on so the kids wouldn't get cold". 

I was amazed, I asked her, "aren't you afraid one of the kids might climb out of their seat and put the car in gear?"   No, she had told her kids NOT to do that, and the kids know to listen.

I said my kids would agree to listen, but after a few minutes, curiosity might get the best of them.   She said "You can't control your kids?" 

No, I can't, and neither can you.  the difference is you THINK you can. 

[Quof]

Quote

Same thing happened when I took a bus to Montreal from Toronto

Mrs.Mo, are you a Canuck?  Greetings from the east coast.

But can I add a peeve?  People who have a screen name so complex you can't simply call them by name without going back and forth to see how it is spelled. :)

[StatisticalOutlier]

19 hours ago, Quof said:

What would happen if I just decided to sit down in the middle of the aisle and shriek?   Would that be okay?

I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to do just that--meet a baby's shriek in a restaurant with a shriek of my own.  What would people do?

[Quof]

"Well, they're kids. They don't know any better."

Of course they don't. That's why they don't go out in public without an adult who does know better.