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

[Zola]

ATMs (or cash machines) that are sun facing, which means I can't see the display or the menu options due to glare!

[Moose135]

1 hour ago, Zola said:

ATMs (or cash machines)

And just "ATM machines" - ATM is "automated teller machine" so "ATM machine" is "automated teller machine machine". Just like with cars, VIN is vehicle identification number, so you shouldn't say "VIN number".

[Browncoat]

15 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

And just "ATM machines" - ATM is "automated teller machine" so "ATM machine" is "automated teller machine machine". Just like with cars, VIN is vehicle identification number, so you shouldn't say "VIN number".

Don't forget PIN, which is personal identification number, so you shouldn't say PIN number, either.

[Bastet]

17 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

And just "ATM machines" - ATM is "automated teller machine" so "ATM machine" is "automated teller machine machine". Just like with cars, VIN is vehicle identification number, so you shouldn't say "VIN number".

Nor should one say "PIN number".

[Browncoat]

Jinx, @Bastet!

[KittyMom4]

1 hour ago, Zola said:

ATMs (or cash machines) that are sun facing, which means I can't see the display or the menu options due to glare!

This happens to me all time at gas stations, I practically have to cup my hands around the screen and lean in to see what it's asking. 

[topanga]

19 hours ago, GoodieGirl said:

This happens to me all time at gas stations, I practically have to cup my hands around the screen and lean in to see what it's asking. 

What about the ATMs that have the rubber around the keypad for security purposes? I end up having to squat and contort my body to find the right buttons to push. 

[TattleTeeny]

Ohhh, ATMs/card machines at cash resisters, haha! What I hate (and this is mostly my own fault) is the yes/no question at the end of the transaction--I get so used to hitting "yes" for the (paraphrased) "are you all done?" one that I sometimes reflexively do it even though it might say (paraphrased) "do you need to do another thing?" 

[ParadoxLost]

7 hours ago, topanga said:

What about the ATMs that have the rubber around the keypad for security purposes? I end up having to squat and contort my body to find the right buttons to push. 

How bad is it that the level of irritation I had with using my bank's drive thru ATM was a significant reason that I switched from a Sedan to a small SUV the last time I got a new car.  Those things were raised up to suit the height of an SUV better at some point.  I don't really use cash anymore so the next time I get a car I may have a wider selection. 

[2727]

33 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

How bad is it that the level of irritation I had with using my bank's drive thru ATM was a significant reason that I switched from a Sedan to a small SUV the last time I got a new car.

Practical and well-reasoned, I'd say!

[emma675]

My cast cover sprung a leak in the shower tonight and I didn't realize it until I felt water splashing around my fingers. Half of my cast is soaking wet now.

On the plus side, somehow breaking two bones in 3 weeks has caused a big weight loss. I was already doing low carb and losing weight but the trauma somehow jump started my metabolism.

[Browncoat]

People who don't put their damn phones away during a freaking movie.  Dude, I promise you can go two hours without checking Instagram or Twitter or Facebook or whatever the hell you were doing.  But thanks, at least, for putting it down when I asked nicely.

Maybe I'm old (I am), but I just don't get why you'd pay twelve bucks for a ticket, plus another 15-20 for food and beverage if you're just going to play on your phone.  You can stay home and do that for free.  And not bother the rest of us who are actually trying to watch the freaking movie.

[Nordly Beaumont]

21 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

People who don't put their damn phones away during a freaking movie.  Dude, I promise you can go two hours without checking Instagram or Twitter or Facebook or whatever the hell you were doing. 

Ugh! I hate that! There was a guy at a play last weekend trying to "sneak" looks at his phone! At a PLAY! Not only disrespectful to the people around you, but the actors as well. You can give them your attention for an hour and a half or stay home.

I see my sister once a year (we live in different states) and we always go to a movie. I always dread it because she "whispers" comments during the whole thing. I never answer or acknowledge and she doesn't catch on. Last time I told her to put her phone away and she snidely said "Well, I just texted my husband and I think I should know if he answers me!" Uh, why in the world would you text your husband immediately before the friggin movie started?? 

I just watch movies on Amazon now. I try not to notice other people with the phones and the whispering, but it's just too much of an uphill battle.

[Zola]

That moment when you have something important on your mind that you want to action, but a few seconds later you have completely forgotten what it was; and it doesn't matter how hard you try it just won't come back!

[Browncoat]

8 hours ago, Nordly Beaumont said:

Ugh! I hate that! There was a guy at a play last weekend trying to "sneak" looks at his phone! At a PLAY! Not only disrespectful to the people around you, but the actors as well. You can give them your attention for an hour and a half or stay home.

I see my sister once a year (we live in different states) and we always go to a movie. I always dread it because she "whispers" comments during the whole thing. I never answer or acknowledge and she doesn't catch on. Last time I told her to put her phone away and she snidely said "Well, I just texted my husband and I think I should know if he answers me!" Uh, why in the world would you text your husband immediately before the friggin movie started?? 

I just watch movies on Amazon now. I try not to notice other people with the phones and the whispering, but it's just too much of an uphill battle.

The only reason to text someone immediately before a movie starts is to say, “The movie’s about to start. I’m turning off my phone for the next two hours.”  Which requires no reply.

[shapeshifter]

21 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

The only reason to text someone immediately before a movie starts is to say, “The movie’s about to start. I’m turning off my phone for the next two hours.”  Which requires no reply.

Yes.
Or maybe something like, "My water just broke. I'll meet you in the parking lot."

[Katy M]

2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Yes.
Or maybe something like, "My water just broke. I'll meet you in the parking lot."

I think I would excuse an actual phone call for that:)

[Katy M]

I have another swimming pool peeve.  It was cloudy yesterday so not supercrowded (definitely not my peeve).  I was the only adult in the deep end.  This 6 or 7 year old girl was making her way around the pool holding on to the edge.  No, mom, wherever you are.  You can't let your very young child who clearly doesn't know how to swim go off into the deep section alone, just holding on to the rail.  Without even any flotation devices.  I am not a lifeguard.  as a matter of fact I am darn near blind without my glasses on.  I hope you are not counting on me, the lone adult anywhere near this child, to save her if she goes under.  If I don't actually see her go under, I'm not going to notice her under the water.

[Blergh]

1 hour ago, Katy M said:

I have another swimming pool peeve.  It was cloudy yesterday so not supercrowded (definitely not my peeve).  I was the only adult in the deep end.  This 6 or 7 year old girl was making her way around the pool holding on to the edge.  No, mom, wherever you are.  You can't let your very young child who clearly doesn't know how to swim go off into the deep section alone, just holding on to the rail.  Without even any flotation devices.  I am not a lifeguard.  as a matter of fact I am darn near blind without my glasses on.  I hope you are not counting on me, the lone adult anywhere near this child, to save her if she goes under.  If I don't actually see her go under, I'm not going to notice her under the water.

 I hope whoever that guardian was for that child hears from others who've uttered the tragic phrase "I only turned my back for a MINUTE!". Pools are no place to dump kids without SOMEone intentionally there to watch for their well-being! 

[bilgistic]

No place is a place to leave kids without watching them, but yeah, a pool has to be the worst place. We had a customer literally leaving the store one day through one of the vestibule doors (one on each end of the front entry) and one of her toddlers was on the other end, obliviously playing with something. We actually had to yell at the woman to not leave the store without collecting her child.

Parents will walk several feet ahead of their very young kids. I'm just flabbergasted by it. I guess one gets accustomed to their kid always following them...?

[shapeshifter]

21 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

Parents will walk several feet ahead of their very young kids. I'm just flabbergasted by it. I guess one gets accustomed to their kid always following them...?

In the 80s if my hands were full with groceries or a baby, I'd keep reminding the next youngest one to "Hold my pocket! Hold my pocket!" —something I picked up from observing another mother.

[partofme]

Not only did my mom never let us out of her sight she always made sure I was aware of Etan Patz who went missing in nyc and was only a year or 2 older than me.

[fairffaxx]

3 hours ago, bilgistic said:

... Parents will walk several feet ahead of their very young kids. I'm just flabbergasted by it. I guess one gets accustomed to their kid always following them...?

Sounds like ducklings or goslings following their mom in a row.  So cute, until something interrupts the queue and the parents may not be able to intervene effectively.  They don't have choices about how to protect their babies and just do the best they can -- at least they're not distracted by their phones.

[Mindthinkr]

46 minutes ago, partofme said:

Not only did my mom never let us out of her sight she always made sure I was aware of Etan Patz who went missing in nyc and was only a year or 2 older than me.

I remember that. It’s when awareness of keeping track of your child really began. I don’t think there were helicopter parents in the 50-60’s. I’m sure there’s an exception to the rule, but up until that widely publicized case, parents were more lax. 

[MargeGunderson]

2 hours ago, partofme said:

Not only did my mom never let us out of her sight she always made sure I was aware of Etan Patz who went missing in nyc and was only a year or 2 older than me.

I grew up in a city that in the 80s had two high profile kidnapping cases within a couple of years. I lived maybe 5 miles away and was roughly the same age. I don’t remember my parents doing anything different after. We were latchkey kids and in the summer rode our bikes (without helmets) everywhere with no supervision at all. It was the same for all of my friends in the neighborhood. I also started babysitting when I was 11. I look back and truly wonder WTF parents were thinking.

[ParadoxLost]

I'm peeved that my list never gets shorter.

There is some mythical day when I'll catch up on all that stuff just sitting out there needing to get done.  But the universe hates me and won't let the list get shorter.

Get teeth cleaned

(an hour later) filling fell out

chimney cap replaced

(four hours and a note in the mail box later) there are bats in your attic.

PS. I'm creeped the hell out that there are bats in my attic. shudder

[Bastet]

30 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

PS. I'm creeped the hell out that there are bats in my attic.

Better than bats in your belfry. 🙂

(But, yes - that would creep me out, too.  I don't remember what program it was, but I once saw how they lure bats back out through this one-way device [so they can't get back in, and then once they're all out, you seal up the entry point].  It was interesting - but I was glad it wasn't my house.)

[shapeshifter]

46 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

four hours and a note in the mail box later) there are bats in your attic.

Maybe the bats are just living under the eaves of your roof? (Wishful thinking)

[Mabinogia]

17 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Better than bats in your belfry.

I had a bad in my bedroom once. Woke up to something flying around, it being the middle of the night at first I thought it was a big bug. I quickly realized I was wrong. Lured it out of the room and into the main shared hall of my apartment building. Then I went back to bed with the horrible realization that I had just trapped the bat in the hall that was my only way out. Luckily he was sleeping in a corner when I went to leave the next morning. I called the landlord who called the bat guy who did something to make it go away.

Bats don't both me normally, I like bats, but not one that is flying around my head while I sleep. I am okay with spiders in my flat too...until they are in my bedroom. Anything that comes into the room I sleep in is dead. 

[ParadoxLost]

1 minute ago, shapeshifter said:

Maybe the bats are just living under the eaves of your roof? (Wishful thinking)

The note said "we saw 30+ bats fly into your attic."  There is this stupid round vent with slats in it right under the eave.

I feel like I should be able to hear something.  I don't and I am not going up there to see.  If I have to pay the bat removal guys a trip fee to tell me there are no bats, I'll do that. 

Apparently its breeding season.  Also I'm told to my shock and horror that 30 bats isn't a lot of bats.  300 bats is a lot of bats.  What if there are more?  shudder.

[shapeshifter]

3 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

I'm told to my shock and horror that 30 bats isn't a lot of bats.  300 bats is a lot of bats.  What if there are more?  shudder

Then you write a script and get rich in Hollywood.
  
  

7 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

Anything that comes into the room I sleep in is dead

Mine too!

[peacheslatour]

It is documented that bats can significantly reduce numbers of mosquitoes and suggested that “bat predation on mosquitoes could help regulate disease vectors.” ... Bats can be attracted to live in bat houses,10 and nursing mothers can eat up to their body weight in insects nightly.

[GaT]

4 hours ago, MargeGunderson said:

I grew up in a city that in the 80s had two high profile kidnapping cases within a couple of years. I lived maybe 5 miles away and was roughly the same age. I don’t remember my parents doing anything different after. We were latchkey kids and in the summer rode our bikes (without helmets) everywhere with no supervision at all. It was the same for all of my friends in the neighborhood. I also started babysitting when I was 11. I look back and truly wonder WTF parents were thinking.

I grew up in the Bronx. I remember going into all the apartment buildings by ourselves on Halloween for trick or treat. No parents anywhere, tons of strangers in apartments, & we even used to go up on the roofs of the buildings to cross over to the next one. And yet, I still live LOL

3 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

PS. I'm creeped the hell out that there are bats in my attic. shudder

We had rats in ours, we could hear them chewing on things all night long.

Edited July 20, 2019 by GaT

[Browncoat]

I would rather have bats than rats.

[GaT]

I have a book peeve. I have 2 20% off coupons from Barnes & Noble that expire on 7/28, &  I can't find any books to buy, even though I read a ton of books & like a lot of authors. There are books coming out in August that I will be buying, but the coupons aren't good on pre orders. I just can't let a 20% off coupon go to waste, I will have to find something.

[ParadoxLost]

37 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

It is documented that bats can significantly reduce numbers of mosquitoes and suggested that “bat predation on mosquitoes could help regulate disease vectors.” ... Bats can be attracted to live in bat houses,10 and nursing mothers can eat up to their body weight in insects nightly.

That is a very rational and informative.

At the moment, my irrational mind that is in my bat house is going...  OMG.  Is there the equivalent of 30 bats worth of insects in my attic?  I guess not anymore.  Were there the equivalent of 30 bats worth of insects in my attic? 

And I blame my dental hygienist for all of this.  While she was scraping my teeth, she tells me about how she called pest control to find something making noise in her attic and then they found a snake in the attic that had just eaten something.  Then an hour later my filling falls out and I find the bat note.  She has jinxed me.

This does not bode well for what tomorrow may bring when I go to the dentist again.

10 minutes ago, GaT said:

I have a book peeve. I have 2 20% off coupons from Barnes & Noble that expire on 7/28, &  I can't find any books to buy, even though I read a ton of books & like a lot of authors. There are books coming out in August that I will be buying, but the coupons aren't good on pre orders. I just can't let a 20% off coupon go to waste, I will have to find something.

I thought this was going to go. I have a coupon and I can't find a Barnes and Noble.   They closed most of the ones around me.   If you head to chit chat or the book thread and tell us what you like maybe someone will have an idea.

[GaT]

10 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

I have a coupon and I can't find a Barnes and Noble.   They closed most of the ones around me.   If you head to chit chat or the book thread and tell us what you like maybe someone will have an idea.

Unless it's a store only coupon, you should be able to use it on their website, where the books are cheaper to begin with.

[Bastet]

47 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

I would rather have bats than rats.

Me too.  Fundamentally, my cat and I should be the only living creatures inside the house, but if my attic space had to be invaded by bats (which you almost never see here) or rats (which we have an abundance of), I'd take the bats because they'd do far less damage in the time it took me to have someone get them out; I think the only "damage" is from the guano, whereas rats chew on everything.

[MargeGunderson]

1 hour ago, ParadoxLost said:

Apparently its breeding season.  Also I'm told to my shock and horror that 30 bats isn't a lot of bats.  300 bats is a lot of bats.  What if there are more?  shudder.

And now I’m not sleeping tonight.

My in-laws live in a rural area, and we were staying there one night when I kept hearing a sound in the bedroom. I thought the cat had come in and was rustling around. I turned on the light and watched in horror as a ceiling tile right above the bed started moving. I refused to sleep in the room and slept on the couch. The next morning I explained why and they told me there was nothing in the ceiling (no attic, just a small crawl space) and basically I was a city girl who was scared of the country. A few months later they had someone in for repairs to the roof and gutters, and they found several squirrels in the ceiling. We don’t stay at their house overnight anymore.

[fairffaxx]

Bats are wonderful!  Not only do they eat bugs, they also pollinate (though not in your attic) -- and they sleep (hanging upside down) during the day, so they make no noise and cause no trouble.  There's a lovely series of books by Brian Lies, beautifully illustrated and written in rhyme (available at Barnes and Noble, for those seeking to redeem coupons):  Bats In The Band, Bats At The Ballgame, Bats At The Beach, Bats At The Library -- if nothing else, you could buy them and donate them to a children's literacy group. 

[Rose Quartz]

Bats are the one thing I cannot deal with.  Snakes, spiders, insects - they're all good.  Even bats flying around outside don't bother me, but if they get in the house - hard NOPE.  Growing up they'd get into the house on a semi-regular basis and it would freak me out to wake up and hear them flying around in the dark.  When I moved into this house I told my neighbor that if I ever got a bat inside she was going to have to loan me her husband for a while because that's the one thing I can't deal with. <shudder>

[Zola]

Those irritating corporate websites that show stock pictures of their "beautiful" people gathered round a meeting room table, ogling at their tablets and laptops, or large wall-mounted monitors, which are all awash with the usual positive pie charts & graphs. And the guys and gals sitting round the table are all happy-clappy types looking incredibly smug, with one or two pointing a pen at one graph and smiling broadly.

Moreover, some websites have a customer support link that points you to a photo of a young woman wearing a headset and smiling back at you!

I doubt very much if the reality matches the fantasy here; but it just annoys me how bland & unimaginative some websites are when it comes to marketing themselves.

And don't get me started on some of their corporate buzzwords!

[bilgistic]

9 hours ago, Zola said:

Moreover, some websites have a customer support link that points you to a photo of a young woman wearing a headset and smiling back at you!

My former coworker was the headsetted woman on her former workplace's website top banner. It was a funny picture because I knew her. She was still doing accounting/bookkeeping for them on the side when employed at my former workplace, so she was OK with the photo still being used.

I'm a no-pictures-of-me-anywhere-online person and have never had a job that necessitated my photo being on my workplace's site, but my former boss, the asshole broker, had my photo put on the company's website without my consent. I was boiling when I found out--after I had left the company and Googled myself to see if my bio was still on the website. He used my photo in proposals, which I also didn't like, but I lost that fight. Investors didn't need to see who the marketing assistant was. The sales brokers, sure. Me, no.

[GaT]

I'm going to add to my pet peeve above, about the 2 20% Barnes & Noble coupons that I can't find a book for. I have found a book! Unfortunately, I have found it on Amazon, B&N doesn't have it 😞

Edited July 20, 2019 by GaT

[ginger90]

PP: Adults pushing a stroller, coming to a spot to cross the street. The adult is on the sidewalk while they wait to cross, and the stroller is in the street. 😡 

[Bastet]

2 minutes ago, ginger90 said:

PP: Adults pushing a stroller, coming to a spot to cross the street. The adult is on the sidewalk while they wait to cross, and the stroller is in the street. 😡 

I'm surprised by how many people walking - in a crosswalk, along the side of a street where there's no sidewalk, etc. - with a dog or little kid have the dog/kid on the traffic side of them, instead of being a buffer just in case. 

[shapeshifter]

Dear people walking in the road who are walking with the traffic, especially on windy roads with blind curves that are barely 2 lanes wide (just 1 lane in each direction):
You are not driving a car.
You are not traveling at the speed of car traffic.
Cars coming up behind you have to either reduce speed to 5 miles per hour or swerve around you into oncoming traffic.

On the other hand:
If you walk against the traffic,
a car in your lane can stop until you have walked past.

[Katy M]

5 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Dear people walking in the road who are walking with the traffic, especially on windy roads with blind curves that are barely 2 lanes wide (just 1 lane in each direction):
You are not driving a car.
You are not traveling at the speed of car traffic.
Cars coming up behind you have to either reduce speed to 5 miles per hour or swerve around you into oncoming traffic.

On the other hand:
If you walk against the traffic,
a car in your lane can stop until you have walked past.

To be fair, sometimes there's just no safe way to get to the other side of the street.

[ABay]

Aren't children taught anymore that if you have to walk in the street, walk so that you can see oncoming traffic and oncoming traffic can see your face? People are hard-wired to see faces (sometimes even when they aren't there, thanks to apophenia) so drivers are more likely to see you and think "hey, that's a person!" than if all they see is a vaguely human-like shape. And, of course, you can dodge out of the way if oncoming traffic means some asshole with his eyes on his phone instead of the road.

[auntlada]

11 minutes ago, ABay said:

Aren't children taught anymore that if you have to walk in the street, walk so that you can see oncoming traffic and oncoming traffic can see your face? People are hard-wired to see faces (sometimes even when they aren't there, thanks to apophenia) so drivers are more likely to see you and think "hey, that's a person!" than if all they see is a vaguely human-like shape. And, of course, you can dodge out of the way if oncoming traffic means some asshole with his eyes on his phone instead of the road.

Probably not, since the people I see doing that are adults. If they don't do it, who teaches the kids to do it?