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

[annzeepark914]

Even in a neighborhood with garages attached to houses, there's hardly any curb space for company here. Many of our neighbors use their garages for storage (and every house in this community has a big basement 🤬). Their big kahuna SUV's are parked outside (God forbid at least one of them could be parked on the driveway). When we first moved here in 2000, it wasn't like this. At least the curb in front of our house is painted yellow so no one can park there. Sorry...just had to vent a bit 😉

[Dimity]

14 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

Many of our neighbors use their garages for storage (and every house in this community has a big basement 🤬).

We've got several houses in the neighbourhood that have turned their garages into outdoor family room/man cave type thing.  I'd understand this better if they didn't have huge basements.  I mean our winters are cold!

On the subject of parking on the street we have parking bans here that are in effect for the winter months. So no overnight parking.  It's interesting to see the creative ways people find parking on their property - god forbid they use their garages for what they were originally for!

[Ancaster]

When I moved to the States decades ago I quickly learned to reply "Nothing" to "What can I bring" when inviting people for dinner, and never to offer anything if invited to someone's place.  I'm pretty sure I've posted about this before, but asking for ice cream one time ended up with someone coming with empty hands and a bad excuse.  Another time I was asked to bring the soup!  Sorry, inviting me to dinner means I have the night off, not being part of a pot luck.  Anyway, I had people over last night and since I knew one person wouldn't take no for an answer, I said something to drink would be great.  They knew how many were coming (7) and that my house is alcohol free, yet brought a four-pack of soda cans.  Woo hoo.  Good job I wasn't counting on you.

Edited January 12 by Ancaster

[Ohiopirate02]

My pet peeve of the night, why is the blister-pack used for generic Immodium always the most difficult to open? Scissors should not be necessary to get the medication needed when you are doing your best impression of Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids. 

This is just a rant here. I'm fine, and I know the reason has to do with drug addicts potentially using the medication in ways that only drug addicts would. 

[Absolom]

Due to a medical condition, I have to take Immodium (or its generic) frequently so I sit and do a box or two or three while watching TV as needed.  It is a royal pain to those of us who need it.  I doubt that the ridged blister packs deter any dedicated addicts.  So they are giving us a make work project that solves nothing.

[Dimity]

My dad has a hard time with child proof caps, fortunately his 8 yr old great  grandson does not.  Well I say fortunately but that might not be the best word to use.

[Ancaster]

Ooey gooey.  Please, just grow up and use real words.

[RealHousewife]

Enrollment fees when you're not even sure if you are going to be a return customer. I think it's lame to charge a lot of money in addition to the cost of a class for activities that people might just want to drop in to occasionally. 

[PRgal]

SOOOOOO many forms to fill for kids' day camps!!!  Especially when the child is new to the camp (i.e. never registered before, so the camp does not have their record)!!  We're only doing two weeks at this one, just to see if he likes it.  It's associated with a sleep away for older kids, an option for us when he's older!!

[Browncoat]

I always say I'd rather have cold weather than hot weather because it's easier to get warm than to cool off, but what I mean by cold weather is weather that is at least above freezing!  I live in the South, for Pete's sake!  It should be in the 30s at least!  Next week, we're meant to have a couple of days where it doesn't even get to 20!  This is just too bloody cold.

[Ohiopirate02]

15 hours ago, Browncoat said:

I always say I'd rather have cold weather than hot weather because it's easier to get warm than to cool off, but what I mean by cold weather is weather that is at least above freezing!  I live in the South, for Pete's sake!  It should be in the 30s at least!  Next week, we're meant to have a couple of days where it doesn't even get to 20!  This is just too bloody cold.

I do not mind the cold since it is January after all, and I really do not miss the summer heat. I just hate it when it is this cold and there is no snow on the ground. All I got was sleet last Friday, I want snow.

[Browncoat]

1 hour ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I do not mind the cold since it is January after all, and I really do not miss the summer heat. I just hate it when it is this cold and there is no snow on the ground. All I got was sleet last Friday, I want snow.

We still have big patches of ice from almost two weeks ago -- including on my driveway, which is on the north side of my house.  What little sun we've gotten in the past two weeks hasn't touched that part of my yard.  I am hopeful that the forecast for Friday and Saturday here is true, and we get well above freezing.  There's meant to be just plain rain, too, which might help melt some of the ice.  So today's peeve, in addition to the brutal cold (for us -- it's just another day for some of you more northerly residents), is the stupid ice.

[PRgal]

I'm having trouble registering my son for camp again!!  The registration page is so busy that they won't even let me in!

[Dimity]

39 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

So today's peeve, in addition to the brutal cold (for us -- it's just another day for some of you more northerly residents), is the stupid ice.

I know we in this part of Canada get a longer, colder winter than many parts south of us do but this winter so far has been far colder than has become the norm.  I can usually get away with keeping the furnace set at a very low temperature but not this winter!  It's bone chilling out there some days and that's seeping into the house.

[PRgal]

Update:  Got him in!  And no wait list for the ones we wanted this year!! :). But still, why is camp registration so brutal?

[Absolom]

31 minutes ago, PRgal said:

Update:  Got him in!  And no wait list for the ones we wanted this year!! :). But still, why is camp registration so brutal?

It's like concert tickets.  Everyone tries to register in the first five minutes to make sure the kid gets a spot.

[PRgal]

5 minutes ago, Absolom said:

It's like concert tickets.  Everyone tries to register in the first five minutes to make sure the kid gets a spot.

Yep.  Many years ago, I tried to get my husband and I seats to Adele.  Everything was gone by the time I got to checkout.

 

[Is Everyone Gone]

This is super petty, but with Hollywood award season right now, I get really annoyed with actors who always dress up according to some sort of schtick. Like I adore Jeremy Strong but this?

[SoMuchTV]

2 hours ago, PRgal said:

Update:  Got him in!  And no wait list for the ones we wanted this year!! :). But still, why is camp registration so brutal?

 

1 hour ago, Absolom said:

It's like concert tickets.  Everyone tries to register in the first five minutes to make sure the kid gets a spot.

I can back-in-the-day you.  We had to figure out how many hours early to get in line for after-school or break-week care registration, in order to have a decent chance at securing one of the spots.  Bring a chair.  First-timers would show up on time and realize there's no hope.  Then, filling out the same information they obviously already have, on multiple forms, per kid...

Sitting at my dial-up computer continually hitting refresh was a big improvement!

(But seriously, I'm not sure what they could do to improve the process if there are limited openings.  Preference to returners? Lottery? Smarter software, actually similar to concert tickets, where it lets you start the process if there's a space available, but only holds it for a limited amount of time until it frees it up for someone else...?)

[Dimity]

I just made the mistake of reading a post on FB that was supposedly a feel good tale of someone doing something nice for another person.  I got about two paragraphs in and just couldn't take it anymore.  Constant use of were when they should have been using was - and just so many more grammatical errors that were painful to read.  I am guessing an AI type thing?  I'm not sure.  Whatever the reason, lesson learned. 

[PRgal]

21 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

 

I can back-in-the-day you.  We had to figure out how many hours early to get in line for after-school or break-week care registration, in order to have a decent chance at securing one of the spots.  Bring a chair.  First-timers would show up on time and realize there's no hope.  Then, filling out the same information they obviously already have, on multiple forms, per kid...

Sitting at my dial-up computer continually hitting refresh was a big improvement!

(But seriously, I'm not sure what they could do to improve the process if there are limited openings.  Preference to returners? Lottery? Smarter software, actually similar to concert tickets, where it lets you start the process if there's a space available, but only holds it for a limited amount of time until it frees it up for someone else...?)

I guess my parents didn't register me for sought-after camps because I always got in!  This was the 80s and 90s.  

[roseha]

7 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I do not mind the cold since it is January after all, and I really do not miss the summer heat. I just hate it when it is this cold and there is no snow on the ground. All I got was sleet last Friday, I want snow.

I feel the same way!  It's so bizarre that here in NYC we get polar vortex temperatures (and more on the way in the next 10 days apparently) but then we get rain.  Rain, cold and dark is not fun in the winter.  I know it's climate change plus Jet Stream but it's still annoying to me.

[emma675]

1 hour ago, Dimity said:

I just made the mistake of reading a post on FB that was supposedly a feel good tale of someone doing something nice for another person.  I got about two paragraphs in and just couldn't take it anymore.  Constant use of were when they should have been using was - and just so many more grammatical errors that were painful to read.  

When did the use of "I seen" become so widespread? It grinds my last nerve when I see that written out and I've noticed people who are highly educated use it.

[meep.meep]

2 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

 

I can back-in-the-day you.  We had to figure out how many hours early to get in line for after-school or break-week care registration, in order to have a decent chance at securing one of the spots.  Bring a chair.  First-timers would show up on time and realize there's no hope.  Then, filling out the same information they obviously already have, on multiple forms, per kid...

As a single parent with two kids going to YMCA camps (multiple camps each), I once refused to fill out multiple copies of one of the registration forms.  It was non-standard size so you had to fill it out by hand, and double sided.  I filled out one for each child and told the Y to use their photo copier to make the rest.  I was paying for these camps after all.

I am apparently famous at the YMCA and not in a good way...but they always got in.

[PRgal]

1 hour ago, meep.meep said:

As a single parent with two kids going to YMCA camps (multiple camps each), I once refused to fill out multiple copies of one of the registration forms.  It was non-standard size so you had to fill it out by hand, and double sided.  I filled out one for each child and told the Y to use their photo copier to make the rest.  I was paying for these camps after all.

I am apparently famous at the YMCA and not in a good way...but they always got in.

I was sent to a camp at a local community college and my mom (why is it ALWAYS MOM??) just had to check off the sessions she was registering me for and the type of camp.  So if she was signing me up for theatre camp for the first two weeks of July, she'd check that off.  And used the same form for, say, art camp for the second two weeks of July.  I don't remember anything about other camps.  It was probably the same kind of thing.  Music camp was probably more complicated because it was sleepaway.  

[Dimity]

22 minutes ago, PRgal said:

I was sent to a camp at a local community college and my mom (why is it ALWAYS MOM??)

I touched on this in an article I linked in the feminist thread and it's so true!  It's one of the invisible chores that disproportionately falls on women and which can be exhausting and never ending!

 

[PRgal]

4 minutes ago, Dimity said:

I touched on this in an article I linked in the feminist thread and it's so true!  It's one of the invisible chores that disproportionately falls on women and which can be exhausting and never ending!

 

There was ONE dad in our parent group that talked about the stress that was registering his child for the camp I mentioned earlier (most of the kids in my son's class go to the same/similar camps each summer).  I think he works from home and is probably one of the most active parents in the grade.  

[Anela]

I can't remember ever going to camp, in England, or over here (it's never appealed to me), but my sister went to camp with the girls' brigade. I can't remember if it involved the local church, that was down the road, when we lived in Sipson. She was happy in that group, and she loved it when they went camping. 

Edited Thursday at 03:26 AM by Anela

[Dimity]

3 minutes ago, Anela said:

She was happy in that group, and she loved it when they went camping. 

I never went to summer camp, at least not the kind that actually does last all or most of the summer, but I did go to Girl Guide camp for two weeks every year (my Mom was a Captain in the Guides) and I really enjoyed the experience.  Of course our idea of roughing it was sleeping in bunks in cabins. Tents?  Perish the thought!

[Mountainair]

I never went to camp as a kid. My mom stayed home with me and my brother until we were in high school. She did make sure we went to every Vacation Bible School offered in the area. 
I started working again three years ago when my youngest was in first grade and always wanted my kids to experience camp since I never got to. Turns out they hated it and I didn’t have to spend ungodly amounts of money. I work at their school now and my oldest is in high school so perfectly capable of staying home alone with the middle schooler and 3rd grader though I don’t do that often since we have the same schedule. 

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, Anela said:

I can't remember ever going to camp, in England, or over here (it's never appealed to me),

I'd have wanted nothing to do with it, but it wasn't an issue as my parents never mentioned it.  I knew only a couple of kids who went to camp, and it always sounded like punishment to me.  Of course it wasn't, but it still amuses me when I meet people who all these decades later have the same reaction looking back.

[Yeah No]

16 minutes ago, Bastet said:

I'd have wanted nothing to do with it, but it wasn't an issue as my parents never mentioned it.  I knew only a couple of kids who went to camp, and it always sounded like punishment to me.  Of course it wasn't, but it still amuses me when I meet people who all these decades later have the same reaction looking back.

My mother worked when I was a kid and back in the '60s and '70s there was no such thing as daycare so I was sent to camp in the Summer. For the most part I liked it and knew if I had stayed home I'd have been bored and lonely since most of the other kids in my neighborhood went away for at least part of the Summer. I liked the activities and new experiences I wouldn't have had otherwise, but on the other hand I got bullied in day camp in my last year there. As a teenager I went to a travel camp that took me all the way up to Quebec City and Montreal and down to Disney World when it first opened. It was a memorable experience and something I recall fondly to this day.

3 hours ago, Dimity said:

 Of course our idea of roughing it was sleeping in bunks in cabins. Tents?  Perish the thought!

I did both. And then there was the time in the White Mountains in NH that our accommodations at a sleep away camp didn't work out thanks to a miscommunication and we had to sleep outside in a clearing in the woods. The camp counselors made a big bonfire and we all had our own sleeping bags with us to sleep in. What an experience....I still remember seeing the Milky Way for the first time. And making 'smores. Of course we were all terrified but excited at the same time. And of course I woke up covered in mosquito bites thanks to my blood type being a favorite of mosquitos....Thank goodness I was a teenager!

[Angeltoes]

I was thinking the other day that it would be fun to go to an adult sleep away camp.  One where they lock up your cell phones except for one hour a day, and there's arts and crafts, swimming, archery, horseback riding, etc.  With a mess hall where they feed you three times a day and a little store where you can buy snacks.  And on the last day there's an awards ceremony where your family can come and beam as you win the award for "Friendliest Camper" or "Camper Who Stuffed the Most Marshmallows in Their Mouth."  

I'd sign up.

[fastiller]

17 minutes ago, Angeltoes said:

I was thinking the other day that it would be fun to go to an adult sleep away camp.  One where they lock up your cell phones except for one hour a day, and there's arts and crafts, swimming, archery, horseback riding, etc.  With a mess hall where they feed you three times a day and a little store where you can buy snacks.  And on the last day there's an awards ceremony where your family can come and beam as you win the award for "Friendliest Camper" or "Camper Who Stuffed the Most Marshmallows in Their Mouth."  

I'd sign up.

Check out CAMP NO COUNSELORS

 

[PRgal]

27 minutes ago, Angeltoes said:

I was thinking the other day that it would be fun to go to an adult sleep away camp.  One where they lock up your cell phones except for one hour a day, and there's arts and crafts, swimming, archery, horseback riding, etc.  With a mess hall where they feed you three times a day and a little store where you can buy snacks.  And on the last day there's an awards ceremony where your family can come and beam as you win the award for "Friendliest Camper" or "Camper Who Stuffed the Most Marshmallows in Their Mouth."  

I'd sign up.

But there'll be alcohol, right?

[Anela]

38 minutes ago, Angeltoes said:

I was thinking the other day that it would be fun to go to an adult sleep away camp.  One where they lock up your cell phones except for one hour a day, and there's arts and crafts, swimming, archery, horseback riding, etc.  With a mess hall where they feed you three times a day and a little store where you can buy snacks.  And on the last day there's an awards ceremony where your family can come and beam as you win the award for "Friendliest Camper" or "Camper Who Stuffed the Most Marshmallows in Their Mouth."  

I'd sign up.

I would like to meet up with online friends, at a place where we can all go back to our rooms, and have space if we want to. I'd want to keep my phone, though. 

[PRgal]

1 hour ago, Anela said:

I would like to meet up with online friends, at a place where we can all go back to our rooms, and have space if we want to. I'd want to keep my phone, though. 

But I want cabins and a less than civilized life.  But we should be allowed alcohol and weed if it’s legal where the camp is.  Not that I vape/smoke/take edibles. 

[annzeepark914]

On 1/15/2025 at 5:47 PM, emma675 said:

When did the use of "I seen" become so widespread? It grinds my last nerve when I see that written out and I've noticed people who are highly educated use it.

IMO, the folks who say this think it sounds cool. Why? Who the heck knows?!?

Re: camp? I loved being the "only child" when my sister went to camp for two weeks each summer. I saw the bunkhouses, outhouses, murky lookin' pond for swimming, and let my parents know that camp was not for me! 😁

 

[Anela]

3 hours ago, PRgal said:

But I want cabins and a less than civilized life.  But we should be allowed alcohol and weed if it’s legal where the camp is.  Not that I vape/smoke/take edibles. 

I need my nice showers, and a comfy bed. :) 

[StatisticalOutlier]

20 hours ago, Angeltoes said:

One where they lock up your cell phones except for one hour a day,

I'd consider it only if they prohibited any cell phone use at all.  Miss your family?  Write them a letter.  Bored?  Do an activity or talk to your fellow campers or take a nap or have a snack.  Anxious?  Face it and work it out.  Emergency back home?  They can call the office.

[Anela]

I fall asleep to something playing on my phone or iPad.  the only person at home for me, is my dad, who will be 78 in a few months. 

[SoMuchTV]

21 hours ago, Anela said:

I need my nice showers, and a comfy bed. :) 

I vote for a comfy bed, happy hour, running water/functional toilets, WiFi a couple hours a day, then all the camp activities. 

(I thought I posted this yesterday but it was still in my edit window.  The conversation has moved on but I’ll get my word in anyway.)

[Calvada]

On 1/15/2025 at 3:00 PM, SoMuchTV said:

 

I can back-in-the-day you.  We had to figure out how many hours early to get in line for after-school or break-week care registration, in order to have a decent chance at securing one of the spots.  Bring a chair.  First-timers would show up on time and realize there's no hope.  Then, filling out the same information they obviously already have, on multiple forms, per kid...

Sitting at my dial-up computer continually hitting refresh was a big improvement!

(But seriously, I'm not sure what they could do to improve the process if there are limited openings.  Preference to returners? Lottery? Smarter software, actually similar to concert tickets, where it lets you start the process if there's a space available, but only holds it for a limited amount of time until it frees it up for someone else...?)

I can remember registering for university classes by running around campus to get the classes I needed.  Fortunately I usually just had to go to three or four different buildings, all within a few minutes walk of each other.  However, one year I had to take a statistics class for my master's which was held in a building blocks from the others I needed to go to and that was a full-on sprint to get there before the class filled up.  Now people register online in less than 5 minutes.  

[Yeah No]

On 1/16/2025 at 3:28 PM, Angeltoes said:

I was thinking the other day that it would be fun to go to an adult sleep away camp.  One where they lock up your cell phones except for one hour a day, and there's arts and crafts, swimming, archery, horseback riding, etc.  With a mess hall where they feed you three times a day and a little store where you can buy snacks.  And on the last day there's an awards ceremony where your family can come and beam as you win the award for "Friendliest Camper" or "Camper Who Stuffed the Most Marshmallows in Their Mouth."  

I'd sign up.

I was going to say it sounds like a cruise, lol. Most of those activities are the kinds of things that take place on a cruise ship and horseback riding could be on a shore excursion.

When I was young my husband and I would take long weekends at couples resorts in the Poconos in Pennsylvania and it was a lot like camp, except with a heart shaped Jacuzzi and mirrors over the bed, lol. We even won T shirts for winning the "Newlywed Game" once, lol.

[Dimity]

I'm so angry right now.  In the grand scheme of things (see all my posts in the Feels thread) it's minor but it's aggravating.  I have been using Ivory soap for years and years.  It's one of the few bar soaps my skin is happy with.  And they've changed it.  They've changed it! 

Not only does it not float anymore it looks and smells different.  And not in a good way.  It reminds me now of the cheap store brand soaps my Mother used to buy back in the day. Why, oh deity I am not sure I believe in, why did you allow this to happen? 

[Yeah No]

3 minutes ago, Dimity said:

I'm so angry right now.  In the grand scheme of things (see all my posts in the Feels thread) it's minor but it's aggravating.  I have been using Ivory soap for years and years.  It's one of the few bar soaps my skin is happy with.  And they've changed it.  They've changed it! 

Not only does it not float anymore it looks and smells different.  And not in a good way.  It reminds me now of the cheap store brand soaps my Mother used to buy back in the day. Why, oh deity I am not sure I believe in, why did you allow this to happen? 

I feel your pain. Many of my health and beauty products have changed or been discontinued in the past few years. It seems like nothing is sacred anymore. And when you have Rosacea and sensitive facial skin like I do changes like that can be very upsetting because then you have to find new products that don't aggravate your condition. And that can prove to be an expensive and time consuming challenge. I am ordering blush and moisturizer that was discontinued over a decade ago on Ebay because I can't find new ones that don't aggravate my Rosacea. I have quite a few stockpiled but I worry about the eventuality of not being able to get them anymore.

Hey, that's an idea for you - maybe you can find the older formula online and order it? You'd have to see the ingredient list to make sure you're getting the older formula or ask for it from the seller.

[Mountainair]

When I was pregnant with my kids I would get terrible Charley Horses in the middle of the night. An older lady at work told me I needed to sleep with a bar of ivory soap at the foot of my bed to get rid of them. So, I did and it worked! 
That’s really my only experience with ivory soap but if they have changed their formula I wonder if it still works on Charley Horses- lol! 

[Browncoat]

1 hour ago, Dimity said:

I'm so angry right now.  In the grand scheme of things (see all my posts in the Feels thread) it's minor but it's aggravating.  I have been using Ivory soap for years and years.  It's one of the few bar soaps my skin is happy with.  And they've changed it.  They've changed it! 

Not only does it not float anymore it looks and smells different.  And not in a good way.  It reminds me now of the cheap store brand soaps my Mother used to buy back in the day. Why, oh deity I am not sure I believe in, why did you allow this to happen? 

I feel your pain.  Ivory is my go-to for soap and dishwashing liquid (because I don't have a dishwasher).  My primary grocery store doesn't even carry either anymore, nor does Target.  

[Yeah No]

56 minutes ago, Mountainair said:

When I was pregnant with my kids I would get terrible Charley Horses in the middle of the night. An older lady at work told me I needed to sleep with a bar of ivory soap at the foot of my bed to get rid of them. So, I did and it worked! 
That’s really my only experience with ivory soap but if they have changed their formula I wonder if it still works on Charley Horses- lol! 

Thats so funny, I heard that was an old wive's tale, but whatever works, right? I used to get them and then I read that it could be from low potassium so I started taking potassium supplements and they went away.

[Absolom]

That goes with the doctor telling me to have a banana every day for a week and then every other day during pregnancy.  I had them again after the major surgery last year and they gave me some supplement capsules.