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

[TattleTeeny]

21 minutes ago, backformore said:

My pet peeve is a commercial I keep seeing on TV, urging  anyone who is a baby boomer to get tested for Hep C. And they show grey-haired people dancing, laughing, having fun.   Ok, I guess I should ask my doctor.  My doctor told me that the commercial drives HIM crazy too.   Basically, there's research that people of a certain age have been testing positive for Hep C, and may be without symptoms for decades, and then get sick.   the risk factor is not "baby-boomers"   though.   The risk factors are basically people (of any age)  who have used infected needles to shoot drugs, and/or have had numerous sexual partners who may have been infected.   Because the baby-boomer generation  came of age in the 70's, the assumption is that if you are in that age group, you are at risk.  After ascertaining that I am not really in a high-risk group, he shared with me his frustration with how the drug company is painting an entire generation based on a stereotype of "hippie lifestyle." 

That's the commercial with the poor wording that states that you should ask your doctor to give him/herself a test for Hep-C! Something like "ask your doctor to take a test..." instead of give you a test.

Edited January 10, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[auntlada]

Maybe the advertiser thinks you should know if your doctor has hepatitis C.

[TattleTeeny]

It might actually be good to know! Who wants a doctor who has no idea s/he's ill?!

[annzeepark914]

18 hours ago, 3pwood said:

A couple of stores here require that their clerks ask everyone buying alcohol to show ID.  It seems silly at first, but it serves to protect the clerk (& the store) from having to exercise judgment & risk being wrong.  One of the stores is near a college & many customers are students -- I'm sure I couldn't tell the difference between a 20 year old & a 21 year old, so I agree that it makes sense to eliminate that issue.  

That's probably a good idea since they're near a campus.  But Wegman's asks everyone to show ID's and they're not near a campus.  The other supermarkets in our area don't ask me for ID.  It has to be a tricky situation, deciding which customer you ID.  And they can get in a mess of trouble if they sell to someone under 21.

[annzeepark914]

13 hours ago, Bastet said:

A former co-worker - who had opted not to change her name (and I just love how it's A Thing when a woman keeps her last name upon getting married, but perfectly normal when a man does) - once received a piece of mail from her own uncle addressed to "Mrs. [Husband's Full Name]."  Heh; I can still picture the circle of WTFery going on in our office when she brought it in.  Like she said, even if she had changed her last name to her husband's, it still would have been stupid to address her as "Mrs. [His First Name and Last Name]," as if she was an appendage rather than a person.  But to do it when there was absolutely nothing in that name that applied to her - and it's not like they were newlyweds, and he was making a jokey/cute reference - was just a big ball of whatever.

When I was a kid, that's the way it was.  Looking back at press clippings in the early 60's, you see captions under photos of Mrs. John J. Smith, Mrs. Edward V. Walker, etc., etc. attending a (whichever club) meeting.  The occasional unmarried woman attending the meeting would be Miss Mary Jones (Ms didn't come into fashion until the 70's thanks to the feminists).  So that co-worker's uncle must have been old fashioned, not comfortable with the modern way of addressing females.  A few years ago, one of my husband's nieces, a medical doctor, sent out wedding invitations and the rsvp's were to be returned to her, addressed to Miss (first name & maiden name)...no Dr. so and so, no Ms. so and so.  Miss!  We found that so peculiar in this day and age.

[PRgal]

39 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

When I was a kid, that's the way it was.  Looking back at press clippings in the early 60's, you see captions under photos of Mrs. John J. Smith, Mrs. Edward V. Walker, etc., etc. attending a (whichever club) meeting.  The occasional unmarried woman attending the meeting would be Miss Mary Jones (Ms didn't come into fashion until the 70's thanks to the feminists).  So that co-worker's uncle must have been old fashioned, not comfortable with the modern way of addressing females.  A few years ago, one of my husband's nieces, a medical doctor, sent out wedding invitations and the rsvp's were to be returned to her, addressed to Miss (first name & maiden name)...no Dr. so and so, no Ms. so and so.  Miss!  We found that so peculiar in this day and age.

How old was the niece at the time?  I used "Miss" until I was 29/30ish.  But then again, I'm not a doctor and I got engaged shortly before my 30th birthday. 

The Junior League here referred to all its married presidents as "Mrs. Husbandsfirstname Husbandslastname" until the 70s, if I recall correctly (this is based on photos of the women at the office). 

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 1/7/2017 at 10:40 PM, Bastet said:

People who flip out about not being addressed as Dr. amuse me.  Mind you, if I know you have a doctorate, that's how I'll address you unless you request otherwise, but if I don't and use Mr. or Ms. instead?  No offense intended, and calm yourself.  The reason I'm particularly amused by this is that, as a lawyer, I have a doctoral degree, too. 

The University of Texas Law School used to give out Bachelor of Laws degrees (LLB), but at some point between around 1950 and 1980, they changed it to a Juris Doctor (JD).  Nothing about the degree itself changed.   

Doctors piss me off.  They already have a job that is among the most prestigious and highly compensated in our society, and not only that, pretty much all of them would say they love their jobs.  But that's not enough for them.  They have to be called "Doctor" instead of "Mr" or "Ms."  Fuck them.

[auntlada]

I don't recall the exact etiquette and am too lazy to look up Miss Manners, Letitia Baldrige, et al., but I do like the woman who used Miss on her RSVPs instead of Dr. as it was a social occasion, not a professional one.

I work in education with quite a few people who have higher degrees. Some of them get a little put out that we won't call them Dr. even on first reference in press releases. Our communications director supports me on it, though, because we use AP style for releases (and as much other stuff as I can get away with). At a certain level in education, you shouldn't have to specify that someone has a doctorate because everyone at that level has one. Some of them get really bent out of shape over it, though.

Edited January 10, 2017 by auntlada

[Bastet]

A friend of a friend is a really enjoyable person to be around otherwise, but she manages to work "my PhD program" into conversation two or three times during any given gathering.  We thought it would die off after her degree was no longer shiny and new, but we're going on about five years now and she still does it.  I understand that she's proud of it, as she should be, and there are certainly times when her credentials and/or experience are relevant to the discussion.  But, boy, does she make sure to shoehorn it in there when it's not.

[ganesh]

Nonacademic friends always got a kick out of calling me Doctor. I don't know why, but it's nbd. One of the students called me Doctor once. I rolled my eyes so hard that was the end of that. 

[Quof]

My jurisdiction has recently changed from awarding LL.B.s to J.D.s.  I could do some paperwork to convert mine, just so I could be a doctor, but I can't be bothered.

I used to socialize in a group that included another woman with the same (uncommon) first name, who happened to be a doctor.  In order to distinguish us, she was Dr. Quof, while I was just Quof.  I don't know if I should be offended she got a title (no one suggested calling me Lawyer Quof), or honoured that I was The Original.  

[MargeGunderson]

I teach graduate students as an adjunct every couple of years and the students default to calling me doctor even though I tell them to call me by my first name and that I don't have a doctorate. Some call me "Professor" for the entire semester - and after, as sometimes run into them in the field. 

[Popples]

One of the teachers at my high school (I didn't have him except for homeroom in 10th grade) only wanted to be called "Instructor Surname"; if a student called him "Mr. Surname", he wouldn't acknowledge them.

[StatisticalOutlier]

1 hour ago, auntlada said:

I don't recall the exact etiquette and am too lazy to look up Miss Manners, Letitia Baldrige, et al., but I do like the woman who used Miss on her RSVPs instead of Dr. as it was a social occasion, not a professional one.

Good for her.  And did she use "Miss" instead of "Ms"?  If so, I approve even more!  I'm an ardent feminist, but when I have to choose a prefix (is that what they're called?) on drop-down things on websites, I used to click on "Miss" just for the throwback feel I got.  Then I noticed "Rev" and I've been clicking on that one ever since.

Edited January 10, 2017 by StatisticalOutlier

[DeLurker]

I've done Sister DeLurker because I have siblings.  And I am easily amused,

[PRgal]

15 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Good for her.  And did she use "Miss" instead of "Ms"?  If so, I approve even more!  I'm an ardent feminist, but when I have to choose a prefix (is that what they're called?) on drop-down things on websites, I used to click on "Miss" just for the throwback feel I got.  Then I noticed "Rev" and I've been clicking on that one ever since.

I thought about using "Master" for a boy once - he was the ring bearer at our wedding (and around five at the time) - but my (now) husband nixed it because he thought it was weird. 

[topanga]

17 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Doctors piss me off.  They already have a job that is among the most prestigious and highly compensated in our society, and not only that, pretty much all of them would say they love their jobs.  But that's not enough for them.  They have to be called "Doctor" instead of "Mr" or "Ms."  Fuck them.

Sounds like you've had some bad experiences with doctors. Sorry about that. 

I don't need or want to be called Doctor in social settings. It makes me feel weird and elitist. But at work, I constantly have to remind patients--and some staff members--that I'm the doctor, which means I'm qualified and licensed to diagnose and treat the patients' problems. And that I'm the supervisor who has the authority to tell staff members to do tasks. It's not my way of saying that I'm better than the nurses or the techs, or anyone else. As a woman in medicine, I find that people constantly "forget" that I'm the doctor but instead want to bestow that title and the respect that comes with it on the male nurses and male medical assistants. 

16 hours ago, Popples said:

One of the teachers at my high school (I didn't have him except for homeroom in 10th grade) only wanted to be called "Instructor Surname"; if a student called him "Mr. Surname", he wouldn't acknowledge them.

Was he nice? Because he sounds kinds douchy. Unless it was an "O Captain, my Captain" kind of thing--then it would be cool. 

 

On 1/9/2017 at 9:45 PM, Maharincess said:

Four times today on this site I've seen people spell lose, loose.  Why is lose so hard for some people to spell??  It's only four letters.  I was on Facebook last night and a woman was being horrible to anybody who didn't agree with her, calling people names and insulting them. I usually don't correct people but when she called somebody a "looser", I told her she didn't spell it correctly.  She tried to convince everyone that that's how loser is spelled in some parts of the country.   I've also seen people write "publically" instead of publicly a few times here today.  

I also need to say how very very much I miss words. I hate all of the stupid acronyms and initials so much.  It's not like they save time.  When somebody writes "DS" instead of son, how much time are they saving?   Kids today are going to grow up to be horrible spellers. 

I don't know if kids are tested on this as much as we were (as much as I was) as kids. I know my children had spelling tests, and I would help them study, but I don't remember ever seeing lists with "loose, lose" or "their, they're, there" the way I used to. That repetition and drilling ingrained something in my brain. I rarely confuse those words. 

Someone else remarked that they hate curse word acronyms like AF. I admit I use things like that, partly because I want to play both sides and make it seem like I'm not cursing, even though I am. It's the same reason I sometimes type sh*t on the forums. Even though I'm saying "shit," I somehow think my mother or church people won't judge me if I type "sh*t." Crazy, I know. 

[backformore]

19 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

When I was a kid, that's the way it was.  Looking back at press clippings in the early 60's, you see captions under photos of Mrs. John J. Smith, Mrs. Edward V. Walker, etc., etc. attending a (whichever club) meeting.  .

At wedding receptions, the married couple was introduced as "Mr. and Mrs. John Smith" when you got married, you became MRS (husband's first and last name).  I took my husband's last name when I got married, but I wasn't going to take his FIRST name too.  It was a big deal, at the time, when I let the wedding venue know to not introduce us that way. My parents thought it was weird, and kept reminding me that my "proper"  name was MRS (husband's full name). 

[janestclair]

Submitted to the wrong thread...

Edited January 11, 2017 by janestclair
Whoops!

[Popples]

7 hours ago, topanga said:

Was he nice? Because he sounds kinds douchy. Unless it was an "O Captain, my Captain" kind of thing--then it would be cool. 

No, he was quite abrasive in my short time dealing with him, and all my friends in his class thought he was a massive prick.

[PRgal]

Another thing on the whole "Master" thing for young boys.  I have considered using that for a relative who is six.  It's a way to p!$$ off his very tree-hugger dad (who got mad at me for even bringing up etiquette books).  And yes, I am thinking of sending him a copy of "Tiffany's Table Manners for Teenagers" when he is a teenager.

ETA:  Yes, I'm not that nice sometimes.

Edited January 11, 2017 by PRgal

[TattleTeeny]

I hate when "LOL" is excessively used as "punctuation" online or in texts.

While I never use it for its intended purpose, I don't mind when people do. But, "I'll see you later LOL" or with any old mundane thing that's not even funny or meant to be is irritating.

Edited January 12, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[bilgistic]

Even worse is "lol", not capitalized. I love my work friend, but she does this. "I am eating indian food tonight lol. Its delic."

Edited January 12, 2017 by bilgistic

[StatisticalOutlier]

11 hours ago, topanga said:

Sounds like you've had some bad experiences with doctors. Sorry about that.

Probably no more than most people.  My peeve really is just what I said--people who have it pretty darn good insisting on more.  Like in a list of donors or supporters in a printed program:  John Smith.  Jane Doe.  Dr. James Thompson.  Why??

I respect doctors, but not necessarily a lot more than I respect someone who works in a chicken processing facility for forty years, assuming they can make it that long before the job kills them.  Or garbage men.

I've always wondered how jobs would shake out if every job paid the same and all the training necessary to do it was paid for, so people could do what they like or what they are good at, without regard to compensation.  I think there would be a lot of competition to be a doctor, and not so much to be a garbage man, and in order to draw people into that profession they'd have to raise the wage.  Wouldn't that be interesting.

 

Quote

I don't need or want to be called Doctor in social settings. It makes me feel weird and elitist. But at work, I constantly have to remind patients--and some staff members--that I'm the doctor, which means I'm qualified and licensed to diagnose and treat the patients' problems. And that I'm the supervisor who has the authority to tell staff members to do tasks. It's not my way of saying that I'm better than the nurses or the techs, or anyone else. As a woman in medicine, I find that people constantly "forget" that I'm the doctor but instead want to bestow that title and the respect that comes with it on the male nurses and male medical assistants.

In a medical setting, where it matters which people are the doctors, then identifying them is a obviously good thing.  And maybe in the olden days, before telephones and ambulances, it was helpful to know if there was a doctor around (although "Is there a doctor in the house?" when a situation arose would be pretty effective).  But nowadays, there's no reason in the world why doctors need to be identified as such when they're not engaged in doctoring, but they still insist on it in addition to, as I said before, prestige and money.  That's just obnoxious.  (And I'm glad to hear you're not one of them.)

Edited January 12, 2017 by StatisticalOutlier
Add the second half of the parentheses--a huge pet peeve.

[bilgistic]

16 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

I respect doctors, but not necessarily a lot more than I respect someone who works in a chicken processing facility for forty years, assuming they can make it that long before the job kills them.  Or garbage men.

Related, yet not, I walked to my car in the deck this evening, and in an empty space was a full shopping bag of leftovers from a steakhouse about three blocks away. I can't really wrap my head around this scenario. This person walked back to their car with their $50 steak leftovers but decided to leave them on the floor of the deck instead of (taking them home, obviously, or) walking the bag 15 feet to the trash can. Oh, some poor janitor will throw it away! That's why their job exists!

(Yes, I threw it away.)

[topanga]

11 hours ago, bilgistic said:

Related, yet not, I walked to my car in the deck this evening, and in an empty space was a full shopping bag of leftovers from a steakhouse about three blocks away. I can't really wrap my head around this scenario. This person walked back to their car with their $50 steak leftovers but decided to leave them on the floor of the deck instead of (taking them home, obviously, or) walking the bag 15 feet to the trash can. Oh, some poor janitor will throw it away! That's why their job exists!

(Yes, I threw it away.)

Related, yet not (I love your phrase), I'm chiming in to repeat how horrible it is when people leave cups, trays, and buckets in movie theater seats or in stadiums. What happened to throwing away something after you use it? I understand that popcorn falls on the floor and drinks spill. But why are you leaving your empty nachos tray or your half-drunk cup of Pepsi? My sister always says, "people are paid to pick that up." Yes, but it's an extra job--and a nasty job--for people who already work at the movie theater doing maintenance or concession sales or something else. I fell horrible when I walk out of the movie theater after the lights come up and see all of the trash people leave behind. 

[TattleTeeny]

Group (non)communications at my job via web-based project-management system, through which all parties can see all updates and messages:

THEM: "Please write up e-mail blast copy about this in-store event--here's the date of it."

ME: "Is there more info? What will happen there? Are there sales or special customer incentives? Will there be a guest and, if so, what is that person's name and title? In other words, what makes this an event?"

Hours-long "silence."

THEM: "Can this be done today?"

ME: "I can do it in two minutes flat if I have the information that you want customers to read."

THEM: "What information do you need?"

Every. Fucking. Time.

AND...? There's even a form that the event coordinators can refer to to make sure they've included all the pertinent details! Not that it should be necessary, as these things seem like common sense to me. But there's a form nonetheless--made by the designer who creates the visuals for these e-mail messages--because she too is tired of this half-ass shit several times a week. And still, this happens.
 

Edited January 12, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[auntlada]

13 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

Group (non)communications at my job via web-based project-management system, through which all parties can see all updates and messages:

THEM: "Please write up e-mail blast copy about this in-store event--here's the date of it."

ME: "Is there more info? What will happen there? Are there sales or special customer incentives? Will there be a guest and, if so, what is that person's name and title? In other words, what makes this an event?"

Hours-long "silence."

THEM: "Can this be done today?"

ME: "I can do it in two minutes flat if I have the information that you want customers to read."

THEM: "What information do you need?"

Every. Fucking. Time.
 

And then after you write it and send it to the person for approval before you email to everyone, there will be another hours-long silence. But the person wants it done immediately.

I always forward my original email with the questions and a message that as soon as my earlier questions are answered I can do it.

Edited January 12, 2017 by auntlada
Add my usual response. And then spelling.

[DeLurker]

12 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

THEM: "Please write up e-mail blast copy about this in-store event--here's the date of it."

ME: "Is there more info? What will happen there? Are there sales or special customer incentives? Will there be a guest and, if so, what is that person's name and title? In other words, what makes this an event?"

ME:  Great.  I'll need the Events Form (attached) and will have a draft for your approval ASAP.

cc your supervisor so they know you have a high priority request so they know what is on your plate (I'd specify that even though it is just a CYA move).

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

And then after you write it and send it to the person for approval before you email to everyone, there will be another hours-long silence. But the person wants it done immediately.

Yup. And all too often, it will come back with the copy crossed out and only a bulleted list of details. So why the god damn hell do you even need me to drop everything else and write this generic shit? 

This, people, is why I have a therapist.

Oh, and when I finally did get the info I needed? They had the guest guy's last name completely, not-even-close levels of wrong--and he's the owner of the company whose products will be showcased at this event! A quick Google on my part (not my job) solved it. Of course, when I added a message asking to confirm what I found (you know, on the off-off-off chance that there really was a person in that company with that name)...more silence. Had to ask three times! But, you know...hurry and get this done for us!

 

Quote

 

ME:  Great.  I'll need the Events Form (attached) and will have a draft for your approval ASAP.

cc your supervisor so they know you have a high priority request so they know what is on your plate (I'd specify that even though it is just a CYA move).

 

That's just it--all of that above has been happening since we adopted this system! Multiple people, including my boss, are included in these group messages. And, in this instance, the note about referring to the form appeared twice in the chain of comments (sometimes they do send the form...only it's not filled out all the way. Wha'?!)!

I mean, what do you do with people like this? They simply don't read! How do you not read--especially when it's displayed in front of your face and you don't even have to actively read because you can see it all at a glance! In fact, when they stupidly asked what I needed, they would not have even had to scroll up at all to see my previous message in which I clearly asked for what I needed! Oh my god, I'm about to have a meltdown (of my dreams!), haha!

I do not do well with the dreaded lazy-inefficient-dim combo! Why on earth would one need a form when conveying details about an "event"? Would you not automatically think, "Is this everything I want a customer to know?" Like making travel arrangements--you wouldn't just tell someone, "I want to go somewhere on this date. Take care of that for me, would ya? Thanks, bye!"

Edited January 12, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[bmasters9]

9 hours ago, TattleTeeny said:

I mean, what do you do with people like this? They simply don't read! How do you not read--especially when it's displayed in front of your face and you don't even have to actively read because you can see it all at a glance! In fact, when they stupidly asked what I needed, they would not have even had to scroll up at all to see my previous message in which I clearly asked for what I needed! Oh my god, I'm about to have a meltdown (of my dreams!), haha!

So basically, the way I read this, you quite clearly conveyed what you needed on a website, but they went past it and still asked you what you needed, as if you never said?! That would drive me crazy, too!

Edited January 13, 2017 by bmasters9

[TattleTeeny]

Exactly, only as opposed to an e-mail, it's a website that displays the comments (and drafts/files) of and for all parties working on the project (though we all get an e-mail saying when a comment has been added). Further, it's more about what they need from me: a detailed piece of writing for which I have no details and for which they do...but don't think to share. And we do this two to three times a week, and it is always this way.

it's almost like, say...YOU want me to have your address and keys to your house so I can feed your pets while you are away on vacation. Maybe you send me a message saying, "Hey, can you take care of SuperFluff and Pantaloons while I'm gone?" I say, "Yes, of course. When will you be leaving/returning, and where do you live?" And then you don't answer and don't answer...then you say, "Where are you? I need to give you this key now! I'm headed to the airport in 10 minutes!" 

And then you give me the wrong address and/or the key to your locker at the gym.

Edited January 12, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[Bastet]

I think you should post that analogy to the project management website.

[TattleTeeny]

Who the hell would even read it?!

[bilgistic]

Y'all crack me up!

People are stupid and lazy. We sent to our investors a graphically exciting and detailed email about a portfolio of office/retail properties we're listing. Recipients can literally click a single link in the email to link to click to auto-sign a confidentiality agreement, then auto-download a 76-page booklet describing every aspect of the properties, the market and the geographic area.

One such recipient--who has reached a level of wealth such that he makes investments with said wealth--responded to the email, "What's the deal with these properties?" I don't know, genius. Read the email? Click two links?

I sent the following picture to my coworker. WHAT'S THE DEAL with these properties??

[NutMeg]

On 1/12/2017 at 10:57 AM, bilgistic said:

Related, yet not, I walked to my car in the deck this evening, and in an empty space was a full shopping bag of leftovers from a steakhouse about three blocks away. I can't really wrap my head around this scenario. This person walked back to their car with their $50 steak leftovers but decided to leave them on the floor of the deck instead of (taking them home, obviously, or) walking the bag 15 feet to the trash can. Oh, some poor janitor will throw it away! That's why their job exists!

(Yes, I threw it away.)

That reads like a prompt for a writing assignment: So you're walking to your car, and there, in an empty space, is a full shopping bag etc. At that stage my mind immediately goes to an ominous phone call the carrier of the bag got just as he/she was about to open his/her car door. But hey, it could also have been a call from the love of their lives. Or about someone going into labour...

It's probably just me, but I'm always fascinated by objects I see on the street. Like, one shoe, or one sock, who would throw or leave that by the curb? Once in a hotel room that had just been cleaned I found a pair of obviously expensive shoes, or rather sandals (the kind Carrie Bradshaw would have worn), super expensive brand name, in mint condition. Why/how did the owner manage to forget them? I go with reminder of a bad date/ugly lover/abusive hubby :) And then why would the cleaner leave them behind? An attempt at random kindness, in case they fit the next occupant?

I also once saw a very high heeled pair of shoes nicely lined up on a sidewalk.

It's too bad I'm not a shoe person, or a shoe collector, I could have started quite the collection...

ETA: The reason I was coming here, apart from reading your always awesome posts:

Two nights ago, after finally falling asleep much later than I like (holiday routine and its jet lag effect), I was awaken from a heavy slumber by the house phone ringing, around 5:30. By the time I realized what the sound meant, got up, walked out of my room and towards my desk, fumbled around and finally found the phone (lodged between my desktop computer and the printer) and picked it up, it stopped ringing. And of course, I never found sleep again.

Now I've been slightly (to put it mildly) wonky for two days. There was obviously nothing urgent or ominous because I haven't heard from anyone who might have called that number. There was no call on my cellphone. Too bad I don't have called ID on my house phone. Why would someone let the phone ring for so long in the middle of the night (I counted 10 rings, and that's just after I awoke)? Or, if it was an overseas call, would't the caller check the time first? Grrrr.... 

Edited January 13, 2017 by NutMeg

[backformore]

On ‎1‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 8:57 PM, bilgistic said:

Related, yet not, I walked to my car in the deck this evening, and in an empty space was a full shopping bag of leftovers from a steakhouse about three blocks away. I can't really wrap my head around this scenario. This person walked back to their car with their $50 steak leftovers but decided to leave them on the floor of the deck instead of (taking them home, obviously, or) walking the bag 15 feet to the trash can. Oh, some poor janitor will throw it away! That's why their job exists!

(Yes, I threw it away.)

Is it possible that there are homeless people around the area that the leftovers were meant for?  I only ask because I have heard of people getting leftovers from a restaurant and giving it to homeless people who are in the area. 

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

It's probably just me, but I'm always fascinated by objects I see on the street. Like, one shoe, or one sock, who would throw or leave that by the curb? Once in a hotel room that had just been cleaned I found a pair of obviously expensive shoes, or rather sandals (the kind Carrie Bradshaw would have worn), super expensive brand name, in mint condition. Why/how did the owner manage to forget them? I go with reminder of a bad date/ugly lover/abusive hubby :) And then why would the cleaner leave them behind? An attempt at random kindness, in case they fit the next occupant?

Oh my goodness, it's not just you...and because of that, it's also not just me, haha! I do this all the time like you describe, and I also tend to create back stories for people I don't know. 

Another peeve-o-rama at work: when people send e-mail forwards of lengthy conversations with another party as a means to answer your question. For instance, we just got new health insurance (that's a damn peeve right there--what we had was fine!) and our HR person had apparently been getting tons of questions about the same couple of issues (because our new plan is confusing as hell, but that's another story). Anyway, instead of crafting her own message addressing these topics, she forwarded to all of us a long, rambling, difficult-to-follow e-mail conversation between herself and the insurance rep! And you know how some e-mail formats get wonky the longer they get--like the earlier messages end up with crazy indentations and the subject field's "RE:" gradually turns into "RE: RE: RE: RE: RE:"? Well, that's what ours does. Seriously, to find what I was interested in, I had to scroll and scroll and scroll through their back and forth! This is not professional. Or remotely orderly! 

We also have a product merchant who does this. I ask, "Where was this item made?" (something that's supposed to be supplied to me to begin with) and instead just replying with the country, he'll forward me a big old discussion with a rep from the manufacturer. This guy is also a non-reader of other people's questions: you may say, "Can't find the info I need at these links [yet another issue I have; why am I looking for pertinent details via our competitors' websites?!]; do you [as the person in charge of this shit!!!] happen to have this answer?" And what do you know--he replies with one of the not-helpful links I just sent him.

Meanwhile, on my last performance review, it appears that someone here has indicated that I try to get others to do my work for me. That's pretty damn peevy, as I work my ass off. (To clarify, my actual job is copy editing, and also using supplied info to write retail copy to be read by consumers. But it has somehow evolved into filling in other people's blanks and doing a lot of internet sleuthing before I can even get rolling on my part of things. But mention that and you're not a team player.)

Edited January 13, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[bilgistic]

8 hours ago, backformore said:

Is it possible that there are homeless people around the area that the leftovers were meant for?  I only ask because I have heard of people getting leftovers from a restaurant and giving it to homeless people who are in the area. 

I get what you are saying, but I don't know that homeless people walk up six flights of stairs in the deck to look for leftover food. The building dumpsters are on the ground floor, and there are several restaurants in the building, so there would be lots of good pickings. This was pretty clearly laziness, not charity, since the food wasn't given away, just left. There's a couple of homeless folks that hang out pretty regularly near the entry to the deck. I see them most mornings when I'm driving in.

[janestclair]

I also can't stand people who don't clean up after themselves in public.  Just because there's someone working there doesn't mean you can't be a human being and walk your garbage to the appropriate can.  

Maybe the steak leftovers guy put the bag down to open the car and then forgot it?  I forgot my leftovers in a restaurant once. Got it boxed up, paid, and left the box sitting on the damn table. I was so sad.  

[auntlada]

I do that all the time and would probably have done that in that particular situation. It really makes me mad because I wanted those leftovers.

[ratgirlagogo]

On 1/11/2017 at 9:57 PM, bilgistic said:

Related, yet not, I walked to my car in the deck this evening, and in an empty space was a full shopping bag of leftovers from a steakhouse about three blocks away. I can't really wrap my head around this scenario. This person walked back to their car with their $50 steak leftovers but decided to leave them on the floor of the deck instead of (taking them home, obviously, or) walking the bag 15 feet to the trash can. Oh, some poor janitor will throw it away! That's why their job exists!

(Yes, I threw it away.)

Here in NYC it's likely somebody would call the cops if they saw a bag of stuff just sitting in a parking space. You know, "if you see something, say something" and all that.   The cops came into the library a couple of days ago to check on  a call they'd gotten from a patron (who didn't come up to the desk and tell the staff) about what turned out to be a bag of groceries from Gristede's , left next to one of the public computers.  The patron who left it was upstairs in the baby story time and if only the Good Citizen had TOLD a librarian - we could have asked around, figured it out, gone up and gotten her and taken care of it, without wasting the cops' time. Or mine, since I had to file an incident report for a non-incident.  Sigh.

Edited January 13, 2017 by ratgirlagogo

[StatisticalOutlier]

Litter?  What is the deal with those plastic sword-looking single-use dental floss thingies?  They are ALL OVER the ground, everywhere.  Do people use them in their car and then throw them on the ground in the parking lot?  Or are they using them while walking around in parking lots? 

They don't need to exist in the first place, and they definitely don't need to be thrown on the ground everywhere.

[Maharincess]

Any kind of littering is a huge peeve of mine.  Too many times I've been a rude bitch and picked up somebody's litter, followed them and handed it back to them telling them they missed the garbage can.  I know it's not my place to police the litterers but it just makes me so mad.  What kind of asshole just throws something on the ground and expects somebody else to clean up after them?!  

This isn't a peeve but I'm pissed ao I'll put it here. I had everything arranged, i got a sitter for my cat and was ready to go on the last big road trip through Texas and into Louisiana.  The job has been cancelled. Things like this happen a lot in the trucking industry so I'm not surprised but I'm so disappointed. VillaLobos Rescue has opened for public tours again and i was so excited to go.  L says he'll take me there one day but im still sad.  I had been collecting supplies to donate to them. I'm going to mail some of the stuff I collected and take the rest to my local shelters and the Border Collie rescue. 

The worst part of the cancellation is that I had planned a short trip to the Los Angeles area with my daughter for the same time as the Louisiana trip, I cancelled that trip to go with L instead.  

The best part of the cancellation is that as of Wednesday, I get my honey home every night.  Since he won't go on this job, his duties with this company are almost done with.  

[BookWoman56]

Last night I ended up walking out of a restaurant after sitting there for a good 25 minutes being ignored by the waiter, which leads me to a pet peeve: WTF has happened to training wait staff on how to give good customer service? Back in the dark ages, my first husband managed a pizza restaurant while he was in college, and I saw the training videos they used back then. Those videos emphasized certain basic concepts, such as that even when you are at another table, if you see another customer come in, you make eye contact with the new customer so he/she/they know you have seen them. After the new customer has been seated, go back to dealing with existing customers but keep an eye out for other existing customers and the new customers to gauge when they are ready to order/need refills, etc. When circulating among the tables you are responsible for, look around to see if any of your customers are showing signs of needing immediate attention. If it’s going to take a few minutes to come back and take the order, let the customer know you’ll be back asap to assist.

These things are not rocket science. Yet last night my daughter and I walked into a 24-hour restaurant around midnight, which had maybe 6 tables occupied out of probably 30 tables total. We’ve been there numerous times with no major problems with the quality of service or food; nothing outstanding, but nothing worth complaining about either. Last night, though, it took almost 5 minutes for someone to acknowledge our existence long enough to show us to a table and give us a menu, because the wait staff walked around with their eyes focused on the floor instead of looking up even occasionally to see if there was anyone needing help. We were the third table in the section to which we were assigned; the other section at that point had two occupied tables. Then there was another 25 minutes of sitting there while our assigned waiter spent 5 minutes taking an order from another table, another 5 minutes trying to put that order into the computer (a process made more difficult by his apparent inability to read his own writing from the order ticket), 10 minutes or so bouncing back and forth between other computer terminals, and then 5 minutes searching for to-go containers for his other table. During this time, another group of customers had come in, been seated in the other section, and had their orders taken by the other waiter. Meanwhile, our waiter had not checked on us even once, not even the slightest nod in our direction to indicate that he knew we were sitting there waiting to have someone take our order. At that point, we simply got up and left to go down the street to the competition, where we were seated immediately by someone who got us drinks and then took our order very quickly.  Bonus points also in that this waiter actually smiled and acted as if he didn’t hate his job.

I get that working in a restaurant can suck. That’s one reason I am unfailingly polite to wait staff and leave a generous tip unless the service is horrible. If the place had been busy, I would have been okay with the delay. But if you are expecting to get paid for doing a job, you need to do it at least adequately.

[Quof]

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Lifetime is airing a remake of Beaches.  And it's being marketed as a "Lifetime Original" (yeah, I posted about this somewhere else on the board).  #whatever

So I just saw my first preview for this.  F' You, Lifetime.   There is not one "original" thing about this movie.  It's rather like when I'm watching a show on a US network and the announcer says "Now, the world premier of...." and I think "Wait a minute, I just watched this show on Canadian television an hour ago....."

[TattleTeeny]

UGH, oh my god--it is one of the reasons I rarely go to movie theaters (that, the freezing temps, and the stickiness! Oh, and often the other people). I'll go for a Star Wars or a horror movie that looks good but other than that, nope--not worth it.

As for the "it's someone job" mentality, I see that at work a lot. We have two everyday cleaning people--a husband and wife who are super-nice. It is not their job to clean your dirty coffee mug left in the sink (seriously?!)...or the coffee you spill...or the empty sugar packets you cannot manage to get into the trash can three feet away! It is their job to do routine upkeep kind of cleaning, not the messes created by lazy individuals. Further, the people who say things like "it's their job" never seem to understand that there is usually much more to people's jobs than only the parts they see!

I'm having a possibly unfounded peeve moment. About 12 hours ago, I shared a fundraiser link on FB about a cat at the shelter where I volunteer; the cat needs medical care. I don't know if something is wrong with FB or something--maybe people aren't seeing it for some reason?--but only three of my supposed animal-advocate friends have even acknowledged it. As someone who makes sure to donate to my friends' causes and pass along their information, I'm pissed and I'm just...really sad. I post a photo of some cool boots I got or about some documentary I'm watching, oh, it's 65 "Like"s and a barrage of comments. But this? Crickets. WTF? I seriously think I might cry.

Edited January 14, 2017 by TattleTeeny
ETA: Too late; did cry.

[PRgal]

I grew up where a box of chocolates was rationed and meant to be eaten over a longer period of time (a box of 12 could last as long as two weeks if it was meant for two people).  My husband, however, could eat half the box in one day.  :(

[DeLurker]

4 minutes ago, PRgal said:

I grew up where a box of chocolates was rationed and meant to be eaten over a longer period of time (a box of 12 could last as long as two weeks if it was meant for two people).  My husband, however, could eat half the box in one day.  :(

Mom?  Dad?  Is that you?

[auntlada]

The last time I had a situation like that, @BookWoman56, I fired off an email to the manager as soon as I got home. We were at a pizza restaurant with our 2-year-old. We were almost the only customers as it was early for supper. We waited 45 minutes for our pizza, and when we asked about it, the waiter told us the order had accidentally not been put in (in those words, taking no notice of the fact that she should have done it), but she could do it now. The boy was hungry and angry (and so was I, especially since there wasn't even an apology). We said no, left, got fast food and went home, where I notified the manager. I think I included the waiter's and shift manager's names. I got a very good response the next day. Three years later, we returned to the restaurant.