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

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

my sister...tends to make up things for attention. (She's ALL ABOUT some Facebook!)

Got one of those myself. I love her...but she does tend to inspire a peeve or two.

[Katy M]

9 hours ago, bilgistic said:

I fish out the Crocs and give them to him and start to hand him the boot. He tells me they can't take it "because you could have fungus or whatever", as he's taking a pair of shoes from me.

I'm not a princess or anything and have plenty of used clothing, but I just can't do used shoes.  Ugh.

[bilgistic]

2 hours ago, Katy M said:

I'm not a princess or anything and have plenty of used clothing, but I just can't do used shoes.  Ugh.

Not for nothing, there are some AMAZING barely worn secondhand shoes at stores like Plato's Closet. I've sold them shoes I've worn twice. They won't take shoes that look worn.

And I never wore that left Croc. Ha ha ha!

Edited June 9, 2017 by bilgistic

[DeLurker]

14 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

Not for nothing, there are some AMAZING barely worn secondhand shoes at stores like Plato's Closet.

I give careful evaluation over donating things like shoes, but I've donated several pair of my kids shoes when they were rapidly growing and were still in excellent condition.  Plus things like special occasion shoes that were bought to go with a special occasion outfit that they may have only worn once.

I've donated completely new shoes that I bought and never wore (other than trying them on with outfits to see if they went together).  When the stars and moon are aligned just right, I will fall desperately in love with a fabulous pair of shoes that go with nothing I own or are so far out of the norm (read boring) for me that I have to buy them.  Even knowing that I will probably never wear them. 

Why yes, yes I do see a therapist.

[TattleTeeny]

I will definitely grab a pair of fabulous vintage boots or clunky '70s (or '90s) shoes; anything I can wear socks/tights with is "safe"! Plus, I have a "shoe guy" for my secondhand stuff (now who needs a therapist?) -- if I find a non-sock kind of shoe (like platform wedge sandals) that I just cannot live without, Shoe Guy will redo the inside for me!

Peeve: a coworker makes little grunts/sighs all day long. She has earbuds in so maybe she doesn't know she's doing it. It's like little "mm"s and "uh"s. These sounds also follow each instance of her seasonal nonstop cough.

Edited June 9, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[MrSmith]

21 hours ago, janestclair said:

I'm good with merging and maintaining appropriate distances at speed, but I hate with a burning passion pulling out onto the highway from a full stop.  I find it difficult to judge distances when other cars are moving that fast, especially at night. To compensate, I usually floor it when I pull out.

I'm guessing you're talking about if you've had to pull over onto the shoulder for some reason. The times I have had to do this, I'll accelerate while on the shoulder and merge into traffic when I've reached a reasonable speed. Hope that helps.

21 hours ago, NutMeg said:

There is a kind of drivers that I have a hard time with when I'm not driving: the aggressive driver, i.e. the one who alternated (too) fast accelerations with sharp braking.

Give me smooth driving any time.   

OMG, yes. I like to get on the highway and set cruise control and then just go. I don't care what anyone else around me does as long as I can just cruise along. Minnesota drivers seem constitutionally incapable of using their cruise. This leads to accelerating, then decelerating. Since I've calculated it's not worth passing them unless they're going egregiously slow (10 or more mph under the speed limit), then I'll just set cruise at their lowest speed and let them do their thing.

[MrSmith]

2 hours ago, TattleTeeny said:

Peeve: a coworker makes little grunts/sighs all day long. She has earbuds in so maybe she doesn't know she's doing it. It's like little "mm"s and "uh"s. These sounds also follow each instance of her seasonal nonstop cough.

She's probably trying to discreetly clear her throat. Just a guess (and I know that probably makes it worse). And no, I'm not guessing based on personal experience. It's just the only thing I can come up with to explain it.

[TattleTeeny]

25 minutes ago, MrSmith said:

She's probably trying to discreetly clear her throat. Just a guess (and I know that probably makes it worse). And no, I'm not guessing based on personal experience. It's just the only thing I can come up with to explain it.

No, she undiscreetly does that with reckless abandon too, haha! Her coughs border on yells!

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 6/5/2017 at 9:33 PM, navelgazer said:

Grammar Nazi peeve -- whoever in MSNBC who continues to misspell/misuse capital as in the capitol city or state capitol or Capitol Hill.  I've seen that twice in the last two days and it bugs me.  

Actually it is Capitol Hill, if you're referring to the neighborhood around the capitol building in Washington, DC.. 

Don't go mural-gazing in Austin:

https://austinhomelistings-realestatewebmas.netdna-ssl.com/r/4.5.55106/images/greetings_from_austin_mural_edit-2_447.jpg

Yes, that is the capitol building there, but I don't think that's what they meant.

 

On 6/7/2017 at 10:14 PM, bubbls said:

Maybe if they didn't charge an arm and leg for their junk that was given to them for free they'd sell more and have more room. Just a thought, Goodwill......

I've noticed that some Goodwills have started individually pricing items, and it peeves me.  They all used to just have all t-shirts be $1.99, and polo shirts were $3.99 or something, but now, the polo shirts by better known designers will be $5.99.

Also, I was in a Goodwill the other day where they organized all the shirts by color, and the sizes are all jumbled up within that color group.  The gold standard is organizing by size and having colors grouped within that size, but if you have to choose organizing only by size or only by color, go with size because it's easy to see what color something is and make a snap judgment, but having to look carefully at every red shirt to see what size it is is annoying.

 

On 6/8/2017 at 8:09 AM, Qoass said:

These are the same people who use their phones at movie theatres but are convinced that they're doing it in a manner that doesn't bother anybody because no one has ever confronted them about it.

That's only because they haven't been in a movie theater with me.

[MrSmith]

26 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Also, I was in a Goodwill the other day where they organized all the shirts by color, and the sizes are all jumbled up within that color group.

Why the hell would anyone organize anything that way? You always organize from the broadest category to the narrowest. That's why things are organized into "men's", "women's", and "children's", then by type (pants, shirts, shoes), then by size, and finally by color (or whatever else). That would piss me off and might even trigger some kind of OCD in me, requiring me to fix it. At the very least, I would have complained to the store manager about it.

Quote

That's only because they haven't been in a movie theater with me.

Oh, now I need to know what you do! Yes, NEED.

[TattleTeeny]

Ugh, I should never have mentioned this coworker--I seem to have summoned something evil and annoying; the yell-cough/"mm"-sigh/"uhUH"-grunt combo has not stopped since! Lesson learned!

[MrSmith]

@TattleTeeny Is it wrong if I laugh at your predicament? If so, I'm not sorry. Wait. No, I just can't muster any shame for laughing!

[TattleTeeny]

Laugh like the wind! I brought this on myself for being so intolerant!

[MrSmith]

10 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

Laugh like the wind! I brought this on myself for being so intolerant!

I appreciate your understanding. :)

[Taffy]

Sorry so long.

I am a clerk at a K-8 school. Every year after school's out we have a lovely catered luncheon that I am in charge of. The staff signs up and pays  per person. It never fails that people don't sign up and contact me after I've called in the number to the caterer. No biggie. She always makes extra. Well today the entire custodial staff shows up and thinks they are going to eat. When I tell them how much per person, the leader/jerk throws down the plate and says "for this?" I explained everybody else paid. They stormed out. 

It is six hours later and I'm still steaming. This jerk did this in the past (I've done the luncheon for 12 years) but I guess he thought if he had back up, I would say Oh OK. 

The sign up was in the break room and work room. Notices were in every mailbox. Don't people know what a catered lunch is? 

[StatisticalOutlier]

6 hours ago, MrSmith said:

Oh, now I need to know what you do! Yes, NEED.

Same thing I've done for decades with talkers--tell them to stop.  None of this passive-aggressive "Shhhhh" from my seat.  Get up, walk over and stand either beside them or in front of them, look them in the eye and say, "Please stop talking" or "Please turn off your phone."  Or if I'm feeling surly, I omit the "please."

That said, my main tactic is not unlike a friend of mine who's a black belt in karate.  I've asked her twice now if she's fearless walking around because she knows she can take pretty much anybody down, and both times she's said it's more a matter of avoiding dangerous situations in the first place.  So I don't go to a movie where I know there will be hordes of teenagers.  But I do go when there are lots of old people, and they do love to gab during the show.

When I'm in an audience with a talker, I let them offend one time in case it really was just a slip, but if it happens again, I pounce.  With a phone, there's no grace period because they know it's not okay. 

I'm not successful 100% of the time.  There's a movie going experiences thread here, where I described my most notable push-back.  It shut me up, and that's not easy.

[NutMeg]

12 hours ago, TattleTeeny said:

Ugh, I should never have mentioned this coworker--I seem to have summoned something evil and annoying; the yell-cough/"mm"-sigh/"uhUH"-grunt combo has not stopped since! Lesson learned!

Tattleteeny, your post (the first one on your coworker) has reminded me of something I experienced eons ago and that made me very uncomfortable at the time.

I was living in Europe at the time, and had just come back by train from a weekend in Paris. I got in the taxi, and on the back on the seat in from of me was a sticker reading "Beware! Mean Cat" and a drawing of a very mean-looking cat, something like a wild cat with what I'm sure was a super mean expression, or at least not a pleasant one at all. And then the driver started making these weird groaning sounds, very much like what a feral growling cat would sound like. The combination of night time, tiredness, weird drawing visual and horrible noises from the driver whose face I couldn't even see made me feel like I was in a horror movie. No drive had ever felt that long. And through it all, he went on making these growling sounds, and I had to keep seeing that horrible drawing of a cat in front of me, because I didn't dare move and sit behind the driver, whose face I would then see in the rearview mirror and who could see my growing unease, and beside by that point I was almost expecting him to not quite have a human face. I know that makes me seem like a twit, and I would have laughed at the description, but going through it... was harrowing.    

[Quof]

StatisticalOutlier, you and I need to hang in real life.  I don't even start with "please."  And it's never a request.  

"You need to turn your phone off."  "Your child needs to be quiet."  "You need to stop pissing me off."

[TattleTeeny]

NutMeg, oh my god! That is  seriously some Twin Peaks business right there! Yikes!

I have a couple of those inexplicable random nightmare moments too--and they always still surprise me when some day-to-day thing suddenly brings them to the forefront.

Edited June 10, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[PRgal]

12 hours ago, Taffy said:

Sorry so long.

I am a clerk at a K-8 school. Every year after school's out we have a lovely catered luncheon that I am in charge of. The staff signs up and pays  per person. It never fails that people don't sign up and contact me after I've called in the number to the caterer. No biggie. She always makes extra. Well today the entire custodial staff shows up and thinks they are going to eat. When I tell them how much per person, the leader/jerk throws down the plate and says "for this?" I explained everybody else paid. They stormed out. 

It is six hours later and I'm still steaming. This jerk did this in the past (I've done the luncheon for 12 years) but I guess he thought if he had back up, I would say Oh OK. 

The sign up was in the break room and work room. Notices were in every mailbox. Don't people know what a catered lunch is? 

Some people see these notices and just throw it in the recycling bin.  :(

 

Another pet peeve of mine:  This article appeared in the Toronto Star today.  Great!  I'm glad these kids get the opportunity to attend great schools in the city.  However, the article:

 

1. Seems to imply that we (I'm not an alumna of the same school as the girl in the photo is graduating from, but a rival) are all spoiled brats (the same paper has done this before in the early 2000s)

2. That all black kids attend these schools "on scholarship" or that there weren't ANY black kids at the school before (yes there were.  There weren't many (compared to Asian students), but they DID go)

[ABay]

Dear coupled women friends, when I ask if you can come over and help me move a couch or spot me while I climb a ladder to check out my gutters, I am asking YOU if YOU will do it. I am not asking you to find out when your husband or boyfriend might be free to do it. 

[Katy M]

1 minute ago, ABay said:

Dear coupled women friends, when I ask if you can come over and help me move a couch or spot me while I climb a ladder to check out my gutters, I am asking YOU if YOU will do it. I am not asking you to find out when your husband or boyfriend might be free to do it. 

If I had a husband or boyfriend, he would probably be of more help moving a couch.  I can hold your ladder for you, though.

[Quof]

Sorry, ABay, that's the only reason I can imagine every needing a husband, therefore I borrow them from my friends for just such occasions. 

[TattleTeeny]

Well, hmmm....if I ask for help, I think I am usually willing to accept whatever kind of help the person I am asking has to offer, whether that's time or effort or a borrowed object and/or husband. Of course, that would depend on how well I know the husband as an individual entity. And I guess if I know him pretty well in that regard, I'd have just asked him directly, so maybe everything I just typed is moot!

And it's also pretty moot because I am not known for waiting for help--often to my own detriment!

Edited June 10, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[ABay]

If you were so feeble you couldn't help move a couch, I wouldn't ask. If you could but don't want to, just say so and I'll move on.

If I think the job requires a man for some reason, I'll ask one. I won't ask you to ask yours. 

The main problem with asking for help from men--excluding the wonderful posters here, of course, I am sure--is that they have a different relationship to time than I do.

Me: "Ok, that's great! Thanks! What's a good time for you?"

Him: "I'll be there in 15 minutes." To me, this means "I'll be there in 15 minutes, give or take 10."

It doesn't mean: "I'll leave my house in 30 minutes, stop to fill up the gas tank, suddenly remember I need to get something at Home Depot that I could pick up later but I'll do it now instead even though I know you're waiting for me and putting off a bunch of other stuff because you think I'll arrive any minute now, spend 45 minutes looking at everything else, and finally arrive at your house to do this thing that takes 10 minutes...oh, it's kind of late now and I have this other thing, can we do it tomorrow?" 

Edited June 10, 2017 by ABay

[ennui]

15 hours ago, Taffy said:

The sign up was in the break room and work room. Notices were in every mailbox. Don't people know what a catered lunch is? 

I would think "catered lunch" means that someone else does the cooking?  :)  (As opposed to a pot luck.)  But, yes, they should have read the notices. Maybe next year the price should be printed extra large and extra bold.

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

It doesn't mean: "I'll leave my house in 30 minutes, stop to fill up the gas tank, suddenly remember I need to get something at Home Depot that I could pick up later but I'll do it now instead even though I know you're waiting for me and putting off a bunch of other stuff because you think I'll arrive any minute now, spend 45 minutes looking at everything else, and finally arrive at your house to do this thing that takes 10 minutes...oh, it's kind of late now and I have this other thing, can we do it tomorrow?" 

And that, among other things, is the reason I have trouble waiting for help! Even from my own BF sometimes. Unless it's 100% physically impossible, I'm probably just going to do it myself.

[PRgal]

2 hours ago, ABay said:

Dear coupled women friends, when I ask if you can come over and help me move a couch or spot me while I climb a ladder to check out my gutters, I am asking YOU if YOU will do it. I am not asking you to find out when your husband or boyfriend might be free to do it. 

Maybe they didn't want to turn you down (because they might be seen as being physically "weak"), but don't feel fit enough to move a couch? 

[Quof]

Quote

The main problem with asking for help from men--excluding the wonderful posters here, of course, I am sure--is that they have a different relationship to time than I do.

That's a problem with the specific people, nothing to do with their gender.   My female friends tend to marry men who are like them; if she's not a flake, neither is he.    Ergo, if I call to ask for help, I'll take which ever one shows up.

[Bastet]

Thankfully, none of my female friends are the sort who thinks moving a couch, holding a ladder, or anything else is "man's work," so none of them would send their boyfriend/husband if I called to ask them for help.  But if they did, yeah, I would find that annoying.  And really weird -- I can't imagine asking A if they'll help me with something, hearing yes, and then having B show up.  "Can you or B come by this afternoon to help me lift this thing?" and B is the one who turns up, sure.  But otherwise, just weird.

I don't like asking for help on general principle, but there are some things that inherently require at least one additional person to accomplish.  I start with one or both of my parents, but if they aren't around, I ask whichever friend is best-suited to the task and take it from there.

[Taffy]

3 hours ago, ennui said:

I would think "catered lunch" means that someone else does the cooking?  :)  (As opposed to a pot luck.)  But, yes, they should have read the notices. Maybe next year the price should be printed extra large and extra bold.

The signage was very clear. Who, what, where, when, how much.  The jerk has cornered me in the past and asked why he would have to pay since he pays union dues. The luncheon has nothing to do with union dues. He's also walked thru the luncheon and got himself a glass of ice tea. Stood and stared at everybody. I and approx 10 of the others are part time employees. Some are instructional aides making $10 an hour. He makes three times as much and thinks he should eat for free. The fact that he brought all his pals this time was more than I could stand. *still mad*

[bilgistic]

16 minutes ago, Taffy said:

The signage was very clear. Who, what, where, when, how much.  The jerk has cornered me in the past and asked why he would have to pay since he pays union dues. The luncheon has nothing to do with union dues. He's also walked thru the luncheon and got himself a glass of ice tea. Stood and stared at everybody. I and approx 10 of the others are part time employees. Some are instructional aides making $10 an hour. He makes three times as much and thinks he should eat for free. The fact that he brought all his pals this time was more than I could stand. *still mad*

Alternative: no lunch for anyone, ever.

[auntlada]

5 hours ago, ABay said:

If you were so feeble you couldn't help move a couch, I wouldn't ask. If you could but don't want to, just say so and I'll move on.

If I think the job requires a man for some reason, I'll ask one. I won't ask you to ask yours. 

The main problem with asking for help from men--excluding the wonderful posters here, of course, I am sure--is that they have a different relationship to time than I do.

Me: "Ok, that's great! Thanks! What's a good time for you?"

Him: "I'll be there in 15 minutes." To me, this means "I'll be there in 15 minutes, give or take 10."

It doesn't mean: "I'll leave my house in 30 minutes, stop to fill up the gas tank, suddenly remember I need to get something at Home Depot that I could pick up later but I'll do it now instead even though I know you're waiting for me and putting off a bunch of other stuff because you think I'll arrive any minute now, spend 45 minutes looking at everything else, and finally arrive at your house to do this thing that takes 10 minutes...oh, it's kind of late now and I have this other thing, can we do it tomorrow?" 

I wouldn't be quite that bad, in that I wouldn't stop to shop on the way, but I do have a tendency to leave later than I should because it always takes me longer to get out of the house than I think. Since I know this, you'd think I could correct it, but that is not as easy as knowing I have a problem. My husband, on the other hand, would be there at least 15 minutes early.

I also would not be helpful moving furniture because my upper body strength is not great. I would not just send my husband, but I might ask if you would like his help if it was something I felt like I could not do.

I would come with him, though, especially if you did not know him well. It's less awkward that way for everyone.

Edited June 10, 2017 by auntlada

[MrSmith]

8 hours ago, ABay said:

If you were so feeble you couldn't help move a couch, I wouldn't ask. If you could but don't want to, just say so and I'll move on.

If I think the job requires a man for some reason, I'll ask one. I won't ask you to ask yours. 

The main problem with asking for help from men--excluding the wonderful posters here, of course, I am sure--is that they have a different relationship to time than I do.

Me: "Ok, that's great! Thanks! What's a good time for you?"

Him: "I'll be there in 15 minutes." To me, this means "I'll be there in 15 minutes, give or take 10."

It doesn't mean: "I'll leave my house in 30 minutes, stop to fill up the gas tank, suddenly remember I need to get something at Home Depot that I could pick up later but I'll do it now instead even though I know you're waiting for me and putting off a bunch of other stuff because you think I'll arrive any minute now, spend 45 minutes looking at everything else, and finally arrive at your house to do this thing that takes 10 minutes...oh, it's kind of late now and I have this other thing, can we do it tomorrow?" 

I don't know what kind of men you know, but when I say I'll be there at a certain time, then I am there by that time. Usually, I am early because I detest being late. If I have to deviate from the agreed-upon time, I will call or text to advise and provide a revised time. This usually means I am on my way and I am simply letting you know how much I am running behind by. That all said, if you're going to get huffy about someone being 10 minutes late when they're coming to help you, you'd be better off hiring someone to do the work you're asking a friend to do for free. Because that attitude would be tolerated once; the second time would get a big "fuck you" from me and, being who I am, I'd probably leave in the middle of the task.

Edited June 11, 2017 by MrSmith

[MrSmith]

6 hours ago, forumfish said:

Re: borrowing a husband or boyfriend for heavy lifting -- yes, this is a thing:

http://www.rent-a-spouse.com/

Apparently there are quite a few such companies, and an article I saw for a local one really irritated me. You can rent a "husband" for household repairs or a "wife" for cleaning. Grrr. I happen to be a woman who enjoys "men's work" like painting, installing flooring, and putting together IKEA furniture waaaaaay more than doing "women's work" like washing dishes and doing laundry. I have never considered myself a feminist, just independent, but these gender stereotypes have got to go.

Agreed. My wife is the handy one in our house. Mainly because she grew up with a father who was a journeyman plumber, journeyman electrician, and journeyman (or equivalent) in HVAC. So, she learned to do all that kind of stuff from her dad. My father has never been handy - or, if he is, I certainly don't know about it - and he never taught me any of that stuff. I'm good with computers and technology and I like to clean.

[Jaded]

I hate the word kidlet and whoever came up with it should be (fill in the blank with whatever awful thing you'd like). There's someone in a thread I frequent here that uses it a lot. Ahhhh! ? 

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 6/10/2017 at 4:50 AM, Quof said:

StatisticalOutlier, you and I need to hang in real life.  I don't even start with "please."  And it's never a request.  

"You need to turn your phone off."  "Your child needs to be quiet."  "You need to stop pissing me off."

Hanging sounds like fun, but I think we're more effective in divide-and-conquer mode.  Our mission:  "Quieting America, one theater at a time."

 

20 hours ago, forumfish said:

You can rent a "husband" for household repairs or a "wife" for cleaning. Grrr. I happen to be a woman who enjoys "men's work" like painting, installing flooring, and putting together IKEA furniture waaaaaay more than doing "women's work" like washing dishes and doing laundry. I have never considered myself a feminist, just independent, but these gender stereotypes have got to go.

You're a feminist.

[Quof]

Quote

"Quieting America, one theater at a time."

I'm in Canada. So far less likely the person I tell to KNOCK IT OFF is packing heat. 

[DeLurker]

Any websites that you have to sign into and the default is pre-set for Keep me logged in.  I am admittedly disproportionately peeved by having to uncheck the box each and every time.

[MrSmith]

1 hour ago, DeLurker said:

Any websites that you have to sign into and the default is pre-set for Keep me logged in.  I am admittedly disproportionately peeved by having to uncheck the box each and every time.

I hate that, too. I don't understand why people who own these sites are so ready and willing to compromise their users' security and the security of their site. Let people opt in; don't force them to opt out.

[BooksRule]

Pet peeve for today (and many other days):  Weeds!  They are the bane of my existence.  I can weed and feed my yard to get rid of many of them each year, but there are some that I need to hand pull because either they aren't affected by what I use, or the stems are woody enough when they get big that if they die, I have to go out and pull the remains anyway.  

The scourge of my front yard is Florida Betony.  One in the back yard is Dog Fennel.  It looks like very tall dillweed, but smells pungent (hence the 'dog' name--like in 'wet dog').  It's also hard to get the roots.  The other three that I battle each season are a type of elderberry (which can grow to a small tree size before you know it), Virginia Creeper and Pepper Vine.

[Sun-Bun]

Here's a random pet-peeve I experienced at several events this weekend that will likely make me sound like more of a pretentious snob than usual:

Hors d'oeuvres are often a very mixed bag. Your version of them are likely different than my version of them. At any rate, when an event mentions the inclusion of hors d'oeuvres, the usual expectation is one of elevated finger foods. Maybe something along the lines of say goat cheese toastpoints, BLT bites, peeled shrimp, ham sliders or chicken salad cups.

 

With that in mind, please understand, event organizers/party hosts:

 

Chips and dip/salsa are NOT hors d'oeuvres! Cheese cubes and crackers are NOT hors d'oeuvres! Bowls of pretzels and hummus/guacamole are NOT hors d'oeuvres! Dishes of candy/nuts are NOT hors d'oeuvres! Sliced deli meats are NOT hors d'oeuvres! 

Those are snacks. Or party bites. Or nibbles.

 

Please don't get it twisted. Because lord knows my panties were beyond twisted when I went to several paid charity events in which I dressed myself up expecting some lovely "hors d'oeuvres" as promised only to be digging through bowls of Chex Mix and chips like I'm stuck at a middle school mixer event. Don't even get me started on plastic cups of cheap wine either. Ugh...

[ennui]

1 hour ago, BooksRule said:

Pet peeve for today (and many other days):  Weeds!

Ants! It's an invasion!!

41 minutes ago, Sun-Bun said:

I went to several paid charity events in which I dressed myself up expecting some lovely "hors d'oeuvres" as promised

I think the key word is charity -- hopefully, if they do things on the cheap, more money went to the charity.

[StatisticalOutlier]

3 hours ago, Quof said:

I'm in Canada. So far less likely the person I tell to KNOCK IT OFF is packing heat. 

You know, I thought you were Canadian, but when you said you don't say "please," I decided I had to be wrong.

[Quof]

I only say "please" when I'm asking for something.  I'm not asking them to knock it off.  

[Sun-Bun]

54 minutes ago, ennui said:

Ants! It's an invasion!!

I think the key word is charity -- hopefully, if they do things on the cheap, more money went to the charity.

Oh I get it; not remotely disparaging the idea of charity. Never mind that these charity events are run by rich corporations with huge food donations/budgets. And I think for $150+ tickets that those donating for their attendance at these events deserve a bit more thought than chips and cold cut platters disguised as "hors d'oeuvres." 

But I've also seen non-charity events/parties that make this same snacks-disguised-as-hors d'oeuvres mistake. Just say snacks or bites, but don't act like those cold fish sticks being served are supposed to be just as elegant as caviar.

Edited June 11, 2017 by Sun-Bun

[PRgal]

1 hour ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

You know, I thought you were Canadian, but when you said you don't say "please," I decided I had to be wrong.

It's the "sorry" that you're after when you figure out someone is Canadian!! #sorrynotsorry :D :D :D

[StatisticalOutlier]

39 minutes ago, Quof said:

I only say "please" when I'm asking for something.  I'm not asking them to knock it off.  

Me, neither.  But I'm willing to let them think that in my opening salvo, in hopes of getting cooperation instead of a bullet in my face.

But you're right--if you say, "Can you please..." they can answer "No."  And it has happened to me, but it's just reactive belligerence and I can recall only once where the person said, "No" and meant it.

[DeLurker]

Being included in a group text that is purely social and includes people I don't know who engage in a terminal back & forth over inane crud.  

The offender was my brother so I refrained from the reply all response of I don't care about your cornbread recipe!  I did text my brother and asked him to drop me out of the group (can't once it is started).  He said he would leave me off of chitchatty ones in the future.

[AgentRXS]

So in addition to Comcast being a crappy company for customer service, their Field Technician drivers are the absolute worst as well. In the past 3 weeks, I've happened to be driving on the highway at the same time as one of their vehicles and each time, the driver was swerving in and out of the lanes, about to cause a wreck. EACH TIME I passed them, the driver had the phone 2 inches from their face. Not casually glancing down, but intently staring without paying attention to the road at all. I tried calling corporate (HA!) but they don't have a department for driving complaints. Its just a matter of time before one of these guys causes a major accident on the road. The one guy from about 2 weeks ago almost wiped out 2-3 cars and everyone around him was beeping to get his attention. Incredible.