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

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

What situation could cause a legislative body to care how long it takes to get customers through a drive-through?

I could envision a city enacting a requirement like that (for okaying a drive-through establishment) on traffic abatement grounds. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

55 minutes ago, Bastet said:

I could envision a city enacting a requirement like that (for okaying a drive-through establishment) on traffic abatement grounds. 

I can in theory, but I've never heard of it, and I can't think of how they would enforce it.  The "average" wait time.  Over what period of time is it calculated?  Who collects the data? 

[Bastet]

2 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

I can in theory, but I've never heard of it, and I can't think of how they would enforce it.  The "average" wait time.  Over what period of time is it calculated?  Who collects the data? 

Well, the establishment's computers would house that data, and the municipality could require annual reports, or the right to audit the data in the event traffic becomes an issue.  But I doubt most cities would bother with such detail; it would be more likely to have a general traffic clause, with any specific (e.g. average wait time) rules coming from the corporation (as its way of complying with the city's regulation).  (And I really can't imagine a state bothering to legislate such a detailed requirement applicable to all drive-thru establishments in the jurisdiction, but, I'm not going to hop on Westlaw to check, either.)

I've been skimming, so I don't even know what the peeve was that started this speculation.

My peeve for the day is me, choosing to read a story I knew full well was going to make me cry and put me in a contemplative mood that is not conducive to getting back to work just yet.  (Thus, I'm here, trying to give my brain a little break.)

[Moose135]

2 hours ago, Katy M said:

I don't have any cousins.  No first cousins anyway.  There's a pet peeve for you.  Every time the subject of cousins, or aunts and uncles come up, my best friend just goes on and on about how weird that is.  Two "only" children getting married and having kids is not that weird.  It can't be.

I'm the same - neither of my parents had siblings, so I don't have any first cousins.  My mother has a bunch - her mother's sister had about 8 kids, and they all had two or three kids each, so I've always called my mother's first cousins Aunt or Uncle, and always thought of their kids as my cousins - which I guess they are, but I could never figure out how second cousins or cousins-once-removed worked.

[Katy M]

6 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

which I guess they are, but I could never figure out how second cousins or cousins-once-removed worked.

You count up to the original siblings.  So, if your parents are the siblings, they are 1st cousins, your grandparents, then they are second cousins, great grandparents, third cousins, etc. If you're comparing yourself to someone of another generation, you count from the older generation, then you count the generation difference between the two of you and that is how many times you are removed.  So, your mother's cousins are your first cousins once removed, and their children are your second cousins.  I feel like I made that very confusing.  It's easier if you can draw the family tree to show it.

[FormerMod-a1]

You could always use these handy dandy charts.  :-)

 

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

I haven't learned the lock it up way of life.

Well, that's a sure-fire way to wind up on Investigation Discovery! Just about all the people on true-crime shows say at some point in their stories that "back then, no one ever locked their doors!"

Haha, I'm not scolding; it's just a thing I always notice. And I'm a lazy locker sometimes too.

Speaking of crime, here's a semantics thing that bugs me in the news: the use of "suspect" when "assailant" or "robber" or "gunman" or whatever should be used. For instance, if we are shown a video of a masked man snatching a purse, that man--regardless of whether we know who he is--is the thief, not a suspect. Or, say, a guy in a clown wig steals a bus full of passengers--that guy, whoever he is, is the highjacker, not a suspected highjacker. We don't need a name! I argued about this with an acquaintance on Facebook once; he started blabbing away about how everything was so PC now (because he's that kind of guy) that no one is allowed to say anything but "suspect." But that's just not true! I feel like this is hard to explain well...

Edited June 24, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[auntlada]

5 hours ago, Katy M said:

I don't have any cousins.  No first cousins anyway.  There's a pet peeve for you.  Every time the subject of cousins, or aunts and uncles come up, my best friend just goes on and on about how weird that is.  Two "only" children getting married and having kids is not that weird.  It can't be.

My best friend is an only child who married an only child. I am her children's aunt, and she is my son's aunt, even though he has biological aunts and uncles also. 

@TattleTeeny, I think it got started with an excess of caution and fear of lawsuits among the people in the media who hold the pursestrings, at least with the greater population. I don't know if law enforcement people talk that way. Possibly. They write reports full of jargon, and reporters rarely turn that into regular English any more. I think it is partly time constraints because newspapers don't have enough people to do the work and partly laziness and probably partly badly educated reporters, which I say as someone who used to supervise reporters and edit their stuff. Some were great. Others were not so great. A lot of the great ones now work in other, better paid fields.

[TattleTeeny]

Good point. I guess maybe, if I dig further, my peeve is that people think the word "perpetrator" is libelous even if there's no one's name attached, and thus no chance of false dragging an innocent through the mud?

A-ha, the late Bill Walsh explains it much better than I do!
http://theslot.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-suspect-word.html

Edited June 24, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[theredhead77]

On 6/22/2017 at 4:01 PM, ennui said:

Maybe they assumed you'd go along? Is it an extension of the party? Is this a situation where you wouldn't want to go, but you'd like to be asked anyway? 

Turns out it's her local bachlorette party (on top of the destination one she had). I don't know who planned it but I think I'm coming down with something and won't be able to make the shower.

[bilgistic]

2 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

Turns out it's her local bachlorette party (on top of the destination one she had). I don't know who planned it but I think I'm coming down with something and won't be able to make the shower.

Wait, she is having/had not only a shower but also two bachelorette parties? Is she an internet-famous person? I'm pretty sure I hate her, which is how I feel about most internet-famous people.

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

I don't know who planned it but I think I'm coming down with something and won't be able to make the shower.

Good for you; I, too, would be afflicted with an acute case of fuck you.

Because it doesn't matter who planned any of this shit (and, seriously, three [or four, really] gatherings on top of the wedding itself?!); they're about the bride, and, for this post-shower party bus thing, she knows who was unable to travel to the other party, so she should have made sure invitations were extended to those people.

[bilgistic]

I know we're currently in some version of Hell because of the existence of the "party bus".

[theredhead77]

2 hours ago, bilgistic said:

Wait, she is having/had not only a shower but also two bachelorette parties? Is she an internet-famous person? I'm pretty sure I hate her, which is how I feel about most internet-famous people.

No. She's not typically an "it's all about me" person either. I'm really not sure what is going on. 

 

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

Good for you; I, too, would be afflicted with an acute case of fuck you.

Because it doesn't matter who planned any of this shit (and, seriously, three [or four, really] gatherings on top of the wedding itself?!); they're about the bride, and, for this post-shower party bus thing, she knows who was unable to travel to the other party, so she should have made sure invitations were extended to those people.

To be fair, after another friends shower all the friends went out to our local bar and continued the party. Other than a couple of us knowing she wanted to go out there was no real plan and everyone was extended an invite at the shower.
I'm partially curious to see if I'll be invited to the other thing at the shower but I'm also pretty hurt. On one hand if I back out of the shower two friends will know why and it can potentially cause drama later (if it gets out why I bailed). On the other hand, I'm moving out of state in 2.5 months and don't really care.

[Bastet]

41 minutes ago, theredhead77 said:

On one hand if I back out of the shower two friends will know why and it can potentially cause drama later (if it gets out why I bailed).

Anyone more offended by that than by you being excluded from all but the gift-grab gathering is not anyone I'd worry about.

Edited June 24, 2017 by Bastet

[HoboClayton]

People who act like it's a life ruining event when they find out someone awful shares the same birthday as them. 

[Blergh]

7 hours ago, HoboClayton said:

People who act like it's a life ruining event when they find out someone awful shares the same birthday as them. 

I know- and it's ridiculous because, with 7 Billion people in the world and only 366 dates (Leap Days included), that means there are at least 20 million other folks out there sharing any birthday with maybe 5 million for Leap Days.

 

However; I've had the misfortune of meeting someone sharing my birthday decades ago who  I hope I never have to see or hear from again for the rest of my life. Let's leave it at that.

[janestclair]

Fuck everything about that. Stay home from the shower and anyone who has issue with it can also go fuck themselves.  Do something fun for yourself with the money you spent on her shower gift after you return it, too.

I hate people.

[TattleTeeny]

8 hours ago, HoboClayton said:

People who act like it's a life ruining event when they find out someone awful shares the same birthday as them. 

Haha, I am exactly 10 years to the day older than Paris Hilton. So what, who cares? (And where the hell is she lately, anyway? Whoops, I probably just summoned her--sorry!)

Quote

No. She's not typically an "it's all about me" person either. I'm really not sure what is going on. 

When my friend got married, the people handling his pre-wedding parties and outings were his "new" gang of friends, and we--his "old" gang of friends--always kind of had the idea that the newer ones were oddly possessive of both him and his fiancé. It turns out that a few of us were accidentally (or..."accidentally") left off the invite lists for some stuff. To be fair, they don't know us too well, and maybe in the interest of surprise events, felt that they couldn't ask the two grooms any questions without revealing plans. But, on the other hand, people who are getting married have some inkling that events are being planned for them. And in this age of Facebook, it's not that hard to "play detective" in a scenario like this (not to mention they had access to his family members, who would indeed know how to reach those of us who've known him for decades). To his credit, he was pretty pissed off about it, though no one seems to know for sure whether this was some kind of slight.

Edited June 24, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[walnutqueen]

1 hour ago, janestclair said:

I hate people.

Oooh, come sit by me - and my cat(s).  :-)

Me?  I've got too many pet peeves to enumerate.  Apparently I AM a bitter old bitch.  :-)

[Moose135]

I know a number of people who share a birthday with me - it's today, by the way!  So far, none of them are people I feel bad about.  They include three FB friends, the husband of a former coworker, and a little kid (well, he's not so little now) that I met while out to dinner - about 20 years ago, the wife and I were out for dinner on my birthday, some TGI Friday kind of place.  After dinner, I went to the mens' room, and this little kid, not more than 5 or 6, was coming out.  He said to me "Today's my birthday!"  I said "Happy Birthday! It's my birthday too!"  He just looked at me funny and went back to his table, certain that I couldn't be telling the truth, since it was his birthday, not mine.

[TattleTeeny]

Happy, happy birthday!

[walnutqueen]

6 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

I know a number of people who share a birthday with me - it's today, by the way!  So far, none of them are people I feel bad about.  They include three FB friends, the husband of a former coworker, and a little kid (well, he's not so little now) that I met while out to dinner - about 20 years ago, the wife and I were out for dinner on my birthday, some TGI Friday kind of place.  After dinner, I went to the mens' room, and this little kid, not more than 5 or 6, was coming out.  He said to me "Today's my birthday!"  I said "Happy Birthday! It's my birthday too!"  He just looked at me funny and went back to his table, certain that I couldn't be telling the truth, since it was his birthday, not mine.

Well, Happy effin' Birthday to You, Moosie!  ;-)

[Moose135]

Just now, walnutqueen said:

Well, Happy effin' Birthday to You, Moosie!  ;-)

Thank you!

[AgentRXS]

Quote

People who act like it's a life ruining event when they find out someone awful shares the same birthday as them. 

 I think I've only met one or two other people with my birthday IRL. As far as crazy-possibly awful celebrities go, I happen to share a birthday with Mike Tyson, heh (he's been around longer though).

Happy birthday Moosie, my fellow Cancerian!

Edited June 24, 2017 by AgentRXS

[walnutqueen]

39 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

Thank you!

You are ever so welcome, and many happy returns.  Sincerely.

[bilgistic]

Happy birthday, @Moose135, my fellow water sign!

I'm proud to share my birthday with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

[Blergh]

No Pet Peeve here but just wishing you a Happy Birthday, Moose! Hope it's a good one.

[harrie]

Happy birthday to you, @Moose135! Enjoy your day.  

[MargeGunderson]

2 hours ago, walnutqueen said:

Oooh, come sit by me - and my cat(s).  :-)

Me?  I've got too many pet peeves to enumerate.  Apparently I AM a bitter old bitch.  :-)

Mom?  

(I kid, I kid!) 

@Moose135, many happy returns of the day! 

[Quof]

Quote

I had a Fourth of July baby. I always told him that all the fireworks were for him.

My brother, the Little Prince I have referred to on the F'ed Up Family thread, was born on Canada Day.   He was way older than he should have been when he realized the fireworks weren't for him. Because that's just the type of thing my mother would have done to celebrate the birth of the Greatest Human Who Ever Lived. 

[DeLurker]

Happy Birthday @Moose135!

I'm almost compelled to go get a cake (Carvel ice cream cake) to celebrate in your honor.  When I lived away from all my family, I used to get Carvel cakes on their birthdays, send them a picture and have cake too.  I saw no reason why I should be deprived cake on their birthday just because of a couple thousand miles.  My kids were very much in favor of this idea.

[walnutqueen]

38 minutes ago, MargeGunderson said:

Mom?  

(I kid, I kid!

No, but I learned just enough in my lifetime to approximate a kind and caring motherly persona - will that do for you?  ;-D

 

31 minutes ago, Quof said:

My brother, the Little Prince I have referred to on the F'ed Up Family thread, was born on Canada Day.   He was way older than he should have been when he realized the fireworks weren't for him. Because that's just the type of thing my mother would have done to celebrate the birth of the Greatest Human Who Ever Lived. 

Frikkin' Canda Day, eh!?!  Sometimes I feel like the only SoCalifornian missing good Canadian beer on that date.  Le sigh.

 

ETA - don't even get me started on the POS formerly know as The Little Prince (aka my half brother).  He broke my Mum's heart, and I will NEVER forgive or forget. (And I thought breaking his daughter's heart was the worst thing he ever did).

Edited June 24, 2017 by walnutqueen

[Quof]

We turn 150 next week; come on up!

[TattleTeeny]

You know what I find peevey? Posts on Facebook by companies or organizations (as opposed to individuals) using "I" and "me" and "my" instead of "we" and "us"--for instance, "I don't know how I ever lived without this in my closet!" or "I love pie!" I get that one person is likely charged with making the post but when I read it, I'm thinking, "Just who the hell is saying this?" Drives me nuts at work too; my company has a FB page and also item descriptions and blogs on the company website, and the majority are written--sans byline--using first-person singular. And I get that, today, a casual, relatable style is sometimes the goal, but who is "talking"?!

[ennui]

On 6/24/2017 at 7:16 AM, janestclair said:

I hate people.

Right this moment, I am hating unsupervised children. "Get away from my car!" since I don't have a lawn.

My other pet peeve is with myself, and the time I spend on the computer when I have chores. 

Edited June 25, 2017 by ennui

[Quof]

OK, ladies (and perhaps the men, but I doubt you're interested).  I have realized that a woman of a certain age really shouldn't wear shorts except working in the yard or engaged in sports.  I have some tailored, knee length shorts that I will wear running errands, but I am looking for something suitable for a European city vacation.   Do you know that it is practically impossible to find a straight, casual, knee length skirt - khaki cotton or maybe denim?  But there are lots and lots of skorts or "scooters" available. The hell?  I recall buying a friend's baby a little denim skirt with attached diaper cover panty.  That's what skorts remind me of. 

[BooksRule]

Quote

My other pet peeve is with myself, and the time I spend on the computer when I have chores.

Me, too.  I recently discovered the site jigsawplanet and have spent way too many hours working on jigsaw puzzles.  I'm going to get carpal tunnel from using the mouse way too much.  

Speaking of computers, a pet peeve is when technology doesn't work the way it should.  I'm always a little behind on the latest technology, and still keep my personal files on a research project I'm working on saved on a jump drive.  (I do e-mail a copy to myself when I make major changes in the spreadsheet).  I got ready to work on it this morning and no files would open.  I thought it was the clunky old laptop (from work) that I was using, but another jump drive worked okay.  So, I immediately went to my 'main' computer (the laptop isn't connected to the internet), tried the jump drive a few times until it finally worked and e-mailed the latest version of the most important files to myself.  I'm now using a newer, better jump drive (and will periodically backup the files to my work computer--which does automatically file saving).  Also, when I tried to use my computer a few minutes ago, Chrome will no longer open.  I don't know if it's related to the Windows update that happened a couple of days ago (I hate those--something always disappears or stops working when I update), but if so why would it wait to happen now?  Anyway, I'm using Edge for now.  I don't really care, as long as I can get online, but it's a pain when I'm used to something and I have to change.  (I'm set in my ways and hate change.)

Edited June 25, 2017 by BooksRule

[theredhead77]

2 hours ago, Quof said:

OK, ladies (and perhaps the men, but I doubt you're interested).  I have realized that a woman of a certain age really shouldn't wear shorts except working in the yard or engaged in sports.  I have some tailored, knee length shorts that I will wear running errands, but I am looking for something suitable for a European city vacation.   Do you know that it is practically impossible to find a straight, casual, knee length skirt - khaki cotton or maybe denim?  But there are lots and lots of skorts or "scooters" available. The hell?  I recall buying a friend's baby a little denim skirt with attached diaper cover panty.  That's what skorts remind me of. 

Wear whatever the fuck you want. If you like shorts wear shorts.

Update on the shower! I went to the shower, spent the normal amount I'd spend on a gift on the gift. Everyone was talking about "the bus" and I was really bummed out, so I feigned a headache to leave gracefully. As I was leaving the MoH asked if I was going to make the bus later and I told her I only learned about it today, that I wasn't invited. She said everyone invited to the shower was invited and she has no idea I wasn't on the invite. I have no reason to doubt her, especially after talking with her husband and he said that I was invited to the more exclusive event (the shower) and to not be invited to the after party didn't make any sense. So I went and had a blast. Made out with a cute guy too. Go me!

[Quof]

I "like" shorts for working in the yard or running errands around town.  I don't like them, nor do I think they're appropriate for a European city vacation.  A girl's gotta have some standards, and one of them is not looking like a North American tourist.   Next you'll suggest I wear white sneakers and a fanny pack : )

[walnutqueen]

32 minutes ago, Quof said:

I "like" shorts for working in the yard or running errands around town.  I don't like them, nor do I think they're appropriate for a European city vacation.  A girl's gotta have some standards, and one of them is not looking like a North American tourist.   Next you'll suggest I wear white sneakers and a fanny pack : )

I hate to break it to you, but Europeans will probably recognize your touristy American ass with or without effing shorts, so you may as well be comfortable whilst walking their streets.

Sensible walking shoes have no shame (white or not), and fanny packs are best worn backwards (i.e., with the pack huggin' your old tum-tum to deter pickpockets & lowlife thieves).

Dress for dinner at a fancy restaurant, if you must - ooh, and report back to us here on all your adventures, please.    :-D

[TattleTeeny]

I'm right now wearing beat-up, faded, cut-off-at-mid-thigh jean shorts that I've had since I was of the age that such things were OK. I am pretty sure I'd wear them to a European vacation...provided it was not winter (and possibly provided I've shaved--but whatever to that part)! I have no qualms about looking like a tourist, North American or otherwise, as that is what I'd actually be, should I ever be lucky enough. I like my standards.

I'm also partial to long, floaty skirts and dresses in summer--maybe that kind of thing would be a good, easy kind of "walking about the city" attire? 

Edited June 25, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[Quof]

There will be no fanny pack, nor backpack, just a regular crossbody handbag that I might use at home.  And my "sensible walking shoes" are not white, nor do they look like sneakers.  I walk an average of 10 miles a day in my urban vacations, and manage to do it without looking like I am in a seniors mall-walking group in suburbia.   Trust me, it makes a difference in how the locals treat you.

[walnutqueen]

13 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

I'm right now wearing beat-up, faded, cut-off-at-mid-thigh jean shorts that I've had since I was of the age that such things were OK. I am pretty sure I'd wear them to a European vacation...provided it was not winter (and possibly provided I've shaved--but whatever to that part)! I have no qualms about looking like a tourist, North American or otherwise, as that is what I'd actually be, should I ever be lucky enough. I like my standards.

I'm also partial to long, floaty skirts and dresses in summer--maybe that kind of thing would be a good, easy kind of "walking about the city" attire? 

Those floaty long skirts pack well - if they're the ones you can twist & roll, and are made to look all wrinkly.  They were my go-to decency wear, back when I still had a single fuck to give (and no leg shaving required!!!)   :-)

[TattleTeeny]

Cross-body bags (haha, that sounded funny--like an actual bodybag emblazoned with a cross) are a godsend. I like being hands-free when I walk around. Mine's an old military surplus messenger bag though, so don't go by me; the urban Europe folk might frown on that? Who knows? And who cares if they do?

If locals treat me in any way based solely on my attire--or, worse, on my age while I am clad in said attire (because what good is getting older if you don't do whatever the hell you want to do in matters like this?)--the locals (and anyone else who is so superficially judgmental, for that matter) can suck it. If someone wants to look like a mall-walking senior from--heaven forfend!--suburbia, and isn't disrespecting the venue, more power to him/her. Who gives a shit? Don't get me wrong, I love clothing (probably too much) but I'm not getting dressed for you (the royal you, not you-you); what the locals see me wear on some "urban vacation" is exactly what they'd see me wear here.

 

Quote

Those floaty long skirts pack well - if they're the ones you can twist & roll, and are made to look all wrinkly.  They were my go-to decency wear, back when I still had a single fuck to give (and no leg shaving required!!!)   :-)

I like the way you think! Plus, hippie-esque skirts are so easy to coordinate with all kinds of tops, from old battered band T-shirts to basic tank tops to some kind of equally floaty thing to a baggy cardigan. And if they're vintage '70s with the higher waist, they make crop-tops much less scary, haha!

Edited June 25, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[BooksRule]

Well, I finally got google chrome to reinstall (I hope I don't jinx it by saying this).  I know that searching is searching, but I like to use what I'm used to using.  I guess I'm just getting older and am now set in my ways.  

Jumping into the shorts or no shorts conversation, I wear shorts around the house and when working in the yard.  I don't feel comfortable enough to wear them away from the house, but I might if I had some nice ones that were almost knee-length.  If I were going to Europe, I would be fine with wearing longer shorts (no Daisy Dukes, for example) and would feel perfectly comfortable as long as I was dressed neat and clean (not sloppy).  I would also remind myself that I'm not likely to see any of the people I come in contact with over there ever again, so I don't really care if they think I'm under dressed (although I would dress nicer for dinner and other places where you would be expected to avoid wearing shorts).   

[annzeepark914]

I've found knee-length cotton skirts at Talbots.  With a nice cotton t-shirt and some type of cardigan I'd think that would pass as decent attire for a tourist.  I prefer cropped pants, t-shirts and the LL Bean fitness jackets when on vacation, here or in Europe (complete with my dark gray New Balance sneakers for walking!)  We're quiet people but "they" always know we're from the US (except for some Swedes and Norwegians, once, who thought I was one of them :>)

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

Well, I finally got google chrome to reinstall (I hope I don't jinx it by saying this).  I know that searching is searching, but I like to use what I'm used to using.  I guess I'm just getting older and am now set in my ways.  

I just had to install Chrome even though I have always used Safari--and the reason for this is peevish as hell! All of a sudden, Optimum e-mail just quit allowing attachments through Safari, just out of the blue! When I contacted its CS department, the lady said I had to try a new browser. I'm no computer genius or anything, but it kind of seems like a simple attachment should be no problem in 2017, regardless of browser.

Edited June 25, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[Quof]

It's all well and good to say people shouldn't judge you by your appearance.  Just the same as saying we should be able to leave our cars unlocked and people will just leave our valuables alone.

But that's not how the world works.

It takes an extra minute of my day to give a damn about my appearance (but for this damn search for a skirt), and it makes a world of difference.  

[TattleTeeny]

I do give a damn about my appearance; I just don't care if you don't like it. It makes no difference to me. I think everyone should wear whatever they want, and that goes for people who are concerned with the opinions of irrelevant onlookers. The bottom line is that the wearer of the stuff is happy with it, which, again, goes for everybody. If you don't like, say, shorts on vacation, you should by no means wear them. But who cares if others do? The world doesn't work or not work because I'm wearing cut-off jeans from 1993.

As far as your skirt dilemma though, I hear that. I feel like it's almost impossible to find something specific at the time you want it--even if it seems like a fairly standard, always in-style item (plain black cardigan!).

Edited June 26, 2017 by TattleTeeny