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

[Quof]

'kay, Maharincess, that's truly weird. 

 

What food shouldn't have butter on it????

[harrie]

I, for one, don't like butter on my  veggies, so I totally get the butter border thing.  My dad liked his veggies swimming in butter so that's how my mom prepared them, and I hated it.  I finally convinced her to let me take my portion out before the butter went in - probably because it meant I'd actually eat my vegetables.

 

ETA:  I illustrated an example of the inverse butter border theory, in that I want the butter off the vegs, not on, which I guess would be the normal way to go about things.

Edited July 1, 2015 by harrie

[Qoass]

Maharincess is not weird.

 

As long as she knows you eat the protein then the vegetable then the starch.

[DeLurker]

Sadly, I always win in the game of "My ex is worse than your ex"...some of the smaller stuff is actually quite funny.  Like when he got very upset because I was not making the taco meat right.  The packet said to brown the beef, add the water, add the seasoning packet and stir.  I let him lose his shit for about 5 minites on this before I explained I browned the beef, add the seasoning packet and stir to get a uniform distribution of seasoning so it doesn't get clumpy, then add the water.  To which he said "Oh...that makes sense".  Or the time we were visiting his Mom for Christmas and were supposed to go look at Christmas lights.  The two could not agree who should drive (they both wanted to because each hates how the other drives), heated battled over driving follows, excursion is eventually cancelled. Or the time....

 

And for the record, I prefer most foods separate.  Some of them can be touching, but I do put a lot of things in separate dishes or bowls.  Rice always needs to be in a separate bowl at home. 

 

I've gotten more flexible as I've gotten older - I can now actually eat mashed potatoes and gravy in the same bowl!  But when I was a kid it was much worse.  My brothers used to torture me by mixing their vegetables in the mashed potatoes and gravy, stir it all up and eating a bite that had everything all at once.  Just seeing that was enough to push me to the edge.

 

Current peeve - the parking lots in my area are not set out in grid patterns.  They have fancy curves to the roadway and irregular end spots.  That makes trying to pullout hard because you are often can't see cars coming along the curved pathway.

[Quof]

Sadly, I always win in the game of "My ex is worse than your ex"...

 

Challenge accepted:   Picture this.   You're in a bagel shop, he orders a bagel with cream cheese. The server slices bagel, toasts, spreads, then puts the two halves together to put in the bag.   A grown man, in a toddler voice, whines "Well now you put them togetherrrrrr..."

 

And if you'd care to move on from dates with weird food issues, to dates with all kinds of weird issues.. Well, how long have you got?

[bilgistic]

Challenge accepted:   Picture this.   You're in a bagel shop, he orders a bagel with cream cheese. The server slices bagel, toasts, spreads, then puts the two halves together to put in the bag.   A grown man, in a toddler voice, whines "Well now you put them togetherrrrrr..."

To be fair, I'd be pissed if 1) the bagel clerk toasted my bagel (I don't like them toasted (when they are fresh) but they always do it even after I say DON'T TOAST IT), 2) schmeared it (I can spread my own bagel, thanks), and 3) put the schmeared bagel halves together! Blasphemy! When you take them apart, the schmear ratio won't be equal! I wouldn't say something in a stupid voice, though; I'd say in an adult voice to redo my bagel. Just slice it and give me the damn cream cheese on the side like a sane human being.

[Quof]

Oh, no, he wanted it toasted, with cream cheese, to go.  Not sure how he thought it would go in the bag if the two pieces weren't put together.

[Bastet]

I'm like that. I don't like my food touching on my plate. I don't mind ice cream sundaes and things that are supposed to go together but if I'm having 3 separate things I don't want them touching.

 

I'm the same way.  And I really don't want hot food touching cold or, worst of all, sauce touching anything other than the item it goes with.

 

He wouldn't last long with me because my favorite thing to do is put all my food in a certain bowl and either mix it all up or put each thing on the spoon at the same time.

 

I'm twitching just reading that.

[glowlights]

Sadly, I always win in the game of "My ex is worse than your ex"...some of the smaller stuff is actually quite funny.  Like when he got very upset because I was not making the taco meat right.  The packet said to brown the beef, add the water, add the seasoning packet and stir.  I let him lose his shit for about 5 minites on this before I explained I browned the beef, add the seasoning packet and stir to get a uniform distribution of seasoning so it doesn't get clumpy, then add the water.  To which he said "Oh...that makes sense".

 

Holy crap, do we share the same ex? Mine used to flip out that I was not boiling the pasta at EXACTLY the correct level, among other control freak behavior. (And sandwiches had to be assembled JUST SO or else a meltdown would ensue.)

[Quof]

Holy crap, do we share the same ex? Mine used to flip out that I was not boiling the pasta at EXACTLY the correct level, among other control freak behavior.

My next entry in this sad contest:

 

We were having dinner guests, he wanted to serve baby carrots but forgot to buy them.  So he thought I should just take regular carrots and whittle them down to look like baby carrots.   I took out a plate onto which to peel the carrots.  He flipped out - why would I do that? Why would I dirty a dish?  Surely I could just stand over an open garbage can while I peeled and whittled the carrots.     Surely the smell of garbage wouldn't be unpleasant, would it? 

[DeLurker]

This should probably go in the "family" topic, but it kind of fits here. When I was in collage, I brought a few friends home for the weekend. Mom fixed waffles for breakfast (our Saturday tradition) and Dad decided to conduct a class on how to cut the waffles along the lines. Yep, I was embarrassed, but my friends found it adorable.ll also confess to pretty much eating all of one item before moving on to the next. Oh, and I rarely drink anything with my meal.

I find Dad kind of adorable from this story!  I'll migrate "How My Dad Embarassed College Aged Me" to family

[topanga]

Hoo boy, I am peeved today. Hail, fellow peevees.

 

Today's peeve (actually it has been going on for months now but today I am ready to explode) pertains to the way certain personality types require "validation" and "recognition" for their "efforts" every time they simply show up for something or, oh let's say, squeeze out a half-baked, typo-riddled, one paragraph so-called report. I guess their mommies and daddies gave out a participation medal and ticker-tape parade everytime these people farted. I swear to god the next time I see/hear a self-righteous "thank you for the validation, I wish everyone knew how important it is to recognize efforts" complete with quivering lip and a wee tear? Ugh. Recognition is EARNED, people. And validation is for parking tickets.

Are you talking about my mother? You must be. LOL.

 

I don't know if she didn't get recognition for things when she was growing up, or maybe I was an abnormally ungrateful child. But with me, my mother wants to be acknowledged/thanked for everything she does. When she first moved to my city, she lived with us for two months. When I would come home from work, I'd hear things like, There were dirty dishes in the sink, so I washed them." Thank you! Or "There was something sticky on your counter, so I wiped it off." Okay... Thank you? Or maybe she was she waiting for me to say something juicy like, "Oh, my bad. That was Cory's jiz. Next time, we'll be sure to clean up after ourselves."

 

Or when she would babysit the kids (which, thank you for real!), "Cory" and I would come home from a date, and she'd tell me that the baby peed, so she changed his diaper. Really? She needed to be acknowledged for that? He didn't have a bladder infection, he wasn't dehydrated, and we weren't keeping track of his dirty diapers.

 

And even now, when she does something nice for the boys, she tells me about it when she's planning it, when she's about to do it, and immediately after she does it. I've raised my children to thank people for their gifts, so that's not the issue. She doesn't care if they thank her, but she wants me to thank her--repeatedly.

 

What's her deal?

[BW Manilowe]

OK... I have another Pet Peeve. But only others here on Twitter, or other social media, might relate. Especially if they follow a number of currently-popular celebs, as I do.

It drives me crazy when I get a Tweet, or other social media post (or even an Email from the celebrity's "people"), from a celebrity's social media account advising their followers (who are presumably fans) to watch their interview on Entertainment Tonight, Extra, The Insider, Access Hollywood, etc. that night at a specific time, or on a specific local station or even a specific network!

It drives me so nuts because I, at least, have taken the trouble (probably because, among other things, I got my college degree in Radio-TV-Film, aka Mass Communications) to understand that the shows mentioned in these Tweets/social media posts are syndicated. Meaning that they don't air on the same network, or at the same time, all across the country like a network TV show does. So watching them is a "Check local listings for your correct time & channel" thing; not a "CBS, Friday nights at 9PM Eastern/8PM Central" thing (if you're watching something like Hawaii Five-0, for example). So a celeb's Tweet/social media post should really say something like, "Watch me on (show) on (day/date). Check local listings for time/channel".

If I, a mere "average" TV viewer, can know this why can't the people who usually post this stuff for the celebrity involved (or the celebrity themselves, when they post their own stuff... & some do) know this--or be advised of it by someone with the show involved--too?

I say/ask this only because giving inaccurate information about the time, or anything else, when an interview airs basically screws the celebrity's fans out of watching it & perhaps missing "big" news in the fandom, like the announcement of a new CD or home video release--or even an initial performance of a/some new song(s)/an initial airing of a new video clip--or the announcement of a new tour (unless the viewer/fan is smart enough to think/know the information given isn't right for their local market & they doublecheck their local TV schedules in time to see the interview).

And missing stuff like that, honestly, tends to piss at least some of the celebrity's fans off. Yeah, those into the Internet can, soon thereafter, find this info on the celeb's website &/or social media pages, etc., but most fans also like to watch their celebs in as many interviews as possible... & get any "big" announcement as soon as it's announced.

So that's why, on behalf of my fellow fans, Tweets/social media posts like that by celeb accounts are a Pet Peeve of mine.

[Proclone]

Speaking of food pet peeves, I really wish my co-workers would stop trying to force me to eat food they brought in.  I work nights and since we don't have a cafeteria, so everyone has to bring their lunch/diner/breakfast (whatever you want to call, we haven't decided which meal it actually is) and quite often people will bring in a dish for everyone to share.  I appreciate it.  I bring stuff in on occasion as well.  What ticks me off is when they try to force me to eat it.  I admit to being a picky eater, but I don't think I'm a jerk about it.  If someone brings in something I don't like I thank them for bringing it in, but say no thank you when they offer it to me.  For some reason this seems to offend quite a few people I work with and and they start to insist I try it.

 

Look people, I know what I like and I know what I don't like.  And quite frankly 90% of my issues with food have nothing to do with the taste of it and everything to do with the texture.  There are just certain textures of food I can't have in my mouth without making me involuntarily gag.  There are actually foods that I love the taste of that I just can't eat, or can't eat in certain forms.  I for example love anything orange flavored, and orange juice (without pulp), I cannot however stand to bite into an orange wedge.  So, yes dear people I work with, I know I won't like what you brought in without tasting it because I have eyes and can tell you the texture is just something I can't stand.

 

Even worse is than the people who just insist I try it, are the people who decided to get me a serving of what they brought in and plop on my desk in front of me without asking if I'd like some.  I hate wasting food, but 9 times out of 10 I wind up having to sneak and throw it out while the person who brought isn't looking.  I had one co-worker who was especially bad about this, and she often brought in strange ethnic foods (I appreciate the thought and her trying to share her culture, but she really needed understand that not everything she brought in was going to be everyone's cup of tea), including strange hot pudding that resembled baby poop and what I like to call chex mix from hell, which looked very much like cat treats with the inclusion of whole dried fish of some kind (they still had the heads on!).  She would never ask she would always just bring me a bowel.  It used to drive me crazy.

Edited July 1, 2015 by Proclone

[bilgistic]

My next entry in this sad contest:

 

We were having dinner guests, he wanted to serve baby carrots but forgot to buy them.  So he thought I should just take regular carrots and whittle them down to look like baby carrots.   I took out a plate onto which to peel the carrots.  He flipped out - why would I do that? Why would I dirty a dish?  Surely I could just stand over an open garbage can while I peeled and whittled the carrots.     Surely the smell of garbage wouldn't be unpleasant, would it? 

"Baby carrots" are regular carrots whittled down to look like baby carrots. I learned that on one of those "How Do They Make That" or "Unwrapped" shows.

[topanga]

 

(I appreciate the thought and her trying to share her culture, but she really needed understand that not everything she brought in was going to be everyone's cup of tea), including strange hot pudding that resembled baby poop and what I like to call chex mix from hell, which looked very much like cat treats with the inclusion of whole dried fish of some kind (they still had the heads on!)

Bwah! Are you a writer, Proclone?

Because you just created some the most vivid--and hilarious--visual descriptions I have ever read. Thanks for the laugh. I needed it this afternoon.

[Quof]

"Baby carrots" are regular carrots whittled down to look like baby carrots.

Oh, I know, and if I want to eat them in that form, I will buy them in that form.   I didn't appreciate being conscripted into being the scullery maid.  It's not like I was carving radish roses, for which I would have been heaped with praise.  The idea was to fool the guests. 

[Proclone]

Bwah! Are you a writer, Proclone?

Because you just created some the most vivid--and hilarious--visual descriptions I have ever read. Thanks for the laugh. I needed it this afternoon.

 

I am not (I actually just finished up my nursing degree) but thank you.  I'm glad I gave you a laugh.

[Bastet]

My favorite description was inadvertent:

 

She would never ask she would always just bring me a bowel.

 

I had a friend who roomed with me for almost two years after college, and she was the pickiest eater I have ever encountered.  (If she hasn't succumbed to malnutrition by now, I'll be impressed.)  It would sometimes annoy me to watch her eat the same half dozen things over and over again, and it certainly boggled my mind.  But it would never have occurred to me to try and persuade her to eat something different, or plop some of my food down in front of her.  Whatever her reasons, she obviously knew what she did and did not want to eat.  Nothing I did would change that, so why would I bother?  Plus, it would be rude -- I wouldn't want her waving one of her nasty pre-made chicken tenders dipped in ketchup in front of me and insisting I try it.

[Proclone]

My favorite description was inadvertent:

 

 

I had a friend who roomed with me for almost two years after college, and she was the pickiest eater I have ever encountered.  (If she hasn't succumbed to malnutrition by now, I'll be impressed.)  It would sometimes annoy me to watch her eat the same half dozen things over and over again, and it certainly boggled my mind.  But it would never have occurred to me to try and persuade her to eat something different, or plop some of my food down in front of her.  Whatever her reasons, she obviously knew what she did and did not want to eat.  Nothing I did would change that, so why would I bother?  Plus, it would be rude -- I wouldn't want her waving one of her nasty pre-made chicken tenders dipped in ketchup in front of me and insisting I try it.

 

To be fair to my co-worker, she did it to everyone.  She wasn't singling me out because I'm a picky eater, she never asked anyone if they'd like some she'd just give you a serving whether you wanted it or not.  And while reviews were mixed on the pudding that resembled baby poop. I was actually able to pawn my bowel off on another co-worker, but he was rather known for eating anything and then spending the rest of the shift moaning about how he shouldn't have eaten so much. Everyone's reaction to the chex mix from hell was pretty much the same though, "Oh my god, there are little fish in this and the fish still have their heads on!"  She also used to bring me cups of tea without asking even though I'm not much of a tea drinker.  I don't really dislike it (I usually can't get it strong enough), but it was still kind of annoying.

Edited July 1, 2015 by Proclone

[pandora spocks]

No! No! No! Oh, hell no! I saw a promo for "Home and Family" on the Hallmark Channel where they're threatening--I mean, promising-- to have a show about Christmas tips in early July. It's gotten so frackin' ridiculous how businesses try to push the holidays months before they're due.

It's enough to make me want to hide in a cave until January 2!

[auntlada]

My next entry in this sad contest:

 

We were having dinner guests, he wanted to serve baby carrots but forgot to buy them.  So he thought I should just take regular carrots and whittle them down to look like baby carrots.   I took out a plate onto which to peel the carrots.  He flipped out - why would I do that? Why would I dirty a dish?  Surely I could just stand over an open garbage can while I peeled and whittled the carrots.     Surely the smell of garbage wouldn't be unpleasant, would it? 

 

While I understand the thought about why dirty a dish, I wouldn't flip out about it. I might or might not say anything, depending on who has to wash the dishes. If I have to wash them, then I'd appreciate not using a dish for peeling the carrots, although you'd still need a cutting board to cut them. If you are going to wash the dishes, you use as many as you want. (We don't have a dishwasher, so washing dishes is a more laborious job.) I would use a cutting board to cut them, but I always peel vegetables over paper towels so that when I'm done, I can just wrap them up and throw them out easily. This doesn't work if you object to using more paper or if you compose. I don't do either. Either way, a cutting board is still getting dirty.

 

And count me in with the people who don't like food to touch, although I'm OK with food that goes together, like mashed potatoes and gravy or spaghetti and spaghetti sauce. I really like divided plates.

 

Until college, when people pointed it out and thought it was funny, I ate one thing at a time. I got everything on my plate at once, but I ate through all my meat, for example, before eating the vegetable, and so on. I'd never realized it until my friends laughed about it. I'm told my great-grandfather would put only one thing at a time on his plate.

[bilgistic]

It has always bothered me since learning about the Great Carrot Lie, because I don't like "regular" carrots. I don't mind "baby" carrots--I don't buy them, but I'll eat them from a plate of crudites.

Cooked carrots are an abomination.

[topanga]

 

Cooked carrots are an abomination.

One year at Thanksgiving, my mother put a dish of stewed carrots on the table, and my 6-year old nephew crossed his arms and exclaimed, "I hate warm carrots!" My family jokes about that Thanksgiving to this day--and my nephew is now 21.

[BW Manilowe]

No! No! No! Oh, hell no! I saw a promo for "Home and Family" on the Hallmark Channel where they're threatening--I mean, promising-- to have a show about Christmas tips in early July. It's gotten so frackin' ridiculous how businesses try to push the holidays months before they're due.

It's enough to make me want to hide in a cave until January 2!

And at least QVC home shopping network also does a big "Christmas in July" thing on at least July 1st each year, if not other times during the month.

[ramble]

I can handle the separated food thing if a person can be reasonable about it, or fix their own food, but the ex would demand replacement green beans if they bumped the steak, etc. I find that over the top. My ex was only weird in a few odd ways, mainly he was just mean & a cheating pig. For instance, he made fun of me while I was pregnant & got furious when I had morning sickness. What a peach!

An additional ex pet peeve is about my former MIL. In hindsight she never liked me because I didn't grovel. All the other spouses kissed the ring to stay in her good graces & not risk the inheritance. The kids were all waiting for her to die so they could get their hands on the money. They still are in fact, which amuses me. Once she realized I wouldn't dance when she demanded she would intentionally fix food I hated during the mandatory family dinners. She'd ask if I liked something & if I said I didn't particularly care for it (because my mom was big on us saying "I don't care for any" as opposed to I don't like it when we were offered something we didn't like) low & behold it would show up at the next meal. "Oh Ramble I forgot you don't care for this." Giggle giggle. After the second time I figured it out but tested it a third time to be sure. After that I lied. It's my Lifetime movie title, My Ex Mother In Law Turned Me Into A Liar.

*quiet voice* I love carrots: raw, cooked, baby, whole, they're all yummy to me.

[bmasters9]

*quiet voice* I love carrots: raw, cooked, baby, whole, they're all yummy to me.

You're not alone-- I love carrots too. 

[Qoass]

 

 

No! No! No! Oh, hell no! I saw a promo for "Home and Family" on the Hallmark Channel where they're threatening--I mean, promising-- to have a show about Christmas tips in early July. It's gotten so frackin' ridiculous how businesses try to push the holidays months before they're due.

It's enough to make me want to hide in a cave until January 2!

 

Aw, don't worry about it.  There's a war on Christmas, don'tcha know, so the godless pagans should have it eliminated by Labor Day.

[DeLurker]

Cooked carrots are an abomination.

I would have agreed with you until one Thanksgiving I had a horribly deformed turkey that was so lopsided in the roasting pan I peeled and shoved a couple of whole carrots underneath to make it look better.  After cooking for hours and sitting in all that wonderful turkey runoff, they actually smelled pretty good.  I took a taste and it was so good.  Every turkey since has a couple of carrots thrown in the pan.  They are a bit unsightly, but so very good.  I still dislike cooked carrots in every other form.

 

Are you talking about my mother? You must be. LOL.

 

I don't know if she didn't get recognition for things when she was growing up, or maybe I was an abnormally ungrateful child. But with me, my mother wants to be acknowledged/thanked for everything she does.

<SNIP>

What's her deal?

Was she always like this with you?  And does she thank you for everything you do?

 

It might just be as she gets older she still needs to feel validation (and has less sources of it) and like she is still taking care of her child.  I can see where it would get trying though.

 

Speaking of food pet peeves, I really wish my co-workers would stop trying to force me to eat food they brought in.  I work nights and since we don't have a cafeteria, so everyone has to bring their lunch/diner/breakfast (whatever you want to call, we haven't decided which meal it actually is) and quite often people will bring in a dish for everyone to share.  I appreciate it.  I bring stuff in on occasion as well.  What ticks me off is when they try to force me to eat it.  I admit to being a picky eater, but I don't think I'm a jerk about it.  If someone brings in something I don't like I thank them for bringing it in, but say no thank you when they offer it to me.  For some reason this seems to offend quite a few people I work with and and they start to insist I try it.

You shouldn't have to lie, but I'd probably go with just saying "I've been having some food sensitivies so I need to be careful with what I eat, but thank you anyway".  If they push on "sensitivities" say you'd prefer not to discuss it.

 

Since the one co-worker seems to force food on everyone, I would probably be a bit more direct with her and just say "I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I really don't care to try any.  Thank you though".

 

Or let HR know what is going on and ask them to address it.  It may seem like a minor thing in the workplace, but it impacts co-worker relations unnecessarily.

[Quof]

I don't know if she didn't get recognition for things when she was growing up, or maybe I was an abnormally ungrateful child. But with me, my mother wants to be acknowledged/thanked for everything she does.

 

My mother is a purportedly intelligent, educated woman (although undiagnosed crazy, as I have mentioned in other posts), who worked her entire adult life before retiring from a very responsible position.  Since then, she can't do a single thing without validation, both before and after. She can't order lunch without soliciting the opinion of everyone at the table.  What jacket to wear on a rainy day sends her into a tailspin.  I think she just wants attention. 

[Proclone]

You shouldn't have to lie, but I'd probably go with just saying "I've been having some food sensitivies so I need to be careful with what I eat, but thank you anyway".  If they push on "sensitivities" say you'd prefer not to discuss it.

 

Since the one co-worker seems to force food on everyone, I would probably be a bit more direct with her and just say "I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I really don't care to try any.  Thank you though".

 

Or let HR know what is going on and ask them to address it.  It may seem like a minor thing in the workplace, but it impacts co-worker relations unnecessarily.

 

Honestly sometime I lie and say I tried whatever it was and tell them it was really good lol.  And the particularly bad food pusher has recently went from full time to per diem, so probably not going to get much chex mix from hell in the future.  I'm sure everyone is very disappointed.  And no offense, but I would never in a million years go to my boss (jumping the chain of command is a big no no) about something so petty.  It's slightly annoying but I still love everyone I work with and really wouldn't want see anyone get in trouble over something the brought in out of the goodness of their hearts.  And given where I work, management's reaction would be, "Fine then no one is allowed to bring in food, period."  I think I just continue to lie and tell them it was good.

[JTMacc99]

No! No! No! Oh, hell no! I saw a promo for "Home and Family" on the Hallmark Channel where they're threatening--I mean, promising-- to have a show about Christmas tips in early July. It's gotten so frackin' ridiculous how businesses try to push the holidays months before they're due.

It's enough to make me want to hide in a cave until January 2!

School ended here last Thursday. On Friday the kids and I walked through the mall to get to the movie theater* and they chimed in with "Why is the back to school stuff out? School just ended yesterday?" 

 

Because I'm dad, I laughed and said, "THAT'S RIGHT! You better start getting ready.  Which one of these backpacks do you like?"

 

* So we saw Inside Out, which I thought was flat out great movie.  It bothers me that it will be regulated to "animated" status when the awards season rolls around.  If a live action movie delivered that level of entertainment with that level of emotion, it would win everything.

[potatoradio]

 

Everyone's reaction to the chex mix from hell was pretty much the same though, "Oh my god, there are little fish in this and the fish still have their heads on!"

 

Was this from Japan, by any chance? My brother and his family are stationed every few years in different countries and it's a tradition that he finds the most, ah, "interesting" snack food or candy to send to us back here in the States at Christmas. The year he was in Japan, we received a package of crunchy things and I noticed that the picture of crunchy things included little, whole silver fish. Whaaaaaaat? I said, and opened the bag. No joke. Fish. Looked like ones I used to have in my aquarium, so I couldn't bring myself to try one (eyeballs...I draw the line at trying to eat eyeballs) and brought it to work. Luckily, we have starving intern student workers who are willing to try anything, like Mikey from Life cereal, so the snack actually disappeared after a few weeks and now the bag is pinned up on the fridge like a Scout culinary badge or something.

 

I am a mix dinner all together in a bowl kinda person and the first time I served my wife's parents dinner at our house they about passed out because I used bowls instead of plates. I was just so used to eating from a bowl myself that I just automatically put them out. Oops. Was kind of funny to watch them stare quizzically at the bowls, wondering how to manage the roasted potatoes that had rolled onto the chicken and the green beans encroaching on the rolls. But lesson learned; use plates for guests.

 

Oh, and coworkers and food: please don't assume that I'm supposed to drop everything and lunge for any sweets you bring in. I appreciate your bringing in donuts or ice cream, but if I'm not in the mood, I'm not in the mood. No need to act like I'm an alien if I say "Oh, maybe I'll have one later, but not now, thank you." I'm one of the 0.02% of people who doesn't think that ice cream is the food of Olympus, OK? And I know it's more about coming together to be social, but that just makes me even crabbier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bubbls]

 

We weren't rich by any means, but we were definitely not poverty-stricken, she could have easily afforded to buy hotdog buns.  I think she only bought hamburger buns because the flimsy white bread

 

 

Exactly. Us too. My mom could have afforded the danged things. And, yes, she too would buy hamburger buns, probably for the same reason as your mom.

Maybe he separated the pizza in his mouth. He wouldn't last long with me because my favorite thing to do is put all my food in a certain bowl and either mix it all up or put each thing on the spoon at the same time. I love having a bowl of layered food. 

 Oh my gosh, me too. Pretty much anything I eat gets mixed into a disgusting looking pile that I gobble down. My husband is like a poster above who eats his foods one at a time. One food gets eaten all the way before he moves onto another. In fact, I'd say our eating habits represent our personalities pretty well.

[backformore]

The hot dog bun thing -  I think it's partly because the number of hot dogs in a package and the number f buns in a package don't match.  But -  another reason is that buns get stale pretty fast.  And hot dogs are often something you have on hand, for a quick meal or snack, but might not make the whole pack at once.   They keep in the fridge for a  few weeks.  Buns will get sale, get thrown out, and you still have the hot dogs left. 

Edited July 3, 2015 by backformore

[Maharincess]

My parents could have afforded hot dog buns too but since we always had a freezer full of bread, we had to use that..

for everything. I'm not kidding about a freezer FULL of bread. Every so often the local grocery store would have a sale on bread, 10 cents a loaf (it was a long time ago). They had a limit of 10 loaves to a customer so each of us kids would be sent in with our dollar bills to get 10 loaves of bread. With my parents and 3 kids, that's 50 loaves of bread.

We had to eat it until it was gone. The first few frozen loaves weren't too bad, but once we would get to load 30 or so, it was gross. Freezer burnt bread doesn't taste good no matter what is put on it.

To this day I am really picky about my bread. It has to be super soft and fresh or I won't use it. I try to make my own bread most of the time.

And I have always bought buns.

[bilgistic]

My parents could have afforded hot dog buns too but since we always had a freezer full of bread, we had to use that..

for everything. I'm not kidding about a freezer FULL of bread. Every so often the local grocery store would have a sale on bread, 10 cents a loaf (it was a long time ago). They had a limit of 10 loaves to a customer so each of us kids would be sent in with our dollar bills to get 10 loaves of bread. With my parents and 3 kids, that's 50 loaves of bread.

We had to eat it until it was gone. The first few frozen loaves weren't too bad, but once we would get to load 30 or so, it was gross. Freezer burnt bread doesn't taste good no matter what is put on it.

To this day I am really picky about my bread. It has to be super soft and fresh or I won't use it. I try to make my own bread most of the time.

And I have always bought buns.

The image of your parents (I'm picturing a 1960s housewife and a chain-smoking father, because it's the 1960s) sending in three moppets to the grocer with a dollar clutched in their fists is so funny to me. The clerks just give each other looks because it's not as if they don't know you are all from the same family, and 10-year-olds don't live alone nor eat that much bread.

[Maharincess]

Picture alcoholics who couldn't care less if we ate or not, we had a lot of freezer burnt sandwiches we made ourselves.

You had the chain smoking part right though. I'm not joking when I say that our grocery list never consisted of more than milk, bread, cigarettes and beer. My brothers and I still talk about that damn grocery list.

We definitely got some strange looks. I hated bread sales. Standing in line with ten loaves of bread and running into the meanest girl in my elementary school was awful. By the next morning it was all over school that my family was poor and only ate bread.

[bilgistic]

Ugh, I'm sorry.

[ALenore]

We didn't have a freezer when I was a kid, but my grandmother did and I still remember her going to the Air Force commissary and buying many, many loaves of bread and cartons of milk to put in her freezer.  Both of these were for us kids, she didn't drink milk and only ate a small amount of bread. The bread was usually all right, but I didn't like drinking the frozen milk after it thawed, it would separate and there would sometimes be chunks of ice in it, but we were told not to complain, so we drank it anyway. 

[DeLurker]

We didn't have a freezer when I was a kid, but my grandmother did and I still remember her going to the Air Force commissary and buying many, many loaves of bread and cartons of milk to put in her freezer.

My Dad was in the Air Force, got paid once a month and we had a big ass freezer for the one major shopping trip each month.  That freezer was chockful of milk, bread, ice cream (the preferred snack in the house) and chicken.

 

We didn't mind the previously frozen milk, but Dad would try to get cute and cut it with powdered milk to save money. This lead to a major revolt in the household.

 

I don't remember having an issue with previously frozen bread, but I did not eat a whole lot of bread.

[bmasters9]

Hotdog buns. I find myself thinking since I have read these posts about why would they choose bread. Y'all say it's not because they are too [dear God, please let that be the correct too] cheap to buy them so that's out. 

You did indeed use the proper form "too"; no need to worry about that. 

[applecrisp]

How funny!  The things parents do.  In my case my parents grew up i the depression and were a part of WWII and I have 8 brothers and sisters.  They could not bear to waste food. i get the bun thing and when out of milk using the dry milk trick.  I also remember the milk man.  I feel old.  My Dad would takes at least 3 of us to the store and it wasn't a supermarket.  Siblings tell me they would give you a hot dog to eat. Odd.

 

I remember never ever getting Oreos or pop.  If we got pepsi or something you would share.  My fond memory was my dad going to the hostess store to get day old goodies.  They were made in a nearby town.  I think he did it so we would have what others had for lunch.  I think they tried.  That's all you can do.

[DeLurker]

I remember never ever getting Oreos or pop.  If we got pepsi or something you would share.  My fond memory was my dad going to the hostess store to get day old goodies.  They were made in a nearby town.  I think he did it so we would have what others had for lunch.  I think they tried.  That's all you can do.

Soda was for birthday celebrations in our house and we each got our own bottle (but they were smaller ones). It was such a big deal.   We were amazed when my Dad got out of the service and we moved to Florida, a block away from my Uncle.  They had store brand cans of soda in their fridge always and could drink it daily!  Our collective brains were blown by such luxury!

[ALenore]

But -  another reason is that buns get stale pretty fast.  And hot dogs are often something you have on hand, for a quick meal or snack, but might not make the whole pack at once.   They keep in the fridge for a  few weeks.  Buns will get sale, get thrown out, and you still have the hot dogs left

 

I think you're exactly right about this, I think this was probably one of the main reasons my mom didn't buy hot dog buns.  My mom bought giant loaves of bread and they never got stale because we used a lot of bread for sandwiches, toast, french toast, etc.   But hot dog buns could really only be used for hot dogs, so they could easily go stale if they weren't used right away.  Hamburgers were a planned dinner for us, 2 pounds of ground beef, making 8 hamburgers for 7 people (my dad ate 2 burgers), which matched up with 8 hamburger buns.  But hot dogs weren't usually for dinner, they were for quick lunches or snacks and might indeed sit around for a few weeks.   

 

Now I don't eat hot dogs very often, but I do have a freezer and freeze both the leftover hot dogs and buns.  

[backformore]

Picture alcoholics who couldn't care less if we ate or not, we had a lot of freezer burnt sandwiches we made ourselves.

You had the chain smoking part right though. I'm not joking when I say that our grocery list never consisted of more than milk, bread, cigarettes and beer. My brothers and I still talk about that damn grocery list.

We definitely got some strange looks. I hated bread sales. Standing in line with ten loaves of bread and running into the meanest girl in my elementary school was awful. By the next morning it was all over school that my family was poor and only ate bread.

Wow, if you hadn't said you were from a family with 3 kids, I would have thought you were my sister!

We had a corner store where we got a lot of our groceries (mom didn't drive).  I recall when there was very little money, and nothing for dinner,  being sent to the store for a loaf of bread, gallon of milk,  a half pound of salami or bologna (whichever was cheaper, to feed 8 people)  and two packs of cigs - Pall Mall red for dad, salem for mom.  (Stores could sell cigarettes to kids if their parents had a note on file saying it was OK.)  As a child, it never occurred to me that there was something wrong with not having money for food, but smoking 2 packs a day. 

[glowlights]

Wow, this place is magic! No sooner did I complain about Those Who Must Be Validated and the main offender in my life blew a major deadline and, um, basically engaged in a big no-no. So she is soon to be off my radar. PTV: Peeve, and ye shall receive! 

 

 

Are you talking about my mother? You must be. LOL.

 

I don't know if she didn't get recognition for things when she was growing up, or maybe I was an abnormally ungrateful child. But with me, my mother wants to be acknowledged/thanked for everything she does. When she first moved to my city, she lived with us for two months. When I would come home from work, I'd hear things like, There were dirty dishes in the sink, so I washed them." Thank you! Or "There was something sticky on your counter, so I wiped it off." Okay... Thank you? Or maybe she was she waiting for me to say something juicy like, "Oh, my bad. That was Cory's jiz. Next time, we'll be sure to clean up after ourselves."

 

!!!! LOL

I agree that wanting/needing a thank you for every single task is OTT. Maybe your mom doesn't feel as useful now that she's older and is sort of looking for ways to feel like she's contributing, or she wants you to know that she very competent to care for your child? In any case, it would bug me to have to say thanks for every little thing, because it would start to feel like a guilt trip. She Who Needed To Be Validated Before She Screwed Up Bigtime used to do something similar. Like, a person might say, "I had a meeting." She would say, "I got up an hour early, then I had to shower, then I had to get in my car, then I had to start the car, then I had to drive to the freeway, then I had to drive down the freeway, then I had to find the right exit, then I had to find the building, then I had to park, then I had to walk to the elevator, then I had to find the office, then I had to announce myself to the receptionist..." etc. etc. etc. And really wanted praise and high fives for all of it. WTF?

 

There are just certain textures of food I can't have in my mouth without making me involuntarily gag.  There are actually foods that I love the taste of that I just can't eat, or can't eat in certain forms.  I for example love anything orange flavored, and orange juice (without pulp), I cannot however stand to bite into an orange wedge. 

[snip]

I had one co-worker who was especially bad about this, and she often brought in strange ethnic foods (I appreciate the thought and her trying to share her culture, but she really needed understand that not everything she brought in was going to be everyone's cup of tea), including strange hot pudding that resembled baby poop and what I like to call chex mix from hell, which looked very much like cat treats with the inclusion of whole dried fish of some kind (they still had the heads on!).

 

Okay, first of all I feel your pain about people not respecting your food boundaries. I'm a strict vegetarian and it really peeves me when people can't just respect that, and instead demand a justification, as if they will decide whether or not my reasons are good enough. Did we all not learn about boundaries in kindergarten? Anyway, I'm kind of fascinated by your aversion to the orange wedges. If you don't mind me asking, what is it that bothers you? I have a full aversion to chocolate covered cherries. The runny liquid and then the squishy dead cherry in there.... it's an assault on my tongue.

 

Your story about the coworker's food offerings had me in stitches. No offense to her, but I kind of hope she was actually trying to exact revenge against everyone by fooling them into eating baby poop pudding and fish head chex mix. Like, maybe she's really from Poughkeepsie and it was all an elaborate scheme to drive you guys crazy? That would be kind of awesome.

 

P.S. I cannot believe the pernicious LIES you all are telling about baby carrots. They are not whittled down, they are wee miraculous offerings from the carrot fairies! I would wish everyone a Happy Belated Canada Day and Happy Independence Day Weekend, but what with the carrot slander...

[backformore]

I alluded this on the chit-chat thread, but here's a recent pet peeve - People texting at work, about work, with each other.    Look, the boss is an idiot, I get that.   But is it necessary or wise, to be texting DURING THE MEETING, stuff like "he's such an ass" or "yeah, we really have the time to do that"??    I can actually see doing that ONCE, if something really egregious is said, to vent your feelings.   But some people do it throughout a meeting!  do they think the boss doesn't notice they never look up from their phones while he's talking?  Do they consider what will happen the day he figures out that they are texting about him the entire time?  

 

I had been included on a group text for a while, but asked them to remove me.   Because I would leave my phone ON MY DESK during the meeting, only to return, pick up my phone and have an hour's worth of texts that made no sense after the meeting.  

Yeah, I'm old -  I prefer that text messages from co-workers be  rare.   My cell phone is primarily  for family and friends.

[Proclone]

 

 

Okay, first of all I feel your pain about people not respecting your food boundaries. I'm a strict vegetarian and it really peeves me when people can't just respect that, and instead demand a justification, as if they will decide whether or not my reasons are good enough. Did we all not learn about boundaries in kindergarten? Anyway, I'm kind of fascinated by your aversion to the orange wedges. If you don't mind me asking, what is it that bothers you? I have a full aversion to chocolate covered cherries. The runny liquid and then the squishy dead cherry in there.... it's an assault on my tongue.

 

Your story about the coworker's food offerings had me in stitches. No offense to her, but I kind of hope she was actually trying to exact revenge against everyone by fooling them into eating baby poop pudding and fish head chex mix. Like, maybe she's really from Poughkeepsie and it was all an elaborate scheme to drive you guys crazy? That would be kind of awesome.

 

P.S. I cannot believe the pernicious LIES you all are telling about baby carrots. They are not whittled down, they are wee miraculous offerings from the carrot fairies! I would wish everyone a Happy Belated Canada Day and Happy Independence Day Weekend, but what with the carrot slander...

 

It's hard to describe why certain textures bother me.  Fruit for me to be able to eat must be firm.  Orange wedges are squishy and they they have stringy stuff.  I just can't eat them without gagging.  Generally squishy foods and me don't get along.  I can't eat chocolate covered cherries either. 

 

And I'm glad you found my description funny. Actually I think I too would like my co-worker more if she was gas lighting us all with the food.  If she was then she's very committed because she didn't seem like she could understand why we all didn't want to eat dried little fishes (with the heads still on!) mixed in cat treats. And in a truly hilarious case of irony, my co-worker is actually from Poughkeepsie now, or at least that's where our place of employment is.  And too be fair I might have tried the baby poop pudding had it not been warm.  It was the color and texture combined with the fact that it was just about body temperature when she dropped the bowel on my desk that made me take a pass.

[magicdog]

People texting at work, about work, with each other.    Look, the boss is an idiot, I get that.   But is it necessary or wise, to be texting DURING THE MEETING, stuff like "he's such an ass" or "yeah, we really have the time to do that"??    I can actually see doing that ONCE, if something really egregious is said, to vent your feelings.   But some people do it throughout a meeting!  do they think the boss doesn't notice they never look up from their phones while he's talking?  Do they consider what will happen the day he figures out that they are texting about him the entire time?

 

I hope those texts weren't on work issued phones!  Then they'll have every right to search them for inappropriate texting and you don't want to get caught up in that.