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

[Quof]

I just had a hot dog for dinner.  On a real bun.   Thought of you all while I ate it.

[Maizie131]

Another pet peeve. A woman at work showed me how uninformed some people can be.

A group of people talking. The conversation was about the Chicago/Baltimore baseball game being played in an empty stadium. She asked Why? Answer - because of the riots. She asks huh? What riots?

Excuse me? A 40 year old woman with a master's degree. She explains that she doesn't watch the news.

The situation in Baltimore has been on the news, referred to on ads for the news, in the paper, and the top story on any news website you go to. I couldn't check my email without seeing a headline or a photo. I get not watching 30 minutes of news every night. But do people choose to remain ignorant of EVERYTHING?

Earthquake? Really ? Where?

backformore - My 'significant other' (of 21 years) is an M.D. & a really smart man.  HOWEVER, if it isn't on ESPN he has NO knowledge of it...and I'm serious.  Local or world news.  The man is totally addicted to sports...sports radio, whatever. 

 

I'm the only girl of 5 brothers (4 older, 1 younger).  Cannot tell you the times growing up as a little girl, walking thru the living room holding my dolly & minding my own business, & being suddenly scared SHITLESS by 5 men (my Dad included) screaming at the TV - "GET HIM YOU SOB!!!"  OMG...It was just a f-ing FOOTBALL GAME!  Anyhow, there's a reason we've never married...& this is a pretty major one.  (My apologies to those of you who are into sports - it just ain't my thing, even a little bit.)

 

P.S. - I just discovered this forum & have spent the last few hours reading --- you guys are all terrific & I've greatly enjoyed reading your bitches (and have shaken my head in the affirmative at MANY of them!  ha!  Anyhow, glad you "meet" all of you & I trust me when I say you'll be hearing some (more) of my major gripes in the future.  Thanks for all the laughs, too!  A little brevity in all the kvetching goes a long way! 

Edited July 3, 2015 by Maizie131

[bilgistic]

backformore - My 'significant other' (of 21 years) is an M.D. & a really smart man. HOWEVER, if it isn't on ESPN he has NO knowledge of it...and I'm serious. Local or world news. The man is totally addicted to sports...sports radio, whatever.

I'm the only girl of 5 brothers (4 older, 1 younger). Cannot tell you the times growing up as a little girl, walking thru the living room holding my dolly & minding my own business, & being suddenly scared SHITLESS by 5 men (my Dad included) screaming at the TV - "GET HIM YOU SOB!!!" OMG...It was just a f-ing FOOTBALL GAME! Anyhow, there's a reason we've never married...& this is a pretty major one. (My apologies to those of you who are into sports - it just ain't my thing, even a little bit.)

The image of a little girl walking through a living room and nearly shitting a brick when her dad screamed at the TV made me laugh!

I have an ex-boyfriend who was very into sports. He did fantasy football and fantasy HOCKEY. Who knew that was a thing? We dated about 10 years ago, and I hate sports. (This is not why we broke up; we just were better friends than anything else.) One day I walked into his living room and he was watching Chinese badminton. If it was in any way loosely defined as a sport, he would watch it.

Edited July 4, 2015 by bilgistic

[Bastet]

If it was in any way loosely defined as a sport, he would watch it.

 

My mom's cousin's husband was like that.  He would watch anything that remotely qualifies as a sport, and that was all he would watch.  (He read the paper daily, so he did know what was going on in the world.)  I like sports in general, and love football.  SportsCenter is as much a part of my daily routine as PBS NewsHour.  But that level of interest in sports is just beyond my comprehension.

[P2C2E]

I grew up on powdered skim milk. I didn't know it was strange until grade 7 or so. My peers would tell me it was nasty and watery. I thought it tasted fine because I didn't know anything else.

I rarely eat anything brought into work unless it has an ingredient label or I can ask exactly what's in it because I am highly allergic to food coloring. I won't die, but even a bite of something with red40 gives me hives.

[harrie]

I have an ex-boyfriend who was very into sports. He did fantasy football and fantasy HOCKEY. Who knew that was a thing? 

 

I did.  I have two teams.

[Maizie131]

Heh. I made peace with running over squirrels as natural selection in action a long time ago.  Pretty soon, only squirrels that DON'T run under the wheels of my car will be breeding, right?  I'm considering opening up this policy to Canadian Geese as well.  But I'm not so sure about jaywalkers. That's a pretty big step. Plus, if I hit a person, it would probably dent up my car.

Too funny!  Yeah - about jaywalkers - here in Michigan you get 10 points on your driving record for hitting a pedestrian, and ya don't want that! 

[Quof]

I grew up on powdered skim milk. I didn't know it was strange until grade 7 or so. My peers would tell me it was nasty and watery. I thought it tasted fine because I didn't know anything else.

I had 3 roommates in grad school.  We lived like a little family, pooling funds to buy groceries, etc.  A few months into the year, we realized how much milk 2 adult males drank, so the others decided "we" would buy powdered milk for the household to save money.  Ugh.  I bought my own real milk, labelled with my name, and god help anyone who touched it. 

[Maizie131]

We have a youngish adult in my office who does this. I grew up being constantly corrected on this, so it bugs me to no end. Plus, it's kind of a sign to wear grown up shoes in a place of business.

 

My pet peeve is people who ask slightly personal questions and then turn them into extremely personal questions by not accepting my answer.

 

"Are you married? No? What about kids? No? Really? No?"

 

Do they want an explanation? Do you think I'm lying? Soon, I'm going to start reply, "Oh, yeah. Sorry. I forgot. I am married, and I've got triplets too."

Along those same lines -- I have a fairly common Irish last name (ends in a-g-h).  When I spell it for people, they will invariably say, "Oh -- there's no "U" in it?"  I want to reply, "Well, wait a minute - let me get out my driver's license to make sure I've been spelling it right."  ARGHH!

[Maizie131]

Chewing while talking on the phone. Aaargh. My mother-in-law does this all the time. As if she doesn't drive me bonkers already. :)

Wish I could give 100 thumbs up on this one!  YOU called ME -- why are you eating?!  When people call me while I'm eating, I either don't answer or answer and say, "Hey - I'm eating - can I call you right back?" 

[applecrisp]

Happy 4th, My pet peeve is how most choose to celebrate with noise.  Last night I went to sleep to the sounds of a battlefield- at least what I imagine it to be.  I remember sparklers and fireworks as a kid.  There were always firecrackers, now people get the expensive, loud stuff. To me, just a little odd how we choose to celebrate our country's founding.

[Maizie131]

Strangers who out of the blue say to you "smile" if you aren't grinning like a freak 24/7. Maybe I have bitch face. I don't know. I used to get this a lot though. One jackass said it literally as I was walking out of the animal hospital having just learned I had to put a beloved pet to sleep. I swear, if I ever hear it again I'm going to say something truly awful like "I just had bury my toddler who I backed over while drunk." Take that.

 

bubbls - Nuthin' like a good belly laugh first thing in the morning!  Too frickin' funny.  Thanks!

[DeLurker]

Sports - Despite growing up in a house full of boys (4 brothers and Dad), the only sports on tv were if I was watching or the Olympics were on.  I would watch baseball playoffs, Wimbledon and soccer if the Ft Lauderdale Strikers were playing.  I thought it was so strange when my friends' holiday meals would be scheduled around a football game and they found it bizarre that "the game" was not on at my house.

 

Two of my brothers started watching sports with their friends as teenagers, but only 1 really cares about the game.

[annzeepark914]

I just had a hot dog for dinner.  On a real bun.   Thought of you all while I ate it.

Thanks, Quof.  I'll do the same in another hour when we grill a few brats (just the two of us today) and I eat mine on a thawed hot dog bun (Ball Park brand...why can't I find Pepperidge Farm hot dog buns?)  Gosh, reading all these pet peeve posts is fun/fascinating (especially learning about what military kids have/had to put up with).

 

Here's a pet peeve--thought of as I dry off from getting soaked when we had a surprise sudden rainstorm and I ran out to retrieve the flag.  I looked across the street and two neighbors left their flags out in the rain (and overnight in the dark, in sleet, snow, etc). Don't people take in their flags when the sun sets and/or it rains any more?

[auntlada]

No, they don't. They also wear a lot of flag clothes, which I am never sure is OK. Miss Manners has mentioned that, but she is a lot stricter about a lot of things. Just in case, The shirt my son painted for the Fourth just has red and blue stars.

[Bastet]

I don’t know, as I’ve never been a flag person.  (I know there are all sorts of rules one is supposed to follow when displaying the flag, but I have no idea what they are.)  Maybe they don't know the rules, or think they're dumb, but my hunch is they just didn't think about it when it started raining. 

 

I just looked out to see if anyone on my block put out a flag (so I could check later to see if it was in before dark – you got me curious) and no flags, but there are mylar balloons tangled up in my neighbor’s tree.  Why do people still mess with those damn things outside?  No one manages to hang onto them, and they cause all sorts of problems.  Definitely on my list of peeves.

[Quof]

A man was standing on the side of the road waving a confederate flag when I drove by today.   He seemed to be yelling something, but I had my windows up and couldn't hear him.   People walking by weren't stopping to engage with him.  I have no idea what his beef was.

 

I'm in Canada, BTW.

[bubbls]

I had no idea there were flag display rules. Mr. Bubbls and I were just wondering why our neighbor takes his in each night. Is that a rule?

[auntlada]

Thanks. So I guess it's technically not against the law for the guys I saw this evening to be wearing shorts (that looked sort of like boxer shorts but -- I hope -- probably weren't) with the stars on one butt cheek and leg and the stripes on the other. I didn't find it attractive, though, and thought -- as I often do -- that it was somewhat inappropriate to be basically wearing the flag on your butt.

[applecrisp]

You can burn the flag which I think falls under free speech.  I remember seeing this advocate burning the flag for really no reason. I thought there may be a valid reason, but I didn't get it.  It didn't make me outraged that he did it. Seemed pointless.

 

I am a basically patriotic person.  In the sense that I do love my country.  I am glad I was born here and greatly admire the constitution and most who founded this country.  My pet peeve is that the right has hijacked the flag waving and I do not share their beliefs. I don't think my country right or wrong.  I do however see the flag as a symbol that should be respected.

Edited July 5, 2015 by applecrisp

[bubbls]

 

Ahem. Yes I probably am a pet peeve. People who take some minor detail and make it into an elaborate thing.

 

But seriously, can y'all just ask your Moms WHY they used bread. So I can move on to the next minor detail? Because, things.

 

You aren't at all. I do the same thing. I get obsessed with what seems an irrelevant detail. It's just my curiosity and desire to explain it. I just did it over in the religion section of the Duggar forum.

 

I asked my mom about the hot dog bun situation, and she said she has no idea but suspects it was her "we are broke" mentality (we weren't although we weren't rich by any means). Her mother, who grew up in the depression, was petrified of ending up in the poor house and talked about it all. the. time. Even I heard it as the granddaughter. My mom absorbed that fear and as a result we lived in a trailer due to her fear of a loan causing us to end up in the poor house (they didn't exist by then). And we had to eat hot dogs on bread rather than buns. Because everyone knows how many folks ended up in the poor house due to buying those hot dog buns! (I'm mocking my mom in a good natured way and she'd laugh).

Edited July 5, 2015 by bubbls

[bilgistic]

We had hot dog buns, but they were the cheapest kind the store carried. After reading all these posts, I'm rather surprised in retrospect that we had hot dog buns, because we were struggling. My mom was a single mother of three girls from my ages five to 17. We almost never had fresh vegetables or fruit. We ate a lot of mystery meat that had been in the freezer for too long, Chef Boyardee and Little Debbie. It's little wonder that I started my period after I'd just turned 11. All those chemicals!

[bubbls]

 I'm rather surprised in retrospect that we had hot dog buns, because we were struggling. My mom was a single mother of three girls from my ages five to 17.

 

 

She probably had a mother that forced her to eat hot dogs on bread! Seriously, we had the cheapo hot dogs (and would've had those buns too) and ice milk instead of ice cream. I thought I hated vanilla "ice cream" until I was 21 and had my first taste of real vanilla ice cream.

 

I wrote my mom an email today thanking her for not buying those hot dog buns and forcing us into the poor house. :D

Edited July 5, 2015 by bubbls

[bilgistic]

Oh my god, I'd forgotten about "ice milk"!!

[DeLurker]

Oh my god, I'd forgotten about "ice milk"!!

Me too!  Is it still sold?  I don't remember seeing it in my trips to the grocery store.

 

I can't taste the difference between cheapo hotdog buns and more expensive ones (at least what they sell in the grocery store) so I typically but the store brand cheapos.

[annzeepark914]

I can't taste the difference between cheapo hotdog buns and more expensive ones (at least what they sell in the grocery store) so I typically but the store brand cheapos.

To me, the cheap (store brand) hot dog & hamburger buns are doughy, almost gummy which is why I stopped using them & went back to Pepperidge Farm (except I can't find Pepperidge Farm hot dog buns, only burger buns).  I have to butter and toast my hot dog/burger buns--love them that way.

[Sandman87]

A man was standing on the side of the road waving a confederate flag when I drove by today.   He seemed to be yelling something, but I had my windows up and couldn't hear him.   People walking by weren't stopping to engage with him.  I have no idea what his beef was.

 

I'm in Canada, BTW.

I guess he wants Canada to secede from the United States. "Yeah! U.S. out of North America!"

[Quof]

Well, we Canadians did enjoy all of the social posts last week following the Supreme Court ruling on same sex marriage "Well, I'm moving to Canada, then."  Come on up, we've had gay marriage for a decade, and nobody bats an eye.

[Qoass]

 

I thought I hated vanilla "ice cream" until I was 21 and had my first taste of real vanilla ice cream.

 

This is so true.  It wasn't until I became an adult that I discovered that "fish" does not come frozen and cut into rectangles and that "cheese" extends beyond Velveeta.  I was raised on powdered milk and to this day I only use (real) milk as a baking ingredient.  I can't stand to drink it.

[bilgistic]

We qualified for government cheese, butter and (powdered) milk a couple years when I was young. Mom's whopping $25K-ish salary with three kids and spotty child support from the sperm donor my birth father put us just over the poverty line. I remember the cheese and butter being fantastic, but we wouldn't touch the powdered milk. We fed it to the cat. She loved it.

Edited July 6, 2015 by bilgistic

[Qoass]

Butter was another thing I never had as a kid:  margarine, usually store brand, all the way.

[bubbls]

My grandmother got government cheese and assorted other things so we grew up eating that stuff too. She made an awful pimento cheese with the government cheese and would get offended that we didn't like it. This was when we weren't offending her by refusing to eat her hog head cheese.

 

Oh, this is a pet peeve thread? The atomic bombs people fire off every fourth of July. Someone up thread mentioned only remembering sparklers and firecrackers when they were a kid. Me too. I keep hoping they'll make the loud ones illegal.

[auntlada]

Butter was another thing I never had as a kid:  margarine, usually store brand, all the way.

My mother gave us real butter one time. We wouldn't eat it. It was the wrong color. (It wasn't yellow.)

[Maharincess]

I will only eat real butter. My friend has the nerve to call Country Crock butter and I always give her crap for it. That nastiness is not butter.

Bubbls, the extremely loud fire bomb things are illegal here but it doesn't stop the idiots. My poor dog had finally calmed down last night when some idiot who lives in the neighborhood above me started letting those loud ones off. I was so mad. Scared my dog all over again.

I wish I could find out exactly who was doing it. I'd get myself the loudest one I could find and set it off outside their bedroom window at 3 a.m.

Mountainair, DH means your husband right?

[Maharincess]

I will only eat real butter. My friend has the nerve to call Country Crock butter and I always give her crap for it. That nastiness is not butter.

Bubbls, the extremely loud fire bomb things are illegal here but it doesn't stop the idiots. My poor dog had finally calmed down last night when some idiot who lives in the neighborhood above me started letting those loud ones off. I was so mad. Scared my dog all over again.

I wish I could find out exactly who was doing it. I'd get myself the loudest one I could find and set it off outside their bedroom window at 3 a.m.

Mountainair, DH means your husband right?

[Bastet]

Most fireworks are illegal here, and certainly the pyrotechnics being set off.  My cat is recovering from pancreatitis, and Friday night had been her first good sleep in a week (can you imagine a cat having trouble sleeping?!).  I was so pissed when Saturday night's attempts were thwarted by what sounded like a damn war zone for hours.  Then we had a lesser version last night.  I'm hoping tonight we can both conk out.

 

There are numerous sanctioned local fireworks displays, all of which are either free or low cost.  I really enjoyed fireworks in the backyard when I was a kid, but being in a suburban area we didn't get crazy with what we were setting off - and, being considerate human beings, we didn't continue this shit until 2:00 in the morning.  At some point, it's just too much.

[LJonEarth]

They're going off somewhere near me right now and I expect to hear them every night until next Monday. I just don't understand the concept of people who can't or won't think of other people. Especially for something so stupid as fireworks. I hate fireworks in the normal context. Idiots burning fingers off just to watch something go BOOM in a residential neighborhood just makes me want to learn to shoot and get a paintball gun.

[bilgistic]

Some kid (22 years old) in Maine killed himself accidentally over the weekend with fireworks. He died because he set off a firework of some sort ON HIS HEAD. On purpose. On one hand, it's really fucking awful; on the other...natural selection.

I'm a horrible person; I know.

[Maizie131]

Some kid (22 years old) in Maine killed himself accidentally over the weekend with fireworks. He died because he set off a firework of some sort ON HIS HEAD. On purpose. On one hand, it's really fucking awful; on the other...natural selection.

I'm a horrible person; I know.

bilgistic - I read about that, too.  The police said alcohol was a factor.  Wow.  What a shocker.

[Maizie131]

Here's my most recent pet peeve -- frickin' mosquito bites!  I've now got 7 of them & they are driving me NUTS!  Hydrocortisone cream works for a little while, then the itching starts again.  It's been years since I've had one, so I can't figure it out - I'm not using any lotions or anything else that's different than I've used in years.  Went on internet to find cures ('cuz if it's on the internet it must be true, right?), and found one article that said if you take a B-1 tab every day in summer months they won't bite.  What do you guys think?  Have you found a miracle cure to keep these little bloodsuckers away? 

[DeLurker]

Some kid (22 years old) in Maine killed himself accidentally over the weekend with fireworks. He died because he set off a firework of some sort ON HIS HEAD. On purpose. On one hand, it's really fucking awful; on the other...natural selection.

I'm a horrible person; I know.

A Darwin Award contender for certain.

 

I was talking to a woman last week who volunteers at a big local fireworks warehouse (in exchange for the volunteers, the owner donates a big chunk to the schools band and arts program).  Anyway, I asked her how much the average person spent and she said most sales run about $200 (to which I gasped).

 

It isn't kids spending that kind of money!  And in the block behind me, I know it is the Dads doing all the fireworks (which go on for several more days).

[applecrisp]

They are very expensive.  I live in Iowa and you can buy them in Missouri, not a long drive.  The irony is I called my sister who lives in Kansas City and she did not have the problem we have had.  I guess they are cracking down.

 

I love summer for a lot of reasons but it really is the noisiest of seasons.  The loud car engines and some motorcycles.  Lawnmowers, weed wackers, local construction(I live close to a hospital). People who leave their dogs out all day sometimes barking a lot and loudly.  On my walk this morning I passed 2 dogs one was white and fluffy and would not stop barking. I tried to talk to it.  What made me laugh was the other dog was a pug and he really could not cough up a bark.  I felt guilty walking past.

Edited July 7, 2015 by applecrisp

[Qoass]

I actually enjoy when the weather gets really hot, mostly because I love hot weather, but also because everybody else runs inside and I can enjoy being outdoors with no sound but the hum of their air conditioners.

[ALenore]

On July 4th it was a cool night so I decided to leave the bedroom windows open to cool it naturally.  When I went to bed (around 11:00) I heard some firecrackers going off, but I figured they'd stop soon, "There's no way this can go on all night, we can leave the windows open" I told my husband.   Wrong.   I heard fireworks going off all night but I was too tired to get up and close the windows.   My husband finally got up at about 5 am and closed the windows.  

 

I can't ask my mom about the hot dog bun situation, since she died over 20 years ago, but I suspect it was the same reason as bubbls mom, although my mother didn't grow up poor, she always did what my husband calls "poor mouthing," claiming to be broke.  We also only had Velveeta as cheese, margarine instead of butter, ice milk instead of ice cream, and store brand bread and soda.   But of course both my parents somehow were able to afford several cartons of cigarettes a week.   

[bilgistic]

Here's my most recent pet peeve -- frickin' mosquito bites!  I've now got 7 of them & they are driving me NUTS!  Hydrocortisone cream works for a little while, then the itching starts again.  It's been years since I've had one, so I can't figure it out - I'm not using any lotions or anything else that's different than I've used in years.  Went on internet to find cures ('cuz if it's on the internet it must be true, right?), and found one article that said if you take a B-1 tab every day in summer months they won't bite.  What do you guys think?  Have you found a miracle cure to keep these little bloodsuckers away? 

There is something to that, I think. I used to get eaten alive, but I'm on (a lot of) meds (she says, to no surprise to anyone who reads my posts), and I don't get bitten anymore. For a while, I was taking RX vitamin D supplements. I'm just not tasty to the bugs w/all the chemicals in my blood.

 

I would definitely start with a multi-vitamin, which I also take, and see how that goes.

[Maizie131]

There is something to that, I think. I used to get eaten alive, but I'm on (a lot of) meds (she says, to no surprise to anyone who reads my posts), and I don't get bitten anymore. For a while, I was taking RX vitamin D supplements. I'm just not tasty to the bugs w/all the chemicals in my blood.

 

I would definitely start with a multi-vitamin, which I also take, and see how that goes.

C'mon, bilgistic, don't be so hard on yourself.  I think those drugs you're taking not only keep the bugs from biting but actually enhance your writing ability!  Your posts quack me up!  This one gave me my first LOL of the day.  Thanks for your suggestion - think I'll try it. 

[magicdog]

 

Here's my most recent pet peeve -- frickin' mosquito bites!

 

One cure that was suggested to me was this:  Vinegar of the Four Thieves. 

 

To be honest, I live in a mosquito free climate so I haven't needed it, but others swear by it.

[harrie]

One cure that was suggested to me was this:  Vinegar of the Four Thieves. 

 

To be honest, I live in a mosquito free climate so I haven't needed it, but others swear by it.

 

I read the directions, and it looks like it might keep away mosquitoes, as well as anything else with a nose.  Which I can live with.

 

I get some mosquitoes but my real nemeses are those little no-see-ums.  The bite takes about 24 hours to rise, itches uncontrollably, and turns into a big wet, sloppy sore for a couple days before it finally starts to heal. Between watching fireworks and the working in the garden, I will soon be one big lesion.

[bubbls]

 

I wish I could find out exactly who was doing it. I'd get myself the loudest one I could find and set it off outside their bedroom window at 3 a.m.

 

I've had the same revenge fantasies! We are in city limits so I wonder if the loud ones are illegal here too. I have no idea who they are though so it's not like I can call the cops on them. There are several all around us but fortunately none close. We used to live one house over from some bastards that set off loud ones and they'd shake the walls. Shake the freaking walls!! I used to hope one of them would get blinded or disfigured by one. Yeah, I'm on the hell train. I hope it's quiet.

 

 

But of course both my parents somehow were able to afford several cartons of cigarettes a week.

 

Oh yeah, my grandmother exactly. She also blamed my grandfather, her husband, for all her problems for a good forty years after they divorced, lol. She was quite a character who had good traits too, but was truly a miserable person. I inherited her pet peeve* of having waistbands touch your waist. She'd cut all her sweats/pants down the sides. I do the same.

 

*It's a pet peeve thread, lol.

Edited July 7, 2015 by bubbls

[magicdog]

The same site offers a salve for bug bites and other things that go itchy:  here.

 

There's also a page for herbal remedies for other things here.

 

You're right, the Vinegar of the Four Thieves is more of a repellant, but a good one. I should have prefaced that. 

 

I get some mosquitoes but my real nemeses are those little no-see-ums.

 

 

Vinegar of the Four Thieves should help repel them too.