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

[GHScorpiosRule]

30 minutes ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

I'm envisioning an air horn. (Have earplugs at the ready).

I answer zero calls from numbers that do not appear on my contact list.  If it is an important call, they will leave a message.  

I pretend I don't speak English. I respond in Hindi!

33 minutes ago, backformore said:

My pet peeve, I know I posted about in the past, is the three times daily calls from a company telling me my car warranty has expired.  Three times a day!  I block the number, which results in the phone ringing once, then disconnecting.   but two days later they call from a different number.  Sometimes it's a robocall, sometimes it's a person.  

A caller identifying herself as "Lisa" called me every day this week.  I tell her I sold my car, I told her she's breaking the law since I'm on the do not call list, she just keeps calling.  I hang up on her, she calls back.  EVERY FREAKIN' DAY - Lisa or someone else.  

  So, today when "Lisa"  called, I went into hyper-drive, and said "LISA!!!  I'm so glad you called!  I look forward to your calls every day, thanks so much for checking in on me!  yes, I know, you're calling about the car warranty, but, as I told you yesterday I still don't have a car, no intention of buying one. Maybe we can talk about something else?  Did you watch the Bachelor this week? OMG! what do you think?  I'm so over that show - I mean, how do you propose, then take it back and propose to someone else?  Am I right? And another thing........"   

She hung up on me. 

I pray that they indicate on their list  that my phone number is "crazy lady - don't call"

See above!

[rcc]

Crazy and don't speak English. Good solutions to those calls.

[Zola]

If I see an unknown number appear on my landline or smartphone, I will answer in my second language of Afrikaans, which always trips them up mid-speech. And if they choose to carry on with their pitch I will reply in kind with more Afrikaans until eventually they give up and go away (I put their number on block too)

 

One thing I have noticed about putting a number on block is that it doesn't prevent them from leaving you voicemails. So even though they can't get through, after a certain number of rings my phone goes to voicemail, and they leave their crap on that for me to waste time listening too.

[backformore]

51 minutes ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

I answer zero calls from numbers that do not appear on my contact list.  If it is an important call, they will leave a message.  

I use my cell phone for business, so I answer it. 

The calls I'm talking about are on my landline.  When we're at work, nobody answers, we come home to 3 missed calls every day, no message, from the same number.  If I'm home and don't answer, they keep calling.   I am going to continue to hyperactively chat with them when they call, to see if it stops or at least diminishes in frequency.   

I have been on the do not call list, since 2003, and have reported these calls to the FTC.  These calls come three times each day.  we have been talking about giving up our landline, since it's rare that we get calls from anyone we want to talk to on that line. 

[SuprSuprElevated]

1 hour ago, backformore said:

I use my cell phone for business, so I answer it. 

The calls I'm talking about are on my landline.  When we're at work, nobody answers, we come home to 3 missed calls every day, no message, from the same number.  If I'm home and don't answer, they keep calling.   I am going to continue to hyperactively chat with them when they call, to see if it stops or at least diminishes in frequency.   

I have been on the do not call list, since 2003, and have reported these calls to the FTC.  These calls come three times each day.  we have been talking about giving up our landline, since it's rare that we get calls from anyone we want to talk to on that line. 

The do not call list appears to be a monumental waste of time and bandwidth.  We no longer use a landline.  I also have used a cell for business, an still don't answer unknown numbers, but we may be in different situations.  No matter, I still like the air horn idea, lol.

[Mindthinkr]

11 minutes ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

I still like the air horn idea, lol.

A good loud whistle works too. 

[MrSmith]

3 hours ago, backformore said:

My pet peeve, I know I posted about in the past, is the three times daily calls from a company telling me my car warranty has expired.  Three times a day!  I block the number, which results in the phone ringing once, then disconnecting.   but two days later they call from a different number.  Sometimes it's a robocall, sometimes it's a person.  

A caller identifying herself as "Lisa" called me every day this week.  I tell her I sold my car, I told her she's breaking the law since I'm on the do not call list, she just keeps calling.  I hang up on her, she calls back.  EVERY FREAKIN' DAY - Lisa or someone else.  

  So, today when "Lisa"  called, I went into hyper-drive, and said "LISA!!!  I'm so glad you called!  I look forward to your calls every day, thanks so much for checking in on me!  yes, I know, you're calling about the car warranty, but, as I told you yesterday I still don't have a car, no intention of buying one. Maybe we can talk about something else?  Did you watch the Bachelor this week? OMG! what do you think?  I'm so over that show - I mean, how do you propose, then take it back and propose to someone else?  Am I right? And another thing........"   

She hung up on me. 

I pray that they indicate on their list  that my phone number is "crazy lady - don't call"

Wonderfully inventive! I'm going to try this.

2 hours ago, Zola said:

If I see an unknown number appear on my landline or smartphone, I will answer in my second language of Afrikaans, which always trips them up mid-speech. And if they choose to carry on with their pitch I will reply in kind with more Afrikaans until eventually they give up and go away (I put their number on block too)

 

One thing I have noticed about putting a number on block is that it doesn't prevent them from leaving you voicemails. So even though they can't get through, after a certain number of rings my phone goes to voicemail, and they leave their crap on that for me to waste time listening too.

This is clever, too. Unfortunately for me, I know some Russian and the people who call me are speaking Russian. Maybe I should brush up on my Spanish....

[bilgistic]

4 hours ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

I'm envisioning an air horn. (Have earplugs at the ready).

I answer zero calls from numbers that do not appear on my contact list.  If it is an important call, they will leave a message.  

 

1 hour ago, Mindthinkr said:

A good loud whistle works too. 

My mom used to blow a whistle into the phone 30 years ago when telemarketers called.

I've mentioned this here before; I set my ringtone to "none" except for my contacts, which are all assigned my regular ringtone. Different phones have different ways to do it, but that's how I deal with it. I get at least one spam call a day. I got three yesterday. One so far today. And yes, I'm on the DNC list. Bleh.

[Popples]

When I get calls from unknown numbers, I push the answer button and don't say anything. They usually hang up by 15 seconds. I keep telling myself that one day that I'll answer with a fake company name, tell them I'm putting them on hold, and play classical music just to see how long they'll hang on the line.

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

On one occasion, I ordered toilet rolls but they sent me kitchen rolls. On another occasion I wanted some Tampax pads but they sent me Brillo pads. I mean FFS, who are they kidding!!

Oh my god, it's like someone is playing some kind of game with customers! Or, at the very least, is extremely unsure of what those items are actually used for!

Quote

 

I understand your point, but I would have as much use for "any old kind of paper towels" as you would have for a non-vegan burger, with probably the same result:  give it away or throw it away.

I finally found paper towels I like--size, price, thickness, not knowingly lining the pockets of people I don't like--and I will accept no substitutes.  Some things matter.

 

Yes, I get it--and of course things matter, like not brutalizing animals in my case. I am just saying I not only understand how a worker could assume (obviously wrongly in your case) how a paper towel substitution would at least supply the recipient with something, but do not understand how a worker (maybe the same one!) could do the same about the meat. Now, you can tell the delivery person to take their shit back but sometimes they just say, "OK, thanks--you're all set!" and race outta there (typically much faster than they arrived, haha!).

Also, applause for being someone who cares about the whole "lining the pockets" thing; I find--and this could be a peeve--that too many people adopt the attitude of "if you can't solve everything, why bother?" And so they don't do anything (and sometimes even act a bit patronizing to those of us who do).

And speaking of faux meat products, I probably have to throw ours away; we just got power back after losing it at about 6 last night. We were lucky--I have no idea how other people, especially with kids in the house, are dealing with this for much longer than we did. On a lighter note, I went to a Quick Chek and there was actually bread on the shelf! Haha, I thought that was the first thing to go in these instances!

Edited March 8, 2018 by TattleTeeny

[emma675]

Y'all have somehow jinxed me! I usually get 2-3 spam calls a week, today alone I've gotten three. I've got one that is essentially stalking me by using the same area code and first three numbers of my cell number and changing up the last 4 numbers. I just keep blocking and blocking. 

[TattleTeeny]

YES! Someone called me yesterday and I yelled at her! But it turned out that she was a regular person who was returning a call from my number even though I had not made any calls! I apologized and she laughed and said she didn't blame me a bit, and then we cursed out the Do Not Call list.

Edited March 8, 2018 by TattleTeeny
Whoops, I realize that what I just said was not the same as what forumfish said!

[ABay]

I never pick up if I don't recognize the number but if I did I'd like to try something like I heard on Angel: Hi! You've reached A Bay Inc.!! To leave a message for Jenny, press 1. For Matt, press 2. For Asgarth the Destroyer, press 3.

[riley702]

5 hours ago, backformore said:

We have been talking about giving up our landline, since it's rare that we get calls from anyone we want to talk to on that line. 

I haven't had a landline in years and don't miss it. My cell phone will tell me "Potential Spam", so I just hit reject.

[TattleTeeny]

We have to keep our landline because that's how our door buzzer works--when it works, that is. Oy, I feel like it's some big old mayhem over here lately with the snow/power outage, the broken buzzer, the coyotes...

Last week when I got a spam call, I handed the cell phone to my cat, who promptly and expectedly started to beat it up with kicky feet--my take on the far superior response of passing the phone to a babbling toddler!

Edited March 8, 2018 by TattleTeeny

[Sandman87]

6 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I pretend I don't speak English. I respond in Hindi!

I'm going to try the Latin for "hello" next time. If they continue I will recite from Caesar's comments about how Gaul is divided into three parts, which I had to memorize back in high school Latin class.

[theredhead77]

1 hour ago, TattleTeeny said:

YES! Someone called me yesterday and I yelled at her! But it turned out that she was a regular person who was returning a call from my number even though I had not made any calls! I apologized and she laughed and said she didn't blame me a bit, and then we cursed out the Do Not Call list.

That happened to me, except the guy left a angry message about who is calling him at 10am on a Sunday and not leaving a message. Ever dial a wrong number buddy? But a few weeks ago I got a random text 'sorry I can't talk", I didn't call. I texted back that I didn't know who they were, I didn't call and it seems my number has been spoofed.

[bilgistic]

I could recite the The Canterbury Tales' prologue in Middle English, which I had to learn in 12th grade. That "skill" has gotten me really far in life.

[topanga]

On 3/6/2018 at 2:51 PM, PRgal said:

Pet peeve:  People who block entryways at stores and then give you a dirty look when you have to walk around them (after apologizing/saying "excuse me".  What's the deal?  You're forcing me to be rude because you're too busy chatting (either with real people or on your phone).

People do this everywhere, even at church and in hospitals. I notice it whenever I’m escorting my blind mother around and repeatedly have to say ‘Excuse me, excuse me’ just to walk down a hall. I know people aren’t intentionally being selfish or rude—but it still bugs. And it makes me realize how much I take for granted my ability to effortlessly side-step doorway blockers. 

[walnutqueen]

Telemarketers hang up very quickly, and are loathe to call back,  if you answer their call with porn sex noises, or impersonate an obscene caller.

[Mindthinkr]

“I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them Sam I am”

Edited March 9, 2018 by Mindthinkr

[StatisticalOutlier]

10 hours ago, backformore said:

I have been on the do not call list, since 2003, and have reported these calls to the FTC. 

Is the company that's calling you the one that had your warranty?  If so, then you had a business relationship with them, and they can call you.  Being on the do not call registry doesn't affect that.

If they do call and you tell them to stop, they're supposed to stop.  But that, too, is independent of the do not call registry. 

In a tangential note, does anybody happen to know what the magic word is to text to a company that's sending text messages in Spanish?  The ones I get in English will say, "Text STOP to stop receiving these messages," but the Spanish ones don't have instructions for stopping them.  I can't block texts, so this is my only option, but I don't know what word to try.

[backformore]

7 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Is the company that's calling you the one that had your warranty?  If so, then you had a business relationship with them, and they can call you.  Being on the do not call registry doesn't affect that.

NO, apparently this is a scam company where they have a list of what car people own - they know the make, model, year of my car.  They try to give the impression that they are the warranty company, and your warranty is about to expire. (my warranty has been "about to expire"  for years now)  they want your money, and the warranty that they sell is worthless, not really a warranty, just a service contract. . One company was forced by the FTC to pay back people they had ripped off. 

consumer reports explains the car warranty scam

[TattleTeeny]

We get those for cars we don't have! If you're out there, scam callers, no one here has a damn Subaru!

[MrSmith]

13 hours ago, forumfish said:

Ooh, recitations! Good idea, let's see, I can choose from "When I have fears that I may cease to be" by Keats; or "Stand back, said the elephant, I'm going to sneeze!" which my sister and I still quote; or a fable from HS French class "La Cigale et la Fourmi;" or any number of verses from Scripture (I bet that would end the call quickly!).

Hmmm. You guys are giving me all kinds of ideas. If I do a recitation, I'm going to go with Green Eggs and Ham. I liked that book so much as a child that my parents had to buy me three copies because the first two wore out! LOL

9 hours ago, backformore said:

NO, apparently this is a scam company where they have a list of what car people own - they know the make, model, year of my car.  They try to give the impression that they are the warranty company, and your warranty is about to expire. (my warranty has been "about to expire"  for years now)  they want your money, and the warranty that they sell is worthless, not really a warranty, just a service contract. . One company was forced by the FTC to pay back people they had ripped off. 

consumer reports explains the car warranty scam

We get a lot of these calls - and we've never owned a vehicle that had a warranty!

[Zola]

12 hours ago, walnutqueen said:

Telemarketers hang up very quickly, and are loathe to call back,  if you answer their call with porn sex noises, or impersonate an obscene caller.

Now I did just that on a couple of occasions not so long ago. So fed up getting called at all hours of the day (and late evening) by the same "have you had an accident in the last 5 years" insurance claims business, that I decided to change tack from my usual "No thank you!" or "Bye" and resorted to fake orgasms! The person on the other end of the line soon shut the hell up, but didn't actually hang up (no doubt wondering what the hell I was doing)

After about 20 seconds of this "Harry Met Sally" business, I decided to hang up. But this ploy didn't work because the following night the same guy rang again - either wanting to sell me their product, or to hear me moan & groan. But I just hung up.

Unfortunately, the company still kept on calling me every day and night for a good couple of weeks before they finally gave up.

[Mindthinkr]

13 minutes ago, MrSmith said:

Hmmm. You guys are giving me all kinds of ideas. If I do a recitation, I'm going to go with Green Eggs and Ham. I liked that book so much as a child that my parents had to buy me three copies because the first two wore out! LOL

9 hours ago, backformore said:

Great minds think alike. I may be old but I’ve never lost my love for Dr Seuss. 

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

Hmmm. You guys are giving me all kinds of ideas. If I do a recitation, I'm going to go with Green Eggs and Ham. I liked that book so much as a child that my parents had to buy me three copies because the first two wore out! LOL

I think some lyrics by Beck or Monster Magnet might be a good choice too! They're two of my favorites but I don't even pretend to know what the hell they're talking about.

Edited March 9, 2018 by TattleTeeny

[StatisticalOutlier]

1 hour ago, Mindthinkr said:

Great minds think alike. I may be old but I’ve never lost my love for Dr Seuss. 

I did a high school English paper on Dr. Seuss and the other kids thought it was crazy and childish.  That was back before things like that were charming.

In it, I wrote about one part that I said would make kids anxious to brush their teeth, and my teacher corrected it to "eager," and I've never forgotten it.  To the point that even now, when I hear someone use "anxious" in a context that doesn't involve trepidation, I flinch.  That includes you, New Yorker.

 

17 hours ago, emma675 said:

I've got one that is essentially stalking me by using the same area code and first three numbers of my cell number and changing up the last 4 numbers. I just keep blocking and blocking. 

Ah, is that what's going on with those?  Mr. Outlier has started getting them. 

Is this ploy effective?  Are people more likely to answer a call because it came from the same prefix as theirs?  Maybe back when prefixes were assigned by neighborhoods, but now they're assigned to the cell phone company--would someone think, "Oh, it's another Verizon customer.  I should get this"?

He just thought, "What is the deal with all these people with my prefix calling my number?" and ignores them. 

 

11 hours ago, backformore said:

NO, apparently this is a scam company where they have a list of what car people own - they know the make, model, year of my car.  They try to give the impression that they are the warranty company, and your warranty is about to expire. (my warranty has been "about to expire"  for years now)  they want your money, and the warranty that they sell is worthless, not really a warranty, just a service contract.

Oh, that's really foul.  I guess it's lucrative for them, but that's because my fellow people make it so.  I'm not sure I'm fond of the party on either side of those transactions. 

The thing is, cars these days are amazing.  Yeah, I know they do break and there are lemons, but the reliability and longevity are off the charts compared to not even that long ago.  I remember when it was a huge deal for a car to turn over 100,000 miles, and now it's just par for the course.
 

[TattleTeeny]

Maybe next time, I will yell, "Before we go any further, I demand to know who falls for this!"

[Zola]

Mother's Day on Sunday, and am trying to be original with my gift. But typically & historically  it's always flowers, chocolates, alcohol - or a combo of all three. And all three are hideously expensive. I think my mother must a bit fed up receiving chocs and/or flowers every year, but people say "mothers love flowers" but I'm not convinced.

So this year i have ordered a personalised scarf & gloves, and an engraved compact mirror. But again, despite being fairly original, because all of these items are somehow associated with Mother's Day, they too command a premium price. And yet come the next day, and these items will be heavily discounted 

Emotional and financial blackmail at its best.

[Bastet]

You just gave me a moment's panic - Mother's Day is in May here, and I know that, just as I know you're in England, but for a second I thought we were days away and I hadn't made any plans for my mom.  (Instead of a gift, I take her somewhere each year - a meal and a museum, gallery, play, or something - and then my dad and I make dinner at my parents' house.)

[Zola]

Just now, Bastet said:

You just gave me a moment's panic - Mother's Day is in May here, and I know that, just as I know you're in England, but for a second I thought we were days away and I hadn't made any plans for my mom.  (Instead of a gift, I take her somewhere each year - a meal and a museum, gallery, play, or something - and then my dad and I make dinner at my parents' house.)

Oops!

For whatever reason I always thought Mother's Day (and Father's Day) was celebrated globally on the same day (i.e. March 11th). But it seems not.

Sorry about giving you a panic attack :)

Nice ideas, by the way. 

[Bastet]

5 minutes ago, Zola said:

For whatever reason I always thought Mother's Day (and Father's Day) was celebrated globally on the same day (i.e. March 11th). But it seems not.

We have a fair number of holidays that are not on a set date every year, but on the first or last [day] of a set month.  Thanksgiving being a prime example -- it's the fourth Thursday in November.  Mother's Day is the second Sunday in May, and Father's Day the third Sunday in June.

[Zola]

Talking of annual public holidays, I notice my country of England ranks very poorly in the holiday stakes, with a rather miserable 8 days. And it always me laugh when workers and unions in this country demand an extra public holiday, and yet big business and their puppet government always retort with the usual tropes of "it would be too expensive", "it would make us uncompetitive" or "it would cost jobs" blah blah blah.

Absolute rubbish of course, because Japan, South Korea, India, Span, Austria etc all seem to be doing very well with their respective economies despite having far more public holidays!

The table below is a shortened extract from the original article.

1. COLOMBIA – 18
2. INDIA – 18
3. LEBANON – 16  
4. SOUTH KOREA – 16  
5. JAPAN – 15  
6. ARGENTINA – 15  
7. CHILE – 15  
8. SPAIN – 14  
9. RUSSIA – 14  
10. AUSTRIA – 12  
11. BRAZIL – 12 
12. SWEDEN – 11
13.  ITALY – 11  
14. FRANCE – 11  
15. CANADA – 11  
16. NEW ZEALAND – 11
17.  CHINA – 11  
18. USA – 10    
19. NORWAY – 10
20. NORTHERN IRELAND – 10  
21. AUSTRALIA – 9  
22. SCOTLAND – 9  
23. HUNGARY – 8  
24. NETHERLANDS – 8
25. ENGLAND AND WALES – 8
26. MEXICO – 7

http://metro.co.uk/2015/04/03/happy-easter-almost-everyone-in-the-world-has-more-bank-holidays-than-the-uk-5131970/

Edited March 9, 2018 by Zola

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, Zola said:

Talking of annual public holidays, I notice my country of England ranks very poorly in the holiday stakes, with a rather miserable 8 days. And it always me laugh when workers and unions in this country demand an extra public holiday, and yet big business and their puppet government always retort with the usual tropes of "it would be too expensive", "it would make us uncompetitive" or "it would cost jobs" blah blah blah.

Absolute rubbish of course, because Japan, South Korea, India, Span, Austria etc all seem to be doing very well with their respective economies despite having far more public holidays!

The table below is a shortened extract from the original article.

1. COLOMBIA – 18
2. INDIA – 18
3. LEBANON – 16  
4. SOUTH KOREA – 16  
5. JAPAN – 15  
6. ARGENTINA – 15  
7. CHILE – 15  
8. SPAIN – 14  
9. RUSSIA – 14  
10. AUSTRIA – 12  
11. BRAZIL – 12 
12. SWEDEN – 11
13.  ITALY – 11  
14. FRANCE – 11  
15. CANADA – 11  
16. NEW ZEALAND – 11
17.  CHINA – 11  
18. USA – 10    
19. NORWAY – 10
20. NORTHERN IRELAND – 10  
21. AUSTRALIA – 9  
22. SCOTLAND – 9  
23. HUNGARY – 8  
24. NETHERLANDS – 8
25. ENGLAND AND WALES – 8
26. MEXICO – 7

http://metro.co.uk/2015/04/03/happy-easter-almost-everyone-in-the-world-has-more-bank-holidays-than-the-uk-5131970/

How do other countries work.  In the USA, only government employees are guaranteed the holidays off.  Most offices that I've worked at get 6 paid holidays.  And, the blue collar jobs I have had have just had 2 (Thanksgiving and Christmas).

[Mountainair]

That reminds me.... In a previous life I worked for a Candian based company (I worked in America) and we only got Christmas and Thanksgiving off. We had to work all other holidays usually with shortened hours and no Holiday pay (Labor Day, 4th of July, Memorial Day, etc). I always wondered why we didn't at least get the Canadian Holidays off then since we couldn't get the American ones off. That was a msierable company to work for and I worked there long enough to have a baby with really good company paid benefits and then I quit to stay home and raise my baby. :) 

A few years after I had quit I got something in the mail from them saying that a previous employee had sued them for lost wages (not related to the holiday pay or lack thereof) and I happened to be an ex employee that would have been effected by it so I ended up getting  a small settlement from them- ha!

[ABay]

Under the collective bargaining agreement negotiated by my union, I get 11 holidays (I think, It could be 12). Some line up with federal holidays when banks are closed and there's no mail delivery, but some don't and different groups get some different days off.

[Sandman87]

Pet peeve: Anything on the radio, such as commercials or news reports, that has the sound of a fire or police siren in it. I hate suddenly having to pull over while I'm driving, only to realize that it's not a real vehicle.

[riley702]

On 3/8/2018 at 7:46 PM, walnutqueen said:

Telemarketers hang up very quickly, and are loathe to call back,  if you answer their call with porn sex noises, or impersonate an obscene caller.

Not a telemarketer, but when I was much younger, I had a guy who would call and then make sex noises (no caller ID then). He called one morning and I hung up, then called back that evening. I blurted out, "My God! Are you not done yet?" and then started laughing. He hung up and never called again.

[SuprSuprElevated]

4 hours ago, Sandman87 said:

Anything on the radio, such as commercials or news reports

Or Aerosmith's Toys In The Attic 8-track tape, which has a siren at the end of one of the songs (can't remember which one), that is a very unfortunate sound when one has just extinguished a certain smoking material (in 1976).

Edited March 10, 2018 by SuprSuprElevated

[peacheslatour]

On 3/8/2018 at 3:29 PM, Sandman87 said:

I'm going to try the Latin for "hello" next time. If they continue I will recite from Caesar's comments about how Gaul is divided into three parts, which I had to memorize back in high school Latin class.

I think I shall recite Invictus.

[AuntieL]

Pet peeve of the day-people who tailgate me when I'm already going 5-10 miles over the speed limit. Back off bud! 

[Mountainair]

10 minutes ago, AuntieL said:

Pet peeve of the day-people who tailgate me when I'm already going 5-10 miles over the speed limit. Back off bud! 

To add to that..... tailgating me on a two lane mountain road with literally no where to pull off and let your dumb ass pass me. 

[Bastet]

Today's peeve: the bridesmaid dress I like best is a) the most expensive and b) would require me to buy a strapless/backless bra (extra expense, plus uncomfortable) because it only has spaghetti straps (the others have tank straps) and a low back.

Yes, the world's most reluctant maid of honor finally sucked it up and spent a couple of hours trying on dresses; I found three possibilities in all that - the one I like and two I could be satisfied with.  Of course I didn't like any of the knee- or tea-length options, which I could maybe, possibly, probably not but conceivably wear again; it's going to be a long dress I'll wear to the wedding and promptly donate.  Sigh; a disposable dress.  Which wouldn't be quite so annoying if I'd liked any of the options that were only about $100, but of course not.

The bride's sister was supposed to go today, too, but I haven't heard yet what she found (she's on the opposite side of the country).  My third choice is one that she'd suggested when we were looking online, so if she likes that one in person, we could go that route and have totally matching dresses.  I'd rather stick with same color, two different styles, or coordinating colors, different styles, as we've been talking about, but it's not my wedding (thank the universe).

I just greatly look forward to the three of us making a decision on style(s) and color(s), buying the damn dresses, and not having to talk about it anymore!  I also got to pick my massage, facial, and mani/pedi for our spa day (the day before the wedding) this morning, so that's something to look forward to. 

And as I was walking in for my appointment, there were two women walking out, one of whom was wearing a baseball cap that had "Bride to Be" written in bling.  I had a moment of appreciation I could be dealing with a lot worse.

Edited March 11, 2018 by Bastet

[Mannahatta]

On 3/8/2018 at 9:41 AM, SuprSuprElevated said:

IMO, what you're seeing is the result of the push for $15/hr.+  No matter what side you fall on the debate, the reality is that businesses that were paying $8 or $9 aren't going to nearly double their direct labor costs without fallout to the consumer.  Everybody pays, one way or another.

 

(Sorry I couldn't figure out how to quote the post you were responding to, Suprsuprelevated.) Anyway....

I hate going to stores that don't have cashiers! There's a CVS near me that must be raking in a bundle. It's open 24 hours, 7 days a week and there are always plenty of cars in the parking lot. When they first opened up they had around 4 or 5 cashiers. Then they were down to one cashier. Now there are no cashiers. (But they do have a person who stands at the door to greet you and probably to make sure you're not giving yourself a five finger discount on the way out.)......Now I'm not talking about the ever dwindling numbers of Mom and Pop stores - but a thriving chain store like CVS can afford to pay a few people a living wage to work the registers. So when I see a chain stores without a cashier, I figure it's the result of automation. Because automation has been a major factor behind job loss over the last few decades. So my local CVS doesn't hire cashiers simply because now they don't have to!  Sure - why hire someone at any wage when they can let the customers do all the work? So after a long, hard day at your regular job better get used to rolling up your sleeves to work the registers, and just pray they don't come up with a way for us to stock the shelves. LOL

Edited March 11, 2018 by Mannahatta

[JTMacc99]

I prefer a CVS that has a self checkout lane. Sometimes I buy stuff there that I’m perfectly okay with just scanning myself. 

[Sun-Bun]

13 hours ago, Bastet said:

And as I was walking in for my appointment, there were two women walking out, one of whom was wearing a baseball cap that had "Bride to Be" written in bling.  I had a moment of appreciation I could be dealing with a lot worse.

Ughhhh....((shudder))...yeah. I kinda hate women like those; who could even wear such a cap without a hint of irony? You just know she's all smug about the day and has been planning this overbloated celebration for most of her life and is likely the shrieking bridezilla from Hell to her poor bridesmaids. Probably wept into a puddle of her own barf during her trashy bachelorette party.

Sorry about your wedding party woes, @Bastet. I for one find it incredibly tacky that so many brides expect their maids to dress a certain way in fugly dresses they staunchly pick out, yet they don't even help fund the efforts. All that for a disposable dress indeed. Hopefully you can drink her dry at the reception's open bar in silent retaliation.

[Mindthinkr]

5 minutes ago, Sun-Bun said:

Sorry about your wedding party woes, @Bastet. I for one find it incredibly tacky that so many brides expect their maids to dress a certain way in fugly dresses they staunchly pick out, yet they don't even help fund the efforts. All that for a disposable dress indeed. Hopefully you can drink her dry at the reception's open bar in silent retaliation.

Although I think @Sun-Bun makes a good point about the bar, here’s one solution that I liked. Someone was having a wedding and was mindful of her attendants pocketbooks and differing sizes. She chose a black long dress and then gave free rein for all the bridesmaids to choose what dress they thought looked best on themselves. I think that her only stipulation was that they all conform to a sleeveless style. They were all able to suit their own taste and body image. One girl chose a long dress but had it hemmed afterwards so she’d be able to rewear it. They all looked stunning. 

@Bastet I wish that your bride had been as thoughtful. Best wishes to you and have one of those free drinks for me! 

[Bastet]

5 hours ago, Sun-Bun said:

Sorry about your wedding party woes, @Bastet. I for one find it incredibly tacky that so many brides expect their maids to dress a certain way in fugly dresses they staunchly pick out, yet they don't even help fund the efforts. All that for a disposable dress indeed. Hopefully you can drink her dry at the reception's open bar in silent retaliation.

Oh, she needs us to drink ourselves silly (well, not that she wants the wedding party and half the guests to be sloppy drunks, which is not something we'd sign up for even if she did, just that there need to be a good number of pleasantly tipsy people climbing into cabs at the end of the night) to hit the $10k minimum they had to agree to in order to get the venue Saturday night instead of Friday, because their expenses don't get them there alone, and with a fairly small headcount, the food isn't going to get them there, either, so they need their guests to get up from the tables (where there will be wine) to do some damage at the (open, of course) bar; otherwise, they're just paying the difference between $10k and the total they actually reached, so money for nothing.  (Although, if it's $500 or less difference, I think they don't have to pay; maybe even hitting $9k is okay -- something like that.)

And we have a lot of freedom with the dresses - so far, we're picking both style and color (when I talk about liking X number of the options available, I mean among all the dresses the store had on hand in my size to be tried on - we, not the bride, came up with our list of dresses we wanted to try on based on online browsing, and then the consultant suggested some others), and I think it would only be if she really hated what we each came up with that she'd ask us to choose a different color.  I really don't see her deciding to have us choose my third choice (that was also on her sister's list) so we can be in the exact same dress unless we decided we were good with that.  I think it looks better to have different dresses (same color is nice, though, so I'll try to agree with her sister on one), so I'm not leaning that way. 

Last night, she said she'd buy my crazy-ass bra if I liked that spaghetti strap/backless dress best, because she wants me to have the dress I want, but I explained the added expense of a special contraption for my breasts is just an annoyance -- it's that it's probably going to be uncomfortable that bugs me.  Because I've never been a "one must suffer for fashion" person - bullshit; I want to look good, yes, but only if I'm also comfortable - but I really like this damn dress.  My peeve is with me, and the fact that's the dress I like most (that was one of the consultant's suggestions - the other two that wound up making my top three were ones we had on our list - and I wanted to smack her with it when I wound up liking it).  I need to go try one of those bustier-type bras on and see if I think I can spend hours in one, and then make my decision on the dress.

So, it's not bad, but I do find the tradition of bridesmaids paying for their own dresses weird; even with the latitude we have in choosing, I'm still being put in a costume rather than just showing up in a nice dress from Macy's that I can also wear to cocktail parties.  The whole wedding industry is one big crock to me, really.

She's spending more on my treatments at our spa day (and it's the spa I go to, so I'm getting the exact thing I'd normally treat myself to as a gift from her) than I'm spending on a dress (plus, I get good food and drink at the reception; I did the tasting with them, so I know the menu options are good), so, even if you want to reduce it down purely to finances, I come out ahead.  I'm not annoyed with her, just the whole idea of this production, but I knew I would be going in (which is why I tried to say no, but she explained that it was important to her for me to be the one standing there with her, and I decided that was much more important than my issues with marriage in general and weddings specifically). 

And hers is so much less of a production than what's typical these days - in terms of the wedding itself, and the fact I did not have to do a shower or bachelorette party at all - so I only complain here (well, and to my mother; she's my mom, it's her job to listen to me complain <g>).  I want her to like the look of the event and of the pictures, and enjoy herself, so, since she's not an "It's my day!" Bridezilla, I'm going with the flow in real life.

Edited March 11, 2018 by Bastet