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

[Brookside]

Morons who decide they can't wait until The Fourth to start setting off fireworks.

[walnutqueen]

4 hours ago, Brookside said:

Morons who decide they can't wait until The Fourth to start setting off fireworks.

Morons who set off fireworks.

[Zola]

9 hours ago, Brookside said:

Morons who decide they can't wait until The Fourth to start setting off fireworks.

We have similar cretins here in the UK. The whole country celebrates Bonfire Night (November 5th), with huge bonfires and fireworks (both large displays done by professional organisations, and private individuals in their own back garden); but you can bet your bottom dollar, some titwit will let off fireworks days, even weeks before the 5tth - and sometimes in broad daylight! So where's the sense in that?

Some people are just born stupid

[janestclair]

When my dad gives directions and I ask for landmarks, he refers to landmarks that are no longer there.  Or he'll refer to something by a name it hasn't gone by since I've been alive, and I'm in my thirties.  How is that in any way helpful?   

[Brookside]

6 minutes ago, Zola said:

We have similar cretins here in the UK. The whole country celebrates Bonfire Night (November 5th), with huge bonfires and fireworks (both large displays done by professional organisations, and private individuals in their own back garden); but you can bet your bottom dollar, some titwit will let off fireworks days, even weeks before the 5tth - and sometimes in broad daylight! So where's the sense in that?

Some people are just born stupid

I loved Bonfire Night when I was growing up.  Do people still make baked potatoes in the fire and eat treacle toffee?  Do they still have those horrifying "ads" with burn victims?

I was so disappointed with my first Fourth Of July here in the States - tiny little fireworks set off in daylight.  What's the point?

[Zola]

2 minutes ago, Brookside said:

I loved Bonfire Night when I was growing up.  Do people still make baked potatoes in the fire and eat treacle toffee?  Do they still have those horrifying "ads" with burn victims?

I was so disappointed with my first Fourth Of July here in the States - tiny little fireworks set off in daylight.  What's the point?

As far as I know jacket spuds are still the order of the day on Bonfire Night. Along with those ads you mention - because yet again some people are born stupid and don't realise that holding a lit firework (or putting one in one's mouth while lit) is incredibly dangerous!

 

Darwin 1 - Stupid People 0

[Zola]

9 minutes ago, Brookside said:

I loved Bonfire Night when I was growing up.  Do people still make baked potatoes in the fire and eat treacle toffee?  Do they still have those horrifying "ads" with burn victims?

I was so disappointed with my first Fourth Of July here in the States - tiny little fireworks set off in daylight.  What's the point?

PS. You're not a former Brit are you?

I only ask because of your user name :)

[Brookside]

4 minutes ago, Zola said:

PS. You're not a former Brit are you?

I only ask because of your user name :)

Yes I am, but my Brookside is not in Liverpool, and precedes the TV show!

(Actually still a Brit - dual nationality can be helpful.)

[Zola]

Just now, Brookside said:

Yes I am, but my Brookside is not in Liverpool, and precedes the TV show!

(Actually still a Brit - dual nationality can be helpful.)

I know this is way off topic but forgive me on this occasion. Just nice to have another Brit on board (even though I myself have dual nationality as I'm also South African living in England)

 

Okay, back on-topic :)

[Brookside]

4 minutes ago, Zola said:

I know this is way off topic but forgive me on this occasion. Just nice to have another Brit on board (even though I myself have dual nationality as I'm also South African living in England)

 

Okay, back on-topic :)

Back on topic, my current Pet Peeve is whether I want France or Argentina to lose.  Is this too political for PTV?

[Sun-Bun]

17 hours ago, Fable said:

One of my hugest peeves is people who call unsolicited, be they salespeople, political groups or the damn scammers.  I was talking to a friend this afternoon about this, and she told me, put on your sexiest voice and ask them “what are you wearing?”  I am so going to do this! 

Yeah, don’t get mad, get even—-I personally love it when I get unsolicited calls! And you can always tell when it’s one of them; they usually start off with “Hello there, ma’am/sir, how are you today?” The last time that happened, I actually pulled a RHofNYC Dorinda-ism out(“not well, bitch!”) and stifled my giggles via pretending to be sobbing that I’d just found out that my husband was having a torrid affair with the poolboy. That solicitor actually sat there comforting me! She finally hung up when I mentioned that I heard they were having threesomes with the poolboy’s grandma and her pet spider monkey.

[Zola]

9 minutes ago, Brookside said:

Back on topic, my current Pet Peeve is whether I want France or Argentina to lose.  Is this too political for PTV?

Politics aside (more so given the Mod notice below), I would prefer France over Argentina to win

Edited June 30, 2018 by Zola

[auntlada]

1 hour ago, Brookside said:

I loved Bonfire Night when I was growing up.  Do people still make baked potatoes in the fire and eat treacle toffee?  Do they still have those horrifying "ads" with burn victims?

I was so disappointed with my first Fourth Of July here in the States - tiny little fireworks set off in daylight.  What's the point?

Where were you that they set off fireworks during the day? Our city display is always after dark. That's my peeve. Not that they're after dark -- that only makes sense -- but that dark starts so late on July 4. Couldn't our forefathers have declared independence in winter when dark comes so much earlier and I wouldn't have to take a day of annual the next day so I (and the boy) can sleep in?

16 hours ago, emma675 said:

My pet peeve is myself today. 

I was picking up my new car and bumped into a pole LEAVING THE DAMN DEALERSHIP. I should not be allowed to drive.

In my defense, the dealership parked my car with a car in front and on one side of me, the pole on the other side and a narrow lane to back into. Plus, the new car has warning sounds, which my old car did not, and I could not figure out what it was dinging on about. Luckily it's just a tiny cloudy spot in the clear coat, but I about had a meltdown in the parking lot over my own carelessness. 

If the mechanics or whoever parks my car in a spot I'm pretty sure I can't get it out of easily, I always ask them to drive it out for me. They're always happy to do it. I do live in what I don't consider a small town, although it's definitely not a big city, but what most of you would probably consider a small town, however, and the mechanics know me pretty well. That's one way we picked the mechanic we have now. I had written a newspaper story about him doing a free auto repair clinic for older widows in his church. (He probably did repairs for others, too, but that was the focus: older women living alone on fixed incomes.)

[JTMacc99]

I wanted Argentina, but that’s only because I had them going deeper into the tournament than France in my pool. Oh well.

[Brookside]

1 hour ago, Zola said:

Politics aside (more so given the Mod notice below), I would prefer France over Argentina to win

 

Understandable, given your name!

Wishes do sometimes come true.  Onwards and upwards.

Oh, and Mbappe.  No words.

Edited June 30, 2018 by Brookside

[Mindthinkr]

Here’s one re: being directionally challenged. Yesterday my guy friend went to take something to the UPS store. He was trying to figure out which was cheaper UPS or USPS. She asked where to and he replied “Italy”. She said “I can’t give you a quote”. He answered “Why not?”  She said she couldn’t because she didn’t know where Italy is. I asked him how old she was. “In her 40’s” he replied. Neither of us could figure out why she didn’t just look it up in her computer. Now I know that geography is taught in school but how do you not know where Italy is. Shaped like a boot it’s one of the most recognizable countries in Europe. Sheesh. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

3 hours ago, auntlada said:

Where were you that they set off fireworks during the day? Our city display is always after dark. That's my peeve. Not that they're after dark -- that only makes sense -- but that dark starts so late on July 4. Couldn't our forefathers have declared independence in winter when dark comes so much earlier and I wouldn't have to take a day of annual the next day so I (and the boy) can sleep in?

The town where I grew up started doing the big fireworks display on July 3 because they can borrow the cannons from a base 200 miles away.  It's a great show, it happens late enough for everybody to be able to get there after work, and most people don't have to work the next day. 

[riley702]

8 hours ago, Zola said:

...but you can bet your bottom dollar, some titwit will let off fireworks days, even weeks before the 5tth - and sometimes in broad daylight! So where's the sense in that?

Titwit! Love it - sounds more entertaining than nitwit.

[Mindthinkr]

3 hours ago, forumfish said:

I've driven through Italy lots of times, it's on the way to Dallas, between Hillsboro and Waxahachie.  ;)

Well color me purple. I had no idea there’s a Italy, Texas. I guess I’m the dummy. 

[auntlada]

4 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

The town where I grew up started doing the big fireworks display on July 3 because they can borrow the cannons from a base 200 miles away.  It's a great show, it happens late enough for everybody to be able to get there after work, and most people don't have to work the next day. 

One year when the fireworks had to be postponed because of either drought or rain, it was supposed to be on Labor Day. The city planned to shoot them off Monday evening. At some point, someone wisely thought, "Hey, the kids all have to go to school on Tuesday. Maybe we should do these Sunday night instead so kids don't have to go to school and more people are off work."

Our fireworks get postponed a lot because of either burn bans during droughts or because of rain. Sometimes there's not a burn ban and it's not raining on July 4, but it rained just before and the ground where everyone will park is soft and muddy, and the city doesn't want everyone parking on that ground and tearing up the grass at the city lake. It's annoying, but it was great the year the fireworks got postponed again at Labor Day (burn ban again) until Statehood Day, which is in November. Everything was much earlier. This year, they've changed where they are going to shoot them and where everyone can park so there will be no parking on the grassy areas. We've had quite a bit of rain so there shouldn't be a burn ban, so if it's not actually raining that day, we should be good. So I'm just taking off July 5, too.

[BookWoman56]

I'm not sure if the USPS or a guy who lives down the street from me, or both, should be the object of my annoyance, but here goes: Back in December, I ordered an electric teakettle. Followed the tracking number, and the tracking info said it had been delivered, only I had not received the package. Contacted the company who shipped it, and they advised to check around my house and with the next-door neighbors, which I did. After waiting the required amount of time for the package to fail to show up, I filled out the paperwork to say it had been lost in transit. I'd never filed any kind of similar claim before, so they shipped me another one, which arrived promptly with no problems. I figured since it was around Christmas time, it had either just been misdelivered or someone deliberately stole it either in transit or off my front porch. So, fast forward to today. A guy from 5-6 houses down the street rings my doorbell, and hands me a package, stating that it had been delivered to him by mistake. I am in fact expecting a package in the next day or two, so I just assumed it was the stuff that should be getting here on Monday, showing up early. But no, it's the original electric teakettle, complete with packing slip dated mid-December. Either this box has been floating around in USPS limbo for 6 months and they delivered it today to the wrong address (which seems unlikely), or they delivered it to the wrong address 6 months ago, and it's been sitting in this guy's house ever since. And I am perplexed as hell. Assuming he got it back in December, why did it take so long for him to walk down the street a few houses and give it to me?  I mean, I could sort of understand it if this had involved having to take it back to the post office or some other similarly inconvenient action, but I would figure anyone who was too damn lazy/irresponsible to walk down the street a few houses would have just decided to keep the thing for himself. Nor does it make sense to me that it might have gotten lost in a post office facility somehow, they found it yesterday or today and had that "oh, shit, this was supposed to have been delivered 6 months ago" moment, and then managed to deliver it to the wrong house. 

Edited July 1, 2018 by BookWoman56

[AuntieL]

Maybe it accidentally got stuffed in a back room or attic over the holidays and he just found it? Or it did indeed get delivered late to the wrong address. 

[fairffaxx]

2 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

Well color me purple. I had no idea there’s a Italy, Texas. I guess I’m the dummy. 

There's also an Earth, Texas -- & a Happy, Texas -- & a Possum Kingdom Lake, Texas.  Not to mention a North, South Carolina & an Odd, West Virginia.  

[Brookside]

On 6/29/2018 at 2:33 PM, Fable said:

One of my hugest peeves is people who call unsolicited, be they salespeople, political groups or the damn scammers.  I was talking to a friend this afternoon about this, and she told me, put on your sexiest voice and ask them “what are you wearing?”  I am so going to do this! 

Just get on the Do Not Call list.  It's worked like a treat for years for me.  

https://www.donotcall.gov/

[riley702]

1 hour ago, fairffaxx said:

There's also an Earth, Texas -- & a Happy, Texas -- & a Possum Kingdom Lake, Texas.  Not to mention a North, South Carolina & an Odd, West Virginia.  

I just looked up my state of Indiana and found a list of cities with names of countries, followed by cities with odd names. Countries: Rome, Mexico, Peru, Cuba, Lebanon, Crete, Brazil, Scotland, Denmark, China, Syria, Holland, and Ireland. Odd: Gnaw Bone, Munster, Waterloo, Zulu, the adjoining towns of Old Bath and New Bath, Santa Claus, and Versailles (pronounced "ver-sales")

Edited July 1, 2018 by riley702

[fairffaxx]

Thanks for that link, forumfish -- I'd forgotten all about Bug Tussle (how?)!  

[AuntieL]

There's also a ver-sales (Versailles) PA, southeast of Pittsburgh, near where I grew up. 

[riley702]

Yay! It's not just Indiana that mispronounces it!

[Blergh]

Even funnier than Versailles is how the term 'hermitage' is pronounced. I recall one serious news story on NPR a few years back  about something that  had happened in Hermitage, Tennessee in which the news reader pronounced it the French  "ehr-mee-TAUJ" when in that part of the country, it's pronounced "HER-mih-tedge'.

[StatisticalOutlier]

I still remember buying a shower curtain when I was in college, back when you had store personnel show you stuff.  The woman pulled one out and called it "the Ver-say-lees."  Fancier than "Ver-sales," I guess.  So I bought it.

[bmasters9]

On 6/26/2018 at 10:54 AM, Sun-Bun said:

I feel your pain, @bilgistic: fellow “chesty” boob sweat sufferer here as well. I’ve always been ample up there, but I was certainly not prepared for them to literally size up like balloons after I hit 40!

Which reminds me—-several months ago I got a ticket thanks to my boob sweat. I was driving home downtown from work...boob sweat rolling down my chest making me stabby...so I remove my seat belt and am dabbing away with a tissue under my shirt to just get some relief...cue a motorcycle cop suddenly come behind me with lights ablaze. Because I had taken my belt off for a few minutes to dab my boob sweat, he cited me, that dick—-$75 for my folly!!! I tried to politely explain the sitch, but Sergeant Dickface was having none of it. Oh well.

So be careful out there, fellow chesty one’s.

Letter of the law, I take it?!

[PRgal]

On 6/30/2018 at 11:10 PM, riley702 said:

I just looked up my state of Indiana and found a list of cities with names of countries, followed by cities with odd names. Countries: Rome, Mexico, Peru, Cuba, Lebanon, Crete, Brazil, Scotland, Denmark, China, Syria, Holland, and Ireland. Odd: Gnaw Bone, Munster, Waterloo, Zulu, the adjoining towns of Old Bath and New Bath, Santa Claus, and Versailles (pronounced "ver-sales")

I wouldn't call Waterloo, "odd."  It's a town in Belgium and where the historical Battle of Waterloo was fought.  There's a Waterloo, Ontario, as well.  The original Bath is in England.  I've been.

Versailles...do outsiders pronounce it like the palace until they're corrected by locals? 

[JTMacc99]

1 hour ago, PRgal said:

I wouldn't call Waterloo, "odd." 

There are about a half dozen Waterloos in the United States. 

[riley702]

1 hour ago, PRgal said:

Versailles...do outsiders pronounce it like the palace until they're corrected by locals? 

Frequently. Unless, of course, they've never actually heard it before; then they usually mangle it, too. LOL

[TattleTeeny]

On 6/30/2018 at 10:44 PM, Brookside said:

Just get on the Do Not Call list.  It's worked like a treat for years for me.  

https://www.donotcall.gov/

Ugh, it does not work for me at all. And when I try to reregister, it tells me I can't because I'm already on it. 

[AuntieL]

Is there a law in the universe that the office air conditioning will crap out on the hottest day of the year?

[KittyMom4]

22 hours ago, bmasters9 said:

I feel your pain, @bilgistic: fellow “chesty” boob sweat sufferer here as well. I’ve always been ample up there, but I was certainly not prepared for them to literally size up like balloons after I hit 40!

Which reminds me—-several months ago I got a ticket thanks to my boob sweat. I was driving home downtown from work...boob sweat rolling down my chest making me stabby...so I remove my seat belt and am dabbing away with a tissue under my shirt to just get some relief...cue a motorcycle cop suddenly come behind me with lights ablaze. Because I had taken my belt off for a few minutes to dab my boob sweat, he cited me, that dick—-$75 for my folly!!! I tried to politely explain the sitch, but Sergeant Dickface was having none of it. Oh well.

So be careful out there, fellow chesty one’s.

LOL! Prior to my breast reduction (36DD to a 34C best.surgery.ever.) I used to keep a dry washcloth in my car and would shove it down my shirt to absorb the trickles. 

 

2 hours ago, PRgal said:

Versailles...do outsiders pronounce it like the palace until they're corrected by locals? 

There's a town near my hometown called Leroy.  If you poll 20 people, 10 will say it's pronounced LEHroy, and 10 will say its pronounced LEEroy. You can't win.

[Brookside]

The trend for TV shows  to "fast forward" through set-up shots.  Why?  It certainly doesn't build suspense.

Edited July 2, 2018 by Brookside

[riley702]

32 minutes ago, GoodieGirl said:

There's a town near my hometown called Leroy.  If you poll 20 people, 10 will say it's pronounced LEHroy, and 10 will say its pronounced LEEroy. You can't win.

i would have thought "lehROY" would have been in there, too.

[KittyMom4]

Just now, riley702 said:

33 minutes ago, GoodieGirl said:

There's a town near my hometown called Leroy.  If you poll 20 people, 10 will say it's pronounced LEHroy, and 10 will say its pronounced LEEroy. You can't win.

i would have thought "lehROY" would have been in there, too.

oopsy, you are correct, lehROY is also used!!! 

[ABay]

LEEroy or LeROY is how I heard it, and still say both in my head when I pass the Jello Museum sign on the Thruway.

[bilgistic]

There's a Beaufort in North Carolina and a Beaufort in South Carolina. One is pronounced BUE-furt and the other is BOE-furt. I can never remember which is which.

Myrtle Beach, SC, is in Horry County, which is pronounced "Or-REE", but it's a big source of laffs.

Edited July 2, 2018 by bilgistic

[KittyMom4]

5 minutes ago, ABay said:

LEEroy or LeROY is how I heard it, and still say both in my head when I pass the Jello Museum sign on the Thruway.

Sounds like you've driven through the countryside in Western NY!

[ABay]

Born & raised in WNY, but live elsewhere now, in an overpriced hell-hole without Wegman's, sponge candy, or pop.

[Moose135]

1 hour ago, bilgistic said:

There's a Beaufort in North Carolina and a Beaufort in South Carolina. One is pronounced BUE-furt and the other is BOE-furt. I can never remember which is which.

I always get those wrong, but then it took me being down here a couple of years to realize they were pronounced differently.  I wasn't aware of "Or-REE" County - I've been that way a couple of times, and always wondered about it.

[JTMacc99]

3 hours ago, AuntieL said:

Is there a law in the universe that the office air conditioning will crap out on the hottest day of the year?

Yes. Murphy’s Law covers that. 

[janestclair]

3 hours ago, ABay said:

Born & raised in WNY, but live elsewhere now, in an overpriced hell-hole without Wegman's, sponge candy, or pop.

No Wegmans?  You have my condolences. 

[harrie]

5 hours ago, ABay said:

....... live elsewhere now, in an overpriced hell-hole without Wegman's, sponge candy, or pop.

Or as I like to call it, home sweet home. 

[bilgistic]

Incoming health insurance rage post...

I got a letter a couple weeks ago, maybe, from Cigna's new payment administrator. The letter said that they would be taking over the payments as of July 1. Through June, keep making your payment to the current administrator. (I paid on June 27.) We will send you payment stubs for July and every month thereafter. I got the stubs a week or so later. I haven't owned checks in a decade, but there's an online payment portal.

Fast-forward to today after I called in a prescription to be refilled. Y'all know where this is going, don't you, smart cookies! The pharmacist called me back about a half hour later and said my insurance wasn't processing the prescription. I told him I would call the insurance company and get it straightened out.

Cigna outsources prescription administration to CVS Caremark, which I called first to see what was up. The rep said my coverage ended June 30. I told her it shouldn't have, but that wasn't their fault; Cigna has to pass on to them the eligibility of their members...which for some reason takes a few days. I've been through a similar situation when I first started paying for COBRA.

I called Cigna and asked what the problem was; I'd paid for June and I have until July 31 to pay for July. With me on the line, the rep called former payment admin, who sees that I paid for June. Cool. She then calls new admin, who doesn't see that I've paid for July because I haven't yet paid; I have until the end of the month. He also doesn't see a payment for June. Well, genius, you wouldn't because you weren't the payment admin in June.

He has to "open a case" to get my insurance status changed back to active, by calling the former admin and verifying that I paid in June. And once that happens, I have to wait until they tell the RX admin that I'm active so I can fill my prescription. And I had a clinic appointment today, so they'll be filing a claim that may or may not be paid. But they told me I could "just pay for the doctor visit ($506) and prescription ($25) out of pocket and we can reimburse you." Sure! Here's $500!

It's almost as if CIGNA KNEW THEY WERE CHANGING PAYMENT ADMINS AND COULD'VE FORESEEN THIS ISSUE.

Now for the topping on this bullshit sundae. I pulled up the online payment portal for the new payment admin. I have to create a new profile; OK, sure. It asks for user ID, but there's no explanation as to what that might be or how to obtain one. I have a customer number on the letter; that doesn't work. I try my social security number...nope. My insurance ID number...negative. So I'm going to have to call these fools again and ask how to log in to pay my bill. Again, you'd think they could've anticipated these issues.

Edited July 3, 2018 by bilgistic

[Mindthinkr]

I’m annoyed and exhausted. I had four (well 5 but I feigned sleep and didn’t answer the last call at 1 am) phone calls from a very tipsy friend who wasn’t making much sense. She isn’t making good choices with her life right now and although I give her sound advice I think she would rather drink than get with the program and do the right thing. I care but at some point I’m going to have to draw a line in the sand. I feel guilty.