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

[backformore]

14 hours ago, bilgistic said:

There is a pack of young-ish kids that get squirrelly and run through my building every now and then, and it makes me just about homicidal. They did it today. They ring my doorbell (which scares the shit out of my cat) and run because my door is the first on the hall and I'm a grouchy old lady who yells at them. They don't live in my building, because all the units here are one-bedroom. They've been talked to numerous times by the management, and I KNOW that if I jerked one of them out by the ear and took them to their parent(s), *I'd* get sued. Or the complex ownership will get sued when one of them falls and breaks a bone when running through the building.

I hate kids so much.

I had that problem with my neighbors.   Living in a neighborhood of single family homes, the boys next door used to ring the doorbell because it made my dog run to the window and bark at them.  My kids were wild, but they knew not to bother other people.  But the kids next door -  they lived to bother people.

  I told the dad, let him know I was having health issues, and couldn't keep getting up to see if there was someone at the door.  he laughed, and said "Yeah, ding dong ditch!   we used to do that when we were kids, "   and then talked about the pranks he and his brother used to play on neighbors.   It took me a while before I got it -  his kids were assholes, but it was apparently genetic.

[bilgistic]

I just lost my goddamned mind and screamed at them when they were running the halls AGAIN this evening. One of them had the balls to run back in here and yell something a few minutes later. I called the apartment management and left a message (because those little shits never do this when the leasing office is open) saying that if they don't do something, I will be jerking one out by the arm and escorting him or her home, and probably getting sued.

I'm BOILING. I want to come home to quiet after working in the middle of a loud cube farm full of egotistical little man-boys all day, and I have to deal with this shit every summer and every snow day. I'm VERY tempted to say something to the helicopter parents and their innocent cherubs at the bus stop in the morning, but then they would know my car, which would probably end up egged or worse.

[Mountainair]

4 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

I just lost my goddamned mind and screamed at them when they were running the halls AGAIN this evening. One of them had the balls to run back in here and yell something a few minutes later. I called the apartment management and left a message (because those little shits never do this when the leasing office is open) saying that if they don't do something, I will be jerking one out by the arm and escorting him or her home, and probably getting sued.

I'm BOILING. I want to come home to quiet after working in the middle of a loud cube farm full of egotistical little man-boys all day, and I have to deal with this shit every summer and every snow day. I'm VERY tempted to say something to the helicopter parents and their innocent cherubs at the bus stop in the morning, but then they would know my car, which would probably end up egged or worse.

Damn! How miserable! I hate kids (except my own and a few select close friends' children, I don't even particularly care for my nieces) so I too would be thinking of a way to booby trap the doorbell as others have suggested as I tend to be non confrontational. Can they read? Put out a sign saying, "Smile, you're on camera" if you don't want to go the physical violence route, see if that stops them? 

[bilgistic]

I have three nieces, and I love one of them to bits. She's eight and awesome--well-behaved, bright, funny as hell. I love the other two, but we just aren't as close. My sister's not been a very good mother to them, nor a good sister to me or my other sister. She's been a shitty daughter to my mother.

[annzeepark914]

@bilgistic:  Is there any way to install a camera by your door?  or have management install cameras in the hallways to prevent stuff like this (or in case of burglaries have some proof)?

[bilgistic]

They won't fix the potholes in the complex drives, so I'm thinking they won't install cameras. They sure do raise my rent every year and don't give me anything for it, though! The ownership is notoriously cheap.

This kind of stuff makes me really miss my condo. I was one of the youngest people there, and the median age was probably 50. It was fantastic. I lost it after four years of unstable work and health, though, and I can't afford to buy again.

[shapeshifter]

bilgistic, I had an experience with the upstairs neighbor's child "counting" (yelling) to 100 for a game of Hide and Seek at the top of her lungs while standing facing my bedroom window when I was recovering from surgery. I opened the door and said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. That is way too loud." The child was startled (I guess, or maybe felt guilty) and ran upstairs to her mother with some sort of tale about the mean lady downstairs. Her mother came to my door, ranted at me non-stop for some time, then finally stopped to ask what I had said to her child. I told her and she left (maybe sheepishly?) and that was the end of it. 
Anyway, I have great empathy for you. My best recomendation is foam ear plugs when you want quiet, and a loud TV or radio when you don't. Sorry, that's all I got other than keeping an eye out for a better rental. And remember that nothing lasts forever.

[Demented Daisy]

11 hours ago, bilgistic said:

I just lost my goddamned mind and screamed at them when they were running the halls AGAIN this evening. One of them had the balls to run back in here and yell something a few minutes later. I called the apartment management and left a message (because those little shits never do this when the leasing office is open) saying that if they don't do something, I will be jerking one out by the arm and escorting him or her home, and probably getting sued.

I'm BOILING. I want to come home to quiet after working in the middle of a loud cube farm full of egotistical little man-boys all day, and I have to deal with this shit every summer and every snow day. I'm VERY tempted to say something to the helicopter parents and their innocent cherubs at the bus stop in the morning, but then they would know my car, which would probably end up egged or worse.

I had originally (pre-edit) suggested you talk to the parents, but they might see that as a pre-emptive strike.  Better to continue dealing with the management company.  

I hate to say it, but times have changed.  Years ago, we adults could talk to each other.  If our children were bothering others, we would get our kids in line.  But now, kids come first, above all others.  It's maddening.

I used to work as a teacher's aide/substitute teacher for an elementary and middle school.  More than one parent threatened to have me fired because I had treated their child "unfairly".  Based upon the word of the child, of course.  Thankfully, the principal listened to all sides before making a decision.  She recognized that children have a tendency to exaggerate and (in some cases) lie to get what they want.

So now, if I have an issue with a child, I have no problem appealing to a higher authority than the parents.  Better to get your side of the story documented before some parent decides you have been cruel to their baby and calls the police or has you evicted.

Edited May 25, 2016 by Demented Daisy
Rethought advice.

[auntlada]

It's amazing the people who don't understand that their children are unreliable narrators. Sometimes, it's intentional, and the kid is just flat out lying. Sometimes, the kid really thinks it happened the way he said, either because he is actually remembering something else, he didn't see everything or he is conflating more than one event. Or because people tend to remember things in such a way as to put themselves in as positive a light as possible.

I find it's sometimes a hard line to draw between supporting your child and finding out the other side of the story. You don't want to call your child a liar immediately (or make him feel that you never trust and believe him even when he's telling the truth because sometimes he is), but there is always another side -- or several other sides. Of course, sometimes your child is just a big old jerk, but if he gets to the age your neighbor children seem to be and is a jerk, the parents probably are, too.

[bilgistic]

1 hour ago, auntlada said:

Of course, sometimes your child is just a big old jerk, but if he gets to the age your neighbor children seem to be and is a jerk, the parents probably are, too.

This is exactly it. I'm positive that anything I do is not going to make a damned bit of difference because the parents (and I'm thinking it's single mothers and/or grandmothers who are raising the children, based upon what I'm seeing at the bus stop) are going to be defensive and tell me that their kids wouldn't do whatever I'm saying they're doing. The likelihood is probably high that the kids are home alone while the adults are working more than one job. The complex is one of very modest income levels (otherwise I couldn't have afforded it when I had to move, but my city's average lease rate is bonkers), and while the crime rate is very low, that means I'm dealing with lots and lots of children. The pool is absolutely insane all summer, not that I go to it.

It's a huge systemic problem, so while I sympathize with these kids and their caregivers/parents/guardians, teaching them how to act is free, and my mother worked two jobs for years and left us three girls alone all the while. I knew not to treat adults like these kids are doing to us that live in my building, and I suspect many others. You play OUTSIDE, and you don't mess with people, cars or other property. And you beat up on your siblings only!

[Quof]

I've always laughed at the mantra that "children never lie about sexual abuse."  Of course they do.  They lie about any number of things because: they don't know the difference between fact and fiction, because it gets them attention, because it gets them out of trouble, because it gets someone else in trouble.... Just like adults lie.   Why would sexual abuse be the one subject that they never lie about?

The local media is full of alerts about a stranger trying to lure children, warning about some guy in a blue truck, or a couple with a dog approaching children.... Very few of these are ever substantiated, but parents freak out.  And very often the children who report these events are being, um, less than honest.  Friends recently freaked out because a man in a van allegedly approached two boys in their neighbourhood. It eventually came out the boys were goofing off on the way home from school, and made up a story so they didn't get in trouble.  

[BookWoman56]

I don't think children lie any more than adults do, but they also don't lie any less. I don't automatically assume that what a child or adult says is a lie, but neither do I automatically assume it is the truth. I don't have any magic formula for deciding who's telling the truth when a child says x and an adult says y, because it depends entirely on which specific child and adult. That said, while some kids may lie about having been sexually abused, I suspect that a much larger percentage have told the truth and been disbelieved because the person hearing about it doesn't want to believe it. I also grow tired of parents who freak out over the report of a strange vehicle in the neighborhood, when every statistic out there shows that sexual abuse and/or other types of violence are way more likely to be done by someone the kid knows, such as a family member or family friend. We as a society have pushed the notion of "stranger danger" onto kids as if that is the primary risk, when they really need to understand that people they know might ask them to do things that are inappropriate.

My experience with kids who are jerks is that roughly 95% of the time, the parents are jerks too. Their kids have become jerks because they have watched and imitated the way their parents act and speak. In those cases, approaching the parents and asking them to get their kids to stop a certain behavior usually doesn't do any good, because the parents see nothing wrong with the behavior. So, bilgistic, in your case I'd have to suggest that you continue to tell your apartment management about the issue. If you bitch and moan enough, they may take action just because they get tired of the complaints. Also, check your lease to see if there is a quiet enjoyment provision.

[auntlada]

I had no idea of how much kids imitated their parents before I had one. But when I hear him say things like, "That can be arranged," I know. I don't even remember saying that around him, but I know it's a phrase his father and I use. And this is why I really have to watch what I say, especially when I am driving. I'm really trying not to call other drivers morons unless I am alone.

[Wiendish Fitch]

I hate to say it, but kids aren't always these perfect, flawless angels we paint them to be. Up until a certain age, kids can actually be little sociopaths, because they haven't yet grasped the concept of right and wrong.

That's why you should discipline your kids.

Kids need to be taught, as young as possible, the difference between right and wrong, and that actions have consequences. Now, when I say "discipline your kids", I don't mean for some mild infraction like spilling milk (unless they did it on purpose), but wrong. Bullying a sibling, stealing something, telling a lie, that sort of thing. Lying was a special "trigger sin" for my parents; if they caught us in a lie, they'd raise hell. My parents weren't above yelling at us, calling us out on our crap, or even (hope y'all are sitting down) giving us a well-deserved smack. It wasn't fun, but you know what? My siblings and I turned out pretty damn well. We were never in serious trouble in school, we've never been arrested, and I'd say we're all solid, decent citizens. 

And don't think for a second my parents are heartless, because they're not; my parents love us, and gave us plenty of love, opportunities, and great memories along the way. I hate this either/or scenario people have of parenting, that love and discipline can't coexist. Bull, I say. You can love your kids without placing them on a mile high pedestal and perishing the thought that they could ever do wrong. If they bring home a report card with shitty grades, it's most likely their fault and not the teachers'. If they miss the deadline for a contest, that's on them, not the deadline. If they hurt a classmate, think twice before blaming the classmate. 

 

Re: kids and lying.

For those who think children are wondrously innocent creatures incapable of ever uttering a falsehood, please read or see Atonement. Just... trust me on this.

[bilgistic]

I got a mass email from the apartment complex management today that announced the pool is now open, so I hope the hellspawn will stay out there until Labor Day. No one called me from the office to say they would do anything to deal with the kids running through the building. They never do. Wait until one of them falls while running on the 1960s-era crumbling concrete and breaks something and a parent sues, then maybe the management will do something.

[ParadoxLost]

I nearly detoured going back to work from lunch today to find out what make of sports car some guy was driving so I could find the dealership and ask if the car makers decided to tune the engine so it sounded powerful (and so loud) or if the moron driving it had an inferiority complex. 

[bilgistic]

I work on the 17th floor of a building downtown. There are jackasses that have cars so loud on the street that we hear them on our floor. I asked the guys to explain to me the appeal of that, and they couldn't...as they drive to work in their massive SUVs.

[DeLurker]

@bilgistic - Because I am profoundly immature, you should leave a flaming bag of dog poop on the doorstep of the annoying brats.  Or ring their doorbell in the middle of the night.  

[bilgistic]

I do have cat poop. Well, not currently. I'll have to wait for a fresh batch.

[shapeshifter]

17 hours ago, bilgistic said:

This is exactly it. I'm positive that anything I do is not going to make a damned bit of difference because the parents (and I'm thinking it's single mothers and/or grandmothers who are raising the children, based upon what I'm seeing at the bus stop) are going to be defensive and tell me that their kids wouldn't do whatever I'm saying they're doing. The likelihood is probably high that the kids are home alone while the adults are working more than one job. The complex is one of very modest income levels (otherwise I couldn't have afforded it when I had to move, but my city's average lease rate is bonkers), and while the crime rate is very low, that means I'm dealing with lots and lots of children. The pool is absolutely insane all summer, not that I go to it.

It's a huge systemic problem, so while I sympathize with these kids and their caregivers/parents/guardians, teaching them how to act is free, and my mother worked two jobs for years and left us three girls alone all the while. I knew not to treat adults like these kids are doing to us that live in my building, and I suspect many others. You play OUTSIDE, and you don't mess with people, cars or other property. And you beat up on your siblings only!

I hope you don't continue to base your opinion of single parents based on that bus stop. When I was working full time and going to school and still had 2 kids at home, my new-driver daughter plowed the car into a line of cars still stopped at a just-turned-green light. When I got to the scene, she claimed to me that the car in front of her had slammed on the breaks last minute. I went across the street to the car dealership with large plate glass windows and found a witness who told me, "That little green car just slammed into all those other cars." That's all I needed to hear. This was 16 years ago. Now she tells the story that someone rear ended her. I know better. 
At least she didn't get pregnant, got a scholarship to go to college, and is employed. But she still makes up stories to fit the narrative she wants to hear. Oddly, she doesn't hesitate to state that people make stuff up all the time to have the memories they want.

[Qoass]

Dear service people:

If you do what I'm paying you to do in forty-five minutes after you told me it would take an hour, I will love you forever.

If you do what I'm paying you to do in forty-five minutes after you told me it would take twenty minutes, I will hate you forever.

Think about it.

Love,

Qoass

[TattleTeeny]

On May 24, 2016 at 11:31 AM, bilgistic said:

I must add that these are the same children who are such special snowflakes that they can't stand at the bus stop by themselves in the morning.

Not even joking, on my way to work I always end up behind a bus that for real stops three times at intervals less than 12 seconds apart. Yes, I counted. 

Edited May 26, 2016 by TattleTeeny

[backformore]

1 hour ago, TattleTeeny said:

Not even joking, on my way to work I always end up behind a bus that for real stops three times at intervals less than 12 seconds apart. Yes, I counted. 

Yeah, and here in the 'burbs, the special snowflake kids each get a new CAR from their parents when they are 16.  Even though the school district discourages it by having a parking lottery and high parking fees, way too many kids drive themselves to school in their own cars.   When my sons were in high school, even though the school bus stopped on our corner, AND the school was only a 15 minute trip away,  there were 4 kids on our block each driving to the school.   I even had parents tell me that it was humiliating to force my son to "ride the bus with freshman".  Hello!  Gas prices!  air pollution!  climate change!   When the bus goes right past your house, why get in individual cars and each drive to the same exact place the bus is going to?  

OF course, I was a city kid, and I took public buses to high school, so I guess I don't get it.

[bilgistic]

7 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I hope you don't continue to base your opinion of single parents based on that bus stop. When I was working full time and going to school and still had 2 kids at home, my new-driver daughter plowed the car into a line of cars still stopped at a just-turned-green light. When I got to the scene, she claimed to me that the car in front of her had slammed on the breaks last minute. I went across the street to the car dealership with large plate glass windows and found a witness who told me, "That little green car just slammed into all those other cars." That's all I needed to hear. This was 16 years ago. Now she tells the story that someone rear ended her. I know better. 
At least she didn't get pregnant, got a scholarship to go to college, and is employed. But she still makes up stories to fit the narrative she wants to hear. Oddly, she doesn't hesitate to state that people make stuff up all the time to have the memories they want.

My mother was a single mother to us three girls, four years apart. She worked two jobs for years while I "helped raise" my younger sisters. This was in 1979ish-early 1990s. What I was said is that parents will be defensive of their kids nowadays. I qualified the genre of parents based upon current statistics (higher than ever divorce rates and single motherhood, my neighborhood demographics and personal experience). Furthermore, in general, children are no longer made to behave and respect adults. My mother managed to take all three of us out for the occasional errand and never allowed us to, for example, run (yelling) through someone else's property, disturb an adult in most any way, run through a store or restaurant so much that we would trip others, stand on full grocery carts and turn them over, scream/yell continuously in public without being taken outside to be disciplined, kick booths in a restaurant, stand on a table in a restaurant, etc. These are all things I witness weekly.

[TattleTeeny]

1 hour ago, backformore said:

Yeah, and here in the 'burbs, the special snowflake kids each get a new CAR from their parents when they are 16.  Even though the school district discourages it by having a parking lottery and high parking fees, way too many kids drive themselves to school in their own cars.   When my sons were in high school, even though the school bus stopped on our corner, AND the school was only a 15 minute trip away,  there were 4 kids on our block each driving to the school.   I even had parents tell me that it was humiliating to force my son to "ride the bus with freshman".  Hello!  Gas prices!  air pollution!  climate change!   When the bus goes right past your house, why get in individual cars and each drive to the same exact place the bus is going to?  

OF course, I was a city kid, and I took public buses to high school, so I guess I don't get it.

I walked to and from all through grammar school and part of high school, damn it! (Haha, I sound like An Old!) This is funny to me now, and a little disturbing as I do not have--and never did--a sense of direction at all. So, 8-year-old me was set loose to walk to school and grew up into today's me who can get lost in a car even with a navigation system!

[zxy556575]

32 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

I walked to and from all through grammar school and part of high school, damn it! (Haha, I sound like An Old!) This is funny to me now, and a little disturbing as I do not have--and never did--a sense of direction at all. So, 8-year-old me was set loose to walk to school and grew up into today's me who can get lost in a car even with a navigation system!

The pain and suffering of dysgeographica has yet to be addressed! My family mocks me as if I'm doing it on purpose, but given the opportunity, I will always turn the wrong way and get lost. I tell myself to go the way I'm sure is wrong, but then I just can't because I'm positive I'm right this time. Yeah, yeah look at the sun, but on pain of death, I still could not tell you which way is north or west or anything. My directional brain is backwards, you guys.

[TattleTeeny]

We are the same. In fact, I was just telling someone only an hour ago that if I feel in my gut that I should turn left, I will then turn right. So, I guess my gut feelings aren't completely useless, just convoluted.

[Bastet]

Quote

In fact, I was just telling someone only an hour ago that if I feel in my gut that I should turn left, I will then turn right. So, I guess my gut feelings aren't completely useless, just convoluted.

That makes me think of Seinfeld, with George doing the opposite.  "If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right."  It worked out very well for him. 

We didn't have buses at my high school (for daily to/from school; we had them for away games and such), so everyone walked or drove/was driven (mostly the latter, as it was a private school and thus not many of us happened to live within walking distance).  I got my car right before senior year, and got a decent parking spot in the lottery, but I didn't have a first period class so someone had usually stolen it by the time I got there.  There was a spot that wasn't an official parking space but was perfect for one - closer than my assigned spot, too - and I could park there without blocking anyone, so that's what I did.  They'd call me into the office and I'd tell them I'd move as soon as they got Whoever out of my spot.  We repeated this silly dance for a while, until that non-spot was unofficially mine.  I wonder if the next year they got smart and just made it into one.

[backformore]

1 hour ago, lordonia said:

The pain and suffering of dysgeographica has yet to be addressed! My family mocks me as if I'm doing it on purpose, but given the opportunity, I will always turn the wrong way and get lost. I tell myself to go the way I'm sure is wrong, but then I just can't because I'm positive I'm right this time. Yeah, yeah look at the sun, but on pain of death, I still could not tell you which way is north or west or anything. My directional brain is backwards, you guys.

Yeah, I have a terrible sense of direction.  My husband, on the other hand, has like an internal GPS, or compass.   He always knows where he is, what direction he is facing, and what direction he needs to go.  he just KNOWS.   Once, I was  driving. with him, down a winding road which seemed to go in every possible direction, I was completely turned around, and didn't know which way to turn when we got to a main road.  He said, "well, you have to go north, so turn right"   I asked him how do you know that north is that way?  He said "how do you NOT know?"  It is a mystery to him that I can't just answer questions like which direction does your house face,  or, inside a building, not know, once I go to another floor, which windows face the front or back of a building. 

I have read articles that it's a male/female difference, and that makes sense, as both of my sons have that directional ability as well. I spend more time studying maps, and figuring out where I am in relation to where I want to be, etc.   They just KNOW. 

  Also, a LOT of women share this peculiar thing with me -   I think maps would make more sense if SOUTH was up, and North was down.   When I look for driving directions, it takes me a while to orient myself, because instinctively,  my brain's map is opposite of whomever invented maps.  My sister says this, and she said it was because the house we grew up in faced south, so we think of everything in relation to that -   But I'm not so sure. 

[TattleTeeny]

I cannot use a map at all--not a paper one, not an online one, and not that directory at the mall. If I were to have any hope of understanding a map, it would have to be placed on the floor in the direction I am facing; I need to be "in" the map. 

I have another peeve (shocking, I know): "Life hacks" that are...not. Bear with me; I may have actually brought this up before and because it is tough to articulate without using the word "hack," like, 65 times.

• If the "hack" takes as much time/energy/supplies as whatever it is a hack of, it is not a hack; it is, at best, a substitution and, at worst, stupid and ridiculous.
• If the hack requires an implement or ingredient that is more expensive and/or even less likely to be found in one's home or garage than whatever is being hacked, it is not a hack.
• If the hack requires you to get off your ass and go to a store (where you could conceivably just buy the thing you're missing in the first place), it is not a hack (an allowance could be made here for off-hour emergencies when the only open stores are 7-11s and the like).
• If immediately upon hearing the hack, you say "But why wouldn't I just...?" it probably isn't a very good hack--or a hack at all. 
• If the hack is painfully obvious, it is not a hack.

Edited May 26, 2016 by TattleTeeny

[Bastet]

Quote

I have read articles that it's a male/female difference,

My family alone disproves that theory.

Quote

I have another peeve (shocking, I know): "Life hacks" that are...not.

I'm still having trouble with hack meaning a shortcut (or whatever it's supposed to be when used that way).  You say "hack" to me, and I think of hacking into a computer system, hacking away at something with an axe, being a hack writer, or not being able to hack it.

Edited May 26, 2016 by Bastet

[backformore]

18 minutes ago, Bastet said:

My family alone disproves that theory.

 

Yeah, it's not 100% - but apparently men's brains have a tendency to be better at the navigation thing.  Doesn't mean every man is better than every woman at navigation, just on the average.  It's like saying men on the average are taller than women.   It's true, even if I'm taller than my brother. 

 Like anything else, it's more a statistical tendency for men to have better spatial abilities, while women have better verbal communication abilities.   the research has debunked the theory that it's evolutionary, and concludes that it may have to do with the effect of testosterone on the brain. 

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

Like anything else, it's more a statistical tendency for men to have better spatial abilities, while women have better verbal communication abilities.   the research has debunked the theory that it's evolutionary, and concludes that it may have to do with the effect of testosterone on the brain. 

This is 100% true in my house!

Sort of related, I become fixated on the layouts of homes in TV and movies. Sometimes they make so little sense, whether due to their implausibility or my inability, that I can't concentrate on anything else, and have been known to try to draw a blueprint! 

[auntlada]

I love maps, and I love figuring out the best ways to get places. The only time I don't know which way is north is in my small hometown. I blame it on the size of the town. Directions were never given in north, south, etc., but by landmarks. Go to the cemetery and turn left, turn after where the Safeway used to be, go one block past the park, etc. I'm not always even sure what streets some things are on because I just know how to get there.

What I don't understand are people who look up an address on their phone, which gives the wrong spot, and they can't look at their surroundings and the map and see that it is wrong. I've gotten lost several time with drivers who listened to the person in the front seat with the phone instead of to me in the backseat (with an iPad and Google maps). (The other person and I had the electronic devices. The seats did not have them.) It frustrates me because I know where we should be going but can't make anyone listen.

[janestclair]

3 hours ago, lordonia said:

The pain and suffering of dysgeographica has yet to be addressed! My family mocks me as if I'm doing it on purpose, but given the opportunity, I will always turn the wrong way and get lost. I tell myself to go the way I'm sure is wrong, but then I just can't because I'm positive I'm right this time. Yeah, yeah look at the sun, but on pain of death, I still could not tell you which way is north or west or anything. My directional brain is backwards, you guys.

 

2 hours ago, TattleTeeny said:

We are the same. In fact, I was just telling someone only an hour ago that if I feel in my gut that I should turn left, I will then turn right. So, I guess my gut feelings aren't completely useless, just convoluted.

 

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

That makes me think of Seinfeld, with George doing the opposite.  "If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right."  It worked out very well for him. 

 

My sense of direction is legendarily bad.  More than once in NYC I've walked an avenue block in the complete wrong direction.  Whoops.  I know that to get from point A to point B, I have to go west, but I have no idea what direction west is. Why do things like Google maps say, "Turn west onto XYZ street" sometimes? Unless it's sunrise or sunset, who the hell knows where west is?  Is it a left, or is it a right? Ugh.  Before GPS, I'd think to myself,"ok if I think I should turn right, I should probably actually go left."   And then I'd go left, and it'd be wrong.  So matter what I did I was screwed.  It makes me crazy.  Even with GPS sometimes I'll still screw it up, because what I really need is directions that tell me to turn at landmarks.  Like, "Turn left at the Mobil station" or something. Then maybe I'd be ok.  I blame it on left-handedness. My spacial sense sucks.  I also can't really reverse in my car without thinking about it, a lot of the time.  

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

I'm still having trouble with hack meaning a shortcut (or whatever it's supposed to be when used that way).  You say "hack" to me, and I think of hacking into a computer system, hacking away at something with an axe, being a hack writer, or not being able to hack it.

I hate that too, and it's everywhere.  When did that become a thing? 

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

More than once in NYC I've walked an avenue block in the complete wrong direction.  

I have exited the subway only to walk down another set of steps right back into it. And I make mental notes while heading into, say, a mall bathroom.

[bilgistic]

Unless I am driving on an interstate that has signs telling me what direction on the compass I'm going, I don't know. I mean, I know from living in my city for so long where things are in relation to one another, and I have a decent grasp on U.S. geography, but that GPS mapping garbage like "head west toward Green Street" is literally for the birds (because they have "internal compasses"). If I ever get lost in the woods, I'm a goner. I avoid that situation by never going in the woods.

[ratgirlagogo]

5 hours ago, Bastet said:

I have read articles that it's a male/female difference,

I have a great sense of direction and never had any problem reading any kind of map.  Mr Rat on the other hand......really has serious problems finding ANYPLACE even with a printed map.  It's always a serious problem when he have to meet somewhere we haven't gone to together already.  

[Bastet]

Quote

Why do things like Google maps say, "Turn west onto XYZ street" sometimes? Unless it's sunrise or sunset, who the hell knows where west is?

Me. 

It drives me batty when I tell someone such and such a place is off the freeway, just a couple miles east on X street and they ask if that means they turn right or left from the exit.  Well, that depends on whether you are going north or south on the freeway, doesn't it?

However, when I know someone's starting point (and thus can say whether they'll need to turn left or right), and am asked to translate, I'm not annoyed because I understand that some people's brains don't work that way.  I just can't relate to it, because mine does.

Edited May 27, 2016 by Bastet

[DeLurker]

^^^ I do that!

I grew up in S Florida and knew direction based on where the ocean was. When I moved to Los Angeles, my bearings were all wrong because the ocean was now on the wrong side.

[backformore]

Weird how bodies of water are what orients us.   NO ocean here, but EAST is the direction of Lake Michigan - even though I now live very far from the lake and haven't seen it in years. 

(It was easier when I had an apartment a block from the beach, I always knew which way I was facing)

[ABay]

Greetings from shoreline Connecticut where I-95 North and South actually run east and west.

Janestclair, I also blame my inability to navigate or read a map on being left-handed.

[DeLurker]

I've been asking my son for directions since he was 3 (he couldn't talk until he was 5 so would point for me).  Kid has an amazing sense of direction and memory.  He can tell you which airlines use which gates at most major airports in the US (despite never going to 99% of them).

[Quof]

Le Sigh.  A colleague called today.  Long story, blah blah, long story. The punch line was "You need to stop your people from doing that." 

"Yeah," I said.   "That's the superpower I want, to make people do what I tell them.  I'll let you know when I get it, because I'll figure out how to package and sell it."

[ParadoxLost]

28 minutes ago, Quof said:

Le Sigh.  A colleague called today.  Long story, blah blah, long story. The punch line was "You need to stop your people from doing that." 

"Yeah," I said.   "That's the superpower I want, to make people do what I tell them.  I'll let you know when I get it, because I'll figure out how to package and sell it."

Managing people sucks.  If I could go back, I'd never sign up for that again.

[DeLurker]

But we always think we can do better than the yutz mismanaging us now.

[Quof]

To clarify, my "people" are my clients, not my employees. 

I can only suggest what they should do, can't make them do it.

[Sandman87]

All the talk about being un-directional reminds me of a scene from the movie Summer Wars where one of the characters is unable to drive from her house to the family mansion where she grew up when her GPS stops working. Struck me as funny because I've always had a good sense of direction.

 

On Thursday, May 26, 2016 at 0:33 PM, Bastet said:

I'm still having trouble with hack meaning a shortcut (or whatever it's supposed to be when used that way).  You say "hack" to me, and I think of hacking into a computer system, hacking away at something with an axe, being a hack writer, or not being able to hack it.

 

I still hear the original meaning of "hack": A quick and dirty programming job; the software equivalent of a duct-tape and bailing-wire fix. In that sense, the current usage isn't that far from the original.

Edited May 28, 2016 by Sandman87

[Petunia13]

Uhhhh... Twice in the past few days my dog has gotten crazy barking, eyes glowing red, when at the door when no one has knocked and I have no peephole.

It's so fucking creepy when a dog or cat sees or hears something in the house or outside and ya don't know what's there! 

[DeLurker]

I would trust the dog and be on high alert. A cat might just be screwing with your head.