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

[Bastet]

Quote

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.

How can that be the original meaning when the word has been around a lot longer than computer programming has?

But, yes, that informal definition does explain the origin of this whole "life hack" thing, so thank you for that reminder because now it won't bug me as much.

In another thread, there was a multi-post argument over whether someone was "ratchet."  I finally had to go to urban dictionary to figure out what the hell this woman was being called, because ratchet as an adjective - rather than a socket wrench, or a steady, perpetual process - was completely foreign to me.  

Everyone get off my lawn.

Edited May 28, 2016 by Bastet

[bilgistic]

I refuse to acknowledge any "definitions" of that word beyond the definitions you mentioned. Yes, language evolves, but I don't agree with just picking a random word and deciding it means something else. That's not evolution. "Ride" as a noun for "one's car", for example, makes sense--it's word-adjacent, so to speak.

[Petunia13]

But definitions do change. When some one was dead it used to mean they stopped breathing. 

Then no heartbeat.

now no brain activity. 

i mean we can keep all original definitions consistent I suppose. But the original definition of "hack" wasn't an IT  term. It was describing cutting something, striking at something, or later coping with something. 

[TattleTeeny]

Even pretending that the word "hack" makes sense in this context, the hacks I see are usually so, so stupid! On that terrible show Hack My Life, they tested out a lasagne hack, which involved crafting the lasagne, carefully wrapping it in foil, and cooking it in a dishwasher! Again, let's pretend: suppose you were 100% certain that you would not end up with wet food--maybe your foil-sealing skills are just that good. BUT...

In what world is this a "hack"? In what scenario would I need to do this? Not only is the prep work/time/energy/expense the same, but exactly what situation would I be in with a completed raw lasagne and access to a dishwasher...but not to an oven? OK, maybe the oven breaks at the crucial lasagne cooking moment? Is there some reason we don't just put away the lasagne and then order food to eat? This same argument could be applied to their segment on opening those super-difficult and sharp plastic packages: if you find yourself without scissors, use a manual can opener! While I can see how it would prove effective, again I ask where am I that I have a readily available can opener but not scissors? (Usually, I am in the car with such packaging--it's always a damn new iPod adaptor because they always break. And I have neither scissors nor a can opener.)

Edited May 28, 2016 by TattleTeeny

[DeLurker]

42 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

OK, maybe the oven breaks at the crucial lasagne cooking moment? Is there some reason we don't just put away the lasagne and then order food to eat?

Clearly the sensible thing to do at this point would be to use your mad foil-sealing skills, place the packet in the engine compartment of your car and drive around until it finishes cooking.  You should pack a picnic basket and blanket to eat your lasagna in the great outdoors.

[TattleTeeny]

When I was a teenager, I had a summer job at a dry cleaner (oy, hot and sticky!). There was an older woman there named Gladys, a shirt-presser who was a fabulous cook. Her food was not fancy or anything--mainly stuff like mac & cheese, collard greens, various pork or meatloaf or chicken--simple but so good. Instead of using the microwave, she would balance the foil-wrapped lunch on one of the super-hot pipes when she arrived in the morning, and it would be heated perfectly by noon. That's even more of a hack than the dishwasher thing!

Edited May 28, 2016 by TattleTeeny

[auntlada]

31 minutes ago, DeLurker said:

Clearly the sensible thing to do at this point would be to use your mad foil-sealing skills, place the packet in the engine compartment of your car and drive around until it finishes cooking.  You should pack a picnic basket and blanket to eat your lasagna in the great outdoors.Insert other media

It's a car-b-que! (And I just googled to see if I was spelling it right -- although since it was on TV, who knows -- and found that there are instructions online for such things.)

[ratgirlagogo]

I hate the current spread of the word "hack" to mean any kind of (ostensibly) ingenious fix to any kind of problem because it clearly is an attempt to make the user feel as though cooking lasagne in the dishwasher makes them cool outsider/outlaw geniuses like Emmanuel Goldstein and Phiber Optik.  Lame.

Edited May 28, 2016 by ratgirlagogo

[Jaded]

I brought up that the current use of the word "hack' peeved me off awhile back and it didn't get as much discussion as it is now. Makes me feel a bit better reading that it drives so may others up the wall so to speak.

[Blergh]

So does this mean uber drivers can be considered 'hacks' both in terms of driving paying customers from Point A to Point B as well as via Net surfing? Just asking.

[ratgirlagogo]

To return to the mapping peeve.  I hate Google Maps and MapQuest and all their ilk because they make it so hard to figure out how to get from one place to another in any way other than by driving in a car. Ditto all the websites that show me where the nearest stores/theaters are based on GoogleMaps (which almost all of them do) - if I live in Queens please don't tell me that your New Jersey locations are convenient to me just because they're less than five miles away.  Even if I had a car they'd be three expressways, two to three bridges and two rivers away.  For example when the Inwood Branch of the New York Public Library closed for renovations recently the website recommended patrons use the Kingsbridge Branch in the Bronx instead - even though it's not just a borough away, but not accessible via a train that stops anywhere nearby in Inwood - because As The Crow Flies it's close by.  Feh.

As part of this peeve I can't tell you how I miss HopStop which gave actually useful directions for those of us who walk, bike, and use public transportation.  Now there is CityMapper which is similar but I find a little clunky compared to HopStop.

[harrie]

Maybe it's not Google Maps, but when I use Google for directions, they give the option of walking, mass transit (in my area, buses), flying, cycling, or driving. Don't know if this will work, but here's directions from Chicago to Portland, Maine.  Top left, in the blue box, you can choose your mode of transportation - hover over the "..." for more options.  Or are you talking about something completely different?

[auntlada]

Google Maps has an option for walking or biking. It works pretty good here but I don't live in a big city.

[bilgistic]

I use the Waze app for driving. It's pretty fantastic because it culls user-based real-time data (I feel like a schmuck using that phrase, but it's a thing) to determine one's fastest and less congested route. It's great for my (should be 15-minute, ends up 45-minute) morning commute for when someone has tapped another bumper and they both deem themselves too important to GET IT OUT OF THE ROAD so they aren't tying up traffic for five miles.

It gives ways around stuff like that. I like it a lot EXCEPT when it does dumb stuff like today when it had me turn left, drive a block, turn right, then turn left onto a busy road. Had I stayed straight instead of turning left, I would've had a traffic light to aid my turn onto the busy road.

I do use it a fair amount around town even though I've lived here 23 years! I like finding different ways to get places. It feels like I'm learning "cheats".

[ratgirlagogo]

3 hours ago, auntlada said:

 

Google Maps has an option for walking or biking. It works pretty good here but I don't live in a big city.

 

It doesn't display the SUBWAY STOPS in any clear kind of way and subways are the main way of getting from place to place in NYC.  It also tends to not acknowledge that crossing a major throughway (like the Brooklyn Queens Expressway or the Cross Bronx Expressway) or even a giant eight-lane street like Queens Boulevard adds a significant amount of time to your walk or bike ride.

[auntlada]

Yeah, we don't have subways here or eight-lane roads so it works for me -- or would if I didn't already know the best route for walking anywhere. Like I said, not a big city.

[shapeshifter]

I suspect "hack" is in vogue because it's easier to spell and to know how to pronounce than "kludge."

 

My current pet peeve:
Runners and cyclists who run/bike in the middle of the car lane when there is a running or bike path a block away. Last week as I came around a blind corner on a hill, a runner ran right up to the front of my car, then banged on it and yelled that she had my license plate and was going to report me. Note: She had to run past the "no pedestrians" sign to get to my car.

[DeLurker]

We have a lot of cyclist around here - people who have spent more on their bike and cycling gear than I did on my first car.  Fortunately, most of them are pretty decent to share the road with,  I laugh at some of the helmets though - some of them are designed to be aerodynamic* and lately I've seen ones that are kind of pointy in the front and back.  I only imagine the rider has some huge fivehead that really cuts their speed!

*aerodynamic and aromatic does not mean the same thing no matter how often I switch them.

[Petunia13]

People need to watch they damn children so they don't fall into gorilla enclosures. 

Everytime kid has an accident or overhears bad language, or picks up bad influences, or nasty habit, or grows up with nonexistent work ethic. It's everyone in the whole worlds fault instead of the shitty parents. My ass was going to zoos and hanging around farms when I was 4. And I never got trapped with an animal or attacked by an animal. 

[DeLurker]

Your parents liked you.

[Blergh]

Is it too late for me to list a pet peeve of getting fed up with parents who couldn't care less what terms they use or how they behave in front of their kids? Does anyone truly believe that the Osbournes epitomize how to have raised well-adjusted, positive, self-respecting individuals?

[backformore]

4 hours ago, Petunia13 said:

People need to watch they damn children so they don't fall into gorilla enclosures. 

Everytime kid has an accident or overhears bad language, or picks up bad influences, or nasty habit, or grows up with nonexistent work ethic. It's everyone in the whole worlds fault instead of the shitty parents. My ass was going to zoos and hanging around farms when I was 4. And I never got trapped with an animal or attacked by an animal. 

Right -  and I had one of those kids who WOULD have climbed/fallen into an enclosure with gorillas.  the never-sit-still, climbing, running, jumping, faster than lightning kind of kid.   At zoos and amusement parks, from age 2 to about 4 -  he was on a harness!   I put up with dirty looks and comments about my "kid on a leash" -  but many, many times -  it kept him from injury. 

Not all kids need harnesses, my other son didn't.  My sister's kids didn't.   But my younger son - he's the kind of kid that those harnesses were made for. 

And no gorillas died as a result of his shenanigans.

Edited May 29, 2016 by backformore

[BookWoman56]

My double pet peeve of the day begins with half-assed communications from organizations, etc. that provide inaccurate info and then fail to correct the info. My apartment complex mgmt notified all residents via email earlier this past week that they were doing something with our mailboxes, but that the project would be finished in one day and our current mailbox keys would continue to work. The day after the project was supposed to happen, I went to check my mail, only to discover that the mailbox area was still in the middle of the project, and the workers said they would have everything wrapped up within two days, by Friday. I allowed an extra day for the inevitable delays and waited until Saturday to attempt to check my mail again. Big surprise, my key no longer works. It was too late to contact the front office, so Sunday afternoon I went to the office and there was someone already in the office, being told that mail would resume on Tuesday. The office worker then told me that yes, new mailbox keys would be issued on Tuesday, and originally they had thought no new keys would be required, but complications occurred. And was completely baffled when I suggested, politely but firmly, that it would have been helpful if the office had emailed residents to let them know of the timeline change and the need for new keys.

I will freely admit that there is sometimes a gap of a week between when I check my mail, because all of my routine bills and so forth are delivered electronically so most of the time, what's in my mailbox is junk mail. However, in the past three months, I've had two rounds of eye surgery and then a couple of follow-up appointments and a trip to the ER with complications from the surgery, which fortunately turned out to be nothing serious. Those items are not regular bills and so have been sent through the mail. I have gotten all the bills from the original surgery and my insurance has notified me they have processed the two follow-up visits, and I paid those co-pays at the time of the visits. Still pending are the ER bills, which my insurance has processed as well, but I will have to pay the co-pays when the statements arrive. I am about to be out of town on business travel for two weeks, and so I'd like to get these taken care of before leaving, assuming that the bills arrive before I leave, which is why I was not happy with the mailbox issue. If the ER bills follow the usual pattern, they will arrive about a month after my insurance has processed and paid the bulk of the bill, but will show that the account is in the 30-60 days unpaid status, because they base that status on when the service was performed, not when they generated the actual bill. So I am not happy in general with the idea that my account is considered to be past due on the date that they first send me the bill. There also seems to be no rhyme or reason as to when billing happens. Each surgery had 3 separate bills, and my insurance processed them very quickly. However, the anesthesiologist for the first surgery did not bill me until close to a month after a different anesthesiologist had billed me for the second surgery, which took place 10 days after the first one. And then would only accept a check or money order, instead of accepting debit/credit payments so that I could use my flexible spending account debit card, which I set up precisely because I knew this year I would have a lot of out-of-pocket expenses with the various co-pays. Fortunately, I was able to request the site that handles the FSA to cut a check and send it, but jeebus. I've had a small business before, and it does not cost that damn much to set up and maintain a credit/debit card processing service. WTF would a medical professional limit patients to paying only by check or money order, especially for fairly large-ticket items? I am lucky to have very good insurance coverage, but many people do not and having to pay that bill all at once via a check would cause some hardship, compared to being able to put it on a card if necessary and pay the card balance off over a few months.

Finally, I am so touchy on the subject of paying the medical bills on time because in the past year, I got a ding on my credit report for an ER bill that I did not know I had. Reason for this was when I had gone to the ER about a year and a half ago, I gave them my insurance card and they took it, along with my SSN and date of birth, and then said that they were able to pull me up in the system. I did  point out that my insurance carrier had changed within the last few months, and they said no problem, they had scanned in my new card and had all the corresponding new info. I did not get a bill from them and to some extent, this is my own fault because I didn't look at my insurance explanation of benefits for that visit, so I just assumed that the entire bill was covered by the insurance. Flash forward almost a year and I got a collection call about the unpaid bill. In response to my statement that I had never received a bill from them, they pulled up their records and said, oh, but we did send you a bill. Turned out it was to an address I have not lived at for more than 20 years, which was the last time I had gone to that ER. So much for the reassurance by the admissions people that they had gotten all the updated info with my new insurance card. Not once during that ER visit did the ask me to confirm my address, and instead told me multiple times that they had all the info they needed from my insurance card. They did have my new phone number, but not my current address. So the second part of my pet peeve for the day is this: Medical billing that is inaccurate or takes two freaking months to be sent, or both. I can see online when my insurance company gets the original claim, and when they finish the claim, which is typically within 3 days of receipt. So it's not the insurance company dragging their feet to make the payment, at least not in this case.

[backformore]

my electric toothbrush conked out. Time to get a new one.   I did the research, looked at different models, made a decision.  not easy, these things can be anywhere from $29 to $250.  I have been having problems with sensitivity and gum issues, so I figured at my age I needed something better than the last one.  Oral-B is what the dentist recommends, so I look at that brand.

SO the model I want was not available, BUT Amazon would give me $15 off the next most expensive model.  the price difference was $20, so with the Amazon "coupon", it's $5 more.  And this model has different settings for gentles cleaning, gum care, polishing, etc.   It's also "Bluetooth compatible"  which seems ridiculous to me.  An app on your phone to tell you how long you brush?  Nope.

I get the toothbrush, and it's fine.   EXCEPT -  there are supposed to be 5 "modes"  and you switch between them with a button.  It's not just speeds, it's the settings for gentle, gum, polish, etc.   There's no display - you can't tell what "mode"  it's in.  I investigate, and yeah,  there's a different model that has a display - a separate display, you attach it to the wall or mirror. But that's not the model I got.  So, how am I supposed to know what "mode"  I'm brushing?   Apparently that's where the Bluetooth comes in.  WHAT?  I have to download an APP and bring my CELL PHONE into the bathroom to figure out if I am brushing, deep cleaning, massaging gums,  or polishing? Are you kidding me?

Edited May 31, 2016 by backformore

[backformore]

I don't think I'm making it complicated.

I've been using sensodyne for years now, and floss daily, and still having issues. My dentist recommended an electric brush, and I'm good with that. I'm just annoyed that the toothbrushes are so high tech that they expect you to sync it to your smartphone.

Edited May 31, 2016 by backformore

[JTMacc99]

9 hours ago, backformore said:

So, how am I supposed to know what "mode"  I'm brushing?   Apparently that's where the Bluetooth comes in.  WHAT?  I have to download an APP and bring my CELL PHONE into the bathroom to figure out if I am brushing, deep cleaning, massaging gums,  or polishing? Are you kidding me?

Heh. Yes, that is the way it's going these days. Everything is connected to an app; everything it connected to the internet; and as the kids turn into adults, they simply expect that this is the way it works.  So yes, bringing the phone into the bathroom is part of the deal.

[janestclair]

Bringing your phone into the bathroom just sounds like a recipe for disaster to me, no matter if you're using the Bluetooth and an app to brush your teeth or browsing the internet while on the toilet.  

Although this reminded me I should probably make a dentist appointment. Hah.

[zxy556575]

Here's a dental peeve -- stop trying to upsell me (and vaguely allude to dire consequences -- decay! extraction!) if I don't comply. I'm not interested in fluoride treatments or whitening or a custom bite guard. My dentist even has her own brand of electric toothbrushes, which ach.  My $8 SpinBrush is fine. FINE.

[bilgistic]

Watching Shark Tank always reminds me how unnecessary it is that everything be "connected". Someone came on there once selling "smart" HVAC vents. Individual programmable smart vents. No! It's bad enough that when the power goes out, I've got to get the modem/router, phone, (many years old) TiVo and Chromecast back online (not necessarily in that order). I refuse to complicate my life with things that don't need to be "smart".

I love my dentist. I'm probably his youngest patient by a good 20 years. No upselling there.

[auntlada]

The Wall Street Journal had a story the other day about smart products and whether or not they need to be smart (or even work). One was a smart tampon. Supposedly, it tells the user when it's time to change. (Sorry if this is TMI. It probably is, but it's also something that's hard to resist telling other people about.)

[bilgistic]

That's just...

I mean...

What...

No.

[krimimimi]

18 hours ago, lordonia said:

Here's a dental peeve -- stop trying to upsell me (and vaguely allude to dire consequences -- decay! extraction!) if I don't comply. I'm not interested in fluoride treatments or whitening or a custom bite guard. My dentist even has her own brand of electric toothbrushes, which ach.  My $8 SpinBrush is fine. FINE.

That's interesting, because it irks me when they *don't* upsell. (And instead just give me the cheapass thing my insurance covers without discussion.) This is something that's going to be in my mouth and affect my smile for years to come. Changes at a later point cost serious money, or maybe the damage is done and can't be corrected. And some of the dentists just decide it's appropriate to save the 30 seconds of time and not tell me that for maybe 20 bucks out of pocket expense, I can have a nice white filling instead of an ugly amalgam one? Pfooey. I can always say "no" (if they get their hands out of my mouth), but I really like to know what my options are.

Fwiw, the bluetooth connections to the toothbrushes have apparently caused a real uptick in brushing times, and are getting good publicity for improving dental health. I don't have one, so can't weigh in if it makes a difference for me, though.

However, while I haven't got smart vents, I have underfloor heating, and we installed a couple of smart(ish) thermostats a few years back. While it generally counts as eco-friendly, underfloor heating takes a lot of time to make changes, so unless you go to a room a couple of hours before you plan to use it and turn the thermostat up, it isn't helpful to keep resetting them. By the same token, you won't save as much as you c/should by only turning it down when you leave a room. So we changed the thermostats, and it cut our heating bill by a third. Yes, it's one more thing to reset if the power goes out for a long time (I believe it has a capacitor that has us covered for short term power loss), but at that savings, who cares? A third, people. Bring it on!

[DeLurker]

Why does every grocery, drug or fast food receipt need to be at least 8 inches long no matter how little you buy?  I don't need to have a survey request, advertising for other stores on the back of my receipt, or any of the other useless information.   I almost hugged the cashier at a new grocery store I went to because the receipt was not excessive - no excess info on it at all!  Trader Joe's doesn't give you miles long receipts either.

Also, I love the various food products that come in bags with resealable tops so I can just zip it shut and put it away in the pantry, fridge or freezer.  I always think that Ore-Ida frozen french fries should come that way and they don't.  I end up sticking their bag inside a freezer bag and it annoys me every.single.time.

[bilgistic]

Harris Teeter grocery stores here in the Southeast have receipts that are a foot long even if you buy one thing. They have their sale items listed on there. It makes me irrationally angry, and I make a production out of immediately and dramatically throwing away my receipt in the paper recycling bin in the store.

[bilgistic]

8 hours ago, DeLurker said:

Also, I love the various food products that come in bags with resealable tops so I can just zip it shut and put it away in the pantry, fridge or freezer.  I always think that Ore-Ida frozen french fries should come that way and they don't.  I end up sticking their bag inside a freezer bag and it annoys me every.single.time.

I have some of these clips. The ones I have my mom gave me from one of those next-generation not-Tupperware schemes, but these are exactly the same in design and principle. They work on all kinds of food bags.

[Maizie131]

My pet peeve for the past 4 months?  I will turn 65 y.o. next month.  Don't get me wrong - I'm in great health & if you'd asked me when I was 21 I'd have said I'd be lucky to make it to 30.  (haha!)  Anyhow, beginning in January this year, I began getting "robo-calls" NO LESS THAN 3 times per day from insurance companies from all over the country.  I am not bullshitting you.  AND they're not only automated calls, but human beings (who speak very "broken English" BTW)!  Oh.My.God.  I just now hung up the phone from my SIXTH call today  during which I BEGGED the caller to PLEASE remove me from their call list (as I do every single call).  It does no good.  The most I've received is NINE calls in one day.  It is absolutely maddening!  I'm going to need a TON of medical insurance by the time my birthday gets here --- for fucking PSYCHIATRISTS to help me recover from the trauma of all these phone calls!  (Don't tell me to just not answer .... I tried that early on and they continue calling until I answer.)  Ask me how excited I am to be turning 65 & finally eligible for Medicare!  I DARE YOU!!!!!! 

[Qoass]

Why is it that when you tell a person you would rather not have your picture taken, the photographer makes it his or her life's mission to get a shot of you?  I'm generally pretty polite but when it comes to this, that leads to my wishes being completely ignored.  It's like those huggers who feel an embrace from them overrides any desire you have to remain unmolested.

[Maizie131]

25 minutes ago, Qoass said:

Why is it that when you tell a person you would rather not have your picture taken, the photographer makes it his or her life's mission to get a shot of you?  I'm generally pretty polite but when it comes to this, that leads to my wishes being completely ignored.  It's like those huggers who feel an embrace from them overrides any desire you have to remain unmolested.

Qoass - I can absolutely appreciate what you're talking about.  I think I've seen about a half dozen photos of myself that I'm actually pleased with...in my entire lifetime!  I take HORRIBLE pictures the second I see that camera pointed in my direction.  I hate it!!!  Someone once said to my (gorgeous) Granddaughter a few years ago when she objected to having her pic taken, "Ya know, I'm going to take it anyhow, so you may as well smile and look the best you can!"  Qoass -- much as it disturbed me, I think he was right.  If someone's intent on taking your pic it's gonna happen, so you may as well smile.  P.S.  I hate huggers, too. 

[auntlada]

I hate having my photo taken. That's why I always try to have my own camera. (For the record, if you tell me not to take your photo, I will try not to. I usually try to get photos of people dong stuff, not posing for the camera. I don't like posed photos. Or I just take pics of animals and landscapes, which I prefer.

[ABay]

When I'm traveling alone, sometimes people will ask me if I want them to take a picture of me with my camera. No, thanks. I know I where I was and don't need documentation of it beyond the stamp on my passport. In 6 trips and literally 1000s of photos, I have 2 of me.

[Bastet]

I never used to care about having my picture taken, but now that so many people think absolutely nothing of posting photos online, I'm quite wary.  Friends can photograph away, because they know not to post any pictures of me online.  But with friends of friends, at a party or other event, I find it easier to just decline having my picture taken in the first place than asking them not to post it. 

Which leads to stupid conversations like, "You didn't go to A's birthday dinner?"  "I was there; it was nice."  "Oh, well B has her pictures on Facebook, and I didn't see you there."  "That's right, you didn't."

[stillhere1900]

1 hour ago, Qoass said:

Why is it that when you tell a person you would rather not have your picture taken, the photographer makes it his or her life's mission to get a shot of you?  I'm generally pretty polite but when it comes to this, that leads to my wishes being completely ignored.  It's like those huggers who feel an embrace from them overrides any desire you have to remain unmolested.

I am not a hugger. I don't want to be hugged. It's not necessary to hug every time we see each other, and I esp don't want to hug people that I've just met. Which is why I *right away stick out my hand and kinda back away*

Edited June 2, 2016 by stillhere1900

[Bastet]

What is it with people who are offered a handshake, declare "I'm a hugger," and then grab the poor soul instead of accepting the handshake?  If I warn you up front, "I'm a fondler," is it suddenly acceptable for me to grab a breast?

Edited June 2, 2016 by Bastet

[stillhere1900]

I had a person do that to me over the Xmas holiday. I could tell that she was going in for a hug, so I kinda backed up and stuck out my hand. She kinda laughed and said  "oh! I'm a hugger"

I smiled politely and said 'I'm not' she said..... " I guess I should ask people if they mind being hugged"

Yep.

[Maizie131]

How 'bout KISSING?  On the LIPS!  OMG, NO!  Just NO!  I don't care if you're a relative -- unless you're a spouse, just NO!  For the past year I've been helping out with my 92 y.o. EX-mother-in-law (she's wonderful & I love her to pieces).  Anyhow, that whole family is into kissing ON THE LIPS when they leave her.  No way!

[Bastet]

My best friend's mom always kisses me hello and good-bye, as I don't see her very often anymore, and I have no problem with that, or with kissing my parents or very close friends; I'm never the one to initiate it, but I'm completely fine with it on the occasions they do.  These people kissing me know that, though; they're not pronouncing, "I'm a kisser" and planting one on me heedless of my wishes.

I'm just routinely flabbergasted by the fact I respect the physical boundaries of my cats more than some do other people's.  So they like hugging.  Great.  I like picking up and holding cats.  Baxter would have been happy for me to carry him around all day.  Maddie would sit on my lap and purr her way through being petted until my hand got tired, but she didn't want to be held for more than a couple of minutes.  So I held Baxter a lot, held Maddie a little, and spent the rest of our interaction in ways she enjoyed.  When I meet a new cat, I ask the owner if they like being held, or ask the cat, "Can I pick you up?" and then judge their body language.  It's not complicated with a species that doesn't speak any human language; how hard can it be with people?

[Sun-Bun]

So I just realized that I have a brand new pet-peeve that was unbeknownst to me until I had a temporary assistant working with me in my classroom for the past 6 months who was insanely guilty of this annoying little habit:

Repetitive dramatic sighing.

At first I didn't notice, but after a week of constantly hearing this guy dramatically huffing and puffing throughout the day like he's a lead on a Spanish telenovela, I quickly realized it annoyed the shit out of me.

From the moment he'd walk through the door in the morning, until the very end of the day, it was just, "SIGHHHH..." Or "Whewwww!" Or "Ughhh..." Or "Ahhhh..."

I seriously wanted to record every morning sigh he uttered(every.single.morning: "SIGHHH...good morning.") and splice it all together into a super remix just to somehow amuse myself with how annoyingly repetitive his sighing was. And then when he was sick with a cold, oh good Lord, it was on hyper overdrive. I kept wanting to tell him, "Dude, we work in a private high school, not the salt mines. Nut up and shut up." Thankfully, I knew he wouldn't be there permanently so I was polite and just bit my tongue.

I'm currently traveling with my mom, and I've sadly realized that she has this dramatic sighing habit as well. Again, just biting my tongue and biding my time in the meantime---this too, and her own melodramatic sighs and gasps, shall soon pass. Serenity now! SIGHHH!!!

[bilgistic]

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

I'm just routinely flabbergasted by the fact I respect the physical boundaries of my cats more than some do other people's.  So they like hugging.  Great.  I like picking up and holding cats.  Baxter would have been happy for me to carry him around all day.  Maddie would sit on my lap and purr her way through being petted until my hand got tired, but she didn't want to be held for more than a couple of minutes.  So I held Baxter a lot, held Maddie a little, and spent the rest of our interaction in ways she enjoyed.  When I meet a new cat, I ask the owner if they like being held, or ask the cat, "Can I pick you up?" and then judge their body language.  It's not complicated with a species that doesn't speak any human language; how hard can it be with people?

There's an otherwise lovely woman at work who's a closetalker. While I like her, any time I talk to her without a physical barrier between us, she stands about six inches too forward into my personal space. I back away. She inches forward. I shimmy sideways and back. She do-se-does. It's so weird. She's also a hugger. I grew up with lots of affection from my mother, so I'm not a non-hugger, but I'm definitely not a work hugger.

Cats and I communicate a hell of a lot better than I do with people. I let them smell my outstretched paw hand from a safe distance. Usually I get a headbonk on the hand immediately thereafter, and then we're friends and we play in the corner while the humans do human things.

Edited June 3, 2016 by bilgistic

[TimetoShine]

Quote

Then everyone could starve to death and I wouldn't have to watch this any more.  

I have to reiterate my pet peeve. If you hate the show that much, you don't have to watch it. I'd actually beg you to stop so that I can actually read the boards again. It seems like 90% of the forum is filled with people who are angry about the state of these tv shows and are very vocal about it. Just makes reading the forum less entertaining. 

[bilgistic]

Is this person being held captive and being forced to watch whatever show this is, then being forced to complain about being forced to watch it?