Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

[Brattinella]

We usually tip the FIRST day of a hotel stay (for the housekeepers).  Then a little tip every day; this assures you get plenty of clean towels and stuff.

[fishcakes]

A lot of people wait until check-out, but they should be tipping every day. Housekeepers are assigned a floor or block of rooms, so a guest might have one who cleans the room five days in a row for no tip, then they check out on her day off and end up tipping the housekeeper who just happened to get the room because the regular person was off. Housekeepers change the sheets, the towels, clean the counter and sink, toilet, and bathtub, dust the furniture, and vacuum, and they do this 16 to 18 times a day, not even counting the rooms that have two beds. They generally make close to minimum wage and very little in tips because people don't think about people they don't see. Servers can average as much as $15 an hour in tips alone; hotel housekeepers are lucky if they get $5 a day. When I stay in a hotel, I tip the housekeeper $2 per day per bed and $10 on check-out day. If it's a hotel that offers turn-down service and I happen to be in the room when the night housekeeper comes by, she also gets $2. 

[Prevailing Wind]

I was staying a multi-night stay and happened to run into my housekeeper. She mentioned this was her last day before her "weekend," so I tipped her right then and there. She said I didn't have to do that, because I'm so easy to take care of.  Whaaaa? OK, so I don't leave stuff around, but she still has to dust, make the bed, clean the bathroom, etc. She deserved the tip. A woman in her 70s, still working a minimum wage job is a damn shame.

[MaryPatShelby]

On 7/6/2016 at 1:15 PM, bilgistic said:

I pay maybe $9 every six months on my policy  (12-year-old car) for roadside assistance, which includes towing. I used it once when I stupidly thought I could make it to the gas station. The guy came out and gave me a gallon of gas (I paid for the gas), and then I went to the station.

I think we've had this conversation before.

I think we've had every Liberty Mutual conversation before!!

[ramble]

On July 6, 2016 at 3:04 PM, xaxat said:

They are flat out geniuses compared to The General. In one of their commercials the "customer" admits he let his insurance lapse. But The General fixed all of that.

 

I don't want those people sharing the road with me.

I dated one of those people. He called once because he hit a parked car while leaving his apartment complex & remembered he had let his insurance lapse. He couldn't figure out what to do. We quit dating not long after that. 

[janie jones]

2 hours ago, fishcakes said:

A lot of people wait until check-out, but they should be tipping every day.

This is exactly my point.  For pretty much everything besides sit-down restaurants, there are absolutely no rules or guidelines for tipping.  Just people's individual opinions and intuitions on what people should do. 

When I worked in retail, every so often, someone would try to tip us, and we were like "what?  why?" but it probably seemed reasonable to them.  (We were not allowed to accept tips.)

[Cobalt Stargazer]

This entire conversation is reminding me of this:

but with less swearing. :-D

[riley702]

Serious question - how do you tip the housekeeper if you never run into her? I'm sure they have very strict rules about not touching any money left out.

[CoderLady]

38 minutes ago, riley702 said:

Serious question - how do you tip the housekeeper if you never run into her? I'm sure they have very strict rules about not touching any money left out.

The housekeepers in hotels I've stayed in when I travel for work leave signed notes letting me know they've been there. I take the note, put "Thank you" at the bottom with my own first name, put a $5 bill on top of it, and anchor both with something from the room desk. It's obvious that it was deliberately left for her.

I'm not going to climb up on my soapbox, but women get paid very little to do very hard work. If I can spread a little of what I have to other working women I'll do it.

 

ETA: As @aquarian1 has gracefully reminded me, this is a subject for the Small Talk thread. It is continuing over there.

Edited July 9, 2016 by CoderLady

[FormerMod-a1]

33 minutes ago, riley702 said:

Serious question - how do you tip the housekeeper if you never run into her? I'm sure they have very strict rules about not touching any money left out.

Answering in Small Talk...

[habenero]

On 7/5/2016 at 1:56 PM, Rick Kitchen said:

So you're not a fan of the Little Babys Ice Cream ad, I take it?  :D

Sorry us in the midwest ONLY get hospital and medical center ads that show these brain dead statues....dont know about ice cream ads

[Rick Kitchen]

1 hour ago, habenero said:

Sorry us in the midwest ONLY get hospital and medical center ads that show these brain dead statues....dont know about ice cream ads

 

You asked for it.

\

[RCharter]

^^oh, that is disturbing.  I can't believe thats a thing....thats just......so wrong.

[Brattinella]

Oh, Rick Kitchen, how COULD YOU??

 

*smile*

[ennui]

6 hours ago, ramble said:

I dated one of those people. He called once because he hit a parked car while leaving his apartment complex & remembered he had let his insurance lapse. He couldn't figure out what to do. We quit dating not long after that. 

Well, at least he thought about it. I hate people who hit and run in parking lots.

[Aquarius]

On 7/5/2016 at 1:58 AM, Jamoche said:

"This bride included teeth whitening strips in her bridesmaids' welcome basket!"

This bride's a bridezilla and is just going to have to deal with imperfect wedding photos.

And probably be divorced within the year to boot.

On 7/5/2016 at 2:56 PM, Rick Kitchen said:

So you're not a fan of the Little Babys Ice Cream ad, I take it?  :D

To be fair, in those ads the humanoid starts to suck ice cream out of its nostril or something equally disgusting.
 

On 7/5/2016 at 0:46 PM, BusyOctober said:

I have never owed a Buick and thanks to all their stupid ads, I never will.  Nor will my children, grandchildren and all progeny henceforth. Every time I see one of their ads, I jump for the remote to either mute or change channel.  I can't decide which one is worse - 1) the ones with idiot passengers looking for their friend's car in a parking lot and calling to find them "I'm right here! In THE BUICK", or 2) the one with the couple on vaca and the wife asked if he locked "THE BUICK" or 3) the one where the baby wakes up and dad says he'll take the baby for a ride in "THE BUICK". 

Who even talks like that about their car?? Wouldn't most people say "I'm the 2nd car down the street, the blue one with light on" or "did you remember to lock THE CAR?" Between us, my husband & I have 2 cars and an old pickup truck; all different makes - a KIA, a Volvo and a Ford.  If deciding which one to use when we go out the conversation goes like this; "your car or mine?"  Unless you have a fleet of vehicles at your disposal, no one differentiates which one they are using by the brand name. GAH!!! So irritating!

Not in defense, because I hate those ads too, but something that just occurred to me.  When my father drove a Buick, for whatever reason they DID refer to it as "the Buick" - to the point that their Labrador retriever would go crazy at the word "Buick" because he thought they were going for a ride.  Weird. . . maybe calling it "the Buick" is a thing once you buy one.

[Brattinella]

Actually, my family used to refer to  "The Cadillac".  I guess it depends how snazzy your car is, I guess.

[Blergh]

Just when I thought there was no way I could dislike and wish Flo were GONE more than I already do, they DID it. 'Ghostbusters'. Makes me SO mad that I'm very tempted to boycott THAT movie just  to punish them for having extended Flo's shelf life another 30 seconds beyond the already 20 years past her 'deserved' 15 minutes of fame (and I used to like 'Ghostbusters'). Just boo!

[janie jones]

16 hours ago, Aquarius said:

Not in defense, because I hate those ads too, but something that just occurred to me.  When my father drove a Buick, for whatever reason they DID refer to it as "the Buick" - to the point that their Labrador retriever would go crazy at the word "Buick" because he thought they were going for a ride.  Weird. . . maybe calling it "the Buick" is a thing once you buy one.

Kind of like how a lot of people with Apple products don't just talk about their "phone" or their "computer," it's their iPhone, their iPad, their MacBook.

[Brattinella]

2 hours ago, janie jones said:

Kind of like how a lot of people with Apple products don't just talk about their "phone" or their "computer," it's their iPhone, their iPad, their MacBook.

Wow, that's some pretentious shit right there!

I have a cellphone, a laptop and several PC's.  I don't call any of them by name!

[riley702]

I call mine George and Pete. (j/k)

[Prevailing Wind]

I have two Brother printers. One Brother is Darrell and the other Brother is Daryl.

[RCharter]

I've also named a few of my favorite battery operated appliances :)

Edited July 11, 2016 by RCharter

[Rick Kitchen]

cough

[backformore]

46 minutes ago, riley702 said:

I call mine George and Pete. (j/k)

As long as you don't call your car "Brad".

[Cobalt Stargazer]

From the head-scratcher thread:

2 hours ago, Sandman87 said:

There's a perfectly good fountain right behind her that she could toss the phone in...

Have ya'll seen the ad for Credit Karma (I think) where the two women are sitting on a park bench, and the one on the left is about the check her credit, but the one on the right ends up taking the phone out of her hand and throwing it into a duck pond. Or some damn thing. Then the now-phoneless woman explains that Credit Karma is free, and that it doesn't actually affect your credit to check it every once in a while. Which I think is not really true, but anyway. This wench took her phone and threw it into a duck pond. Rude, much?

[RCharter]

5 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

From the head-scratcher thread:

Have ya'll seen the ad for Credit Karma (I think) where the two women are sitting on a park bench, and the one on the left is about the check her credit, but the one on the right ends up taking the phone out of her hand and throwing it into a duck pond. Or some damn thing. Then the now-phoneless woman explains that Credit Karma is free, and that it doesn't actually affect your credit to check it every once in a while. Which I think is not really true, but anyway. This wench took her phone and threw it into a duck pond. Rude, much?

I feel like there is a duck lips/selfie joke to be made....but someone funnier than me will have to make it

[Ubiquitous]

I noticed a certain American swill (beer) ad was perpetuating myths about women. Ugh.

[TattleTeeny]

On 7/9/2016 at 9:37 AM, fishcakes said:

A lot of people wait until check-out, but they should be tipping every day. Housekeepers are assigned a floor or block of rooms, so a guest might have one who cleans the room five days in a row for no tip, then they check out on her day off and end up tipping the housekeeper who just happened to get the room because the regular person was off. Housekeepers change the sheets, the towels, clean the counter and sink, toilet, and bathtub, dust the furniture, and vacuum, and they do this 16 to 18 times a day, not even counting the rooms that have two beds. They generally make close to minimum wage and very little in tips because people don't think about people they don't see. Servers can average as much as $15 an hour in tips alone; hotel housekeepers are lucky if they get $5 a day. When I stay in a hotel, I tip the housekeeper $2 per day per bed and $10 on check-out day. If it's a hotel that offers turn-down service and I happen to be in the room when the night housekeeper comes by, she also gets $2. 

What if you insist that they don't change the beds? It takes all of my resolve and a few drinks* to get me into a hotel bed at all--and once I do, I want my own "germs" to remain the top "layer" until checkout! I realize this is crazy, and I am working on it (I also clean the room when I get there--get that TV remote, people!).

* Not enough alcohol to barf, but enough to make getting into bed an eventual necessity, or at least preferable to not getting into bed.

Quote

When I worked in retail, every so often, someone would try to tip us, and we were like "what?  why?" but it probably seemed reasonable to them.  (We were not allowed to accept tips.)

At the previously mentioned Barnes & Noble, I was giftwrapping something for a customer. He handed me a five and said, "Just let me see you slide it into your pocket." Like I said, that place attracted loons.

Edited July 11, 2016 by TattleTeeny

[RCharter]

1 hour ago, TattleTeeny said:

At the previously mentioned Barnes & Noble, I was giftwrapping something for a customer. He handed me a five and said, "Just let me see you slide it into your pocket." Like I said, that place attracted loons.

LOL.  I once worked the front desk at a hotel, a hungry customer checked in after all the restaurants were closed.  The woman that ran the VIP lounge still had some snacks and cookies and so the associate who checked him in wrapped a few of the things up for the guy and called him to tell him that someone would be delivering it to him as a courtesy.

So, I take this stuff up to his room, and the dude straight up opens the door in his underwear!  It was so awful!  They weren't even tightie whities, they were like tightie greys, but they were super tight and clinging to his gut for dear life.  No robe, no covering, just super tight underwear.

And I'm standing there in absolute shock, and, from out of nowhere, this guy pulls out a pile of slightly damp dollar bills as a "tip" to "share among everyone."  And had I thought about it I would have just been like "oh, no thank you sir, good service is its own reward."  But I was so gobsmacked by the whole thing that I just took the money and got out of there.

Funny enough -- the guy ended up calling down to the front desk and looking for the associate who checked him in.  He thought SHE was going to be the one delivering the food.  And if she wanted to bring him a few towels after her shift was over there would be a $50 tip in it for her....nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

She wisely declined.  

To this day, I still wonder where those dollar bills came from.  And I know I don't want to know....

Edited July 11, 2016 by RCharter

[ennui]

13 hours ago, backformore said:

As long as you don't call your car "Brad".

I can see referring to a car's make if you own more than one brand. You can't really refer to the Chevy if they're all Chevrolet.

[Prevailing Wind]

Our family solved that problem by calling them by the model - "The Impala's in the way, I need to get the Malibu out of the carport."

But, oddly, they never referred to my car as "the VW" or "Lucy's Car" - it was always Toby.  "Can somebody move Toby?"

[erikdepressant]

On 5/10/2016 at 6:20 PM, SoSueMe said:

Cosentyx

See me See Me SEE ME SEE ME

I have a lot of sympathy for psoriasis sufferers, really I do. But the teenager in me rebels when I am being COMMANDED to do something. Especially since this commercial is directed at non-sufferers. There is another psoriasis drug with a charming commercial that gets the point across in an appealing and upbeat way.

They are STILL showing it!

Imagine you're naked in a locker room, on your way to the shower.  Now imagine someone else is there, fully clothed and staring longingly at you, desperately wanting to be looked at.  Would that not creep you out just a little bit?

[Jamoche]

On July 10, 2016 at 3:39 PM, Brattinella said:

Wow, that's some pretentious shit right there!

I have a cellphone, a laptop and several PC's.  I don't call any of them by name!

I'm old. My "phone" is a landline, my "iPhone" is in my pocket. :)

[xaxat]

Normally, I only pay attention to the music in ads only if I like the tune. If it's annoying or bad, I just ignore it. But these Gatorade ads that butcher the Cole Porter classic Let's Call the Whole Thing Off are like a drill through my skull.

[Prevailing Wind]

I recall Anne Bancroft had a variety "special" on one time and she sang that song. But she sang it, "You say po-tay-to, I say po-tay-to..."

 

Oh, here it is on YouTube...

[janie jones]

On 7/12/2016 at 3:08 PM, Jamoche said:

I'm old. My "phone" is a landline, my "iPhone" is in my pocket. :)

Good point!  But it's still exclusive to Apple users.  You don't hear people say, "My 'phone' is a landline; my 'Samsung' is in my pocket."

[backformore]

On ‎7‎/‎11‎/‎2016 at 0:22 PM, ennui said:

I can see referring to a car's make if you own more than one brand. You can't really refer to the Chevy if they're all Chevrolet.

Yeah, we always had "the van"  and "the car"  until my kids bought cars, at which point each car had an owner - mom's car, dad's car, joey's car, Susie's car.    I don't know anything about brands or makes of cars.  if someone told me "it's the Buick", I'd have no idea, without reading the logos of the cars.  Better to tell me the car's color. 

Yeah, I'm the mom who drove a beige minivan during the years when EVERY family had a beige minivan.   I ended up getting a mickey mouse antennae topper just so I could find my car in a parking lot.

[Brattinella]

40 minutes ago, backformore said:

Yeah, I'm the mom who drove a beige minivan during the years when EVERY family had a beige minivan.   I ended up getting a mickey mouse antennae topper just so I could find my car in a parking lot.

Our family had the "Harvest Gold" model with the faux-wood panels!  ARGHH!  How embarrassing to be seen in it!

[iMonrey]

Ugh, I'm so disgusted by those Lysol commercials where the guy is brushing his teeth in a toilet and the lady is taking a shower in a toilet. We get it . . . toilet germs are everywhere!!! Only . . . not so much. Who fills their bathroom sink with water and dips their toothbrush into it? Rinsing your toothbrush under running water in the sink is not the equivalent of dunking it into a flushing toilet FFS. 

[piequinn35]

The puppy monkey baby ad is so annoying!

[ennui]

On 7/11/2016 at 7:03 PM, Prevailing Wind said:

Our family solved that problem by calling them by the model - "The Impala's in the way, I need to get the Malibu out of the carport."

But, oddly, they never referred to my car as "the VW" or "Lucy's Car" - it was always Toby.  "Can somebody move Toby?"

Not Brad? I thought all cars were named Brad.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

3 hours ago, ennui said:

Not Brad? I thought all cars were named Brad.

Just the ones that have been wrecked.

[TattleTeeny]

8 hours ago, janie jones said:

Good point!  But it's still exclusive to Apple users.  You don't hear people say, "My 'phone' is a landline; my 'Samsung' is in my pocket."

Ugh, that would annoy me and there are about 10 Apple things in this house right now. But people say (or, more accurately, said--past tense) Blackberry (but was that a brand name? I don't know so ignore me if that's a dumb example) and I feel like just about everyone says iPod as opposed to "MP3 player." And I do say "AppleTV" though because what else would I call it?

[Moose135]

6 hours ago, ennui said:

Not Brad? I thought all cars were named Brad.

My father has called all of his cars Bessie.

[Amethyst]

8 hours ago, piequinn35 said:

The puppy monkey baby ad is so annoying!

I thought they retired that one early because it got such bad press.  Haven't seen it in a while.  The newest one I saw has the excited guy dancing again.

That Little Baby's Ice Cream commercial is horrifying.  Couldn't even finish it; that's pure nightmare fuel.

Edited July 15, 2016 by Amethyst

[Albino]

12 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Ugh, I'm so disgusted by those Lysol commercials where the guy is brushing his teeth in a toilet and the lady is taking a shower in a toilet. We get it . . . toilet germs are everywhere!!! Only . . . not so much. Who fills their bathroom sink with water and dips their toothbrush into it? Rinsing your toothbrush under running water in the sink is not the equivalent of dunking it into a flushing toilet FFS. 

I'm more disgusted by the baby blue sink and toilet.  Do they even make those anymore?

[TattleTeeny]

12 hours ago, Moose135 said:

My father has called all of his cars Bessie.

My mom always did this too! Is it something from their youth (assuming, of course, that our respective parents are from the same generation)?
 

Quote

 

I'm more disgusted by the baby blue sink and toilet.  Do they even make those anymore?

 

Probably not. I'd actually like a colored bathroom (yikes--that sounded so wrong! What I mean is vintage bathroom fixtures that are not white!). I had an apartment that had the old-school pink, black, and white tiles and I loved it, but it would have been better with pink appliances too! What sucked though is that my landlord was a doofus and when some of the tiles needed to be replaced, he used peach-colored ones! Like he went to the store and thought, "close enough" and trotted on back with them.
 

Why does it seem like, the cheaper the commercial, the more font styles they cram in there (particularly the pharmaceutical-lawsuit ones)? Maybe I am extra sensitive to it because of an art background and a job in print media, but does Xarelto (or whatever) really need to be shown in some overwrought calligraphy-style type...while the phone number, website, bulleted list of symptoms, etc. are each displayed in yet another font?

[DrSpaceman73]

I hate this commercial.  When this woman dances and says "Mommy Gold", I just want to smack her.  I have to change the channel I hate it so much

http://www.commercialsihate.com/i-hate-this-mommy-gold-mom-groove-land-o-frost-ad_topic23439.html

[Joe Blow]

10 hours ago, Albino said:

I'm more disgusted by the baby blue sink and toilet.  Do they even make those anymore?

My house was built in the 1940s (hey, it's considered "historic" in Phoenix), and while my bathroom still has the original sink and light blue/yellow tiles, the toilet was replaced before we bought the house and is only like 10-15 years old.  I really want the vintage blue toilet!  I keep hoping when people in our neighborhood gut their houses and remove all of the cool vintage stuff, one of those toilets will appear in the trash pile.

And, yes, I would absolutely stop and pick up someone's used blue toilet.