View Full Version : Rant and rave, bitch and moan...
psmith2.0
2004-07-06, 10:19
A pressure-relieving thread, how about? Where you can just quickly pop in, get something off your chest - about ANYTHING - and rush out. Not a whole list, just something specific at the time you're most pissed/upset about it.
Be as serious or funny as you want. Cuss, don't cuss. Offer solutions or not. Just let it rip.
Be as detailed or brief as is necessary. I'll start (this happened a little while ago, and, truthfully, seems to happen to me all the time for some reason):
Situation
I hate to be driving along, at a good clip, and someone pulls out from a side street or driveway, RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I have to stand on my brakes, practically. THEN, you guessed it, they proceed to drive about 40mph under the speed limit. Worst of all, I'll look in my rear view mirror and there will be nobody behind me...they had a wide open, clear shot once I passed. :mad:
Reaction
Basically, you want to just pull these people over and say "Hey, assbag...you SAW me coming, you knew I was close...but you were in such a big #$^@! hurry to drive 18mph that you honestly could not wait that extra 1.3 seconds for me to pass your driveway? There was nobody behind me, so you had all the time you needed to pull out once I passed by, but noooooo. Now I'm going to ride your bumper and give you the meanest look I can muster when I finally pass you. Maybe even a good, both-arms-raised 'WTF' gesture too..." :rolleyes:
Solution (for the benefit of the terminally stupid and oblivious)
If you're going to pull out in front of an already-moving vehicle, be a non-dickhead about it and step on the gas and get up to speed ASAP so I don't run up and over your back bumper and trunk, accidentally decapitating you. Yanking out in front of me like you just can't wait another second or two for me to pass by, and then driving like a turtle is not cool or cute in any way. Old, young, male, female...you're officially a butthole when you do this, and you really need to stop. :(
Yeah, there are plenty of driving-related ones that bug me. I particularly hate it when people sit in the left lane on the freeway but don't go fast. That's what the right lane is for. I will often stay in the left lane for a long time, but I make sure that I am following the car in front of me at about the same speed, so as not to hold anyone up. The reason I like the left is because it's faster and because you don't have to avoid people merging. Makes it easier for both parties, IF you make sure you are keeping up with traffic. But when someone's going 62 in a 65 in the left lane while everyone else is going 70-75, there's a problem.
It's also irritating when there's a huge traffic jam and it turns out it was all caused by people slowing way down to look at, say, a tow truck on the shoulder, or a cop who has pulled over a speeder. Good job people, way to keep the traffic flowing. But then I have to realize that 1) the situation may not have been the same when I was stuck farther back, and 2) it only takes a handful of gawkers to cause a huge traffic jam involving hundreds or even thousands of cars.
A non-driving related one is when I see these guys at the library here... it's a bunch of weirdos who come and wait outside the door every Sunday morning ten minutes before the library opens. They all have terrible BO and most of them are grotesquely fat (the last is very skinny), so when I unlock the doors I have to hold my nose and quickly let them in. Anyway, they come in, bring in food (which is not allowed, I might tell them to lay off the food next Sunday assuming I can stomach the smell), and play RPGs all day until the security monitor kicks them out at closing time. What irritates me the most is that they are really violating a lot of the rules here... bringing in food is one thing, but they're also using one of the group study rooms for the entire day. They're not usually in use during the summer, but during the school year there's always someone in there and I don't want people turning around and having to look for some other place to study because these losers can't find a better place to waste their time.
I wonder if their mothers don't let them play at home. :err:
thegelding
2004-07-06, 10:58
i dislike when people pull out and nobody is behind you...that is just careless
the left lane is not the fast lane...it is the passing lane...both lanes have the same speed limit...yes the left lane usually has the faster traffic, but if you ain't passing, get over to the right...that is what turn signals are for...plus it keeps your mind on driving if you don't just sit in one lane the whole time...that being said, i hate when slow drivers in the passing lane make me pass them on the right...not safe...once again, this would be remedied if the left lane was only used for passing and moving over for merging traffic on two lane highways
g
Windswept
2004-07-06, 11:47
Where I live, the far left lane on the freeway (during rush hour) is only for vehicles with two or more people (i.e. the carpool lane). If you drive in it without at least two people in the car, you'll get a ticket (supposedly).
spotcatbug
2004-07-06, 13:26
the left lane is not the fast lane...it is the passing lane...both lanes have the same speed limit...yes the left lane usually has the faster traffic, but if you ain't passing, get over to the rightThis recently became the law in Pennsylvania. If you aren't passing, it is illegal to drive in the left lane.
I always used the left lane as strictly a passing lane. I would very occasionally be annoyed by some other driver using the left lane as simply one of the two available lanes for them to drive in, but I don't think we needed a law over it.
psmith2.0
2004-07-06, 13:31
I always drive 5 or so mph over the speed limit on the freeway, depending on traffic and conditions (who doesn't?), but I NEVER ride the left lane, full-time. I, too, use it for passing as much as possible. And I HATE it when some dumb-butt is in the left lane, going about 50-60mph and holding everyone up.
:mad:
And you're behind them and they won't get over...they'll even look up into their rear view and just keep on, as though they don't have a clue (usually don't).
"Oblivions", that guy calls them in that column at foxnews.com. Apt name.
:)
psmith2.0
2004-07-06, 14:02
I think I mentioned this once before, but this just happened to me - again - last night. Actually, it was a "double hit"...a case of one person engaging in a two-for-one combo of assbag behavior. Astounding in its mechanics, but, alas, not rare.
The Situation
Was at the grocery store and bought TWO avacados. I'm walking to the checkout line (only two open, go figure) with my TWO avacados and a $5 bill. This woman and I are converging and she's got a cart piled high, OVER the sides. Anyway, the twit, upon seeing me, kicks it into high gear and beats me to the checkout lane by a couple of feet (shades of my Rubio's fish taco incident from a couple of years ago...haha).
Anyway, she's standing there, turns around to look at me. "Cool", I think, "she'll notice my two avacados AND my $5 bill at the ready, and invite me to go ahead..." (which, by the way, is what I ALWAYS do in a reverse situation). She doesn't. She looks right into my hands, sees the avacodos and the cash, and simply turns back around.
MOTHERFU.... :mad: (the other line had a lot of people in it, with semi-full carts, so it was a no-go).
Anyway, so that's first offense.
The cashier starts ringing up her stuff. I shit you not, her car was packed as tight as you can. I assumed she was getting an early run on Thanksgiving dinner... :rolleyes:
Now, at this point, I KNOW the second offense is coming...I can tell just by the way she's standing there and the whole air about her: the dreaded "stand there like a dumbass and pull your checkbook ONLY after the cashier tells you the price" routine. Yep, sure enough. After nearly 8 minutes of ringing up, coupon tallying, chit-chat, etc. the cashier finally tells the lady a total. Lady - at that point, NOT 7 minutes earlier which would've been nice - reaches into her stupid purse, scrounges around for her checkbook, looks for a pen, decides she doesn't like that one, looks for another pen (at this point, I swear she was just trying to tweak me on purpose...it's the only explanation) and starts writing out her entire check, from scratch.
:mad: :rolleyes:
The Solution
Here's a friendly tidbit from good ol' Paul: when you've got a shitload of groceries and some guy is standing there with two pieces of produce and cash at the ready, build up some karma points let the guy go first. You'll be rewarded in heaven, I'm sure. If you DON'T opt for letting the other person go first, then for the love of God: while the chick is ringing your $300 worth of groceries up, have the foresight to, oh, I don't know, get your stupid checkbook out and fill in as much info as you can so things can skootch along a little quicker. Instead of standing there, slack-jawed and staring into space, trying to remember if you set the VCR for Maury Povich or not, fill out your stupid check book as completely as you can. And maybe, just maybe, have your driver's license ready too...they tend to ask for that sometimes.
:rolleyes:
I swear, either I'm getting older and crankier or people are just getting more rude and stupid (I'm quite certain it's the latter, because I'm a pretty easygoing, swell guy who doesn't enjoy getting mad). I FINALLY made it to the cashier, paid for my avacados, was out the door, in my car and pulling onto the highway while dumbass was still loading her bags into her car.
:mad:
That's eight minutes of my life I'll never get back...
:D
That's a crock of shit, pscates. When I was a cashier I wouldn't have let that shit go down. I would have probably just said, "Sir, did you want me to quickly ring you through?"
I also hate it when patrons/customers treat the service people like machines. This has happened at all the jobs I've had, including my nice library job. In fact, it just happened now. Guy walks up, mumbles a single word, expects a response. I ask him what he wants, and he asks "Vwerez your periodiculs?" Since we store them in two different areas based on how old they are (2001-2004 upstairs, 2000 and earlier downstairs), I ask if he's looking for a recent one. He repeats his question, but louder this time, and he also throws in the word "magazines" in case I didn't get it. So I say, "Yes, we keep them in two places, so it's either downstairs or up here" and he walks into the "recent periodicals" room without a word.
I bet he's back in 15 minutes telling me he couldn't find the one he was looking for, because it was published before 2001 and he wouldn't tell me.
psmith2.0
2004-07-06, 14:45
Could you have volunteered to quickly tell him the difference in the two periodical rooms, as a pre-emptive strike so he DOESN'T have to come back, bugging you?
:confused:
I would've. You weren't as forthcoming and helpful as you could've been...just an extra sentence or two from you might've sent him confidently on his way, forever leaving you alone.
I believe I speak for the entire universe when I say that having to nickel-and-dime info from employees is really aggravating. I hate feeling like I have to beat it out of them sometimes.
;)
Jeebus christ, what is this, "harass the Luca day" or something? He hasn't come back out, and I assume he was looking for the actual magazines, not the bound volumes.
And I would have given him the information he needed if he had stopped interrupting me. There's also the problem of about half our patrons not being very skilled at English. I can usually understand them with some effort, but it can be difficult at times.
Ooh, just thought of one... PROSTITOTS! These are those girls, almost always ages 13-16 (hence the "tot" part), who hang out in malls dressed like little sluts (hence, "prosti"). It's a term a friend of mine coined, because they're so annoying.
They wear tight shirts that say things like "Baby," "Sexy," "Innocent," "Angel," and so on. They walk around flaunting their underdeveloped bodies and heavily made-up faces. They probably all got there by driving their parents' luxury SUV or something. Regardless of the actual context of their presence, they come off as bratty and self-centered.
On the flip side, they aren't actually an annoyance to me. Just seeing them reminds me of how so many rich families are raising their kids to be spoiled little brats. But it's not like the prostitots are getting in my face or anything.
psmith2.0
2004-07-06, 17:12
Jeebus christ, what is this, "harass the Luca day" or something? He hasn't come back out, and I assume he was looking for the actual magazines, not the bound volumes.
And I would have given him the information he needed if he had stopped interrupting me. There's also the problem of about half our patrons not being very skilled at English. I can usually understand them with some effort, but it can be difficult at times.
Well, I didn't know all that other stuff (the interrupting and non-fluency in English).
Sorry...I just figured a guy who left his unflushed shit all over his parent's bathroom floor for them to clean up probably wasn't too helpful with customers with no blood-relation connection.
:lol: :p
You can understand how one MIGHT make that leap, can't you?
:)
Luca left his unflushed (and evidently over-flowed) shit on the bathroom floor... for his parents to clean up? Luca defend yourself now or face more verbal abuse.
I can't hardly wait for this one...
:err:
God DAMN it. Now I have to explain it all over again.
I live in a rural suburb. It is pretty far from the nearest town, which is a small to medium sized town (Stillwater). Quite a long way to the nearest city (St. Paul). So we have a septic system. We also have a number of toilets that don't always work properly.
Last night, I woke up in the middle of the night, around 3 AM, and had to do my business. So I did but of course the toilet starts filling up. I'm usually okay with unclogging it, because I'm used to it doing this once every two or three days. Well, it doesn't go so well this time. It's the middle of the night, I'm trying to use the plunger on this crappy toilet, and it just keeps filling up and eventually it overflowed a little. At some point I decided there was no more I could do, and I just had to go to bed.
But no one understands the situation. Most of the people here are used to having toilets that work, and they're also used to city plumbing which gives you nice, high water pressure to work with. This is a COMMON situation in my household. When I can't get it working, someone else can. Furthermore, the water was pretty much just water by the time it started overflowing. I guess the shit was sucked down and is now somewhere in septic tank indigestion land, while the water kept flowing in. So it's not like I left a bunch of shit lying on the bathroom floor, and it's not like this is the first time that a catastrophe like this has happened.
There, happy now?
I fucking hate you all. :mad:
But I still love ya :D
Luca's Mom
2004-07-06, 19:57
Situation
So I get up this morning and go to use the bathroom, and find there's water all over the floor. Turns out someone *cough* in the middle of the night decided to use the toilet and didn't finish up where they left off. I looked all over for the plunger, and finally found it thrown in the corner. :no:
Reaction
At first I just started to plunge it, again. After all, this is far from the first time my son has done this. Think this is the third time this month! Then the more I plunged this digusting mess, the more I realized this is not my problem, and not my job damnit! I'm sicking of always cleaning up after people who decide everything else isn't their responsibility.
Solution I went online and found a bunch of smelly, RPG playing losers. Talking to a real women was the most exiciting thing in their day. After only ten minutes I had convinced them to go down and play their stupid games at my son's work. I figure if he's going to leave me with a stinky mess to clean up in the mornings, I'll give him a stinky mess to deal with during the day. :p
psmith2.0
2004-07-06, 20:01
OMG... :lol: (Luca, I SWEAR that isn't me...they just copied my formatting!).
You do remember that as a moderator, I can check the IP of any post? Anyway, it's either someone who hasn't posted in this thread yet or someone posting from a different network.
Also, more news on the situation. Turns out that A) it's not my fault and B) my mom did NOT end up doing anything about it. I tried again today (see, look at me! I didn't make her do anything) and it still won't budge.
The reason it's not my fault is because my brother actually managed to clog it earlier and then he just left it. I was just the unlucky sap who ended up using it next, not knowing it was clogged up, and using it just made things worse.
So it's my brother's fault, and I didn't make my mom do anything. You still won't let me live it down though, I know that much :mad:
I could go into the details of WHY I know that it's my brother's fault, but those are rather disgusting and I don't want to get into another poop thread. Though it seems as though this has already turned into one.
Way to make a bad day worse, you assfaces.
EDIT: It's probably LoCash. Well, it still could be anyone, but I think it's an admin because of the custom title. Of course, any of you fucktards could have easily just PM'd LoCash and asked for the title.
EDIT 2: It's alcimedes. The IPs are the same.
alcimedes
2004-07-06, 20:36
:D
I finally fixed the damn thing. Took me about 15 minutes of continuous plunging to do it, but it's done. My hands just about have blisters on them now.
Now leave me alone. :rolleyes:
alcimedes
2004-07-06, 20:50
now now luca, all in good fun. :)
we tease because we care.
:lol: alcimedes - that was a classic. Luca that was some poop related karma that just went down. I'm sorry to laugh - but it is just too funny not to. :lol:
psmith2.0
2004-07-07, 06:59
Mr. Luca-the-Moderator, I don't give a flying damn...look at any IP you want, you'll see it wasn't me. I think it's funny as hell, frankly, but it wasn't me.
If it was, I would've copped to it by now.
If I WAS going to do something like that (and wanted to stay secret), you'd never know.
But it wasn't me.
:)
stevegong
2004-07-07, 07:42
You know what PScates?
Almost exactly the same thing happened to me 3 months ago in a grocey in northern virginia.
I was actually late for the concert of a friend up in delaware and we wanted to buy some flowers for her.
So I was waiting with 1 bouquet of flowers. The lady in front of me had a whole cart full, and the thing that pissed me off the most was that she first tried to pay in cash but realised she didn't have enough cash, then took out her credit card and it somehow didn't work, then took out another credit card and that didn't work either and finaly proceeded to write a check, and guess what, she made a mistake on the first try, tears it out, and write another one.
It seems like such things are not uncommon.
:mad: :mad: :mad:
psmith2.0
2004-07-07, 08:34
I believe I would've strangled her, after that second credit card attempt. :D
You know, I'm probably going to get into a total scuffle one of these days because I totally find myself unable to contain my disgust and disdain for lunkheads in public anymore.
:(
Lately, I'll mutter something under my breath and find out that it's not as much "under my breath" as I thought, and the person will give me a look. Or I'll just let out a big sigh, eyeroll or patented "both hands in the hair/WTF" gesture.
Oh well, it's the price of being right. If people weren't rude dickheads and inconsiderate, oblivious clods in public, I wouldn't have to point it out to them.
:p
I think I mentioned this once at .com about how I was in a grocery store (why always these grocery stores?) and some man in front of me was bickering with the cashier about incorrect change. I just assumed in was $5-10, then upon further listening he was quibbling over something like a nickel. I lost it, and tossed a quarter down the conveyor to where he was and said "look, there's 25 cents, TAKE IT...I'd like to get home before midnight if that's okay with you". I was just so mad.
:D
I've never received a meaner look in my LIFE. He didn't take it and I just picked it up when I left.
I think it's something about grocery stores, because I rarely - if ever - deal with this type of thing at Target, Staples, Best Buy, Old Navy, etc. Always a grocery store. Something to do, maybe, with the coupons, the sales/price-matching, the food stamp stuff, the different ways to pay at a grocery store, the discount cards used by many, etc.
:confused:
I can just about count on 3 out of 5 trips to my grocery store winding up as a complete pain-in-the-butt of some sort, always involving the ONE person I get behind in line. I don't know how, but I sure manage to pick 'em.
:D
pscates = freak magnet
I have worked retail. Sometimes you wish you could club people like a baby seal....
:)
psmith2.0
2004-07-07, 09:08
I must be, man. Bad drivers and goofy grocery store shoppers seem drawn to me...or the other way around. :D
I get more than my fair share, I think. :confused:
alcimedes
2004-07-07, 09:16
just do your grocery shopping after 10pm. usually the freaks are in bed by that point. at least the annoying argue over a nickle types are.
now you're left with the peircings/dyed hair crowd, but i find them a lot easier to tolerate.
psmith2.0
2004-07-07, 09:41
After 10pm? Hell, I'M in bed at that point! :p
It is also the time for the hardcore freaks to come out to play. During the day you have the mild freaks in numbers. By night you have the scary downright nasty freaks.....
:D
I love shopping at night-time. When I was living by myself and I'd be coming home from a gig (post midnight) I always used to pull into a 24 Hour Coles (supermarket in Australia) and do my shopping. Pretty much had the run of the store to myself with the ol' night crew staff. It made sense too, b/c I was still wide awake and hadn't gone home to settle down yet. I used to hate it when I came home from work, and unwound a bit in front of the computer or TV and then I had to get motivated to do a shop. Much better to do it when i was on the move.
As for things pissing me off - people dissing other people's taste in music.
I must have missed that meeting when God said to those people: "And yea shall be known as the arbiters of good taste - and ye shall belittle and ridicule anything that is not what you like." Pisses me right off! :mad:
1) WTF is it with people (almost always kids that look to be juniors or seniors in HS) who in the midst of a great outdoor concert, feel compelled to shove their way through the center of a seating section crowded with thousands of standing fans who are actually watching the show? Back and forth they go all night long; just randomly zig-zagging their way around.
Showing off?
Yah OK meathead, you work out and you have a bad-ass tan to go with those cheeze-bag New Orleans style beads... great. Now get the hell out of everyone's way so we can SEE! Did you come here for the concert, or TO BE SEEN at the concert? Don't be a dick next time; get some counselling or boost your self-confidence some other way. You might actually enjoy the show (imagine!).
Looking for that dude, who knows that girl who talked to the guy who said "DUDE! I'll be at that concert... like, I'm totally sure I'll see you there!"
There's 60,000 people here and you're in the middle of a section holding 20,000. It's dark, you don't know where anyone is, and you're pissing off everyone you walk in front of / shove. Use the fucking walkways, turn on your bitchin cell phone and have them meet you there... ON THE WALKWAY.
2) When leaving a crowded parking area that forms into a lane / line at the end, see if you can GET IN LINE asap, instead of cutting to the side of everyone in front of you and forming a third fourth or fifth feeder line. Douche Bags.
2a) If you're in high school or college and think someone will be impressed or laugh because your funneling a beer on the back of your buddy's pickup and screaming loudly... you're wrong. That's what tailgaters are for. The tailgating is over, the concert is over, sit down and shut the hell up because you're making an ass of yourself (notice no one else is funneling beer or screaming / partying at this particular time).
psmith2.0
2004-07-11, 12:30
:D
moogs is my bastard stepchild, I do believe...
But you're right: an entire chapter could be written on "Shitheaded Concert-Goers and the Behavior They Engage In".
:rolleyes:
Heheh. I'm too old to be your bastard stepchild, suh. But if you want to co-write and edit such a book, let me know. It has best seller written all over it!
And might I add for the record:
What's with these nimrods at Amazon.com who review products *that don't even exist yet*? This is most noteably true of movies that haven't been released yet. I just went to see if the Extended Edition of the RotK had been given a release date yet, and there are reviews all over the place. "Greatest Movie of all time"?? YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET, PANSY!
When the producer and director adds an hour or more of footage throughout a film, it effectively becomes a new film. So how can you possibly write a review and give a star rating for the associated product people will want to buy?
:mad:
WTF is wrong with these people? Nothing better to write about? Bored? Want to seem clever and "in the know" about a product that is coveted but not yet available to anyone, anywhere? Ooooo. Those people sure are cool.
Reminds me of people who read rumor sites and then start posting things as fact, in reference to software or computer upgrades that are in the works. YOU DON'T KNOW, OK...? Like the old saying goes "Those who know, don't tell, and those who tell don't know." Speculation is one thing, but passing off speculation as fact is another.
My advice: don't worry; not knowing the details doesn't make you a bad person and it doesn't make your opinion worthless. Just say you don't know and everything will fall into place eventually.
:eek:
DMBand0026
2004-07-11, 20:38
Reminds me of people who read rumor sites and then start posting things as fact, in reference to software or computer upgrades that are in the works. YOU DON'T KNOW, OK...? Like the old saying goes "Those who know, don't tell, and those who tell don't know." Speculation is one thing, but passing off speculation as fact is another.
I'm with you 110% on this one. I won't even go into it, cause I promise it'll just anger me. Haha. But you people know who you are, so stop or I might have to hurt you.
I can't stand it when you're at a resturant, especially nice ones, and you sit and wait for a ridicoulisyly(my spelling sucks) long time. Just today, I was at a resturant in Napa(Joe's something-or-other) and I never even got asked what I wanted to drink! I was in the dining room, two other parties, and the waitress never came to ask even what we would like to drink. Then, when one of us got up to ask if she could come serve us, she just said that our table wasn't in her area.
Wasn't in her area? You had two freaking tables you lazy bum! You couldn't come over to us once and a while!
So then, after walking and taking some water, we left and went to an Applebees, where we were promptly served in 5 minutes.
:lol:
Life is so ironic, isn't it? Go to a place that is supposed to be "the best", where you shell out all kinds of cash... and you can't get the attention or friendliness of your average Applebee's waitress. Which btw, I've had good experiences at Applebee's despite their cheezy "down home" ads.
:cool:
psmith2.0
2004-07-11, 22:55
Naw, man...it's all about Chili's! :D
I LOVE Chili's! Best fajitas EVER. Best chips and salsa EVER. Best tuna steak sandwich EVER.
I never have a bad experience at Chili's. Or Outback, for that matter. My two faves...
I must confess Chili's has treated me well, though I don't go there more than once or twice a year now.
Naw, man...it's all about Chili's! :D
I LOVE Chili's! Best fajitas EVER. Best chips and salsa EVER. Best tuna steak sandwich EVER.
I never have a bad experience at Chili's. Or Outback, for that matter. My two faves...
I love their fish tacos, but unfortunately my mom is lactose intolerant, so I don't go there often.
alcimedes
2004-07-12, 00:09
oddly enough, i've never had anything but great service at chilli's. my wife, however, has ALWAYS had terrible service there. i don't get it. after we started dating i couldn't believe it so when there with her, and lo and behold, crappy service. very odd.
I work as a tech support agent for a broadband company here in Ga. As part of the "script" in every call I have to ask which of our DSL modems they are using. In about 85% of the calls I take I get "The one you sent me."
Well duh-huh. Really? The one WE sent you. Well now I know exactly what I am working with. In order to get you connected to the internet ma'am, I am going to need you to take that thing we sent you and plug it in to that thing Dell sent you, and while your at it, make sure that thing we sent is plugged in to that thing on the wall.
I wonder about these people. Is it too hard to look up and read the brand name off of a box that they know is the "internet thingy" and let me know what it says in BIG ASS RED LETTERS? :mad:
These people are our neighbors, friends, and possibly family. It horrifies me to think that these people are allowed to drive cars, reproduce, and speak.
Next time I call Sears to get my dish washer fixed, when they ask me what brand, I am going to tell them, "Oh, that one you sold me.", and then am going to act stupid like I can't read while they try to get me to read the brand name. Then I am going to get mad and threaten to never ever buy a thing from sears ever again.
psmith2.0
2004-07-12, 00:41
:lol: That's a good one... "hell, the one y'all sold me, sumbitch!"
:lol: That's a good one... "hell, the one y'all sold me, sumbitch!"
Ha, that's about how it goes. It is one of the more annoying situations. I also like, "Well it was working yesterday!"
Yeah, it may have been working yesterday, but it's not now. So shut the hell up and let me fix it before you go throwing a tantrum like a five year old not getting her way in the toy aisle at wal-mart.
buuuut mommmmmieeeeeee, I want the princess fairy hooker barbie nowwwwww!!
DMBand0026
2004-07-12, 00:51
:lol:
So that's why the tech support guy was surprised that I actually knew the answers to his questions? ;)
Idiot tech support people aggravate the crap out of me too. Especially the ones who don't even know what Macs are.
Them: What version of Windows are you running?
Me: It's a Mac
Them: Windows ME?
Me: No, Macintosh, made by Apple
Them: So what version of Windows is that?
Me: Mac OS X, not Windows
Them: It doesn't have Windows? Is it one of those Liniunix things?
Me: No, it's a Mac
Them: Well, we don't support those
Me: :no: Obviously you do, or we wouldn't be having this conversation, moron.
Yeah, it seems like when I call tech support for a problem, I've already figured out what's causing it and I just want them to let me send the thing in for a repair. And of course they always run me through a gajillion tests that I've already done myself to confirm what I already told them.
I remember I had a periodic flickering in my eMac's CRT a while back (don't have the eMac anymore), and when I called and asked about it, they made me run the hardware test! Hah, like that'll catch a loose connection somewhere in the monitor. The other thing is that it only happened about once every few hours, so it was very far from reproducible. The other thing is that I had already visited Apple's discussion boards and read up on this problem, which many eMac users are having. The symptoms they describe were identical to mine, so I know exactly what the problem is, but I guess they don't want to help you unless they make sure. *Sigh* I guess it's better than having to put up with idiots trying to tell you exactly what they think is wrong.
As far as the DSL/Cable modem thing goes, it seems as if people are just kind of confused about how it works. See, with Sears, you go in and choose a washer/dryer/whatever, buy it, and take it home, and there are a zillion others next to it. But with an internet service, they install it so you don't make the connection with you actually having a different model than others may have. I could see how someone could get confused and thing that it is simply the "internet box" that they give to all customers who want high speed internet.
I could see how someone could get confused and thing that it is simply the "internet box" that they give to all customers who want high speed internet.
That is my point, they know it is the "internet box", but they are either too stupid or too lazy to read a word written in red on the front.
DMBand0026 I know how you feel. I am the lone mac guy in my call center and am constantly being asked by people around me how to configure this and that. What is sad is they have already had the training, and have the same resources available to them that I have, they are just too lazy to look. Co-workers are a completely different rant that will have to be saved for another time. I need to go to school.
spotcatbug
2004-07-12, 07:31
Idiot tech support people aggravate the crap out of me too. Especially the ones who don't even know what Macs are.I had kind of the opposite experience once, which was a pleasant surprise (even though I ended up feeling like an idiot).
My DSL wasn't working and it didn't seem to be my problem, so I called Alltel. The first question they asked was what OS I was using. Like all Mac users who know we are the black sheep, and knowing it wasn't relevant to the problem, I reluctantly said, "Uh, Mac OS X." I got a response somewhat like, "Hmmm." As if to say, "Well, hopefully whatever your problem is, it won't involve your computer in any way."
After a bit of back-and-forth about the modem, etc., the tech support person asked me to open my "Network Preferences" and look at the "Location" menu. Being a defensive Mac user, I was already thinking about how I was going to have to tell her that I wasn't using Windows. So I said something like, "Uh, I'm not using Windows. There is no 'Location' menu in the 'Network Preferences'." She was like, "Yeah, I know you're not using Windows. You said you were using Mac OS X, right?" Me: "Yeah." Her: "I have that right in front of me and I see a 'Location' menu."
Of course there is a "Location" menu in the Network Preferences. I just assumed she was talking Windows and I never use that menu so it didn't click. :o
(The problem ended up being on their end, by the way. I'm not a complete idiot.)
psmith2.0
2004-07-12, 07:52
Something I've really come to hate - getting back more to the bitch and moan thing - is people who come in to Barnes & Noble and take a cell phone call and carry on this long, loud-ass conversation that is so annoying and disturbing.
Barnes & Noble, for the most part, is a pretty quiet place. You walk in, people are sipping coffee, flipping through magazines, looking at books, etc. I even feel somewhat compelled to whisper while I'm there, simply because of the strong "library" vibe I get. I don't want to be the obnoxious, disruptive guy!
:D
But it never fails: I'll be sitting on a bench in front of that mile-long magazine stand, flipping through one of those British Mac magazines or whatever and I'll hear "BRRRINGGNGNGNGGNGGNNNNGGGGGGG!".
First, the guy never seems to answer on the first one or two. He'll take his time and finally grab it.
"HEY MAN. YEAH. UH HUH. MMM, WELL...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. NO, NOT AT ALL. YEAH. NO, I MISSED THAT. REALLY? YEAH, I'M OVER AT BARNES & NOBLE. THE BOOKSTORE. NAH, SHE CALLED YESTERDAY FROM DALLAS. YEAH, I'M FLYING TO DENVER, NEXT WEDNESDAY I BELIEVE. YEAH, I'D HEARD THAT. YEAH, NEW TIRES. I E-MAILED HIM THE FIGURES YESTERDAY. YEAH. UH-HUH. NO, WASN'T SURE. HEY, DID YOU GUYS SEE SPIDERMAN YET? I'M GOING THIS AFTERNOON. YEAH, GONNA TAKE MY CELL PHONE INTO THE THEATER AND NOT TURN IT OFF. YEAH. UH-HUH. OH, TOTALLY! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. YEAH, DUDE...I'D HIT IT. HAHAHA. OKAY, MAN...I GOTTA GO. THERE'S SOME GUY SITTING HERE ON THIS BENCH LOOKING AT ME WITH HIS FISTS CLINCHED PRETTY TIGHT...OOH, NOW HE'S STANDING UP AND COMING MY WAY...HE'S SAYING SOMETHING ABOUT 'ASSHEAD' AND 'CELL PHONE'...NOT SURE. YEAH, MAN, WE'LL BE OVER LATER AND...OOPS. HEY, CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? HELLO? RON, CAN YOU HEAR ME? DUDE...YOU DROPPED OUT. HELLO, HELLO...CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? WHAT ABOUT NOW? HELLOOOOOO?"
*CLICK*
:rolleyes:
That's pretty much every trip to Barnes & Noble I make these days.
:\
kafelatte
2004-07-12, 09:43
But it never fails: I'll be sitting on a bench in front of that mile-long magazine stand, flipping through one of those British Mac magazines or whatever and I'll hear "BRRRINGGNGNGNGGNGGNNNNGGGGGGG!".
:\
Same thing on commuter trains!
One: Put the damn thing on vibrate.
Two: Talk in a normal voice. Hang up if the signal isn't good enough for that.
I don't object to hearing one side of a conversation. Two people having the whole thing is worse. A group of teens plopping down in the vicinity is grounds to vacate the train car entirely!
psmith2.0
2004-07-12, 10:58
One-sided, two-sided...I hate them both. They're none of my business and I don't like being made to feel "in on" something that doesn't concern me. And sorry, but women are the absolute worst on this front. Guys are bad, but merely in an inane, mindless jibber-jabber kinda way. While annoying to no end, I usually don't feel like cringing or like I need a shower afterwards. With women, I'm always next to one who's either HAVING a big "relationship crisis" or is helping a friend on the other end deal with hers.
:rolleyes:
"And then, Megan, you have to look out for yourself. I don't think he's respecting your place in life and where you are. Yeah. Mm-mm. No. Yeah. Well, it was like that with Rob. Yeah. No. Oh really? There's give and take, you know? And I'm, like, SO tired of giving and never taking. You heard about Shelley, right? Ohmigod, she thinks she might be pregnant from that bartender from Sparkers. No, she hasn't told her husband...hahah. Oh, I know. He's gonna SO freak out, huh? I don't know. Well, I think she's going to get an abo...".
:eek:
Graceless twit.
ENOUGH! I'm on the Oprah AND Springer show at the same damn time. No thanks, lady. Shut your pie-hole and pick a better time and place for this crap!
And yes, the "normal voice" thing. I realize with some cell phones being so small that the mouthpiece is closer to your cheek than your mouth, but I'm guessing those things are designed to STILL pick up one's voice so that TALKING EXTRA LOUD isn't necessary...although nearly everyone seems to do it (and, sadly, the quieter the place and the more you are there just to be left alone and have some peace and quiet the louder someone winds up being).
Hell, I just got a cell phone last week for the first time EVER. I'm super-conscious of putting it on vibrate when I go in public (anywhere: store, bookstore, to eat, etc.) and I turn it off altogether when I go to a movie (I've seen two since last weekend) because I don't even want to feel compelled to answer it. Truth is, I'm not that important and neither is anyone I know. It can wait a few hours.
:D
About the only time I have the audible ringer on is when I'm at home (so I can hear it from another room) and in my car. And even then, if I decide to take the call I pull off into a parking lot because I don't want to be that asshole that T-bones a family of six because I'm trying to carry on some stupid conversation while driving.
moogs is my bastard stepchild, I do believe...If I turned off smilies I'd be saying you were Trumpetman's. :p
:D
psmith2.0
2004-07-12, 11:45
Why's that?
Oh man, I hate cell phones too! The new ones are REALLY loud and use those clangy, echoey ring tones that you can easily hear from thirty or fifty feet away. One time I was sitting in a totally silent computer lab when some guy made about three or four calls on his. The funny part was his voice... imagine the most overdone, fruity gay voice that's ever been done on "Will And Grace" and you get the picture. So this guy is talking loudly in this ridiculous nasal voice in the middle of this quiet computer lab, and it's not just that he gets a call... he made like two or three calls in a row!
And I just don't understand people who leave their phones on during movies and the like. It's like when little kids can't just shut their god damn yappers for a minute when their teacher/parent asks them to shut up... but these are adults, not ten year olds.
psmith2.0
2004-07-12, 16:38
My phone - a Samsung x427 (for whatever that's worth to anyone... ;) ) came with about 8 or 9 ringtones loaded...each more lame and annoying than the one before.
"Can I just get a basic bell sound of some sort, please?!?"
:D
Actually, the one I use is like a sample of an old 1950's telephone ring, like you'd see in some old detective movie ("brrringgg..brrringggg"). The least annoying of all, and kinda cute considering the tiny, high-tech gizmo it's coming from. But all the rest were all these "sparkly" sound effects, bird noises, dumb-butt songs and melodies, some guy going "1, 2, 3, 4!", etc.
:confused:
AND there's the option to buy and download MORE!
:rolleyes:
"Uh, yes...can I get 'Genie in a Bottle', 'The Locomotion' and 'Fuck tha Police' for this thing? That would be COOL!"
Naderfan
2004-07-12, 18:20
I have the same phone and I hate the ringtones! I finally went and downloaded a piece of classical music, but I almost always have the ringer off when I go out in public, especially movies, bookstores, etc. And if it does ring, I try my hardest to answer it within two seconds because I hate having to listen to peoples' phones ring forever and ever while they just sit and listen to it.
I also hate it when I use my credit card at a store and the cashier feels compelled to then address me by name. We're not friends. We did not just forge some sort of cosmic bond when you swiped my card and read my name. You can still talk to me over mindless chatter and I'll be polite and pretend to care (because I use to be a cashier too) but don't use my name. I don't know, maybe I'm just weird about that.
Paul you could dedicate an entire thread to bashing assholes who purposefully go into quiet places so that they can make their loud, obnoxious cell calls to impress everyone. And I believe that is exactly why these retards do it. They are so insecure and so incredibly caught up in their image that they think people will actually pay attention and be impressed with whatever they have to say. See it on trains and planes all the time. Makes me want to bash their friggin phone against their foreheads until the little LED pops out.
:mad: :D
Another car-related one. Today I was driving behind someone who was going a good 5-10 under the speed limit during the parts of the road that have long, lazy turns, and they would accelerate to about 5 over on straight sections of road. I have no idea why they were going so slowly in the turns, and it was particularly annoying because I never was able to pass. It was as if they were waiting to hit a passing zone and would then speed up. Of course, I understand the need to slow down for some turns, but they seemed to be overdoing it a lot. It's not a HUGE annoyance but it did get on my nerves a bit.
I also wanted to justify my reasons for often being in the left lane on the highway. First, during sparse traffic, there's rarely anyone behind me who wants to get by, so I can stay in the left and thus avoid merging traffic. If someone IS coming up on me pretty quickly, I just scoot over, as I have plenty of time to do so. Second, during moderate traffic, I continue to avoid merging traffic (there is a lot on the section of highway I drive on) while also going a good speed for me. I tend to go faster than about 65-75% of the people driving. A few pass me, but I go by most of them. There are usually a lot of cars piled up in the right lane, all going about the same speed, which just happens to be a bit slower than I like to go. So I move into the left to "pass" and I end up staying there because there aren't many gaps. Third, during heavy traffic, the road is too jammed up for there to be any room anywhere so it doesn't matter which lane I'm in. Except that my exit is a left exit, and therefore requires me to be in the left lane when it comes up. So, I have justification. I just didn't want to post any of this during that same day when everyone was getting on my case for various toilet-related nonsense.
Other thing... not a super annoying thing, just kind of silly... is people who are totally clueless about stuff. Here at the library, one person asked where the "Go" button on the browser was. I asked what that meant, and he explained that he types an address and then clicks the Go button to get there. I realized then what he was talking about and politely told him to hit the Return/Enter key after typing the address. The similar situation today was a man who was asking how to get on the internet, and I said, "Well, the browser is open right there..." Wasn't sure of the problem. He was looking right at a browser window, after all... turns out he didn't know where to type in the proper address. Maybe he was an AOL user accustomed to clicking buttons to check news and email and the like, and didn't realize there was such a thing as a "location bar."
I also had to turn off an emergency exit alarm for a door that someone opened despite it being labeled "Emergency Exit Only." Eh, whatever. Cell phones are a whole lot worse than any of the stuff I described.
This is fun,
I was at the grocery store, about 8 o'Clock with a friend we were running around picking up various things for dinner, ect. . .
But for some reason its like national Fat and Slow people day at wegmans. I'd say 50 % of the people in the store were really fat, waddling around behind shopping carts full of fat people food. There were whole fat people familys. And they all move so slow.
So anyhow, I've already observed the high population of Fat and Slows and i'm proceeding down an ailway to get some bread. There are two Fat and Slows ahead of me. Taking up the whole aisle way, naturally. They just keep going along at like .5 miles an hour. And even turn around and smile at me and my friend. Were kinda trying to get by them, but there is no way. One of them turns and smiles again, at which point I realize its time to take action. Were walking right on their ass, so I grabbed a pack of Donuts, convieniently placed. Somehow I managed to toss it over their head into their cart while saying "Why dontcha have some more donuts" They stopped and looked at us, and we managed to slip between one of them and shelves, continuing on our way, getting a loaf of bread
Talk about taking charge of a situation. :)
thuh Freak
2004-07-17, 16:38
one thing that bugs me about cell phones is in the elevator. as a smoker, i have to use the elevator to go out for a cigarette every hour or whatever. atleast once or twice a day, some asshat will get on, phone in hand, and obnoxiously talk about some business deal or crap or whatever. 90% of the time it ends with "i'm getting out on your floor now, i'll see you in ten seconds." would it hurt them to ignore the call for those 30s i have to be with them on the 'vator.
another thing that bugs me, though i spose no thang can be dun aboot it, is when a multi-part project is held back by some vip idiot. i had to upgrade 30ish users to a new version of an application, and we had to import over some customizations we'd made. so me and my coworker do like 8 or 12 of them. apparently we missed some custom report or something. so, instead of going forward with the semi-install on the remaining 20ish heads, i want to make sure that we have everything in order. so on thursday we got the call the problem existed. i talk with the guy and he says i should talk to another guy about the details. i call the second guy. i email him. friday comes. i call him throuhgout the day, and email him. now my boss, who's quite removed from the whole sitution looks at me like i'm the asshole, when these two other brainiacs are holding me up. the really annoying part is, this guy [who had called me over the issue] was telling me how much an asshole my coworker is for not having kicked off this upgrade sooner (originally it was his responsiblity).
another thing that bugs me is appointments. i'm terrible at them in general, but who likes to vent about their own frailties? this dood at work has to sit down with me (over a completely separate issue than paragraph #2), so i can finish up a program for him. its 90% there, i just need him to signoff on it. i see him, and 'e says, "i'm kind of busy right now, but i can see you at 3, or 4 latest." he emphasizes '4' and 'latest'. so i work on (paragraph 2) for a little while, and i call this guy at 3:30. at 4, 4:30. 5. 5:45. 'ventually i catch him outside having a cigarette. a few weeks ago was a similar situation, he told me it was extremely important that we meet (on a previous project) at 4 on a thursday. he ofcourse, couldnt be reached until the following monday. dont worry though, b/c the project was only held back by 3 business days. and its not like we're under any kind of deadline. :mad:
psmith2.0
2004-07-17, 16:44
xionja, you're BRUTAL! Ouch. :devil: ;)
I would've beaten you senseless, but, then again, I wasn't there.
Although, part of me does indeed admire your "take the bull by the horns" moxie. I think women can do things like that with only the fear of a verbal retort and not much more. Guys pull shit like that, there's an 84% chance it'll escalate into physical violence.
:D
But you have a point: I always seem to get behind the very same people too. I was at Wal-Mart today (I'm a Target guy, but this was on the way) and the WHOLE STORE was full of the type you describe.
And here's what they like to do: they ALWAYS seem to run into a friend or co-worker or whatever and stop RIGHT in the middle of the damn aisle, side-by-side and blocking the entire aisle, and stand there and gab. If you try to get by, you're squeezing past them and they usually have the sheer gall to give you a sideways look or, in the worst cases, say something like "excuse you".
:mad:
"ASSHEAD, YOU'RE the one blocking the aisle...would you prefer I climb OVER you, your shopping cart and your equally 'big-boned' daughter? Because I can, you know...just tell me what you want..."
:confused:
People...
Another project-related one. I haven't personally experienced this one, but my parents (who are both freelance workers and therefore deal with quite a wide variety of clients) have ranted about this stuff many times. Their airhead clients usually do the same stuff, whether they're for my mom's work (cartography, graphic arts, etc) or my dad's (FileMaker development).
They have some vision in their head of what they want to do, and absolutely no knowledge of how things actually work. So instead of telling them their goals and letting my parents handle the rest, they spell out every last detail even if it's extremely difficult, inefficient, or totally impossible. They're just afraid to let anyone take any kind of creative license with their work. I've seen my mom make plenty of really ugly maps because her client INSISTED on choosing the colors instead of leaving that up to my mother (who is pretty anal retentive about color coordination). One client wanted her to represent every road on a particular map with multiple parallel lines, based on the construction of the road. She actually wanted her to somehow make a map with each road consisting of five lines - two on the outside for the shoulder (brown for gravel, black for asphalt), two on the inside for the main road, also color-coordinated, and one in the center, yellow for two way roads, and white for one way roads. I don't think the client understood that in order to make that sort of thing readable and useful, the lines would have to be so thick that it would make the entire thing a big, blotchy, ugly mess. I don't remember what ended up happening with that... but typically, my mom will do exactly what the client asks (after discussing it a bit), and then when the client sends it back because the realization of their "vision" is ugly, she just has to charge them for the corrections.
I expect I'll have to put up with a lot of stuff like this, since I'm majoring in technical writing. Even if I don't go freelance, I'm sure I'll sometimes be teamed up with project leaders who want everything just so, and won't let me actually do my job. Oh well :rolleyes: .
Xionja should get an HBO special too maybe... call it "Xionja's Capitalist Adventures" and show her dealing with all the idiots who frequent malls, grocery stores and movie theatres. If she really did the doughnut thing she clearly has the mind and attitude to make it into the greatest reality show 3var!1
And Paul is corrected in ascertaining that if a guy pulled a stunt like that, the consequences might be quite different. I know if I was dating a woman like that, I'd carry my CCM twig with me everywhere in case of physical altercations...
:D
psmith2.0
2004-07-17, 17:26
Ohmigosh, your Mom must have the patience of a saint. I would've choked the client repeatedly until they left my office. :D
And that whole thing triggers a whole other category along those same lines: doing freelance design work and being art-directed by some dipshit yuppie who has no business talking about color, fonts, layout, etc.
The first draft I submit is gorgeous, slick, clean and eye-catching. And all it takes is for the client's wife or mother-in-law to say "well, I've never been a fan of olive green..." or whatever.
:mad:
Or the client himself ends up wanting to do something like one of his competitors, and you wind up just being a hired monkey. I've actually gotten bolder about the whole thing, up front with any potential clients. I really sit and talk to them and make it crystal clear that they've apparently hired me for a reason and I'm not going to be someone who just takes orders and uglies shit up at the direction of someone unqualified to give art direction. I explain that I take the job seriously and things like colors, fonts, layout, etc. are things that I need to be trusted with and allowed to explain if need be.
DO NOT have me submit 14 fucking revisions, all with different fonts or every color scheme imaginable - when the first one or two I did look 400x better than your current brochure/logo/catalog/mailer, etc. Only to have it all be in vain because your idiot wife or brother-in-law sees it, makes a comment ("that fonts looks kinda gay, don't it?") and blows it all out of the water.
:rolleyes:
I'm getting to where it doesn't bother me as much to turn down freelance work, because I can tell, after 3-5 minutes of talking to the person, if this is going to be something I can sink my teeth into and make a valid, worthwhile contribution to (or if I'm just going to be dictated to, every step of the way, and spend a lot of time and energy just churning out increasingly low-rent, schlocky shit, with each revision, that I'm embarrassed to be associated with, or would never put in my portfolio...no paycheck is worth that hassle and the whoring of myself, I'm coming to believe).
:)
If not, go hire someone else or let your nephew who's taking Desktop Publishing 101 at the community college do the thing for you. Bug HIM with silly-ass revisions.
Well hey Paul, I think she used to be bolder and more up-front about that sort of thing, but since 2000-2001 or so it's been harder to get work. So my mom takes just about anything she can get, and if that means working for an asshat, so be it. And it's not just the way they direct you around that's bad... they seem to be totally disconnected with reality. One of them sent a small (maybe 5x7), fuzzy image that looked like it had been run through a fax machine. That was the "template" for a map of California with population centers (or some such thing) labeled with little red dots. It was pretty amazing seeing her work on it... I would have never been able to know where to place the various dots with such a fuzzy template to work on.
And some of them are just plain stupid. This was a while back, so it wouldn't happen today, but one of her clients actually refused to send back any of our floppy disks for fear of computer viruses. Yes, they insisted on keeping the disks that we sent, containing Illustrator files, because they were somehow afraid that if they sent them back, they would get a virus. Doesn't make any sense. Of course, it doesn't happen today since you can just send stuff back and forth as a PDF file via email. But even today she runs into clients who are so tech-unaware that they're still using either a Win95 box that can't even read attachments properly, or they have a Hotmail account (yes, as their BUSINESS email account) and the emails bounce back when they get more than 1 MB of attachments. Of course, the companies they work for are probably running at LEAST Win98 with a moderately good form of email, but in many cases the people she consults with are in some kind of management position and they refuse new computers when they are offered them, instead forcing everyone else to comply with them because they're afraid of getting something new.
That's just the bad side though. A lot of her clients are very nice people. Sometimes they turn into good personal friends, even if they've never met in person.
psmith2.0
2004-07-17, 17:54
...instead forcing everyone else to comply with them because they're afraid of getting something new.
Describes my supervisor/co-worker to a tee, and accounts for why I sit at Mac OS 9 and PageMaker 6.5 for eight hours a day instead of the much more sensible - and MODERN - Panther/InDesign combo...
:mad: :rolleyes: :mad: :rolleyes:
Don't get me started...
;)
aaah, this thread has happily reassured me that the Grocery Store From Hell is not just a European thing.
My rant is my daily battle with the world's slowest drivers, who all seem to live in Norway. Every morning I have to drive ~30 miles, of which ~15 is along the side of a fjord. The road twists along the shore, through the forests, through several villages, and you cannot overtake anywhere. The speed limit varies between the equivalent of 30 mph and 45 mph. It's very picturesque, and not very busy, so why does everyone drive at 30 mph? Even in the foresty bits, nobody speeds up. Every morning I set off and wonder how many miles I will get before I end up behind the first 30 mph duffer. There is one solitary speed camera, and everyone knows where it is, so c'mon guys, live a little. If not why are you all driving BMWs and Mercs? Maybe they think an amorous moose will jump out and try to mate with their car? But if they looked around they would notice the 8 ft moose fence.
And another thing about the local Norwegians. They moan like hell. You would have thought that when a UN survey (http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article828724.ece) raves about your country for the 4th year in a row, you'd feel pretty pleased with yourself right?
Oh no. All my folks, and loads of others too, moan everyday about how miserable everything is, how nothing is very good (if it works at all), but mainly how poor they all are!
I suggest that being ungrateful should be made a crime, except they'd moan about that too.
Naderfan
2004-07-17, 18:48
I hate grocery stores too! IN addition to having idiots who can't pick a side of the aisle and instead walk RIGHT DOWN THE CENTER, I always pick the worst lane. Sometimes I just pick the long ones in hope that God will reward my acceptance of my fate, but no such luck. Check writers suck, but that's already been discussed by several others. I also hate these stupid swipe your own credit card things. I have no problem with them on their own, but every time I'm in line, there's some moron in front of me who has no clue what to do. "What's 'debit'? I don't remember my PIN number. Which way does this go?" Of course, they then ignore the cashier's explanation and continue to try to do it the way they think it should work.
My other grocery store-related complaint is when supervisors decide it's time to take change out of the drawer or do something else related to that right as the cashier is about to start and there's no one behind me. And it's not like I usually have a ton of things. I'm usually under twenty items or so. I've been waiting for credit card moron to get through and I finally think that I'm about to get moving, when the supervisor comes up, looks at me, looks and sees no one is behind me and says, "This will just take a second." Of course, it never does and by the time I get to my car, the milk has spoiled and the ice cream has melted and I'm in a bad mood.
psmith2.0
2004-07-17, 18:54
:D
I like this guy...he gets it!
I've noticed overflow shithead behavior often extends to parking lots. People drive like complete morons, will park in handicapped spots, try to squeeze a Ford Expedition into a spot a Miata would have trouble fitting, cruise through the lot with their speakers blaring, etc.
And it always seems the case that I'll walk out and some dorko will park their car totally OVER the line, into my space. Once, at Target, I swear I shit you not: I could not open my door except for about 9 inches. He was that close. Here I am, a grown man, and I have to get into my car on the passenger side, climb over the center console thing and get into my driver seat like an astronaut, from some weirdo angle.
:mad:
I opened my driver door and dinged their's on purpose, just a little. Didn't leave a dent, but made me feel A LOT better. And I spit my gum out into their open window...hope it melted some.
Sorry, but I was mad as hell. Sue me. I can park between the lines. I can leave plenty of space for others. I can center my car pretty good between the lines. If the person was old or incapacitated in some way, that still doesn't mean they could've have not noticed what a bad job they did and get back into their car and straighten it up. And if they're THAT old or incapacitated, maybe they should see about getting a placard and parking up in the blue zones near the store to begin with.
:(
No excuse for some things.
There's NO WAY they could've gotten out of their car and not have noticed the total lack of space they left me. They were a good seven or so inches over the line, into my spot...I literally couldn't get into my car from the driver's side.
thuh Freak
2004-07-17, 18:59
Computer luddites suck.
they do. a funny thing happened to me, i mentioned it somewhere else aroud these boards but i cant remember where, and it seems like it belongs here:
we have a piece of software, created by an independant company which i wont name, which basically has a very detailed workflow setup. group a has to enter in one or many items, then pass them to group b. group b adds new items, or edits a's items, and passes it on to group c. group c adds or edits the conjoined list, and then passes it on to group d. the software, which in theory was great, 8 or 9 months in the making isn't cutting it. group a does shit, and it doesn't make it to b, or only some of it does, and some of it gets lost going to c, and so on. so we have a meeting and decide, NO ONE will use this program until its development is finished (and it looks like we're going to just buy off this crappy source code and finish it ourselves).
so a week after we all decide not to use the program, group b sends an email around saying they are having issues uploading the data from the program. the fuckheads shouldn't have even been using the program, but well, what can we do. i'm too low on the totem pole to yell at them. for whatever reason, group b can't upload this data to the common ftp site we'd all been using. so i suggest they email the data files to me. (I then convert them to excel, because as shitty as it is, we can depend on excel a lot more than 'the unnamed program'.) i mention in my email that the data files are probably pretty large, and that they should probably "zip" them, to save space. a few hours back i get a response along the lines of, "uuh, i dont have a zip drive, but my IT dept is going to install one for me tomorrow." jesus christ. jesus fucking christ. are zip drives really more common or well known than zip files, to a pc crowd? i would think zip files are ubiquitous, while zip drives are a bit more dated. i responded back to him explaining the difference between zip files and drives, and say just forget and email me the fuking files. he responds back saying they were too large to email, and so he burned a cd and walked them over my office.
we had a meeting afterward, where all the groups talked about how no one should be using this [to remain unnamed] program. group b says that the program is too easy to use for his non-savvy staff, they wouldn't be able to learn excel (the offered alternative; which every other group was going to use). there are some drawbacks to excel compared to "the program", but its not [i]that hard. its mentioned that although the program seems stable currently, it has in the passed and its still caused problems. we did a little demo, showing off the current apparent stability. well, basically if/when this program explodes, group b is going to have a shitstorm to deal with. aar.
I guess I'll add some car annoyances of my own.
1) Its 1 AM, you're almost asleep, and BAM. Here comes Jackass #1, in his ugly car, blaring the most vulgar rap out of his car. And I live on the corner, with a stop sign, so I get to listen to the guy for what seems like an incredibly long time.
Turn off the fricking music! We don't care about this guy's bitch or pimp ride!
2) I live in a residential neighborhood, and not on any main roads or anything. In fact, I'm kinda tucked away from the thouroughfares. But, we have a bunch of highschool dropouts living on this street of about a dozen houses, all of which love to work on their cars. So, right after the rap guy, here comes his friend, one of(one of!) the dropouts on this street. And then the next guy.
And the next guy.
And the next guy.
Its like my own frigging parade. :D
Naderfan
2004-07-17, 20:44
I hate it when people play loud, booming music. My apartment is in the back of the building, by the parking lot. Every night, I have to listen to car alarms, booming music, and druken idiots arguing with each other right below my bedroom window. Basically, I think I just hate people, except for a select few.
Basically, I think I just hate people, except for a select few.
That's funny, I follow something very similar! I hate anyone that I don't know.
:lol:
I decided long ago that at as a race we are inherently evil, and we deserve everything we get. It is just a pity we are taking the rest of the planet down with us.....
:smokey:
I hate it when people play loud, booming music. My apartment is in the back of the building, by the parking lot. Every night, I have to listen to car alarms, booming music, and druken idiots arguing with each other right below my bedroom window. Basically, I think I just hate people, except for a select few.
Oh man, don't get me started on car alarms. In my old town(near Sacramento), I had a neighbor who never paid a payment on any of his four cars. So, about twice a month, a tow truck would show up in the middle of the night, take his car, and I could hear the car alarm for three minutes(damn, those things are loud). Then the guy, in his boxers, would jump out of bed and, a minute later, come running out of his house. For some reason he always expected that someone would be there for him to pummel.
Just pay the stupid bill!!!
Naderfan
2004-07-17, 21:52
That sucks. I mentioned in another thread once (long ago) that there's some idiot who's car alarm goes off EVERY DAY, at least once, often between 1 and 3 am. One of these days, I'm going to find out who it is and then...probably do nothing. But boy, in my mind, I'll be giving them the beating of a life time. :D
Oh god, I hate car alarms too. Unlike cell phones, which CAN serve some kind of purpose (occasionally), car alarms are just useless noisemakers. I don't know why ANYONE gets them installed, because all they do is go off because someone bumps into you or a bird shits on the car or whatever. They probably never catch criminals, because no one pays attention to them.
I say get rid of the god damn things until they come up with a system that allows the car to differentiate, with perfect accuracy, between an accidental bump and a theft, and then install a system that shuts the car down, locks all the doors, and calls the police. In the meantime, allow idiots to pay money for them anyway, but just put an "idiot button" on their key fob that doesn't actually do anything, and maybe a little light on the dash. Basically, keep everything the same as now, but remove the noise.
NADERFAN: Get out your keys. Better yet, those cast-iron poking things for a fireplace. Make sure you cover the maximum number of body panels possible, preferably ones that are connected to a lot of parts, therefore costing a lot of money to replace. Make sure you don't get caught. :smokey:
alcimedes
2004-07-17, 23:52
Ok, now I feel inspired.
First and foremost, I now live in the 'burbs. It's nice. The city was loud, a lot of gunshots and helicoptors and the like, and I really enjoy listening to NOTHING. It's a great sound.
Except now that summer is here, it has been ruined.
My neighbor (not sure which one yet) has a HUGE ass buglight outside their house. So rather than peaceful quiet, I hear *nothing* *nothing* *nothing* *KERZAAAAAAPPPPP!P!PP!P!P!P!!!*
Annoying as hell. To top it all off, the things don't even work. The only bugs they actually attract are predatory bugs and those that are attracted to light (moths etc). Mosquitos are not attracted to them and make up, on average less than 3% of the bugs killed by buglights. As soon as I track down who's it is, I'm going to print off a copy of the bug light studies and leave it in their mailbox.
I have more, but I need to go hunt down a bug light.
Naderfan
2004-07-18, 00:55
NADERFAN: Get out your keys. Better yet, those cast-iron poking things for a fireplace. Make sure you cover the maximum number of body panels possible, preferably ones that are connected to a lot of parts, therefore costing a lot of money to replace. Make sure you don't get caught. :smokey:
Hmmm...a good idea. Excuse me for a minute... ;)
spotcatbug
2004-07-18, 11:05
Shopping at Wal-Mart sucks. I've never had a pleasant Wal-Mart experience. Lately, it's gotten even worse. They switched to a new checkout system which now has these carousel style bag dispensers. Apparently, this new system has really thrown the cashiers for a loop, because they often forget to give us one of our bags. This has happened to me 5 times in the last 6 months. It's the most aggravating thing to finally get home from having to go to Wal-Mart and discover that some of the things you bought are missing and then having to go back to get that one bag of stuff they forgot to give you the first time you were at their sucky store. It's bad enough going there the one time! Then, when you complain to the manager about how often it happens, they basically just blow you off: "Yeah. It's a real problem. Sorry about that!"
I would love to give the big, "SCREW YOU!" to Wal-Mart, but, unfortunately for us, we can no longer do that in our area. There's a lot of stuff that we need which pretty much requires that we go to Wal-Mart to get it. I suppose if we tried really hard, we could do it by going to 5 separate stores spread all over the place. I'm getting tempted to do it, just to save on the Wal-Mart stress.
Also, you know all those other people at the Wal-Mart who are getting in the way, going to slow, taking up space and generally making the whole experience really crappy? Well, it turns out they hate the damn place, too. Actually, I don't think anybody likes Wal-Mart. It's packed to the gills with shoppers, but nobody wants to be there. Case in point: one day I was shopping for a replacement filter for my fish tank. I go to the pet aisle and there's another guy there with a cart. He tries to get out of my way and moves his cart directly in front of where the filters are located. So, I point at the spot behind his cart and say, "Uh, I need to get there." I was kinda laughing about it because he had just obviously moved his cart for me to get by. At that point, he simply says, "I hate this f**king store," and moves his cart out of my way again. Amen, brother.
Windswept
2004-07-18, 15:04
This is fun,
I was at the grocery store, about 8 o'Clock with a friend we were running around picking up various things for dinner, ect. . .
But for some reason its like national Fat and Slow people day at wegmans. I'd say 50 % of the people in the store were really fat, waddling around behind shopping carts full of fat people food. There were whole fat people familys. And they all move so slow.
So anyhow, I've already observed the high population of Fat and Slows and i'm proceeding down an ailway to get some bread. There are two Fat and Slows ahead of me. Taking up the whole aisle way, naturally. They just keep going along at like .5 miles an hour. And even turn around and smile at me and my friend. Were kinda trying to get by them, but there is no way. One of them turns and smiles again, at which point I realize its time to take action. Were walking right on their ass, so I grabbed a pack of Donuts, convieniently placed. Somehow I managed to toss it over their head into their cart while saying "Why dontcha have some more donuts" They stopped and looked at us, and we managed to slip between one of them and shelves, continuing on our way, getting a loaf of bread
Talk about taking charge of a situation. :)
Sorry to be a stick-in-the-mud, BUT...:
I am appalled at what you did. It was cruel and insensitive, and did nothing but add to the boatload of pain and sorrows those people probably already had. How would you like teens doing something like that to a grandmother you loved? When you're older and in bad physical health someday, how would you like someone shaming 'you' in that way?
Next time just go around via another aisle. That's what I do. It takes the same amount of effort to be kind as to be cruel. Those people will never forget what you did. :no:
And the very *worst* part is that you think what you did was *cool*. :(
PS - I've known people over the years who were suffering through horrible depressions...just barely hanging onto life by a thread. Someone doing a cruel thing like you did would easily have been enough to push them over the edge. Think about *that* next time. :mad:
Powerdoc
2004-07-18, 15:20
Sorry to be a stick-in-the-mud, BUT...:
I am appalled at what you did. It was cruel and insensitive, and did nothing but add to the boatload of pain and sorrows those people probably already had. How would you like teens doing something like that to a grandmother you loved? When you're older and in bad physical health someday, how would you like someone shaming 'you' in that way?
Next time just go around via another aisle. That's what I do. It takes the same amount of effort to be kind as to be cruel. Those people will never forget what you did. :no:
And the very *worst* part is that you think what you did was *cool*. :(
PS - I've known people over the years who were suffering through horrible depressions...just barely hanging onto life by a thread. Someone doing a cruel thing like you did would easily have been enough to push them over the edge. Think about *that* next time. :mad:
Don't you overreact here. I am sure that you have some silly stories of your youngness :D
Nah I don't think this was making fun of overweight people for the sake of making fun of them, Carol. This was about them not being the least bit considerate in the sense that grocery stores are crowded places and people need to get by.
Yes, the weight zing was cruel and a bit childish (and also a little funny - admit it). But something tells me if they had not taken up the whole aisle (it IS possible for overweight people to walk down different parts of the isle, looking for different things on the shared list) and continued walking at a snail's pace, even though they knew people were trying to get through, she wouldn't have tossed a doughnut box in their cart.
That said, Paul's point still stands: if Xionja wasn't a she, an ass-beating might've ensued.
Windswept
2004-07-18, 15:51
Don't you overreact here. I am sure that you have some silly stories of your youngness :D
I *do* remember being cruel once. My friends and I were playing cavalry, and instead of letting my brother play, we tied him up as an Indian hostage and left him in the tent for a few hours. :(
I feel terrible about this kind of behavior even to this day. I feel like I damaged my brother's childhood through my own oblivious self-absorption. Of course, I was 9 yrs. old at the time, but still.... Children can be ruthless and cruel. However, my cruelty resulted from being oblivious to the true effect of what I was doing, because I have never been a maliciously cruel person, even as a child. But still, what I did *was* cruel, and inexcusable, because where we lived, my brother had no one his age to play with. :( (agonizes over horrible sibling guilt)
...Children can be ruthless and cruel.
That's because they learn from the very best: adults.
However, my cruelty resulted from being oblivious to the true effect of what I was doing, because I have never been a maliciously cruel person, even as a child. But still, what I did *was* cruel, and inexcusable, because where we lived, my brother had no one his age to play with. :( (agonizes over horrible sibling guilt)
Carol I think you're agonozing over what is now nothing. Every little kid has cruel tricks played on them at some point (often multiple points if my own childhood is any indicator of "normalcy"). It's part of growing up and learning that life just ain't fair sometimes. Now had you tied your brother up and left him in his under-roos in the tent -- or worse, left him for other neighborhood kids to see -- THAT would be something to agonize over. Stuff like that can really scar a kid (or even an adult).
As it is unless your brother was a very sensitive person and carries memories with him longer than he should, I don't think you've committed any capital offenses.
We've all done cruel things and we've all had them done to us. It's part of life, sadly.
Windswept
2004-07-18, 16:10
Nah I don't think this was making fun of overweight people for the sake of making fun of them, Carol. This was about them not being the least bit considerate in the sense that grocery stores are crowded places and people need to get by.
Yes, the weight zing was cruel and a bit childish (and also a little funny - admit it). But something tells me if they had not taken up the whole aisle (it IS possible for overweight people to walk down different parts of the isle, looking for different things on the shared list) and continued walking at a snail's pace, even though they knew people were trying to get through, she wouldn't have tossed a doughnut box in their cart.
That said, Paul's point still stands: if Xionja wasn't a she, an ass-beating might've ensued.
Okay, what you say is true. I suppose they 'were' being inconsiderate.
But wouldn't it have been just as easy to say courteously: "Excuse me, may I get through, please? Thank you very much." I'm sure they would have let her through. Courtesy is always the better choice, don't you think? C'mon, admit it. It shows 'class' and 'good-breeding' as opposed to 'crudeness' and 'boorishness'.
How about when you're trying to pull from a parking lot into a traffic-jammed street, with cars backed up half a mile. How much do you appreciate it when some nice, courteous person pauses in their lane to let you in? Doesn't their courtesy fill your previously gloomy heart with joy and relief? When I wave people in, I always see that amazed and joyful expression on their faces...and I smile back. It's a nice feeling. Yes?
And it sounds like they weren't being very considerate either. Turning around and smiling, as if they're so smug for holding up Xid and her friend... not that it was a nice thing to do, but it wasn't like they didn't provoke some kind of a response.
I used to be a terrible victim of teasing and cruelty just after I moved from Minneapolis to Stillwater. Just a week or so ago, I met up with a bunch of my old classmates. I got along really well with them, even some who had been very rude to me way back when. We just forgot about all that and remembered the good times (which there were plenty of). Even someone who is somewhat emotionally fragile like me (I've gone through two bouts of depression and worked my way out of both, with no small effort) can put that behind them.
Okay, what you say is true. I suppose they 'were' being inconsiderate.
But wouldn't it have been just as easy to say courteously: "Excuse me, may I get through, please? Thank you very much." I'm sure they would have let her through. Courtesy is always the better choice, don't you think?
Oh of course. Discretion is the better part of valor and all that. I guess in life we always have that choice to make when dealing with people who are obliviouus to the needs of others and/or the effects their actions have on others. So too, it would be just as easy to politely forgive someone who runs over the back of your ankle with their cart because they're too busy talking on their cell phone to notice you... but I'll be damned if I'll ever do it in that circumstance. Sometimes the more critical / cutting retort is called for, though you can certainly debate otherwise in this case.
How about when you're trying to pull from a parking lot into a traffic-jammed street, with cars backed up half a mile. How much do you appreciate it when some nice, courteous person pauses in their lane to let you in? Doesn't their courtesy fill your previously gloomy heart with joy and relief?
Oh I do that all the time, to the point of sometimes irking the people in the car with me. I don't do it to cure my ailing heart but rather because I like to think I'm not an asshole. And only an asshole would pull right up to where that guy is trying to get in, knowing he's going to stop right there anyway, and not let them in. Now, slowing down too much to let someone out is actually quite dangerous in some circumstances (multi-lane traffic, people crossing from the other direction, etc.) so be careful when you let people in.
The point is, there is a time and place for everything, including general courtesies and general abbrasiveness. ;)
Windswept
2004-07-18, 16:48
Well, here's the thing. My brother was/is a sensitive, artistic, tender-hearted kind of person. He had no one to play with when we lived in Mexico for those four years when he was 3-7, so I'm sure he must have been lonely, though I was too obtuse and insensitive apparently to realize this at the time. (At least I 'think' I was.)
Then when he went to kindergarden, Spanish and English were spoken at the school, plus he was undiagnosed (until he was 13) dyslexic, so he had a horrible time learning to read, and probably a lot of failure all the way through school, without his being able to understand 'why'. Then we moved back to the States, and since my dad was working for the govt., we moved a LOT. I went to 8 different schools, at least, as did my brother.
He tells me he doesn't remember his childhood at ALL. It's like it was such a horrible time for him, that he has blocked it out completely. At least, this is what I surmise. :( He has had a difficult life as an adult, and the fact that he has made it to today is a miracle of anti-depressant medication. He's on Effexor. None of the others worked for him, but this one seems to. His life literally hung by a thread so many times. It has been awful to feel that I played any part in his depression and lack of self-esteem. I do, and have done, everything I can to help him for years, and I think he will be fine from now on. He is a wonderful, bright, kind, handsome person. Everyone who gets to know him likes him so very much. (That makes me happy.)
So maybe you can understand why the perception of cruelty to others bothers me so much. I *know* we all have had cruel things done to us as children; but some people are more emotionally fragile than others, for myriad reasons. I still contend that it is NEVER an okay thing to visit cruelty upon the soul of another human being, or animal, for that matter. But don't get me started on animals, please! :\
Well I am truly sorry to hear that your brother had such a rough go of it. Sounds like maybe he endured more than the average kid growing up in middle America... I can understand -- you being his sister and wiser now -- why you still might feel bad. I guess I just want to say that, if he doesn't hardbor any ill will against you now -- as an adult -- no point in beating yourself up about it. What's done is done.
Now if he invites you to a counselling session one day, maybe things might get dicey there but... hopefully not, right? Just remember Carol, I don't care what the rest of these guys say about you: you're OK in my book.
;) ;)
As for cruelty to animals, for some reason I think that bugs me MORE than cruelty to humans. Sounds backwards but I think it has to do with the helpless nature of domesticated animals. Kind of like babysitting for a little kid and tormenting him because who's he going to turn to. Just FUBAR, cruelty to animals... but let's not go down that road, I agree.
Powerdoc
2004-07-19, 10:22
Well, here's the thing. My brother was/is a sensitive, artistic, tender-hearted kind of person. He had no one to play with when we lived in Mexico for those four years when he was 3-7, so I'm sure he must have been lonely, though I was too obtuse and insensitive apparently to realize this at the time. (At least I 'think' I was.)
Then when he went to kindergarden, Spanish and English were spoken at the school, plus he was undiagnosed (until he was 13) dyslexic, so he had a horrible time learning to read, and probably a lot of failure all the way through school, without his being able to understand 'why'. Then we moved back to the States, and since my dad was working for the govt., we moved a LOT. I went to 8 different schools, at least, as did my brother.
He tells me he doesn't remember his childhood at ALL. It's like it was such a horrible time for him, that he has blocked it out completely. At least, this is what I surmise. :( He has had a difficult life as an adult, and the fact that he has made it to today is a miracle of anti-depressant medication. He's on Effexor. None of the others worked for him, but this one seems to. His life literally hung by a thread so many times. It has been awful to feel that I played any part in his depression and lack of self-esteem. I do, and have done, everything I can to help him for years, and I think he will be fine from now on. He is a wonderful, bright, kind, handsome person. Everyone who gets to know him likes him so very much. (That makes me happy.)
So maybe you can understand why the perception of cruelty to others bothers me so much. I *know* we all have had cruel things done to us as children; but some people are more emotionally fragile than others, for myriad reasons. I still contend that it is NEVER an okay thing to visit cruelty upon the soul of another human being, or animal, for that matter. But don't get me started on animals, please! :\
Don't be so rude with your self.
At 9 you where too young to discover this by yourself, and like all kids of this age, you where entirely focused by your owns activities. My elder daughter has nearly 9 years and behave exactly the same. She is not cruel, or insensitive, but it's our parents jobs, to explain what the younger sister or brother feels.
You can think like an adult when you are 9, as a teacher you certainly know this : you cannot feel guilty for having behaving like any normal chids. You were not in charge of the education of your brothers, your parents were.
:)
Please God, someone help me before it's too late.... (http://forums.applenova.com/showthread.php?p=17144#post17144)
All XP Programmers must perish!!
:mad:
psmith2.0
2004-08-05, 08:56
Loud car radios. Too loud. Had to walk three houses away last night to ask a neighbor to please turn his car down.
Was sitting in my room, on the PowerBook and minding my own business. Then I heard this low rumble, then the bass kicks in. Literally, my bedroom windows were buzzing...from THREE HOUSES AWAY.
:mad:
I sat there for another 10 minutes, then just suddenly got very, very mad at the inconsiderate, dickheaded and oblivious nature of some people. So I get up, slip on my shoes and storm out the door and up the street.
I don't know this guy, and wasn't quite sure how it would go. He's about 4" taller than me and probably 30 pounds heavier, but I didn't care.
Fortunately, he was cool and immediately turned it down (he was out in his driveway, doing stuff in the trunk of his car (cushions?) but was playing his car stereo. So that was good...good that he chose not to be an ass and elevate it into something more than one guy making a reasonable request to another. I was in the right. More importantly, I was in no mood to get into a verbal pissing contest, and my temper would've gotten the better of me since I was already on edge. I would've dropped him without a second thought, and I'd be getting arraigned this morning.
:D
But two things disturbed me while walking back to my place:
1. Why did I have to be the one to do this, when there were houses closer to him. People were home, too. Older people (older than myself), who I KNOW couldn't have possibly been digging that music. People are such spineless pussies anymore. They'll sit there and let their house rumble all night rather than ask the ass next door to turn his stereo down. I don't understand that mentality, and does it reflect everywhere else in their life? They live a life of just "taking it", day in and day out, from everything that comes along? Sad.
2. The guy who was playing the radio. The look in his eyes when I asked him to turn it down was one of complete surprise. I could tell he was totally oblivious to the fact that his crap was rattling the entire street and it has probably never occurred to him NOT to crank his stupid ass system up to maximum level. He had this sheepish, wounded look and was all "aw man, my bad...I'm sorry...". WTF? It's like he honestly had no idea, and that just scares the hell out of me...and doesn't bode well for the future.
:\
Anyway, never heard another sound the rest of the night. It went well, but what if I'd been answered with "Fuck you, this is my yard" (he certainly looked the part...a total "dude", straight from Central Casting)? Then it comes down to getting the authorities involved, OR just giving the mouthy prick a righteous beating (which would've made me feel better). I can't afford the jailtime and so forth, so I was glad he was actually cool about it. I was pleasantly surprised (but dismayed at how alien the whole concept of "not playing your thumping shit at 200dB" was to him).
People who can't follow directions.
Man, just get it right for once! How hard is it to stand still for five freaking minutes! Yeah, its hot out here, and your arms are starting to hurt from holding that trumpet up at your mouth, but please: the sooner you stand still, the sooner we get to leave.
Also, people who can't accept a simple explanation. This guy was talking to me and a junuior about why they call this building the cafeteria, and he wouldn't accept the fact that this was not the cafeteria, just a building they don't use very often.
"Why is it called the cafeteria if no one eats here"
for 15 freaking minutes.
Ok, maybe I'm just pissed because I've been marching around for the past eight hours, but these people still have problems.
People who can't follow directions.
Man, just get it right for once! How hard is it to stand still for five freaking minutes! Yeah, its hot out here, and your arms are starting to hurt from holding that trumpet up at your mouth, but please: the sooner you stand still, the sooner we get to leave.
Also, people who can't accept a simple explanation. This guy was talking to me and a junuior about why they call this building the cafeteria, and he wouldn't accept the fact that this was not the cafeteria, just a building they don't use very often.
"Why is it called the cafeteria if no one eats here"
for 15 freaking minutes.
Ok, maybe I'm just pissed because I've been marching around for the past eight hours, but these people still have problems.
OMG. Band camp.
I was a drum major. So many times I just wanted to drop kick the idiots that would not be still. Yes, I see you. You are the only one moving in the vast sea of still in front of me. I always felt like shouting, "I'm fat it's hot and anyone who makes me stand out here any longer will do double the laps. UGhhh. Get in step. Damn... Left...Left.....LEFT....YOUR OTHER LEFT RETARD!!!!! <Grabs flaming baton from majorette, beats the hell out bewildered freshmen.> :lol:
Southwest Georgia in the middle of August has the most horrendous heat. 100 degrees in the shade, 110 heat index and 95% humidity. Walking out side into air like that is like walking into a brick wall. Ugh.
xionja. If you had tried that on me. Girl or no, I would have force fed your skinny little ass everyone of those damn doughnuts and snapped your dainty little neck. So what, some people are fat.
This just in...Excuse me still works.
I feel your pain. :D
Here we're actually lucky because we're right on the water(a school with waterfront property), so we get a cool breeze.
I went to see Collateral with two buddies. Great film, poor theater experience. When we got into the theater, there were a few teenage Dashikis and Chanels saving seats for the rest of their group. A few seats I can understand, but they hoarded an entire row except for three seats on the very end. They were already loud before the film started. but their friends came just before the previews came on and they got even louder (magnified by everyone else shutting up). 5 minutes into the film, several of them were still on their cell phones. "Hello? Yeah. I'm watching a movie. I SAID WATCHING A MOVIE!" Shut the fuck up, Jesus.
Anyway, it was impossible to ignore. At one point a few of them got up to go to the bathroom, buy food, or whatever. At this point I was eavesdropping because they actually started whispering. 1) They were sharing tickets. 2) They were tickets for another movie. Not only were they really fucking annoying, but they were theaterhoppers too.
Nobody else in the theater sitting near them said a word.
2/3rds of the way through, one of my friends just got up and left.
It got even worse near the end of the movie when they started a play-by-play commentary on the film action. One girl kept saying "5 4 3 2 1 BANG" (or POW/BOOM whatever) everytime she thought something scary was going to happen.
We went to a sports bar afterward to watch the end of the Giants/Cubs and Dodgers/Phillies games and someone finally broke the ice, mentioning how nobody told them to STFU because they were black. The worst part is it's mostly true. Those kids clearly knew what they could get away with and everybody else in the theater knew what they could not get away with.
I kept wishing Barack Obama would come bursting in through the theater doors to kick their asses.
"My pappy didn't herd goats and live under a tin roof so you punks could act like idiots!"
alcimedes
2004-08-07, 04:11
lol, funny you mention that.
so tonight i'm at a local greasy spoon. my buddy and i had been out drinking, and really needed some food to settle our stomachs.
so we sit down, and order our food, and wait for things to show up. because it's just after bar close, the place is packed, and we're two of like 50 people in there. to my immediate right is a group of 7 black guys/gals, sitting in a booth. they're talking to eachother, but one is particularly loud. so a few minutes after we sit down, she has some kind of problem with two guys sitting at the bar. (this was at the Flame Burger for any locals, just off 36). they go back and forth, and the two guys meet up with the rest of their party, and go sit somewhere else.
immediatly afterward, she says (fairly loudly i might add) "i hate white people.... blah blah blah" followed by whatever else she wanted to add on to that. i'm annoyed, but whatever. she and those two white kids had had some kind of problem, so i let this one slide. not five minutes later, she says again "i hate white people". that was enough.
so i turned to her and asked "what exactly do you mean by "i hate white people"".
she got defensive, and told me to stop listening in on her conversation. i informed her that if she insisted on talking loudly enough for the nearest dozen people to hear, that wasn't my problem. i then asked her if she thought it would be ok for me to say to my friend that "i hate black people".
she really didn't like that. went back and forth, her telling me to take it outside with her if i had a problem, me asking her if she though racist/biggoted comments were acceptable as long as other people weren't supposed to hear them.
i hadn't intended things to get quite this out of hand, but after a while one of the cooks came over and asked us to keep it down, as there were other patrons. i was willing to drop it, but she had a really hard time letting go.
long story short, eventually they left, and a few of her friend apologized to me for what she'd said, and some patrons came up afterward and thanked me for speaking up.
thing was, i was amazed that of all things you'd have someone who is claiming to have suffered the slings and arrows of racism all of their lives saying something as stupidly all encompassing as "i hate blah blah race"....
anyway, it was enough to piss me off to the point of speaking, and although i doubt it made any difference at all, i feel better for having said something.
psmith2.0
2004-08-07, 21:45
Ooh, I saw "Collateral" today too...GREAT movie. That and "Bourne" have, so far, been my two favorites I've seen in a LONG time. This was Michael Mann and he did one of my other favorites, "Heat", so I went into it primed.
:)
And it was an older crowd and everyone was totally cool. Nobody talked or anything!
Simple pleasures.
E kinda touched on something that I notice ALL THE TIME, quite honestly (however, if I had said it, I'd catch hell for it)...
:D
To my credit, I'll tell anyone talking in a movie - white, black, male, female, etc. - to shut the fuck up. Actually, I always ask nicely first. Once. How it proceeds from there is up to them.
I judge not on the color of their skin, but on the content of their character :D ...and if their character consists of talking to the screen, talking amongst themselves, answering phone calls, offering running commentary, etc. then I'm not going to give them a pass just because they're not a bunch of white kids or whatever.
I'm an equal opportunity ball-breaker...and I wish more people were. I see people go all limp-spined and quivery in those scenarios, afraid to do to what group what they have no problem doing to another, just because they think they might be hit with the dreaded "R" word. Screw that: I'm not getting on them because they're black. I'm getting on them because they're being inconsiderate, annoying assheads, ruining my moviegoing experience...and I'd do it to anyone.
:rolleyes:
And alcimedes, you have better self control that I do, I'll just say that...
;)
"Oh, you hate WHITE people, huh? We all probably look the same to you? Can't dance, can't jump either? Well...".
DMBand0026
2004-08-07, 22:08
I can see the headline in tomorrow's paper.
Man sued by African-American theatergoers
Several African American theatergoers sued Paul Scates of [wherever pscates lives] for making racist comments and later pressed charges for assault and battery. They seek damages in excess of 50 million dollars for allegedly having their movie experience ruined and for Scates apparent personal slave holdings. The charges against Scates are pending further investigation, however, legal proceedings in the civil suit may begin as early as next week. The attorney for the theatre patrons stated, "This is a huge injustice and we will not stand for it. This man has committed a crime that can not go un-reprimanded." The Rev. Jessie Jackson pledged to fight for the rights of the minorities that were "so horribly assaulted and insulted." Scates' lawyer was unavailable for comment.
And the saddest thing is, you know it's all true. But good for you for having some backbone, same with you alcimedes. The real crime is that they get away with crap like that. Reverse racism shouldn't be stood for at all.
psmith2.0
2004-08-07, 22:15
"Scates represented himself, and went into court with his best Al Pacino. Was immediately found in contempt and shot, on sight, by the judge".
:D
"I'm out of order? You're ou..." POW!
Don't weigh your scenario too heavily on me. I'd never make racist comments to someone, unless "hey, would you please shut the hell up because I didn't pay $7.75 - and another $28 for Twizzlers - to hear your lame-ass commentary" counts as racist...
:p
Man am I glad you said something to her. It pisses me off when anyone, regardless of thier own skin color says something like that. Blanket statements and gross generalizations are the one of the biggest barriers the human race faces. For anyone to say that all people of one race, creed, religion are a particular way makes me want to shove a hot poker right in thier eyes.
Ha, now you can't see me! Guess you will have to judge me based on something else.
All fat people are lazy. --I'm fat. Was in marching band, I just like doughnuts alot.
Black people are stupid. -- Martin Luther King and George Washington Carver...
White people can't dance or jump. --Not touching with a ten, nay, twenty foot pole.
All of these statements make me want to puke. I almost pitty the people who say these ignorant things. Unfortunately rage tends to build up faster than pitty and I usually go shooting my mouth off before I can stop it.
DMBand0026
2004-08-08, 00:00
Don't weigh your scenario too heavily on me. I'd never make racist comments to someone, unless "hey, would you please shut the hell up because I didn't pay $7.75 - and another $28 for Twizzlers - to hear your lame-ass commentary" counts as racist...
I'm not saying that you would have or did say anything that could even be possibly considered raciest. But in our society, any minority that sued anyone for something like that would win, regardless if any wrongdoing was actually committed. Maybe it's the cynic in me, but that's just what I see.
And you know they'd tack on the assault and battery charge to boot, and they'd win. :no: Sorry to be so cynical, but I've seen it happen way too many times, and it sucks.
E kinda touched on something that I notice ALL THE TIME, quite honestly (however, if I had said it, I'd catch hell for it)...
Oh I'm surprised I haven't gotten any angry replies yet. You know the standard response about leading a sheltered life and all that...
I'm an equal opportunity ball-breaker...and I wish more people were. I see people go all limp-spined and quivery in those scenarios, afraid to do to what group what they have no problem doing to another, just because they think they might be hit with the dreaded "R" word. Screw that: I'm not getting on them because they're black. I'm getting on them because they're being inconsiderate, annoying assheads, ruining my moviegoing experience...and I'd do it to anyone.
It's really not about being "equal-opportunity," but just knowing how specific people would respond. They'd just give you shit for the rest of the movie. I'd rather have them continue to piss everybody off in their ignorance or indifference. With the amount of attention they get, they'll get their karmic ass kicking eventually.
stevegong
2004-08-08, 04:34
I'm an equal opportunity ball-breaker...and I wish more people were.
what if the offender looks like this? :confused:
http://www.geocities.com/kooshney/hick.JPG
stevegong
2004-08-08, 04:41
All fat people are lazy. --I'm fat. Was in marching band, I just like doughnuts alot.
Black people are stupid. -- Martin Luther King and George Washington Carver...
White people can't dance or jump. --Not touching with a ten, nay, twenty foot pole.
Asian people are sexually inept. -- Chinese people alone make up 1/5th of the world population.
:D
Steve, resize that photo will you? Not all of us have cinema displays...
stevegong
2004-08-08, 07:22
Steve, resize that photo will you? Not all of us have cinema displays...
Aye, sorry, it's a pic I found on the internet. I don't have a cinema display either, I have a 12 inch ibook. :D
psmith2.0
2004-08-08, 07:40
what if the offender looks like this? :confused:
http://www.geocities.com/kooshney/hick.JPG
I'd tell him what a complete and utter sissy that moustache makes him look like, then crack the Captain Morgain over his cue-ball tater and about three sharp kidney punches. Beyond that, testicles, noses and Adam's apples are fair game.
:)
Next question?
My parents camped out in our driveway in a Behemoth of an RV for 7 weeks.
Need I say more?
We live in a rather popular tourist spot and they came in the middle of the season, for which I do not fault them. But they are not the easiest people to live with and boy did they overstay. In fact, my husband was forced to actually ask them to leave. He (my husband) "suggested" that they move on the next day, but my father became angry and left that very evening--about 10 minutes later in fact.
So does anyone think we were out of line for asking them to move on? They did have an open invitation to visit, but they arrived without any end date and although they talked between themselves (and then to me but not my husband) about when they might move on, it was never settled. On top of that, they invited my siblings and their spouses to come and visit at the same time--without clearing it with us first.
Personally, I think their visits consitutes some kind of "guests from hell" and I haven't even begun to rant. :eek:
psmith2.0
2004-08-17, 20:23
Hi Fangorn...welcome! Long time, no see! I was wondering if we were going to get the estrogen level up in this joint.
:D
Carol, xionja and now you...we're on a roll! Hope you stick around. This is a very nice place. Most people here prefer it to the other because it's a little more mellow and friendly.
I think you were well within your rights. You were nice about it, AND they kinda did some inconsiderate, crappy things (inviting the whole clan along, etc.). Seven weeks with them occupying your driveway...that's almost two months.
:eek:
Too bad they chose to get pissy and storm off. That's unfortunate. :(
But you're no demon for wanting a life with your husband and a clear driveway. There's nothing worse than people who don't know quite when it's time to move on. Sometimes you gotta help 'em along...
alcimedes
2004-08-17, 20:47
yeah, the added, uncleared guests would have been enough to push me over the edge, especially with no end in sight.
Hi Fangorn...welcome! Long time, no see! I was wondering if we were going to get the estrogen level up in this joint.
:D
Carol, xionja and now you...we're on a roll! Hope you stick around. This is a very nice place. Most people here prefer it to the other because it's a little more mellow and friendly.
I think you were well within your rights. You were nice about it, AND they kinda did some inconsiderate, crappy things (inviting the whole clan along, etc.). Seven weeks with them occupying your driveway...that's almost two months.
:eek:
Too bad they chose to get pissy and storm off. That's unfortunate. :(
But you're no demon for wanting a life with your husband and a clear driveway. There's nothing worse than people who don't know quite when it's time to move on. Sometimes you gotta help 'em along...
Thank you pscates.
Actually, I've been "lurking" about for awhile, but pressed for time, don't often actually post. And with my parents about for the last SEVEN weeks, it was kinda hard to get much done at all, especially anything that was along the lines of recreation.
I haven't noticed a large difference, but then I avoid threads that I think will get my ire up--particularly politics. Lots of room for debate in politics but little room for fact.
;)
....sounds like a professional hit.
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