The pet peeve thread

[Deleterious]

Speaking as someone who is getting back into golf this year, I feel your pain.  Trying to get 4 people to agree on a day, time, and course is almost impossible.  Even when you do there is a good chance someone is going to cancel last minute or try to change the plans that work for the other 3 people.

 

[chasfh]

When people who are supposed to be acting in a professional capacity personalize what are supposed to be strictly professional interactions.

At the doctor today, the last thing to happen for the visit was the phlebotomy. Young woman, a nurse I guess, looks to be in her mid to late 20s, comes in to do that.

This is a secondary specialist I go to, not my main physician, so the process is a little different and more cumbersome, and maybe she's newer to the whole thing, so she takes a long time to set up, more than a minute, maybe two. It takes more like fifteen seconds at my main doctor. So I'm in the chair just waiting, looking, and waiting for her to be ready.

She gives me a pillow for my lap, so I can lay my arm across it while she draws the blood. I'm staring out the window because I don't like looking at my blood being drawn.

And she asks, unbidden, "Are you nervous?"

I answer, no, I just don't like looking at this, that's why I'm staring out the window.

What I didn't answer was, even if I am nervous, what could we do about it? Nothing, right? It's not as though we're going to change up the approach to address that, right?

Perhaps unadvisedly, I also add, I also don't want to see the needle break off and travel up into my arm, ha ha ha. I made sure to chuckle to signal the joke. She did not respond. She might still have thought I was being serious.

Anyhow, so she's working on the arm and she asks, did you have water today? I say no, I had only coffee. She says, that's why your blood is so thick. I go, oh, OK. I didn't think much of it.

She pulls everything out and goes to the table to work on things, muttering out loud about how thick my blood is. And I'm like ... OK? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Then I toss the pillow onto the exam table and she barks, what are you doing, we're not done yet. I say, Oh! Sorry! I ask is there something else we need to do? She says yes, I need to draw the blood again, I didn't get any, your blood is too thick, look at this, nothing here, you see!

I paused for a second because it was kind of a shocking response, but I said, oh, OK, I didn't know, you didn't say that before, that's fine, we can do that. And I get the pillow so she can draw it again.

And then she asks the magic question:

"Are you mad?"

God, I ****ing hate that.

I say, no, I'm not mad, I'm fine, I just thought we were done and I could go. She says, well you seem mad. I take a deep breath. I said no, I'm fine, no need to be sensitive. She says, I'm not being sensitive.

And I'm asking myself: why the everloving hell are we even having this conversation right now?

So I say, please, I'll be good, just, please, here's my other arm, OK? Then we complete the process in tense silence, she announces she's done, and finally I go.

Now, if I had any stake in her development, I would have told her right then and there that it's unprofessional for her to put patients on the spot and on the defensive by basically asking them to assuage their personal feelings in such a manner. Even if she thinks the patient is mad, you just don't say that kind of thing to them. You suck it up, get the job done, then move on to the next patient, and keep your personal sensitivities to yourself and away from the job. And that goes double for when you are speaking to patients, or any other client.

Or maybe I'm bad guy here, and clients are supposed to assuage the vendors feelings, I don't know. Maybe that's the new expectation as we move into the second quarter of the 21st Century. And I could probably adapt to that if that's the new appropriateness. But if so, that sure is a lot different from what I learned when I was at her stage of professional development during the last quarter of the 20th Century.

[oblong]

I think it's just an age thing. 

[LaceyLou]

I agree, probably an age or even an experience level thing. 

 

That said, that whole experience sounds bizarre-hopefully she was just having a bad day and this isn't her usual way of interacting with patients.

[chasfh]

Thinking more about it today I was thinking it is an age and experience thing, but I also wonder whether it’s a generational thing. She’s Eastern European, probably Russian because the doctor is, and Russian is widely spoken there, but I don’t necessarily think it’s a cultural thing. 

[djhutch]

On 5/14/2024 at 12:57 PM, chasfh said:

When people who are supposed to be acting in a professional capacity personalize what are supposed to be strictly professional interactions.

At the doctor today, the last thing to happen for the visit was the phlebotomy. Young woman, a nurse I guess, looks to be in her mid to late 20s, comes in to do that.

This is a secondary specialist I go to, not my main physician, so the process is a little different and more cumbersome, and maybe she's newer to the whole thing, so she takes a long time to set up, more than a minute, maybe two. It takes more like fifteen seconds at my main doctor. So I'm in the chair just waiting, looking, and waiting for her to be ready.

She gives me a pillow for my lap, so I can lay my arm across it while she draws the blood. I'm staring out the window because I don't like looking at my blood being drawn.

And she asks, unbidden, "Are you nervous?"

I answer, no, I just don't like looking at this, that's why I'm staring out the window.

What I didn't answer was, even if I am nervous, what could we do about it? Nothing, right? It's not as though we're going to change up the approach to address that, right?

Perhaps unadvisedly, I also add, I also don't want to see the needle break off and travel up into my arm, ha ha ha. I made sure to chuckle to signal the joke. She did not respond. She might still have thought I was being serious.

Anyhow, so she's working on the arm and she asks, did you have water today? I say no, I had only coffee. She says, that's why your blood is so thick. I go, oh, OK. I didn't think much of it.

She pulls everything out and goes to the table to work on things, muttering out loud about how thick my blood is. And I'm like ... OK? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Then I toss the pillow onto the exam table and she barks, what are you doing, we're not done yet. I say, Oh! Sorry! I ask is there something else we need to do? She says yes, I need to draw the blood again, I didn't get any, your blood is too thick, look at this, nothing here, you see!

I paused for a second because it was kind of a shocking response, but I said, oh, OK, I didn't know, you didn't say that before, that's fine, we can do that. And I get the pillow so she can draw it again.

And then she asks the magic question:

"Are you mad?"

God, I ****ing hate that.

I say, no, I'm not mad, I'm fine, I just thought we were done and I could go. She says, well you seem mad. I take a deep breath. I said no, I'm fine, no need to be sensitive. She says, I'm not being sensitive.

And I'm asking myself: why the everloving hell are we even having this conversation right now?

So I say, please, I'll be good, just, please, here's my other arm, OK? Then we complete the process in tense silence, she announces she's done, and finally I go.

Now, if I had any stake in her development, I would have told her right then and there that it's unprofessional for her to put patients on the spot and on the defensive by basically asking them to assuage their personal feelings in such a manner. Even if she thinks the patient is mad, you just don't say that kind of thing to them. You suck it up, get the job done, then move on to the next patient, and keep your personal sensitivities to yourself and away from the job. And that goes double for when you are speaking to patients, or any other client.

Or maybe I'm bad guy here, and clients are supposed to assuage the vendors feelings, I don't know. Maybe that's the new expectation as we move into the second quarter of the 21st Century. And I could probably adapt to that if that's the new appropriateness. But if so, that sure is a lot different from what I learned when I was at her stage of professional development during the last quarter of the 20th Century.

It's one thing to make small talk - but that seems a little over the top.  I chalk it up to people are weird.

[chasfh]

27 minutes ago, djhutch said:

It's one thing to make small talk - but that seems a little over the top.  I chalk it up to people are weird.

I don't think it was small talk. I think she was genuinely annoyed and genuinely wanted me to know that. To what end, I can't be sure.

[Edman85]

This tweet encapsulates a peeve I have about Twitter these days.

that torkmoil account falls under this category.

 

 

[Edman85]

Stand up to Cancer and adjacent charities that divert resources in the name of awareness for a disease everybody is aware of.

[LaceyLou]

Social media. After a year and a half, I finally managed to get into an account I've been unable to access. I have to wonder if the powers that be arbitrarily decide if/when people are who they say they are, because I took the same exact steps.....

I should probably start collecting emails, and get off of that thing.

[Edman85]

25 minutes ago, LaceyLou said:

Social media. After a year and a half, I finally managed to get into an account I've been unable to access. I have to wonder if the powers that be arbitrarily decide if/when people are who they say they are, because I took the same exact steps.....

I should probably start collecting emails, and get off of that thing.

2 factor authentication. External authenticator app.

[LaceyLou]

2FA is what got me locked out, I changed my phone number but neglected to update it on my FB account. Add to that I was using my nickname, which many don't recognize as coming from my 'real' name. My official name is literally on the account, too, but it didn't matter.

Although it does show that 2FA works, so there's that.

[Motor City Sonics]

DTE is my pet peeve., 

 

First of all - a few months ago THEY changed my payment date from the 9th to the 6th.   No reason why, they just did.  I am set up to auto pay on the 8th.     They were giving me Automated shut off calls on the 7th.   I have never ever missed a DTE payment in my life. 

Today, we're getting brown outs and surges at 9am here in Dearborn (it's not just my house,  I can see my neighbor's garage light getting brighter and dimmer.   The heat hasn't even started yet.   Imagine what it's going to be like later when it does heat up and the storms come. 

Imagine Monday when the high temp is 95-98 degrees. 

DTE has one of the worst reputations in the country as far as service and blackouts.  

They're raising rates again. 

 

Edited June 13 by Motor City Sonics

[oblong]

yeah they always call me the day after the bill is due.  F them.  It takes me a matter of seconds to pay on the app.  Outfits that don't give you a reminder are scum.  

 

[Motor City Sonics]

They connected the Gordie Howe bridge in the middle of the night?   

 

What the ****?      

 

That's a very cool moment,  it should have been done with some fanfare.      

[Motor City Sonics]

1 minute ago, Motor City Sonics said:

They connected the Gordie Howe bridge in the middle of the night?   

 

What the ****?      

 

That's a very cool moment,  it should have been done with some fanfare.      

Okay, it's just the frame, but still............... They say about 10 more days until the complete connection, which lines up with my prediction will be done July 2nd or 3rd,  between Canada Day and the 4th of July - you know, because symbolism.   

[gehringer_2]

3 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

They connected the Gordie Howe bridge in the middle of the night?   

 

What the ****?      

 

That's a very cool moment,  it should have been done with some fanfare.      

I suppose, but from the construction side It's not really a 'moment'. Setting each section is a long, slow, drawn out process - with many steps. Sort of like watching grass grow and picking a point at which to say "it's long". 

[Motor City Sonics]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

I suppose, but from the construction side It's not really a 'moment'. Setting each section is a long, slow, drawn out process - with many steps. Sort of like watching grass grow and picking a point at which to say "it's long". 

Being a major international border crossing puts this on a whole different level.    When the deck is finally in place, the workers should line up across from each other,  we give them coney dogs and they give us poutine and then they shake hands and then all turn to the direction of Matty Moroun's grave and all flip him off. 

 

This is such a huge economic plus.     Ambassador Bridge will still get plenty of traffic to keep the Morouns rich. 

[gehringer_2]

6 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

Being a major international border crossing puts this on a whole different level.    When the deck is finally in place, the workers should line up across from each other,  we give them coney dogs and they give us poutine and then they shake hands and then all turn to the direction of Matty Moroun's grave and all flip him off. 

 

This is such a huge economic plus.     Ambassador Bridge will still get plenty of traffic to keep the Morouns rich. 

And the Michigan GOP (other than Snyder) fought it tooth and nail right along with Matty Maroun. Too bad they aren't yet as dead as he is (at least metaphorically speaking.....)

 

Edited June 16 by gehringer_2

[oblong]

19 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

And the Michigan GOP (other than Snyder) fought it tooth and nail right along with Matty Maroun. Too bad they aren't yet as dead as he is (at least metaphorically speaking.....)

 

Maroun's pockets run very deep.  

It will be interesting how the traffic plays out.  The reason he owns his bridge is because he owns his trucking companies so he gets that revenue.  The new bridge on the canadian side is linked right up with the 401, that was the point, keep them out of downtown.  Will that family send their trucks to the new bridge?  Should save about 25-30 minutes I would think.

I can't wait to run across it. 

[gehringer_2]

the connection they made the other day is interesting construction tech. From what I could gather, they couldn't predict the exact distance for closure working the two ends from so far away(the main beams bolt together, the holes have to line up exactly), so they installed temporary adjustable beams to lock the ends in place while they customize the last primary beams to fit exactly.

[oblong]

I recall at the time last week that there was a very specific reason they did it at that time but dont remember what it was.  Either weather or light related.

[gehringer_2]

5 minutes ago, oblong said:

I recall at the time last week that there was a very specific reason they did it at that time but dont remember what it was.  Either weather or light related.

I would guess temperature - and for sure low wind load. These huge structures have to be designed to expand and contract around some neutral temperature - again a guess, but I think they would want to lock the ends in place on a day when the whole structure was as near as possible to the neutral point design temp. 

[CMRivdogs]

It's been interesting watching this project from a distance. My son was part of the project in the early days overseeing the project that cleared the land and reclaimed the soil from the housing developments and factories on the Detroit side.

He'd tell stories of digging into the ground and watching them come up with shovelfuls of old mattresses and stuff. In the years before construction houses and buildings were just bulldozed over, contents and all

[gehringer_2]

3 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

It's been interesting watching this project from a distance. My son was part of the project in the early days overseeing the project that cleared the land and reclaimed the soil from the housing developments and factories on the Detroit side.

He'd tell stories of digging into the ground and watching them come up with shovelfuls of old mattresses and stuff. In the years before construction houses and buildings were just bulldozed over, contents and all

It's been a ridiculously long construction. and it's not even that far behind schedule. The long build was mostly waiting for each section of concrete to harden as the towers went up. They probably could have built a conventional suspension bridge faster, but cable stayed design costs less and this is not a project where time was money to any great degree.