The pet peeve thread

[Motor City Sonics]

I'm 60.    

How the hell did that happen? 

[LaceyLou]

Granted, it doesn't get below 20 here very often, but when it does-it would be really nice if people would remember that salt isn't effective on sidewalks when it gets that cold. 

Edited December 25, 2024 by LaceyLou

[LaceyLou]

Gotta love how things like smoke detectors tend to fail in the middle of the night-and naturally on a weekend and naturally when my electrician boyfriend is out of town.

Luckily I have another one so I just disabled it until I can get somebody to look at it. I have a bad feeling that it keeps getting dusty.

[gehringer_2]

17 minutes ago, LaceyLou said:

Gotta love how things like smoke detectors tend to fail in the middle of the night-and naturally on a weekend and naturally when my electrician boyfriend is out of town.

Luckily I have another one so I just disabled it until I can get somebody to look at it. I have a bad feeling that it keeps getting dusty.

The last time we put in new smoke detectors I switched from ionization to optical (supposedly more sensitive) and they are definitely prone to dust issues even on the ceiling.  

[chasfh]

This is a double pet peeve, I guess: one of mine, and one about me, I suppose.

Sometimes you might want to ask somebody who works at a retailer you’re visiting to help you go through an app on your phone, for example, how do I reach the digital coupons on your app? And so you will show them the screen while you’re prepared to do what they tell you to do, but then they reach for your phone, usually without even asking, as if to take it out of your hand so they can do it themselves. That’s a pet peeve of mine. I don’t want anybody grabbing my phone, particularly without asking, and swiping around on it.

But then, their pet peeve must be old people who won’t give you their phone so you can do the thing for them that they’re asking you to do. I guess the idea of that peeve is they tell the old person what to do and they still screw it up.

That happened to me just now. I tried to make a joke that it seems like the younger the person is with me, the more trouble I have with my phone in front of them, but they didn’t think it was funny, probably because I would not surrender my phone when they reached for it. Their face got sour, and they would not make any eye contact with me after that, because I just wouldn’t give them my goddamn phone so that they could do the thing for me I was asking them to do.

[oblong]

You are correct in both circumstances.  The optimal solution is for you to hold out your phone to either offer it to them or make it very obvious for them to help you by showing where on the screen you would touch.  Then if they feel the only way to do is to take possession of the phone is to first ask, then hold it like an egg so that they can demonstrate that you won't run away with it or try to look at your photos 🙂  LIke hold it by their fingertips towards you.

I have to do that a lot at Walgreen's with prescriptions. 

 

[chasfh]

2 hours ago, oblong said:

You are correct in both circumstances.  The optimal solution is for you to hold out your phone to either offer it to them or make it very obvious for them to help you by showing where on the screen you would touch.  Then if they feel the only way to do is to take possession of the phone is to first ask, then hold it like an egg so that they can demonstrate that you won't run away with it or try to look at your photos 🙂  LIke hold it by their fingertips towards you.

I have to do that a lot at Walgreen's with prescriptions. 

 

I would prefer they look at the screen and tell me where to go on it while I drive. I don't want to just hand it to them and not know how they got to where they got. Don't feed me fish. Teach me how to fish instead.

But to your point, in my experience, the large majority of the time they just reach to grab the phone out of my hand. Talk about off-putting. Maybe they feel comfortable doing that because that's how they do it with their parents or grandparents. There was actually one guy a year or two ago who snapped at me in an passive-aggressive manner for not letting him snatch the phone out of my hand to show me something. I told him, I'll give him my phone when he gives me his. He had to have been in his 40s, so you'd think he'd know better.

[CMRivdogs]

3 hours ago, chasfh said:

This is a double pet peeve, I guess: one of mine, and one about me, I suppose.

Sometimes you might want to ask somebody who works at a retailer you’re visiting to help you go through an app on your phone, for example, how do I reach the digital coupons on your app? And so you will show them the screen while you’re prepared to do what they tell you to do, but then they reach for your phone, usually without even asking, as if to take it out of your hand so they can do it themselves. That’s a pet peeve of mine. I don’t want anybody grabbing my phone, particularly without asking, and swiping around on it.

But then, their pet peeve must be old people who won’t give you their phone so you can do the thing for them that they’re asking you to do. I guess the idea of that peeve is they tell the old person what to do and they still screw it up.

That happened to me just now. I tried to make a joke that it seems like the younger the person is with me, the more trouble I have with my phone in front of them, but they didn’t think it was funny, probably because I would not surrender my phone when they reached for it. Their face got sour, and they would not make any eye contact with me after that, because I just wouldn’t give them my goddamn phone so that they could do the thing for me I was asking them to do.

I agree, I do keep my iPad with me on my CW Visitor Center shifts. Since they've instituted a charge for long term parking and discounts on tickets bought on line there is usually a need to walk a few people thru the process. I'd rather show them on the bigger screen than do it for them (I'll check their work as it progresses).

That way it also gives me a chance to get them to the daily schedule of programs while I'm at it among other things on the site that they'll probably end up asking about.

But then I'm real old school

[chasfh]

You go to the store and you can’t find something and you want to ask someone who works there for help, and everyone you see stocking times work for distributors and not the store, and of course, they don’t know where anything else. 

[gehringer_2]

Urban deer. 

The 'local herd' that makes its trip down the block every night at 6pm is now up to 10 adults. Mind you I live in the city - about a mile and a quarter from City Hall. They may be scenic but the novelty wears off after they've eaten all the flora in the neighborhood they can reach.

[LaceyLou]

Chocolate everywhere, and I can't eat chocolate. I wish I could find a blondie that didn't have chocolate chips. 

[oblong]

Having family and friends in the mortgage and real estate industry is very helpful... once or twice in your life.  But the rest of the time it's insufferable.  Constant mailings, electronic and postal.... tik toks.... my rate is 2.5%.  I ain't refinacning or moving.  Move on.

I realize it's how they stay in business but the constant barrage of marketing is annoying.  And you can't say anything due to offending.

[Deleterious]

Pulled this from Reddit.

When a business covers up the no tip option.

[LaceyLou]

2 hours ago, oblong said:

Having family and friends in the mortgage and real estate industry is very helpful... once or twice in your life.  But the rest of the time it's insufferable.  Constant mailings, electronic and postal.... tik toks.... my rate is 2.5%.  I ain't refinacning or moving.  Move on.

I realize it's how they stay in business but the constant barrage of marketing is annoying.  And you can't say anything due to offending.

I also get tired of people constantly posting about selling things like Plexus, Scentsy, and other things like that. I don't say anything for the same reason (though I will snooze or unfollow the ones who post nothing else.

[oblong]

35 minutes ago, LaceyLou said:

I also get tired of people constantly posting about selling things like Plexus, Scentsy, and other things like that. I don't say anything for the same reason (though I will snooze or unfollow the ones who post nothing else.

"I just need 4 of my friends to join me in this exciting adventure..."

 

[Edman85]

7 hours ago, oblong said:

Having family and friends in the mortgage and real estate industry is very helpful... once or twice in your life.  But the rest of the time it's insufferable.  Constant mailings, electronic and postal.... tik toks.... my rate is 2.5%.  I ain't refinacning or moving.  Move on.

I realize it's how they stay in business but the constant barrage of marketing is annoying.  And you can't say anything due to offending.

The internet has turned this profession into influencer central.

[Edman85]

4 hours ago, oblong said:

"I just need 4 of my friends to join me in this exciting adventure..."

 

Those companies took off 2020. Scam central. Anticipate them taking off again here soon with the FTC likely getting defanged (if it hasn't already)

[CMRivdogs]

5 hours ago, LaceyLou said:

I also get tired of people constantly posting about selling things like Plexus, Scentsy, and other things like that. I don't say anything for the same reason (though I will snooze or unfollow the ones who post nothing else.

We had relatives going thru a whole mess of stuff like that. Especially pampered chef. That kind of stuff has been going on forever. I'm old enough to remember Sarah Coventry, Avon, Tupperware.... 

[LaceyLou]

25 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

We had relatives going thru a whole mess of stuff like that. Especially pampered chef. That kind of stuff has been going on forever. I'm old enough to remember Sarah Coventry, Avon, Tupperware.... 

To this day my oldest brother calls Tupperware "Suckerware." And it feels like Amway has been around forever.

[chasfh]

20 hours ago, oblong said:

Having family and friends in the mortgage and real estate industry is very helpful... once or twice in your life.  But the rest of the time it's insufferable.  Constant mailings, electronic and postal.... tik toks.... my rate is 2.5%.  I ain't refinacning or moving.  Move on.

I realize it's how they stay in business but the constant barrage of marketing is annoying.  And you can't say anything due to offending.

And the funny part is they are so far up their own ass on it that there is no chance they can step back and see it for what it is.

[CMRivdogs]

Can we throw time share sales folks in with the mortgage bunch. We bought a couple weeks thru a "Vacation Club" about 20 years ago. Back when you could buy specific locations at set times of the year. Now they've gone to basically all points. "You can go where you want, when you want" provided there's something available. 
You still get hit with yearly "maintenance fees" and the number of points needed for each level keeps growing. "Your're at Presidental, you only need another 100 thousand points to reach Grand Poobah which qualifies you for free lifetime drinks at the Tiki Bar and access to a lifeboat on one of our "members cruises"....

We are comfortable where we and don't want the hassle of trying to book a week we won't youse just so we can sell it on Red Week or something similar. And no I don't really care to sit thru another "presentation" for a $100 dollar gift card.

[oblong]

2 hours ago, chasfh said:

And the funny part is they are so far up their own ass on it that there is no chance they can step back and see it for what it is.

We get a card from a very close relative every week. It’s hand written. Personalized.  Normally it’s one of those things you thjnk is being nice.  “Hey it was good seeing you guys last week”.  That part is fine.  But it’s the inclusion of business cards that ruin it. 

[oblong]

2 hours ago, CMRivdogs said:

Can we throw time share sales folks in with the mortgage bunch. We bought a couple weeks thru a "Vacation Club" about 20 years ago. Back when you could buy specific locations at set times of the year. Now they've gone to basically all points. "You can go where you want, when you want" provided there's something available. 
You still get hit with yearly "maintenance fees" and the number of points needed for each level keeps growing. "Your're at Presidental, you only need another 100 thousand points to reach Grand Poobah which qualifies you for free lifetime drinks at the Tiki Bar and access to a lifeboat on one of our "members cruises"....

We are comfortable where we and don't want the hassle of trying to book a week we won't youse just so we can sell it on Red Week or something similar. And no I don't really care to sit thru another "presentation" for a $100 dollar gift card.

Our family did a reunion at Westgate in the Smokey mountains. The discounted rate meant “an hour” on Saturday morning for their pitch.  I was dialed in. Ready for anything.  I loved it. No matter what he threw at me.  My wife was in near tears. He twisted things around to the point where we find ourselves justifying how we spend our money. That is when I lost my temper.  He made a crack about “why are you helping your son with his college. I paid for my own”.  I asked him how that worked out since he’s selling time shares selling panic stories about what will happen if we don’t buy. “Ok I have to get my boss now. He’s not going to be happy”.  “Why is that my problem?”   

[gehringer_2]

4 minutes ago, oblong said:

Our family did a reunion at Westgate in the Smokey mountains. The discounted rate meant “an hour” on Saturday morning for their pitch.  I was dialed in. Ready for anything.  I loved it. No matter what he threw at me.  My wife was in near tears. He twisted things around to the point where we find ourselves justifying how we spend our money. That is when I lost my temper.  He made a crack about “why are you helping your son with his college. I paid for my own”.  I asked him how that worked out since he’s selling time shares selling panic stories about what will happen if we don’t buy. “Ok I have to get my boss now. He’s not going to be happy”.  “Why is that my problem?”   

Always Be Closing!

[CMRivdogs]

1 hour ago, oblong said:

Our family did a reunion at Westgate in the Smokey mountains. The discounted rate meant “an hour” on Saturday morning for their pitch.  I was dialed in. Ready for anything.  I loved it. No matter what he threw at me.  My wife was in near tears. He twisted things around to the point where we find ourselves justifying how we spend our money. That is when I lost my temper.  He made a crack about “why are you helping your son with his college. I paid for my own”.  I asked him how that worked out since he’s selling time shares selling panic stories about what will happen if we don’t buy. “Ok I have to get my boss now. He’s not going to be happy”.  “Why is that my problem?”   

No steak knives for him