The pet peeve thread

[LaceyLou]

On 6/7/2023 at 11:00 AM, oblong said:

I love my neighbors so this isn't a criticism but more in the spirit of a peeve..... they're always outside doing something in the yard!  They're snowbirds so the first weekend back they clear everything out, clean up all the winter stuff, etc.  Then each day it's some kind of project involving noise.  No, I don't want them to stop. It's great to be active.  But a part of me does hate the over reliance on watering/fertilizing/etc.  Your lawn and yard doesn't need to look like a golf course or the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.  Let nature do it's thing.  Dandelions are good.  Weeds are good.  Critters are good.  Not every stick/twig or other errant thing needs to be picked up.

 

The less than perfect lawn is actually a healthier lawn... and one way to prevent grass from turning brown in the event of a drought is to let it grow longer. Don't even get me started on overuse of pesticides and herbicides.

[LaceyLou]

On 6/7/2023 at 10:33 PM, smr-nj said:

This was Yankee Stadium at 3pm- no filter.

Air quality numbers in NJ, where I work, at 5pm was 347.  That’s no joke. Eyes tearing, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see past 10 feet ahead of you.

 Fires 450 miles away.

It looks like a lot of the midwest/mid Atlantic has poor air quality right now. Sigh...

[smr-nj]

Yes, again. It’s #160 here today, but that’s still no where near the #350+ of a few weeks ago. 
It is still a bad few days for anyone with breathing issues.  Best to at least curtail outdoor activities that require exertion 

[mtutiger]

I haven't been around here as much lately as I've been in the process of setting up a cross country move (from TX to IL).... but one real pet peeve of mine became apparent recently. After ending up under contract and through inspection on the house we plan on buying, we ended up having to choose among a couple of different lenders to provide financing. 

Among the couple that we turned down, I sent courtesy emails letting them know "thanks but no thanks".... one of the lenders, after sending said email, responded back frantically saying they could get the interest rate lower, then called about a minute later and proceeded to harangue me over how I needed to send additional info from the other lenders so she could have the chance to provide a lower rate. And in the process was equal parts rude and inconsiderate.

I certainly understand how the real estate business, whether it's RE agents, mortgage lenders, attorneys have to be sort of salespeople for their services, but boy, desperation is not a good look.... don't they realize that it's easy for me to turn around and not recommend their services to friends going forward?

Edited June 30, 2023 by mtutiger

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, LaceyLou said:

The less than perfect lawn is actually a healthier lawn... and one way to prevent grass from turning brown in the event of a drought is to let it grow longer. Don't even get me started on overuse of pesticides and herbicides.

The SO and I go around about it once every couple of years. I'm a Chem E by training, and she's a Microbiologist so no newbie to chemistry wise either - I won't let her have a service put 2,4D on our lawn and she gets frustrated with me over it. You really need a better reason than dandelions to spread halogenated hydrocarbons around your environment willy-nilly.

[oblong]

On 6/30/2023 at 4:02 PM, mtutiger said:

I haven't been around here as much lately as I've been in the process of setting up a cross country move (from TX to IL).... but one real pet peeve of mine became apparent recently. After ending up under contract and through inspection on the house we plan on buying, we ended up having to choose among a couple of different lenders to provide financing. 

Among the couple that we turned down, I sent courtesy emails letting them know "thanks but no thanks".... one of the lenders, after sending said email, responded back frantically saying they could get the interest rate lower, then called about a minute later and proceeded to harangue me over how I needed to send additional info from the other lenders so she could have the chance to provide a lower rate. And in the process was equal parts rude and inconsiderate.

I certainly understand how the real estate business, whether it's RE agents, mortgage lenders, attorneys have to be sort of salespeople for their services, but boy, desperation is not a good look.... don't they realize that it's easy for me to turn around and not recommend their services to friends going forward?

So it’s on you to prompt them to give their best final offer?

[CMRivdogs]

On 6/30/2023 at 4:02 PM, mtutiger said:

I haven't been around here as much lately as I've been in the process of setting up a cross country move (from TX to IL).... but one real pet peeve of mine became apparent recently. After ending up under contract and through inspection on the house we plan on buying, we ended up having to choose among a couple of different lenders to provide financing. 

Among the couple that we turned down, I sent courtesy emails letting them know "thanks but no thanks".... one of the lenders, after sending said email, responded back frantically saying they could get the interest rate lower, then called about a minute later and proceeded to harangue me over how I needed to send additional info from the other lenders so she could have the chance to provide a lower rate. And in the process was equal parts rude and inconsiderate.

I certainly understand how the real estate business, whether it's RE agents, mortgage lenders, attorneys have to be sort of salespeople for their services, but boy, desperation is not a good look.... don't they realize that it's easy for me to turn around and not recommend their services to friends going forward?

We had a similar situation with a mortgage lender after deciding against them. The hard sell and never take no for an answer is definitely a turnoff.

[mtutiger]

10 hours ago, oblong said:

So it’s on you to prompt them to give their best final offer?

Apparently... On one hand, I get that they can't necessarily take you at your word. On the other hand, there's no harm in just taking the L and moving on, which the other lender who lost out did.

It's unlikely, but if we were to run into issues going forward, I know which fallback I'm going to and which one I will not.

Edited July 2, 2023 by mtutiger

[mtutiger]

3 hours ago, CMRivdogs said:

We had a similar situation with a mortgage lender after deciding against them. The hard sell and never take no for an answer is definitely a turnoff.

It seems so counterproductive as well... business often works off of references, and I'm not sure that kind of behavior causes people to refer a business to their friends.

[gehringer_2]

5 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

It seems so counterproductive as well... business often works off of references, and I'm not sure that kind of behavior causes people to refer a business to their friends.

I would guess that at many mortgageshouses there is a lot churn in the contact level employees  - their incentives probably do not align long-term.

[oblong]

36 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

I would guess that at many mortgageshouses there is a lot churn in the contact level employees  - their incentives probably do not align long-term.

Absolutely.  Bring them in. Work to death wringing out every contact they have. Then spit them out.  The employees only exist to provide sales for their immediate contact list. 
 

Real estate people often live in a bubble. They live and breathe it. All their people are in the industry. They assume everyone else is too. It’s all about constant exposure and bombardment. This lender is too far deep and just assumes you are into the business like they are and enjoy the game and phone calls rather than trying to move on to th next step in the process so you can resume your life. 

[CMRivdogs]

July 4th Fireworks. Not the usual complaint about noise thru out the weekend however.

I'm seeing some discussion about CW's fireworks and people planning on staking out spots as early as 9 AM. These are folks who would usually never set foot in the place and complain about ticket costs. I just don't get it.

We have plans for a late lunch, early dinner there Tuesday, possibly will go and catch Thomas Jefferson read the Declaration of Independence. Their fireworks are great but nothing is worth packing in with a couple thousand  other people searching for parking, fighting traffic and jockeying for an extra 6 inches of real estate.

Just call me Otto.

[CMRivdogs]

New peeve. I received a notice of a parking ticket for a local municipal garage that requires a parking app. I'm sure I used the app on the day in question, but since I was in a bit of hurry, and there was a poor Wi-Fi connection it's possible it didn't go thru. I was in the garage for about 2 hours.

The city sends me a notice asking to pay, however when the website to do so is not friendly to mobile devises (phone, iPad, etc). When we tried on the laptop the site is not registering username, email, etc, or allowing us to create a new account.

This means I need to drive to city hall, write a check for $2 (plus whatever fees they decide to tack on). 
 

Not a huge deal, just a headache

[Motor City Sonics]

It's 11:15pm.  You've had your fun.  It's a work night.  Enough with the ****ing fireworks already. 

[oblong]

21 hours ago, CMRivdogs said:

New peeve. I received a notice of a parking ticket for a local municipal garage that requires a parking app. I'm sure I used the app on the day in question, but since I was in a bit of hurry, and there was a poor Wi-Fi connection it's possible it didn't go thru. I was in the garage for about 2 hours.

The city sends me a notice asking to pay, however when the website to do so is not friendly to mobile devises (phone, iPad, etc). When we tried on the laptop the site is not registering username, email, etc, or allowing us to create a new account.

This means I need to drive to city hall, write a check for $2 (plus whatever fees they decide to tack on). 
 

Not a huge deal, just a headache

My son got a ticket in Detroit.  He went to pay but the app was down and it said " System Maint No payment is required at this time".  He took a screenshot of the message. He got a ticket.  Car is in my name... I went through the process of appeal, sent the photo, explained it all, and they denied it.  I could appeal it in person.

What a racket.  They know doing that will deter people like me who just fork over the $35 or whatever it was. 

 

[CMRivdogs]

1 hour ago, oblong said:

My son got a ticket in Detroit.  He went to pay but the app was down and it said " System Maint No payment is required at this time".  He took a screenshot of the message. He got a ticket.  Car is in my name... I went through the process of appeal, sent the photo, explained it all, and they denied it.  I could appeal it in person.

What a racket.  They know doing that will deter people like me who just fork over the $35 or whatever it was. 

 

Quick update; I checked the app and it showed that I had paid (2.85) for about 2 1/2 hours. Went to the office in Williamsburg to pay the fine. I told them I was a bit confused and showed them the receipt on the app. Turns out I had put in the license plate wrong, I was in a bit of hurry and mistyped it I guess. They waived the fee since it was apparent i've already paid. The only cost I had was the round trip time and gas.

[CMRivdogs]

So we just dropped our cable service and kept their internet. The problem is these companies know they have you by the short hairs because they all signed long term contracts with local communities guaranteeing them a monopoly nearly 50 years ago.

We eventually managed to break the Ma Bell Monopoly, why are we still stuck with cable/internet monopolies?

[Motor City Sonics]

Major pet peeve for me is that the All Stars don't wear their team's uniforms anymore.      They need to bring that back. 

[Biff Mayhem]

Not a pet peeve. I'm just extremely disappointed that a woman, who held another human being by the neck while her friend stabbed her and then proceeded to stab the victim an additional 14 times herself, was released from prison yesterday. "The more I stabbed the better it felt". She giggled at the gruesome details during her trial. Now she's out of prison. 

 

 

[smr-nj]

2 hours ago, Biff Mayhem said:

Not a pet peeve. I'm just extremely disappointed that a woman, who held another human being by the neck while her friend stabbed her and then proceeded to stab the victim an additional 14 times herself, was released from prison yesterday. "The more I stabbed the better it felt". She giggled at the gruesome details during her trial. Now she's out of prison. 

 

 

I am in agreement.  

[LaceyLou]

Xfinity email. Need I say more? 

[LaceyLou]

My SIL is posting pictures from Mackinac Island, where she's attending a wedding, and now I want to go. My list of must see places is already too big.

[CMRivdogs]

Mackinac is a nice place to visit for a day or two. That said at one time my wife's job had her up there every year for 15 plus year for the Detroit Region Chamber of Commerce shindig. I tagged along for a few years and helped out a bit. The problem was after you've biked the island several times, had lunch and bought some fudge there really wasn't much to do for the other 3 days. 
 

If they booked her at the Grand, you couldn't enjoy the porch because inevitably you'd end up encroaching on some bigwig's meeting with another mover and shaker. i just got to the point of saying "have fun and bring back some fudge"

[LaceyLou]

Good to know. I'd probably only want to stay for a day or two anyway-then on to the next place!

[oblong]

Because of family considerations it will probably never happen but I would love to spend a winter on the island. I watched a PBS doc on winter living and it seemed fascinating.  There’s a great Facebook page called Mackinac Island News and Views. The winter posts are my favorite.