Things that bug me.

[Hermes]

A few things in this modern life seem to be poorly engineered or are actually engineered to bug the s&^%t out of people.

See if you agree with some, and maybe you can add your own pet peefs:

 

Electronic switches on modern electronic devices. You press on it and, for about 1/2 second or so, nothing happens, then it activates. But, by that time I have already pressed again, such negating my first attempt. Arrgh.

 

Zippers,(on my Tecnic vented vest, for example), seems the material around the zipper invariably gets cought in the slide of it and eventually makes it impossible to move the zipper up or down.

 

The plastic closure (with the litle plastic ring) on those square milk or cream containers. a) you can't get your finger far enough into them to get the right purchase and b) in order to compensate for a, you inadvertently squeeze the container too hard and then suddenly, the plastic closure comes off and with it you squeeze a couple of ounces of cream all over the cat.

 

Some Hotels/Motels save on toilet paper by having the toilet paper dispenser roll too tight. The desired effect (desired by the hotel/motel) is, that you cannot roll off the required length of paper, it simply tears at the first perf, leaving you with too little to do the paperwork, the second attempt simply adds one other leaf, and so on.

 

Here is a classic, my remote door opener for the Hyunday Santa Fee activates the door lock just fine, from a good distance, too. If I just want to quickly get something out of the car parked in the driveway, I activate the doorlock from the house door where all my keys hang. Then I approach the Santa Fee, and invariably the doorlock clicks shut again automatically (guess it's on a timer) just as I have the door handle in my hand. My keys are back at the house door. Return and repeat.

 

Radio buttons in most cars, they are simply too small and too close together to activate with precision and with predictability.

In the average array of radio buttons, my index finger covers easily three of them, making a succesful selection nearly impossible, especially in a moving car.

 

I could go on indefinately but maybe you want to chime in with your observations, if not, I'll add that to my pet peefs, so there!

 

[Mister Tee]

Apparently, Tee's quizzes bug you too.

[Dave McReynolds]

I'll tell you what bugs me. Yesterday, I went down to the B of A Versateller with a bunch of checks from my clients to deposit from tax season, all neatly added up and sealed in an envelope, ready to pop into the slot. Only to find out that the Versateller has now been "improved". No longer will it accept envelopes, but will instead accept the checks themselves in bunches. So I ripped open my envelope and inserted a bunch of checks that disappeared into the machine's mouth, which it then started chewing on. After a few moments of grinding noises, it spit out several of the checks and informed me that it couldn't read them, and would I please enter them one by one into the screen. Fortunately, it had a button to stop the whole process, which in an act of blind faith I pressed, and it spit out the rest of my checks.

 

I went inside the bank and up to the nearest teller, explaining in as much as I can remember of my old Marine Sergeant's voice after 40 years, how much I hated the new system. She just laughed at me and told me that I was lucky because if it weren't for the ideosyncracies of the new system, I would never have been able to meet her. Hum.... something must be lacking in my Marine Sergeant's voice....or maybe it just doesn't carry the same weight of authority when spoken by a 64 year-old man. Anyway, talk about diffusing a situation, I hope B of A isn't so distracted by solving their billion dollar problems that they fail to realize that they have a heck of a good teller there!

[smiller]

She might make a good teller but she'd probably make a bad oncologist.

[Dave McReynolds]

She might make a good teller but she'd probably make a bad oncologist.

 

Yes, I can imagine that if she used a similar line, it might not get a laugh in that environment!

[Kathy R]

Things that bug me

 

When the cork goes in the bottle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Matts_12GS]

Things that bug me

 

When the cork goes in the bottle

 

 

How can it be filled and shipped to you in order to cure your crippling emotional pain otherwise?

[sgendler]

The first time I used one of those envelope-free ATM machines, it ground away for a while, then spit back a check in 3 pieces and went into out of order mode. It didn't give me the other check back at all.

 

I'm betting they are seeing a lot more teller traffic since switching to those. I won't put a check into 'em, that's for sure. Of course, that has mostly just resulted in my never cashing checks. I've got 5 weeks of pay checks in my bag at the moment because I hate going into the bank

[MotorinLA]

Being unable to "awaken" my laptop from "sleep" mode, without a full restart (only happens every once in awhile, but still bugs me...).

 

Self-locking car doors.

 

The Office Assistant in Microsoft Word.

[Francois_Dumas]

The only thing that bugs me in my (current) life is that all clocks run way too fast........

[hANNAbONE]

Things that bug me

 

When the cork goes in the bottle

 

 

dAILY oCCURANCE, Missy??? :^)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kathy R]

Things that bug me

 

When the cork goes in the bottle

 

 

dAILY oCCURANCE, Missy??? :^)

 

You know it always happens when someone is watching.

 

You are yaking away while opening the bottle and um, there is a problem. The cork is bad or the cork screw breaks (I've broken 1/2 dz). And the next thing you know, the cork is IN THE BOTTLE. I've learned to hold the cork back with a knife tip as I pour. I have a great opener at home, but when I'm at someone elses home and I see those cheap openers I cringe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nice n Easy Rider]

Not Much of Anything

 

I've read enough posts on this board lately from fellow riders to know that my problems are pretty inconsequential compared to what some of you have had to deal with. I'm the same age my dad was when he died and I feel like I'm in pretty good shape. Every day I get to get up in the morning, go to work at a job I enjoy more often than not, and ride whenever I get a chance is icing on the cake.

 

I've mellowed a lot lately!

[upflying]

#1 annoyance for me!!!

Those dad-gummed blow formed plastic containers that take a chain saw to open them up. You know what they are, usually a giant plastic display box used to contain something tiny..a camera memory card for example.

You end up with a giant mess of torn, sharp plastic that never decomposes in a landfill. These things need to be outlawed. I wonder how many people have gone to emergency rooms for injuries sustained while opening this nonsense.

[subvet]

when the hotel housekeeping team runs out of coffee packets for the in-room pot, so they leave extra decaf instead.

 

[tobyzusa]

I'll tell you what bugs me. Yesterday, I went down to the B of A Versateller with a bunch of checks

 

You had better luck than me. I feed the machine my check and it proceeded to tell me it could not accept checks at this time. Ok, no problem, then spit my check back out. No chance. So it's in to the teller (in full gear no less), and she tells me I can "file a claim" for the eaten check.

 

Issue was resolved in about 3 weeks.

 

What an improvement this new system is!

 

 

[MotorinLA]

Things that bug me

 

When the cork goes in the bottle

 

 

dAILY oCCURANCE, Missy??? :^)

 

You know it always happens when someone is watching.

 

You are yaking away while opening the bottle and um, there is a problem. The cork is bad or the cork screw breaks (I've broken 1/2 dz). And the next thing you know, the cork is IN THE BOTTLE. I've learned to hold the cork back with a knife tip as I pour. I have a great opener at home, but when I'm at someone elses home and I see those cheap openers I cringe.

 

Sounds like you need a CO2 bottle opener. No more corks in the bottle. You shove the needle through the cork, inject the CO2 and "Viola!" the cork gets pushed out by the increased pressure inside the bottle...

[eddd]

Few things are more annoying than listening to Billy Mays and his obnoxious commercials.

 

I'd gladly pay an additional fee to Direct TV if they would provide an auto mute for Billy, Vince Shlomi (ShamWow) the like.

[swfraley]

Windshield wipers.

 

After eighty years with the same basic design, why do we still have streaky, rubber windshield wipers? While I'm at it, I feel much the same about scrapers.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

...the B of A Versateller...

 

BOA bought our local bank about a year ago and "upgraded" their external ATM just as you described. "It's great," they tell us, "no more envelopes required! Just feed your bare checks in one at a time!"

 

F'in great, alright. Every couple of weeks I go down there with maybe a dozen checks in hand from the Mojo. Used to be I put them in an envelope, wrote the total on the outside, and fed it into the ATM. Now they want me to feed these checks in, one by one? The whole feed/OCR/recording cycle takes about twenty seconds per check. Multiply by a dozen checks, and you're sitting there for four minutes. I did this from my car exactly twice. The second time it was pouring rain, and my car's interior got hosed.

 

Now I put the checks in a plain envelope with a deposit slip and toss them in the "night depository" slot on the outside of the bank building; takes about five seconds, no matter how many checks you stuff in that envelope.

[Dave McReynolds]

Now I put the checks in a plain envelope with a deposit slip and toss them in the "night depository" slot on the outside of the bank building; takes about five seconds, no matter how many checks you stuff in that envelope.

 

Count your blessings. The reason you still have a "night depository" slot is because you weren't a B of A branch to start with. I can assure you that as soon as B of A notices that anachronism, they will "upgrade" that also!

[sgendler]

#1 annoyance for me!!!

Those dad-gummed blow formed plastic containers that take a chain saw to open them up. You know what they are, usually a giant plastic display box used to contain something tiny..a camera memory card for example.

You end up with a giant mess of torn, sharp plastic that never decomposes in a landfill. These things need to be outlawed. I wonder how many people have gone to emergency rooms for injuries sustained while opening this nonsense.

 

I'm with you on the waste factor, but here's a tip for opening them. Just go around the outside edge of the package with a scissors. The front will separate from the back and you'll be able to get everything out easily.

[sgendler]

F'in great, alright. Every couple of weeks I go down there with maybe a dozen checks in hand from the Mojo. Used to be I put them in an envelope, wrote the total on the outside, and fed it into the ATM. Now they want me to feed these checks in, one by one? The whole feed/OCR/recording cycle takes about twenty seconds per check. Multiply by a dozen checks, and you're sitting there for four minutes. I did this from my car exactly twice. The second time it was pouring rain, and my car's interior got hosed.

 

I'm not claiming it works all that well, but you know the machine advertises that you can put a whole stack of differently sized checks in there at once, right? Either 20 or 50, I can't remember which.

[CarrotNC]

...blow formed plastic containers that take a chain saw to open..

Buy the item, call for a manager, tell them to open it or you want your money back. Provides direct feedback to the person most likely able (from that store) to influence the supplier's packaging choice. Also keeps you from getting stitches!

 

Bank ATMs that ask for the deposited check(s) amount AFTER you have to insert them. Uhm...you never believe me anyway so why does it matter, and if it does matter then how about asking before you take them?

 

Other obnoxious one is the new drive-thru ATM's at BofA are built such that I can't reach the buttons from my truck. Given my 35" arm length, and an unmodified 2wd vehicle this should NOT be an issue.

[ltljohn]

People that slow down and stop on the on ramp.

 

People that have the left lane open but do not move over to let merging traffic in.

 

People that stop at yield signs when there is no traffic in sight.

 

 

 

[litigator]

"When the cork goes in the bottle"

 

That is merely the fine red wine advising you that it is to be decanted before serving. Voila!

[Dave in Doodah]

Calling a company's Customer Service number and having to answer 50 questions in monotone to a computer, or push a lot of buttons in order, to talk to a human being - or never being able to get a real person at all.

[Dave in Doodah]

People that slow down and stop on the on ramp.

 

People that have the left lane open but do not move over to let merging traffic in.

 

People that stop at yield signs when there is no traffic in sight.

 

 

 

+1 Rude, selfish drivers in general who don't realize or care that they are no more priviledged than all the others on the road.

[Knifemaker]

The tiny tiny screws in my glasses and the eye glass repair kit....If I could see these tiny little screws and the heads on the screws to put the scredriver in I would not need the glasses....

 

Plactic garbage bags....The art of paying out hard earned money just to throw it away?

 

Recycling...Having to seperate glass from paper...paper from alum.. alum. from plastic and then having to clean out the containers before I throw them away to keep the collection people happy......If I don't do it right they won't pick it up.....If I wanted to work for the collection company I would get a job there....Nobody pays me to make it easier for the collection folks....

 

 

Starbucks....having some kid when I order a LARGE cup of coffee try and correct me by stating...."You mean venti don't you"

[Hermes]

Starbucks....having some kid when I order a LARGE cup of coffee try and correct me by stating...."You mean venti don't you"

 

Oh yeah, that would do it for me too, luckily the only time I get near a Starbuck is when I go to purchase a book from Chapters.

[litigator]

"Calling a company's Customer Service number and having to answer 50 questions in monotone to a computer, or push a lot of buttons in order, to talk to a human being - or never being able to get a real person at all."

 

Try just hitting the "0" buttton over and over again until someone answers (or you get disconnected). Many times that gets you past the machines.

[Mister Tee]

1. Tattoos on women. Particularly right on the buttcrack.

 

2. Synthetic corks.

 

3. Stoplights at freeway on-ramps. Accelerating from a dead stop directly in to 75 mph traffic is fun on the RT, no fun on the Dodge diesel pickup.

 

4. Pineapples on pizza. Ice cream okay. Pizza no.

 

5. Lavatory attendants. I can do the paperwork myself thank you.

 

6. Internet smilies.

[baggerchris]

My pet peeves are why I can't face my everyday aches and pains and adversity like Michael J. Fox. Why I don't seem to be able to help people like Mother Teresa did, and why I didn't have a job in my career that made a difference in the Human condition. I hope to correct one or more of these peeves when I retire in January. I plan on suceeding.

[Jerry Johnston]

I hate all the junk mail and the slips of junk mail that come with your bills. Also if you take the daily paper it get's thrown in the middle of your drive way for you to go out and pick it up - used to be paper boys that put it in your screen door. Think I'm dating myself? Hey, at least I didn't complain that there's no milk-man anymore and I have to go to the store to get it.

[Joel]

As a curmudgeon in training, I've been compiling my list of grievances against my fellow man for quite a while. A sampling:

 

1. That Will Rogers was correct: Common sense ain't common.

 

2. Anyone who stops a grocery cart at an angle, steps back from it, and then put his/her hands on his/her hips to stare across the aisle at something for longer than it should take any literate person to make a decision, oblivious to blocking the passage of all other shoppers.

 

3. Anyone who drives or rides in the passing lane more than momentarily. Double peeve points if they're at or under the speed limit.

 

4. Anything that is intended to be useful but is needlessly complex. (Yes, I see the irony in a BMW rider saying that.)

 

5. Being invisible despite being 6'4" and 220#: in stores or hallways, or on sidewalks, people frequently walk right at me, even though I keep to the right, causing me to move out of "their way" to avoid a collision. I'm just gonna start lowering a shoulder into them.

 

6. That weather forecasters aren't liable for malpractice.

 

7. That nobody (yet) has brewed a non-alcoholic beer that tastes even remotely like the real thing.

 

8. The number of hours of my life I will never get back because Microsoft's products frequently violate #4.

 

9. That I still use most of those products anyway.

 

10. The time I waste posting things on the internet.

 

[russell_bynum]

5. Being invisible despite being 6'4" and 220#: in stores or hallways, or on sidewalks, people frequently walk right at me, even though I keep to the right, causing me to move out of "their way" to avoid a collision. I'm just gonna start lowering a shoulder into them.

 

The key is to pretend you don't see them...just keep rolling along determined, looking straight ahead and most of them will move. Those that don't deserve a shoulder check anyway.

[Kathy R]

5. Being invisible despite being 6'4" and 220#: in stores or hallways, or on sidewalks, people frequently walk right at me, even though I keep to the right, causing me to move out of "their way" to avoid a collision. I'm just gonna start lowering a shoulder into them.

 

The key is to pretend you don't see them...just keep rolling along determined, looking straight ahead and most of them will move. Those that don't deserve a shoulder check anyway.

 

I've been doing this for years in the city. It amazes me the people that walk 2, 3 and even 4 abreast and expect you to step aside. It's especialy annoying to see young people cause an elderly person to move to the outside of the sidewalk, closer to traffic. Yes, I've actually pointed that out to a few of them. The elderly have carte blanche when it comes to access to the easiest path. Yes, I'm a ninny.

[Firefight911]

Viola and Voila.

 

 

One is an instrument, the other a word used to bring attention to something, as if by magic.

[SeanC]

Viola and Voila.

 

 

One is an instrument, the other a word used to bring attention to something, as if by magic.

The only times I've heard/read someone say/write "Viola," they did so cheekily, not unintentionally.

 

The use of hash marks (" and ') instead of quotation marks and apostrophes in professionally produced signs, ads, magazines, menus, business cards and other documents bugs me. They're just fine online, in emails, memos, Word docs and whatnot, but in professional use are the mark of ignos.

 

Of course they don't bug me as much as that clam-shell plastic crap someone already mentioned. Or toys that are wired and screwed in place in the box (screws... really?!).

[Kitsap]

Why is it every time a cat gets a back scratch it raises it's ass up in the air? Then they casually go about scenting your furniture as their domain. Cats bug me.

[bridwell52]

When the mechanic tells me "They all do that". I have always wanted to say " Well fix all of them and do mine first "

 

David

[Quinn]

When the mechanic tells me "They all do that". I have always wanted to say " Well fix all of them and do mine first "

 

David

 

I always ask for a demo ride. If the demo does it, then I believe him.

 

 

[Hermes]

Great response, so far.

 

I am considering to add all of your peeves to my list of things that bug me. Seems, I just didn't have enough to genuinely qualify for curmudgeon status.

[SeanC]

Clients who ask me to change the font or colors, etc.

 

Clients who ask if I can give them the source design files ("So we can create a template"), layered Photoshop files, etc.

 

People who leave me voicemail and expect me to call them back (well, those who aren't personal friends, related and/or married to me)

 

Forwarded jokes (pretty much any forwarded email, really)

 

Young conservatives

 

Old liberals

 

Small talk

 

People who open snack items wrapped in cellophane in movie theaters

 

Awkwardly shy and/or timid people

 

People who realize they've missed their exit, but try to cut over instead of simply getting off at the next one

 

People who disagree/agree with me when I'm in no mood for disagreement/agreement

 

 

[Pilgrim]

Things that bug me

 

When the cork goes in the bottle

 

 

Hoity-toity wine snobs! Either learn to like the taste of cork (it's chewy like gorilla boogers but has a distinct, cork-like flavor) or buy your wine in a box like the rest of the hoi polloi out here.

 

AND - the brain-dead trolls who fill paper napkin dispensers so full that you cannot pull one out without shredding it. And the next one, too, and the one after that, etc. Or perhaps you can grasp half a dozen at once and get them all. I'm sure they think they are saving time by filling the dispenser to the bursting point, but they're not.

 

Pilgrim

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kathy R]

Things that bug me

 

When the cork goes in the bottle

 

 

Hoity-toity wine snobs! Either learn to like the taste of cork (it's chewy like gorilla boogers but has a distinct, cork-like flavor) or buy your wine in a box like the rest of the hoi polloi out here.

 

I thought my local hoity-toity grocer carried every delicacy until now. I haven't even had gorilla burgers yet!

(I trust your spelling since you are an author. Is the next installment coming out soon?)

 

 

Things that bug me:

 

When you are trying to ask a question and the other person starts talking over you misinterpreting your question and providing the wrong answer.

 

People who can't count change back correctly and those who hand it all to you in a glob with the receipt.

 

People who give fast, inaccurate, answers with authority.

[Dances_With_Wiener_Dogs]

It always bugs me that hot dogs come 8 to a package and buns come 6 to a package.

[Dave McReynolds]

It always bugs me that hot dogs come 8 to a package and buns come 6 to a package.

 

Didn't you know that the two extra ones are for the wiener dog?

 

[Kathy R]

It always bugs me that hot dogs come 8 to a package and buns come 6 to a package.

 

That just smacks of conspiracy

[Knifemaker]

That Wiley Coyote hasn't caught that road runner yet....

 

That politics are so political.....

 

Nobody makes GOOD Cowboy and Indian movies any more....

 

Hair cuts and shaving

 

The new E-bay Motors layout....

 

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