Yippee-IA, Motherf***ers! IRRATIONALLY ANGRY PT. 2: Irrationally Angrier

I see so many dozens of drivers roll through, or even blow through, stop signs in my neighborhood each day that I no longer accept that I can trust them not to space out and roll through their 'stop' when I'm half way into the intersection. Embedded habits take over whenever your attention wanders, and the attention of these drivers wanders pretty damn often afaics. So, I wait until I can see that they see me, instead of them looking down at some device or blithely chatting with a phone at their ear or playing with their dog, as they approach their stop. Then I go.

Yeah, I'm always "let's see if you stop first" before I make my move.

But if you could be through the intersection before they even get to it, wouldn't you go?

I don't trust anyone with a car, period. I look both ways even when I'm crossing a one-way street.

If they're far enough away that it seems safe, sure, I'd go. Sometimes when a car stops at a sign for a long time, it is because the driver is fiddling around with something while the car isn't moving. Another kind of distracted driver, but at least they aren't moving.

I guess I'm just IA about it, then. Grrr.

I feel you, schwantz. You're not alone.

I get it too. And if every driver was a Schwantz, I'd be Hollywood Stoppin' all day long.

I feel you, schwantz.

heh.

I'm currently IA at giant SUV's and monster-trucks with blinding headlights
also anyone driving with high beams can go eat a bag of dicks

Youtube "demo" vidoes of audiophile stereo equipment. LIKE I CAN REALLY FUCKING TELL WHAT YOUR SPEAKERS SOUND LIKE THROUGH MY CRAPPY HEADPHONES OUT OF MY DELL LAPTOP.

Intercity bus timetables with impossible intervals between stops. That seem to be ignored anyway once you've panicked to get to a stop in between in time. 10 minutes to go 10 miles? Starting from the centre of town? With the current junction lay out.

Local buses that pull away as you try to get to the door laden with bags. Am I invisible? Couldn't have moved faster with a trolley case on a wet pavement.

Cramming plane seats too close together. Somebody's back wedged against your knee & shifting back on it several times. The body of a plane shaking before and during flight.

This new phenomenon of groupon-style coupons that aren't really that great, like "$35 for a $50 Norwegian Cruise Gift Card!" So it's $15 off of a fucking CRUISE? What is that like 2%?

I was going to put something about sales that aren't really sales! Like when you get $10 off any purchase totaling $150 or more. It's dumb.

The whole larger phenomenon of modern pricing irritates me, like a few stores I get spam from seem to have "40% off" like every other day. Amazon prices have changed dramatically on me between site visits on the same day. And I've seen some sites have a "50% off sale" on prices that are higher than they were a week earlier. I guess this shit probably always happened, it's just easier to see now.

Cross ref the embarrassing thread about discounts you can only get if you share some bullshit on twitter/Facebook.

Stupid capitalism making getting ripped off look like a fun game. It's a game you'll never win!

hate to bring it up, but I get coupons all the time in the mail for $1 off 10 Chobani yogurts.

THAT'S A DIME. A WHOPPING TEN CENTS. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth BUT STOP WASTING BOTH OF OUR TIME.

Note: there was a very good article in the most recent Bitch about extreme coupon cutters that posited the theory that they did indeed win capitalism by beating it at its own game. Also some stuff about it creating a paid market for women's domestic labor. Really good article.

see also the safeway/drugstore coupons after-purchase which give you the most useless discounts on things you've already bought

BUY 10 BOXES KLEENEX AND SAVE $1

this is pretty elementary i know but i will relay it just because it was direct from the horse's mouth, but we had an account rep from 'staples advantage' in and he explained that one of the big benefits to having a corporate account with advantage is that coupons are not usable and instead they just charge the price for the items minus the premium they add to prices to account for the coupon discounts.

all the spam from my smartphone service provider is like this, "save 10%" at some awful chain restaurant, or "limited edition chocolate set, 5% off"

BUY 10 BOXES KLEENEX AND SAVE $1 ON YOUR NEXT VISIT WHEN YOU SURE AS FUCK WON'T NEED 10 BOXES KLEENEX

I mean, Walmart is this horrible purgatory of capitalism, but I'll give them credit for taking the approach of "what do you need store coupons or shopping cards for? Shit's Always on sale."

ON YOUR NEXT VISIT WHEN YOU SURE AS FUCK WON'T NEED 10 BOXES KLEENEX

YES. Or women's clothing stores that offer some kind of company scrip for use against your next purchase, but it expires in two weeks. Fuck you I just spent $100 on clothes. I won't need to come back in two weeks.

I would be less annoyed by these kinds of discounts if the stores didn't advertise them as being such an AMAZING DEAL.

Costco automatically credits you any discount/rebate at the register. You never need the coupon. <3<3<3

ok, *retro* music that just kind of approximates a past style without really nailing it, like super-reverent "folk" bands that make insipid covers of Anthology of American Folk music songs and wear old man hats and whatnot, and the vocals are always a little over-sweetened or over bluesy or over precious.

There's a vocal style in there that tries to be old, I can't think of specific example but yeah the old blues jazz style where you sing and every vowel has an r sound to it like you're gritting through your teeth or something. Sick of that.

One variation is kind of like a bad Billie Holliday impression

the prefatory phrase, in the imperative:

'know that…'

var.

'please know that…'

machines that use the first person, eg the atm that displays 'i'm getting your money now'

machines that offer congratulations upon completing simple tasks, eg the atm that displays 'congratulations, here is your money'

ok, *retro* music that just kind of approximates a past style without really nailing it,

It wasn't pseudo-folk, but I saw this band Vintage Trouble open for the Who last year, and they just about blew up my IA-o-meter. The singer had one of those old-timey silver microphones that looks like a grill, the band had all "vintage" (but presumably new reissue) guitars, amps, and drums, and the drummer wore a fucking sleeve garter. Hey, gonna serve me up some sarsaparilla between fills there, Tex?

The singer kept trying to do spins, but he was too squeamish to really go for it, so it just looked like he was running in a tight circle. When he did knee "drops," he gently lowered himself to the floor, and it looked like he was thinking "careful...careful..." They were a cover band without any material. And, as expected, the Lefsetzes in the audience ate this shit up.

machines that offer congratulations upon completing simple tasks, eg the atm that displays 'congratulations, here is your money'

Your friend technology

xp yeah that's a pretty spot-on description of what I'm picturing. There's something insincerely reverent about the whole thing. It's not exactly nerdy in the way Civil War Reenactors are -- in fact I almost wish they were a bit MORE nerdy about it (an impeccably faithful and loving rendering of a retro style can be impressive, like Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings). Instead it's just this bad pastiche based on the vague idea that the past is cool. And of course that past is softened, as your description of the weaksauce dance moves suggests. And there's a laziness to it, as though it's somehow ok to take shortcuts in doing "old time" music that you wouldn't take in creating new music, because, you know, it's "folk" or whatever.

11-4 on Saturday, closed on Sunday. WHAT KIND OF RESTAURANT ARE YOU THEN

Gordon Ramsey would have something to say about that.

Tonight I ran a tab on a credit card at a bar. Later at the grocery store I saw that the bartender had charged and given to me the card of somebody named Eduardo.

This spring at the same bar and friend went to close her tab and found out the bartender had given her card to some other woman. WTF is up? Tonight it wasn't busy and I heard the bar back tell the bartender, "Jesse wants to pay his tab."

And later I opened a bill from the hospital where I had my tonsillectomy and found that they tried to bill an insurance company that I haven't used for 3 years. This is the same hospital that previously kept sending bills to the wrong address for my insurance company despite my frequent calls telling them they were fucking up.

I was already irritable so now I'm dying of IA.

Went to the movies yesterday and this trailer played, and just the opening bars of the music made me IA that this whole bullshit twee genre and arrangement style still exists and is a successful choice for advertisers and marketers to attach to their products. I don't care if people with poor taste want to listen to it in the privacy of their own homes, don't make me listen to it in movie trailers and car ads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_0fhUVF4yg

you were expecting maybe ac/dc?

Are those my only two choices? If so, yes.

That's Wes Anderson's actual record player.

tbh fuck laika's whole "WE'RE FUCKING LAIKA CHECK THIS OUT oh also here's a movie i guess" ad strategy

fucking toasters that need two passes to toast motherfucking bread

you have ONE job

iPhone's quick weather on tells the wind chill temp today. Fuck that subjective info - I want to know the facts!

0 degrees.

Oh wait no I'm sorry. 1 degree. It warmed up since I last checked.

Yahoo weather is my new favorite weather app.

The way twitter addresses are written with the "@" in front of them always really irritates me, because I automatically hear "at" whenever I see that symbol. Gets especially clunky with tweets that are directed at another tweeter and mention third party tweeters.

My internet connection has been incredibly crappy over the past week or so, so I've been doing a lot of talking on the phone to customer service people. I know they probably make a crappy wage UNLESS they sell customers additional stuff but there is nothing that makes me more IA than wasting my time trying to fix a service that I have paid for by asking me if I want to spend even more money.

"Why yes, I would love to give an extra $30 a month to a company who is currently charging me full price for AOL-era internet speed!"

Sir, I know you have just spend half an hour waiting on the phone and then another half hour trying (and failing) to get your service to work, but have you ever thought about throwing more money at the problem?