Innocuous things that make you irrationally angry (a list thread)

people

I hate those.

just the worst, really

This couple was hovering over me on the train yesterday; I didn't notice them at first because I had on headphones and was playing Drop 7 (btw that game also makes me IA but I can't stop playing it). I noticed in my peripheral vision that the guy was gesturing towards me, which I thought was odd, so I looked up and said, "I'm sorry?"

Dude was not an English speaker so I am not mad at his communication attempt; I am mad about what he was trying to communicate.

What he said was, "Want seat. Mother," and pointed to the woman next to him.

I looked at him confused, then looked at the empty seat next to me, then looked back at him confused.

She then said, "It's fine, don't worry about it."

He said, "Want seat."

I was thinking, "There's a seat RIGHT HERE...?"

She said something to him and he smiled at me and said, "You're okay, enjoy your seat!"

When they left the train at the next stop, he clapped me on the shoulder.

WTF DON'T TOUCH ME CRAZY DUDE WHO DOESN'T RECOGNIZE AN EMPTY SEAT WHEN HE SEES ONE

maybe he was telling the seat he wanted a mother.

I'm interested in hearing more about that interaction! Was she a mother? Pregnant? DOES HE NOT KNIW NOT TO FUCKING TOUCH STRANGERS???

he probably wanted to sit with his mother, and wanted you to get up. which is frankly bonkers.

They were about the same age! (late 30s)

I think he was saying she was pregnant, which yes I'll give up my seat for a pregnant woman, but not when she repeatedly says "no I'm okay" and NOT WHEN THERE ARE EMPTY SEATS ALL OVER THE TRAIN, INCLUDING RIGHT NEXT TO WHERE I AM SITTING

That is . . . crazy?

"enjoy your seat"

Ultra conservative culture maybe? Like she wasn't allowed to sit beside another man?

I think there may be more allergies these days but there is also more media coverage / awareness which makes it seem slike its everywhere like some menace

I'd think if it was that conservative a culture, she wouldn't have been wearing a sleeveless t-shirt and (knee-length) jean shorts

probably it's just mass transit that's to blame here, this has not been a good week for me and it

Hahahaha the other day I got IA because my friend Carlos and I were in a queue for something and it was set up in such a way that people had to cross the line of queuers, all of whom were men except for me. I noticed that whenever an Executive Woman type needed to pass through, she'd excuse herself to me instead of a man. Finally, C spotted how cross I was getting and I had to ask really loudly 'what is it with these women who need me to move for them? Is it something chemical in the production of Banana Republic trousers?'

The only fragrances that made me feel ewwwwwww were Poison by Dior and Giorgio - I could understand why '80s statement perfumes were so pungent and I could understand the people who didn't want to be sprayed by fragrance terrorists, but otherwise 'sensitives' should learn to deal with being in public if the allergy is not all HELLO ANAPHYLAXIS. A p-a badge usually has the effect of making me feel like indulging in the offending behaviour. YOUR PERFUME IS KILLING ME probably rates the YOUR SWEATY PITS ARE WORSE badge in turn.

It makes me very angry when people make fun of seeking out organic/non-GM food sources, but I must admit that when my sis and mom do this, I feel there is no choice but to yank both of their chains by saying 'now which one of us is the skinny one, again? NOT YOU.'

omg "enjoy your seat!" I am IA on your behalf.

Dan, I would not have been able to just let that go.

Xp yeh there might be more allergies, but the unequivocal position that it's a fact and that the speaker knows the reason bugs me.

just guessing dan, but i think maybe he wanted your seat so both he & his mother could sit?

also dude sounds maybe not completely well, mentally. but idk.

xp: elmo, it wasn't his mom. It was his wife/girlfriend. They were the same age.

Two days ago, right at the tail end of rush hour, 10 women with strollers all traveling together as a pack tried to cram themselves onto an already-full bus where the driver was also attempting to make space for a man in a wheelchair. The driver tried to tell them that they all couldn't get on the bus; whatever, this happens, particularly during rush hour.

... OH NO. Half of the women began screaming, cursing out the bus driver, and generally pitching a fit about how it is their right to get on the bus, creating a disturbance to the point where the driver left and went into the depot to calm himself down, at which point they all pushed onto the bus and continued yelling (all while the dude in the wheelchair was sitting on the sidewalk trying to look as small as possible).

Five minutes later, after we are now late to depart, another bus pulls into the depot that follows almost exactly the same route, only two blocks over. All of the yelling women abandon our now-late bus and pile onto the new one.

IT WAS RUSH HOUR. ANOTHER BUS WAS ON ITS WAY. WHY DIDN'T THEY JUST SPLIT UP, CONSIDERING THE BUS WAS FULL AND THERE WERE TEN OF THEM PLUS STROLLERS.

my daughter has been diagnosed allergic to nuts so I am trying to teach her about allergies but she thinkgs you are allergic to something if you just dont like it - like " I dont like that show, I'm allergic to it!"

It makes me very angry when people make fun of seeking out organic/non-GM food sources, but I must admit that when my sis and mom do this, I feel there is no choice but to yank both of their chains by saying 'now which one of us is the skinny one, again? NOT YOU.'

And your skinniness is an indicator of...your superior nutrition? Health?

dan it's because some people are just fucking horrible.

haha yeah I know, hence upthread: people

Dan, I was on a full bus at rush hour when a woman w/ a big stroller tried to get on. The driver very politely told her she would have to collapse the stroller and hold the baby, or she could take the next bus, which was 4 minutes away. She pitched a little fit and boarded anyway. The driver, told her that he was not moving till she collapsed the stroller or got off the buss. She refused, then, the driver, God bless him, put the bus in park and announced to the passengers that we would not be moving due to that lady's refusal to cooperate. She got off, screaming at him "I have a BABY! A BABY!"

*shudder*

thats why no babies are allowed in the city

(also, I believe you can develop allergies you hitherto did not have, but I'm not 100% sure on that)

I think you can. I never had any kind of animal allergies, and suddenly I'm allergic to cats. Never was before.

it's much easier to develop allergies as you get older. i think people are confusing their own allergy-free childhoods with "the old days" in general (and not for the first time)

people who say "correct" instead of "yes" - http://strangersihaveloathed.tumblr.com/

I kind of understand the annoyance on both sides of that one, Jesse. If she managed to make it onto the bus, it seems like an annoyance I could let slide (but then again, that's Boston life in a nutshell; letting annoyances slide).

However, had that women been with 9 friends, all of whom had strollers, and they all had been screaming and attempting to force their way onto the bus, I would be cheering for the driver to step on the gas while they were still hanging out of the door.

I mean, what is the point, especially when there's another bus right on its way? We were at an endpoint, all of the schedules were posted AND it was rush hour! Ugh.

I'm gonna pitch a fit the next time I can't get on a packed train, see if that helps me get my way or if it just makes me look like a jackass.

xxp aha, did not know that. I wasn't seriously freaked out by my new allergies, nor did I wistfully reminisce about carefree childhood days romping with many cats (because those days didn't exist), but it did strike me as a little odd.

Have been known to say 'you must be so proud of that one time you had sex' when sociopaths use MY BABY as a path to high-horsedom. BTW Jesse my skinniness is relative to my mother and sister and I am pulling nobody's chain but theirs. They don't believe in climate change, either.

Elmo, there are perfectly civil ways to ask a fellow commuter to slide over so you can have seats together with a traveling companion and I don't think that was one of them.

You know when people (meaning women, because men don't do this as much) do the 'really?' thing instead of just saying what the basis of their effrontery is? I've taken to deploying 'lady, if you have to ask...' in reply.

Yeah not to be all that person about the fragrances, but to be truthful, "dealing with it" in public usually just means putting up with feeling like crap for an hour or two afterward - just an annoyance but a pretty constant one. It's not perfumes exactly, some kind of chemical ingredients I think, and problem is that by the time I notice something is bothering me, it's too late. I mean, it's easy to avoid fragrance depts in stores etc., but usually it's out of my control. Like about six months ago, was in a shared hospital room (private not available) and the other family had a constant stream of visitors, several wearing absolutely heinous perfumes. I didn't complain but literally had to hold my nose and put up with a terrible headache. Not exactly what I needed at the time, but I accept that most people don't realize that they are having that effect.

really?

i once refused to give up my seat for a husband & wife on the amtrak because of the sheer rudeness of the manner i was approached: he and his wife boarding at the last possible moment and loading their hand luggage into the overhead bin above me before he snorted "can you move?" at me. his jaw dropped when i refused. whatever, i'm sure he walked away from the encounter thinking i was twice as rude as i considered him.

Oh god, this. "I have a baby" = I have the God given right to everything in the universe. It's amazing. A lady with a huge pushchair getting on a train at the busiest time in the morning, could've collapsed it but oh no "I'm looking after my child" she said when one of the very cramped passengers asked her to fold it... I could have, really...

I think you can. I never had any kind of animal allergies, and suddenly I'm allergic to cats. Never was before.

― shake it, shake it, sugary pee (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, June 10, 2011 3:26 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark

Me too. Lived with cats, even. Now I can't go near them without my eyes streaming. Shame because I like cats.

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

I think everyone understands how much of a pain/hassle it is to deal with a child and a stroller, but... that's kind of the hand you are playing at the moment. Also, if you ask someone to help you, they likely will!

Worst heathens on crowded subways are the ones who lean against the pole that you need to hang on to. So their sweaty backs are against your hand! They make me wish for burning lasers from my eyes.

Kim, that's when you accidentally poke them in the small of the back.

"Yes, I CAN, but I won't move for you." *does a little dance in seat*

Dan, the thing is, she was jammed up against the front door of the bus, so at subsequent stops when people at the front of the bus wanted to get off she would have to get off the bus, or the exiting passengers would have to jam through all the others to get to the back doors. many xps

... like I said, "life in Boston"

In Chicago we kick ladies and babies off buses.

i think people are confusing their own allergy-free childhoods with "the old days" in general (and not for the first time)

I was at one point gently thinking "man, when I was a kid nobody in my friends/class/school was allergic to peanuts", and then I realised:
1. I'm pretty oblivious and was surely even more so then, so probably they were;
2. I remember being told when I was small that I wasn't "old enough" to eat peanuts because they were dangerous and small children choked to death on them, and in retrospect this was probably actually anaphylactic shock rather than choking on a physical nut in the throat
(or was it?)
(and if it was, I don't know if the wrong assumption was all on my part or if this was the general thought of the time)

I too hate how people think they're more important than you.

Once I remember I was airing up my tires which were all low at one of the gas station air pumps, when this lady with an obvious flat pulls up behind.

I'm not done yet (plus it's still my air that I paid for) and she's yelling for me to leave the air pump because she needs it more for her flat tire.

Um...wait thirty seconds? Also just putting air innit ain't gonna help if you don't fix the flat

Also, customers that try to return products simply cuz they don't know how to use them

i once refused to give up my seat for a husband & wife on the amtrak because of the sheer rudeness of the manner i was approached: he and his wife boarding at the last possible moment and loading their hand luggage into the overhead bin above me before he snorted "can you move?" at me. his jaw dropped when i refused. whatever, i'm sure he walked away from the encounter thinking i was twice as rude as i considered him.

That is just... I mean, was the wife pregnant or elderly or something? Why would anyone think that someone would just give up their seat to them for no reason?!?

Today's public transport related IA at IT is:

people who choose to walk down the left side of the escalator and then walk REALLY REALLY slowly.

I was once denied entrance to a crowded Chicago bus because I had a giant (like three feet tall) bag of dirty laundry I was hauling to the 'mat. The driver told me I could board if I collapsed the bag and I protested with a huffy, "But it's full of dirty clothes!" Which in hindsight probably wasn't the best way to plead my case. It was on wheels so I just dragged it the five or so blocks, cursing all humanity the entire way.

I am very pro-baby but def get frustrated with large strollers on public transit during busy times. Also doublewide strollers on city sidewalks. Pretty much any clueless stroller pushers who forget that, wonderful as their baby may be, other grownups are also wonderful and deserving of obstruction-free passage to their chosen destination.

basically, unless you're actually commuting to work, don't get on the train at 07:50 on a weekday morning.

It is funny that the largest, most unwieldy strollers seem most popular in the city. I can sort of understand not wanting to take your kid out (mine actually got injured on a crowded bus because I had her in a body carrier) but I never took anything other than the tiny maclaren (folding umbrella stroller) on transit. The only excuse for a larger one is if the baby is still in that newborn, immobile stage and can't sit upright enough yet. Sort of a necessary evil that they need to be horizontal.