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

Yes, those!

OMG hand dryers at the gym. Seriously. There's no paper towels. Like my hands aren't already "dry" enough. I HAVE to wash them, just touched y'alls ooky equipment. Not to mention the jet airplane sound effects messin up my personal locker room vibe. Ugh.

I'd rather have a drunk blow on my hands. I hate those fuckin' things.

The Dyson Airblades though, are complete magic. I wish I had $300 to drop on a Dyson fan for the summer :P

yeah, I think part of what makes me angry at the 95% of hand dryers which are shitty is that the good ones are actually fun to use

I'd rather have a drunk blow on my hands. I hate those fuckin' things.

Hahahaha

People who have a seat on a full bus with people standing, but rush to get their single ass on a double seat the millisecond it becomes free. Especially if they then sit on the aisle side.

(ok, if you find yourself next to some disgusting crepe I understand, but in general, maybe the people who are standing would like to sit down before you go "oh I don't like sitting next to people")

Sit down next to them. Smile. Jiggle around a little bit to get comfy. Smile some more.

ia: potential employers who don't seem to grasp that i *want* the job i'm interviewing for. the hypothetical "dream job" they ask me about does not fucking matter. where i "see" myself in five years may not have any relevance to reality -- it could be a linear move, an exponential one, a lateral one. the world as we knew it has gone tits up. i want *this* job. that's why i'm in your office. that's why i bought a new blouse that's more conservative than the one i wore to my last interview.

(this happened the other day; they were all "why do you want to work here? you're overqualified. we're afraid you'll find a job you love and you'll be outta here." sounds like something i'd hear from a codependent first date.)

My friend interviewed for a waitstaff job in a chain restaurant, he got the 'where does he see himself 5 years from now' question. Seems kinda ridic.

To go back to the re-explaining emails ppl dont read thing, I have this snarky, admittedly pass-agg way of addressing that by replying with "as I stated below in this email...", hoping that'll school whoever was dumb enough not to read.

I get told off a lot for my email tone at work heh.

pretty much everything about job interviews makes me irrationally angry

xpost Trayce, that's one of my favorite things is ppl asking me questions that I've already answered in other emails. "See attached." (aka GFY)

Offices, otoh, I just don't even waste time getting irrationally angry, at least so far. I just try to be zen about it. This past week I finished a first draft of an assignment that was due today on tuesday. Partner sat on it even though I kept checking in with her, finally read it last night, had more shit for me to research, then this morning was all rushing me about it. Kept my cool, in the end it was fine even though I got a mild chew-out.

My friend interviewed for a waitstaff job in a chain restaurant, he got the 'where does he see himself 5 years from now' question. Seems kinda ridic.

― Janet Snakehole (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, November 4, 2011 9:57 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

A friend of mine came up with the best response to "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?"

"Celebrating the 5th anniversary of you asking me that question."

I don't think I'd ask the "5 years" question, but I'd also think twice before hiring anyone who gave me such a smartass answer to any questions I did ask.

"I'm afraid this is a zing-free office environment"

"We've already filled our smart-ass quota for this hiring period"

What is the "right" sort answer to that question?

Still with the company, in a position of more responsibility.

Yup.

So it's just a stupid question to filter out those who haven't the nous to look up stock answers to stupid questions?

I bet interviewers who ask that question think they are really asking something incisive and revealing. Like how the MPRE or Top Grading is supposed to mysteriously ferret out the truth about job applicants. It's all based in a human's need to make sense out of chaos and thus doomed to failure if you ask me. But I'm crazy cynical about all expects of management psychology.

It's all very well (possibly) to ask an internal candidate, but if you're not working there already, are you really meant to say "well I shall undoubtedly be working for your company, because you people I've only just met are totes gonna hire me and not the other 9 people you've asked this today, and we're going to get on just fine for five years, and wouldn't be cool if I had your job instead by then"?

Blah.

I think when I was asked this when younger I reassured them that I was interested in staying in my fumbling new career path, but a decade later that angle doesn't work so well. But since "more responsibility" seems to mean "doing less of what I actually do and more people-managing", I don't actually want that at all either.

I was reading this self-help/pop-psych book (urgh), and there was a chapter about how the author had designed a psychological evaluation quiz for some insurance sales company, where they asked candidates to agree/disagree with a statements along the lines of "I make awesome things happen because I am awesome" "if terrible things happen on my watch it was some other schmuck's fault" and only hired the people who were most "optimistic" i.e. basically unbearable.

I had some trouble after that liking the author, or agreeing that I had to change myself to be a top 10% insurance sales candidate instead of thinking that things might occasionally be either my fault or cosmically unavoidable

Haha I tried that tactic once on some pre-interview Likert scale (from 1-10) quiz, circling 10 on the ones that affirmed I was awesome and 1 on the ones that suggested I was flawed. At the interview, the guy commented, "You circled '10' for 'I would be excellent at this job.' What makes you think you're a 10?" I never thought I would be asked to explicate on my really arrogant strategy, so I was saying just really vague, "You know, I've had friends who did this job before, and it sounds like it has its ups and downs, but I really think I have what it takes." The job in question was working for a janitorial company that contracted janitors out to work at Albertson's, and I didn't get hired, as it was pretty obvious there was no way I was a 10/10 janitor.

had to ask two different youths today to stand on the other side of the escalator. it's that time of year again, nearly christmas, lots of outsiders who don't understand our ways.

I'd be tempted to answer the five year q'n with "that depends if you hire me, doesnt it?"

I've spoken to a few friends whove had to do interviews. Ppl often get shoved into it cos their boss is busy, they're not that skilled at it, and end up relying on these shitty cliched HR questions because its all they can find online. It means very little, really.

xp young outsiders who don't understand our old-man ways

have always thought the "Stand On The Right" signs were too terse and unobvious. especially given multiple possible meanings of 'stand' and 'right'.

was also a group of about 10 youths, all similarly dressed and haircutted (v short, with shaven curlicues), who didn't have one clue between them. were asking people if the (piccadilly line) train when to piccadilly circus whilst stood *opposite* the route map on the wall.

I've seen airport travelators that have 'stand' and 'walk' painted on the appropriate sides, on the floor itself. They should do this on escalator steps.

of course that doesn't solve the problem of people who walk too slowly on the "walk" side when the "stand" side is free - like people who sit in the middle lane on motorways.

maybe i should chillax.

Maybe theyre from Melbourne? Its stand on the left, here.

Yeah I never understood the "stand on the right" thing in the UK because it clashes with the road rules. Here there's no such demand on escalators (we are savages) so the few people who randomly show some consideration for other human beings intuitively stand on the left.

Fucking hate jackasses who stand on the left next to someone standing on the right. Sad to say, it's pretty much the norm in Chicago. Also, angry to say.

I read on a Canadian news site that for a while one Canadian city's transit system had signs on their escalators that said to stand on the right and walk on the left, but they took them down bc they were opening themselves to liability by condoning walking on the escalator, which, as I've read elsewhere, manufacturers advise against bc the steps on an escalator are higher than optimal climbing distance and they're sharp.

it's health and safety gone mad!

I've probably said this (because tbh this thread is basiaclly ia toward people who block escalators) but these days I give people ONE chance to move before barrelling through them. I'm in a hurry, if you're not and you insist on blocking escalators, suck it.

(occasionally I get a "WELL EXCUUUUUUUUUUSE ME" from the most vile type of entitled rabble who add literally nothing to my existence so care factor)

people are generally very good about this in london. the fact they weren't yesterday was what made it obvious that they were occasional users, in doing their christmas shopping.

A new ia is not being able to get off a tram/train because everyone is so polite that they're all standing in the aisles RIGHT NEXT TO LIKE TWELVE EMPTY SEATS

This isn't really innocuous, mostly anyway, but its causing me no end of frustration. I signed up for my 401k two months ago and am still waiting to be able to log into the account. When I first signed up I had to fill out some information and they'd snail mail my access code. Fine. Annoying, but whatever. Get the code in the mail, oops. Turns out they had my email address wrong, so it locked me out. Called them, got the email address fixed and, of course, new code snail mailed out. Got new code, oops, name spelled wrong. Repeat process. Finally got the latest code yesterday and went to login tonight, still not working for some reason. Have to wait for yet another fucking access code to be snail mailed to me. This is ridiculous. Why are we still snail mailing this shit in 2011?

My retirement plan does that too. Boggles my mind.

My tax return was like that - they'd set it up but rather than leave the postal code blank, so I could put in my correct country, they'd filled it with spaces so it repeatedly told me 'invalid postal code'. DICKS

ia: seeing a facebook pic of a large group of my fellow alums/"friends" from my grad program partying down at a bar. gee, thanks for using any of the many points of contact you have for me to get in touch. also, thanks for never bothering to show up for any of the stuff i've sent you fb invites to. glad you're not above networking with me on linkedin!

http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/110321/kaling_211.jpg

i was always nice and cheerful to everybody. i worked hard on all those group projects and was never a dick about my opinions. but i think they see me as a weird snob because i'm better-read/more aware of history than they are and i have esoteric tastes.

Not sure if this is that innocuous really but a lady at the (outdoors) tram platform this morning, in fairly strong wind, decided to spritz her face with some kind of perfume/face freshening scent/sunscreen (lord only knows). I happened to be walking up behind her. The wind blew a large cloud of mist droplets directly into my face and eyes. NFI what was in it but now I stink of flowers, my glasses have sticky droplets I cant get off, and my eyes are watering like MAD. Thank you, stupid bitch.

i'm allergic to cheap/strong perfume (it has a lot of irritants that higher-shelf scents don't have) and i feel so sick whenever i'm in the vicinity of it.

Yeah I can be too, especially rose oil/perfume, the smell of which makes me nauseous as all hell. Whatever this was it got in my eyes and they are still very irritated.

I cannot type the word "appliaction", it is driving me spare