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

You stay outta MY way, Farrell. ;D

You have not been stuck in line behind an older person or a lady w long nails, poking through their purses or wallets for that last nickel, and then making the cashier bag their coffee and packaged food item individually? Because shut up, it doesn't take even half the time for me to swipe a credit card.

Haha yes fair enough - I had forgotten that most US credit cards require you to swipe and sign (and sometimes not even sign?), which is closer to the RFID stuff, but without any of that inconvenient security.

YOU MAY PASS, AMERICA

Swipe and key in a PIN. Although some places have RFID (or similar tech by another name) capability. I've seen it at some drug stores and McDonald's.

I think a lot of places where speed is a thing, like breakfast and lunch cafes near big office buildings, will swipe and not even sign if it's under $10 or something? Supa-fast.

yeah credit cards are way faster for me. it's easy access (i keep it in my back pocket with my subway card) and i can just swipe--but if I need cash, I have to rummage for my wallet and then get out the cash and then take the change and put it back in my wallet and then put the wallet back in my bag and then grab my things and THEN i can go

I've been meaning to go to an atm to get some cash for something like 3 weeks, but I'm actually getting used to making all these $5 credit card transactions

My ATM is this place called Walgreens.

Nothing like going through the line with a box of diapers and a Frappacino to end it with "yes that's right now you GIVE ME the money."

Starbucks does the swipe and no sign/no pin thing. The Walgreens/McDonald's things I'm thinking of have a little... flange at the top and you just touch your card to it and it debits your account without need of a pin or a signature.

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/8413/30820hipaypass.jpg

Like so.

On further searching, it seems this process is known as "contactless payment."

aka RFID

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contactless_payment

Yep! Transport for London uses them for their public transport - they are the future and it is awesome.

I'm seeing some smart phone payment systems start popping up at sandwich shops and coffee shops. You install an app that links to a credit or debit card, then at the business, the app displays a QR code on your screen, which is scanned by a smart phone that is fixed to the counter. Not as convenient as a card, IMO b/c you have to find the app and open it, but it's a step in a cool direction.

The CTA was making noises about a system where passengers could use smart phones as a boarding pass the same way a we use a proximity card now. That sounds like good news.

Yep! Transport for London uses them for their public transport - they are the future and it is awesome.

we have this in l.a. as well -- the TAP card system.

http://la.streetsblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01_15/1_20_09_TAP.jpg

I used a, uh, contactless payment device on the Coke machine at the train station by my work. It processed my payment, and then when it was dispensing my Coke Zero, it churned out a load of coins from around the world. There were 2 or 3 Euros of different denominations, a few Mexican Pesos, some Colombian coins, and a few Canadian nickels and dimes (are they called that in Canada?) and some U.S. coins. Cool machine.

I'm seeing some smart phone payment systems start popping up at sandwich shops and coffee shops. You install an app that links to a credit or debit card, then at the business, the app displays a QR code on your screen, which is scanned by a smart phone that is fixed to the counter. Not as convenient as a card, IMO b/c you have to find the app and open it, but it's a step in a cool direction.

I have something like that sitting here on my desk, except it's reversed. It's a little slider that I plug into the headphone slot and I can take your credit card, swipe it and get a deposit into my paypal acct.

I've never used it, but I got it for free. Figured that maybe it would come in handy one day at a garage sale or lemonade stand.

once saw someone use his card to buy one (1) 25p orange at one of the self service tills in tescos.

We have contactless transit cards, too. I love them.

http://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/page_header_images/680banner_ccatpiu.jpg

For no reason, here is our mayor riding the train:

http://www.chicagonow.com/cta-tattler/files/2012/04/Rahm-on-L-Mich-Mag-photo-624x468.jpg

Our last mayor rode the streetcar to work. <3 This one drives his damn minivan right downtown.

People reading newspapers on public transit make me IA.

Whaaaa? People reading is always* better than the alternative!

*not always

What's the alternative? Farting?

I presume it's because many with newspapers think that they then are permitted to completely violate the space of those sitting next to them with a spread out newspaper.

I"ve never seen Rahm on the train, even though we share an el stop. He probably leaves for work a good couple of hours before I do, though.

Yeah we have tap and go T cards here in Boston too.

If Rahm was on the train with me, I don't know if I'd be able to refrain from telling him some concerns and really great ideas I have about the city of Chicago. At length. So really I wouldn't blame him if he chose to drive to work these days.

I would stare at his hand the whole time.

the WHOLE time.

I seriously doubt he drives himself.

The CTA was making noises about a system where passengers could use smart phones as a boarding pass

British Airways has a mobile check-in/boarding pass app.

United has that too. I kind of hate it because my battery runs down standing in security having it ready to go. then again while boarding. It's a delicate dance in airports to maintain sufficient battery life.

the whole using your smartphone for boarding passes/paying for things/etc. thing is almost certainly going to be future source of irrational anger for me as I often forget to recharge my phone.

people who walk around the office on a hands free when they're on a call, yelling their conversation to show how big their wang is. my office is full of these total savages.

I definitely miss the days when people walking around talking loudly to nobody just meant that they were crazy

thise fucking M&M's characters !!!!

They're not too bad. The problem is when I'm watching internet videos and see them every. fucking. time. That or the guy falling out of a plane and having the car built around him by skydivers.

they have made me rue the day jungle warriors demanded a chocolate that would nto melt

Dude on Grooveshark who says he's already made it in his mind because he's gotten to go on tour.

And that little riff that plays during the Spotify ads. Ha, okay, I see now how you're going to force me to pay for this thing, good job.

they should just give you spotify points if you buy certain products, like Doritos or dildos

localgarda otm about handsfree shouting in the office.

also ppl who insist on conference calls when a private call/email would do and b) ppl who insist on conference calls with the doors of their office /conference room wide open so all and sundry can hear the boring details of your stupid loud meeting

In my open office, managers have their own cubes alongside an outer wall while the hoi polloi work inside the big room at these awful little Herman Miller desks.

http://www.svconcept.ch/_img/products/pics/resolve1.jpg

There's one manager here who is in charge of a lot of important supervision, and her cube is waaayyyy off in the corner by the window. And, because I assume her telephone extension doesn't work or is located on a high shelf, frequently shouts out questions like "Who's got theoirja[opsdj'paf?" or "IAEOSP! I need you to oadjksf;alksd."

I know those quotes don't make sense, but that's how I hear them. Why they stuck the one person who does need to know how the office wheels are cranking down to the lugnuts all the way out in Siberia, I don't know. Siberia does have a window, but it's very impractical.

She's also one of those Doppler talkers -- starts a sentence on one side of the room and finishes it on the other side, where maybe you can catch the middle part.

(Also, my ears don't work too good in this environment. Especially when I'm listening to grooveshark on my earphones.)

My boss does that, too - the Doppler talking. And he doesn't raise the volume as he gets farther away.

British Airways has a mobile check-in/boarding pass app.

Do mobile phone boarding passes work by scanning a QR code on the phone's screen or by RFID?

The one the CTA is contemplating would be RFID, which is what makes it cool.

this is a boring one but i have to find a new IM client for my work's website because meebo is shutting down (thanks google) and one of the requirements is that it can't be flash-based (because our site won't support it). but none of the sites for these products indicate whether they are flash-based; the only way to find out is to go through the whole registration process and get the embed code. i've registered for like four clients today, none of which we'll be able to use.

okay that blows

:(

also some of them are ad-supported and that's not always obvious either

HULK SMASH

I don't think Herman Miller should be allowed to design cubicles until he has worked in one for at least three years. Those little desks do not look very practical.

This is the companion to my theory that Helmut Jahn has always had a housekeeping which is why he designed a building with visible but unreachable filth collecting spaces that are impossible to keep clean.

It's too late on a Friday for me to start getting into what I would do to Herman Miller if I saw him.

Haha if I worked at those desks I would help you.