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

Jeff, Jesse, and I took a spin class once during which a dude spread his towel across the handlebars of his spin bike, making a towel hammock that he proceeded to hock loogies into for the duration of the class.

whaaaat

omg you took a spin class with ben gibbard?

Does Ben Gibbard spit a lot?

based on my limited experience yes and for no good reason (although i am not a singer)

- You might imagine the spin horker as a grotesque meathead or crusty oldster, but he was a fit, young, vivacious, upbeat latino-American, who frequently hooted with enthusiasm and encouragement. So weird.

- there is a guy who has been going to my gym for years who does intense sessions on the elliptical while chomping like crazy on a big wad of his sweat towel. I gag when I see it, and even just thinking about it.

- I read Wm's post re intersection violations about 10 minutes before driving into a T intersection where I was on the street that ended (the only one part with a stop sign) taking a left. A driver coming from the left stopped and waited. I verified she had no stop sign, so I waited and stared at her, and she waited and stared at me, and we waited until the soupy Carolina dusk descended on us and I honked, turned left, and gave her the finger.

Aaarrggggh!! I hate the mta. Something was wrong with their credit card connection this morning and so you couldn't buy any cards using a credit or debit card from the vending machines. Because I tried my transit benefits card more than five times (trying several different machines), wage works put an effing lock on my card and now I have to wait for two days for the lock to be released to be able to buy this card that I've already paid for via my paycheck. And this stupid company has no way of releasing the lock and I spent nearly 40 min on the phone with them to find this out. Ugh. I tried to convince them to reimburse me for these 2 days out of pocket but they would not budge.

Jesse and I can both empathize with navigating the labyrinthine horrors of transit benefit. That's crazy frustrating.

the drivers in portland seem to do the "no no you go ahead" thing a lot, which makes me so angry.

that said, i accidentally put one foot into an intersection before realizing i didn't have a walk sign, and this car just sat there, the occupants staring at me. i waved them by and said, "sorry!" and as they passed, they said, "next time you die, faggot!" i was like, "wow, what a nice first interaction in portland."

- I read Wm's post re intersection violations about 10 minutes before driving into a T intersection where I was on the street that ended (the only one part with a stop sign) taking a left. A driver coming from the left stopped and waited. I verified she had no stop sign, so I waited and stared at her, and she waited and stared at me, and we waited until the soupy Carolina dusk descended on us and I honked, turned left, and gave her the finger.

― Je55e, Monday, July 9, 2012 2:59 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I just wanted to repost this because that last bit is beautiful. Also I've thought about this post and laughed a few times since yesterday.

xpost yikes

on the busy street near our house, between two sets of stop lights there is a crosswalk that is basically the "gauntlet of death" - it comes right after a bend in the road so you really can't the see full length of the street, and it's two lanes in both directions, so people go a little faster than a surface street. The crosswalk had got to the point where it even had those little flashy lights embedded into the asphalt, ...but the thing was, there was no real other signage aside from lines painted on the road...so since it's not an actually traffic light everyone mostly goes, meh whatever fuck you I ain't stopping. Half the cars doing a decent clip down the street just blow right through the crosswalk whether someone's crossing or not. As a pedestrian, you could have one car stopped for you and never know for sure if the other 3 were going to slow down. Slowing down to let them cross, I've seen people almost hit by the car in the next lane who decided to pass on the whole stopping thing. Scary.

So they just repaved this section of street, and now the lines, and the lights from the crosswalk are totally gone. There's no crosswalk, for all intents and purposes. I dunno if they're going to replace them, or if they just abandoned it as a failed experiment. Like 'Clearly that section of street is uncrossable." There's technically no crosswalk except for the sloped indents in the curb on either side of the street. But the hospital staff there still stand there like they're going to try and cross the street! I've seen people try to do it! I don't understand why you would. And I want to pull over and say, 'Look, I'll DRIVE you to the nearest set of traffic lights so you can cross the street. Please for the love of god don't cross there until they repaint it."

Jesse and I can both empathize with navigating the labyrinthine horrors of transit benefit. That's crazy frustrating.

Yes. I am the administrator of transit benefits at my work and it's ridiculous. As I've posted before, the REGIONAL Transit Authority and the CHICAGO Transit Authority have completely redundant programs for the CTA, but the new news is that on the RTA's program, neither the passenger nor the administrator have any means of finding out ANY info whatsoever about renewal dates, expiration dates, lost cards, etc. When I call the RTA, they say, "You need to talk to your plan administrator." I tell them that I am the admin, and they say, "You should already have that information." [I] SHOULD ALREADY HAVE THAT INFORMATION! Information that no one has ever provided or told me where to find (except referring me back to myself for it.)

I switched us to the CTA plan, but it takes 2 months to start the program.

haha. just tell yourself the information you need to know. it's that simple.

"I told myself that my card never expired, and that if I lose my card, I can just ride for free forever."

VG your crosswalk post reminds me of what happened to Raquel Nelson in Georgia (warning: it is shitty beyond belief and infuriating and involves the death of a small child): http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/07/22/the-streets-and-the-courts-failed-raquel-nelson-can-advocacy-save-her/

That also reminds me to call my alderman again about repainting the cross walk lines at the corner where I cross the street to catch the bus every day.

They (who??) have been putting up highly visible signs in the middle of streets in some crosswalks, including the one in front of my apartment building. This is a really good thing. Motorists have very noticeably started slowing down and stopping far more since they put that one in.

They've been putting them up around Evanston lately and, while I'm generally for them (not least when I'm trying to get to the park with my son in his stroller across a busy road), a lot of people have absolutely no clue how to handle them. Evanston puts miniature stop signs all over them and a scary number of people treat them like regular stop signs, even when there are no pedestrians around. People will just stop at them and look around confused for awhile, its terribly annoying.

YES! I noticed those signs when n/a and I went to get your AC this weekend. I asked them to put up those signs. I was going to call, but they had an email form so I wrote a five paragraph, well-reasoned, impassioned plea for crosswalk lines and pedestrian signs in the middle of the crosswalk.

I am seriously concerned I'm going to get clobbered by a car one of these days, especially since I'm almost always running out to catch a bus that's due to arrive like three minutes (it can easily take five minutes to get across the street).

Then I remembered somebody stole one of our trashcans, but I didn't think I should immediately send another email and be like, "Oh yeah, can we have a new trash can, too? Thanks."

The signs:

http://www.trbimg.com/img-4ff38aa2/turbine/chi-city-begins-installing-stop-for-pedestrian-001/600

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-city-begins-installing-stop-for-pedestrians-within-crosswalk-signs-20120703,0,2613692.story

We've got signs like those. I think I've only hit one so far.

they should just put little signs that say "don't be a douche" everywhere, like literally everywhere

We can actually get 2 more recycling cans and 1 regular garbage one. Since there are 3 units in our building.

they should just put little signs that say "don't be a douche" everywhere, like literally everywhere

otm

The most frustrating thing about those signs is how many people still blow right through the crosswalks without even slowing down.

They have been slowing down a lot in front of my building! I have seen numerous people totally yield in ways they wouldn't have otherwise. Even cab drivers are doing it. Also at the one in front of the Brown line on Diversey (pictured above, I think.) The other nice thing about them is even if a driver doesn't yield, the sign is a good spot for the pedestrian to stand while the driver passes.

I want armed guards posted at crosswalks.

When n/a and I were driving around that way, I noticed cars definitely slowing/stopping in a way that they did not do... what was it the weekend before when I was there at the nail salon?

The Brown Line signs are awesome because that wasn't even really a crosswalk - just a place where people like to Frogger cross to try to get to the correct bus. It shows a certain amount of right thinking on the part of W@guesp@ck that he chose to use his crosswalk sign allotment in a place where people were crossing the street.

What is the thing called where engineers or designers plan walkways based on how pedestrians are already using them rather than trying to make people walk based on their designs? I like that approach. My urban geography prof said that Thomas Jefferson did that at the Univ of Virginia by basing sidewalks on trails worn over time.

Oh, here is that movie I was telling you about that talks about such things: http://urbanizedfilm.com/stream/

It's available on Netflix streaming.

I watched that.

They have those signs here. It's great watching drivers on cellphones blow right by them, especially when I'm in the middle of the crosswalk.

i am ia that you ppl have benefits at all, let alone transit benefits

I think that is more RA than IA.

My work situation is weird - I am the only employee of the solo-practitioner firm (Firm A (though it's a solo practice, it is still called a firm)) that employs me, but I work for Firm B, which shares office space w/ A, and A bills B for my time. Anyway, I am my only advocate for shit like transit benefits. I'm trying to learn how to administer a Flexible Spending Account, but I'm not sure it will work. (Advice welcome.) Not sure if I had a point, except that I am in a unique position of giving myself benefits.

Re the pedestrian crossing sign: I can't get over how effective it is! Jvc, I'm not trying to be contrary w/ you, but the one in front of my building is like a "Don't Be A Douchebag" behavior override for drivers. Tonight I watched traffic for a while while I stretched after running and people slowed down, and at the first sign of a person wanting to cross, they stopped. Especially for old people, even when the oldster pedestrians were crossing on the opposite side from the oncoming car.

I think that this whole thread is more RA than IA. The spirit of the OP was lost long ago

Anyways, the thing Jonathan Papelbon does with his mouth makes me IA

I BEG TO DIFFERZ

People who make that critical little lip-smacking noise when they eat something, then say with a rising tone "mmmmmmm, <insert nickpicking criticism of food just eaten here>".
YOU ARE NOT EGON RONAY. IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE FOOD, DON'T EAT IT. THERE IS ALWAYS A CHOICE HERE. YOU CAN A) TAKE IT, OR B) LEAVE IT. IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DEEP FRY YOUR OWN TURDS AND EAT THEM INSTEAD.

they should just put little signs that say "don't be a douche" everywhere, like literally everywhere

Can this be like the "don't tread on me" flag except the snake is wearing sunglasses?

The fact that in 2012 we have to work hard to opt OUT of getting phonebooks, instead of opting IN if we for whatever crazy reason want one. Woke up this morning to, literally, the third phonebook on my doorstep this year. I DON'T NEED OR WANT ONE.

^^^ Except now the phonebook also comes in a plastic bag with information printed on it about how/where to recycle your phone book. I THINK I CAN SAVE YOU SOME WORK, GUYS.

lol, otm

I've probably posted this here before, but this happens more than once a year at my apartment building and most of them just sit there until the custodian throws them out. At my last apartment, they sat on the front porch and soaked up rain and snow until the ancient landlady lugged them to the Dumpster.

https://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/216281_1970052773553_6947670_n.jpg

Of course she only had 6 or 7 to lug, not ~90-some.

Dang, I can't believe you made her carry them to the trash. I leave our sodden phone books for our landlord, but he's younger than me.

I did throw out some of them, sometimes.

please tell me you tore at least a couple in two.

I wish I could tell you that truthfully.