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

A couple weeks ago, at the very beginning of my journey of timeliness, I was supposed to meet a friend for a movie. I VOWED to myself to be significantly early. I was dressed and street-ready, & bus tracker said there were buses coming in 20 minutes and 14 minutes.

I sat primly on my couch, reading, waiting for the 20-min bus, but then I remembered I was going to scoop the cat litter. After that I swept, then washed my hands, then filed my nails, and so on, and then I remembered the bus and rushed downstairs just as it drove off.

I was still ~10-15 minutes early, but only because I was trying to be considerably earlier. I guess I need to shoot for being ludicrously early until I get this shit figured out.

it seems like it worked in this case!

i asked my ludicriously late friend to maybe try arriving early, and she flat out refuses.

then filed my nails, and so on

This is the part where things went pear-shaped, fyi.

i am never late unless it's due to circumstances beyond my control (i.e. train or bus running off schedule, etc.) and am usually early but i also have time anxiety issues that have negative consequences for my mental well-being so, you know, double-edged sword. also constantly being early for everything kind of sucks too.

yeah if I'm ready way too early then I just kind of sit in a state of readiness pretending to watch tv or look at my phone and as soon as the clock shows IT'S TIME TO LEAVE I am out the door like a shot. I'm mentally running around in circles like a nervous dog before then. And the thought of DOING anything with that ready-time gives me nausea. 'it'll take too long and then I'll be LATE!"

I'm compulsively early and get really IA at people who are compulsively late. I'm getting better at not being SO early anymore. Setting an egg timer to go off when I need to leave the house has helped.

I'm always, always either on time or early for appointments. I'm not compulsive about it, because I inherited it from my mom so it's just hard-wired in me at this point. And it doesn't even piss me off that much anymore when people I'm expecting are late, because a) I always carry a book and my iPod and b) I know I was on time, so I get to feel smug and superior about their lateness and comparative lack of organizational life-skills.

Ugh my neighbourhood (well, one of the two I live slap bang between) is full of posh twats. This girl was blithely cycling the wrong way up a one-way street which was full of stopped traffic including a police car. They told her out the window that it was a one-way street (tbf it's not that obvious... particularly) and she was going the wrong way and she just went 'oh sorry!' and carried on. The cops were like '...uh well can you stop doing it and get off please'.

it's a good thing I'm not a cop, it'd be all I could do not to throw a nightstick at her head

I can't even work out if I'm the always late person or not. I am always 10 minutes late to work and I am definitely the extended-faff-at-leaving-time half of this couple, but I am also always the person who arrives at a gig before the scheduled door time (which is never kept to) and then has to sit around awkwardly on my own for like an hour and a half - but if I try to be casually, fashionably late I get anxious that I am missing something

also moving somewhere where there are buses every 5-10 minutes has been bad for my punctuality, previously the bus was hourly and I'd be damn sure to be on it, but now it's like "oh, I can leave at any time"

Another related IA thing: I'm always early for doc appointments but then I never see the doc until 15 to 30 min after my appt time

Yeah, my doctor always runs like 40 minutes late, but if you aren't checked in by your appt time, the receptionist bitches you out and tells you you can't be seen! (ok, this has never happened to me so I don't know the exact circumstances, but I've seen people turned away for being 5 minutes late)

zachlyon, I like you. You're a good egg.

― in orbit, Thursday, September 6, 2012 9:55 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thank you, passing spacecadet

Oh, that's not who this is. But I'm sure she would like you, too.

At Stamford Bridge, there's a big window picture of Chelsea players celebrating, but there's this youngish guy in the picture, and I'm sure he's not a Chelsea player. It just kinda bugs me that I think the same thought of "who is that player?? Or is it some fan who won a competition to pose in a celebration photo with Lampard, Cech and Torres?" everytime I go past it on the bus Monday-Friday. I should sit on the other side of the bus.

I see my shrink in the evening and he has always been at *least* 45 minutes late. Which is just fine with me because I can read or pay bills or whatever and I don't schedule anything after the appointment. It's actually kind of relaxing.

But the one time *I* was late due to a huge ("extra alarm") fire at rush hour that shut down the Red, Brown, and Purple lines + many major bus routes, he was running right on time and his staff was pissy with me and the doctor was terse when I got there. WTF though - the entire North Side was at a complete standstill and it's all anyone was talking about. You could see and smell the smoke at his office!

PANCAKES!!!

that seems totally unprofessional! who is 45 min late to meet their patients on a regular basis? all the therapists i've seen (ok, just 2) have been extremely punctual.

He's an MD and he said at the outset that his evening appointments are subject to delays since they bear the whole day's worth of interruptions, so I'm not concerned about that, especially since it buys me time if I'm running behind. But I would just like a little understanding when I'm late due to the second Great Fire.

looks like you're in the right place to get a complex about it. Or does that just mean you'd be crating a loop?

Getting a complex about going to see a psychiatrist so you've got something to talk out with them?

or even creating

this person on fb with the same last name as me signs his name on all his messages that he leaves on everyone's walls and is thereby tagging me in every single message! today alone he's tagged me 5 times

can you mention this to him, or perhaps unfriend him

15667. that this thread at some point stopped being a numbered list thread.

Well he's kind of elderly, and we only know each other in a quasi professional context, so I'm just gonna ignore it for now. I'm hoping he catches on on his own, as unlikely as that may be.

I may have to unfriend him if it starts driving me nuts but for now it's mildly amusing/irritating.

That restaurant sounds like one big douchebag.

Yeah except my wife and I went there for cocktails last weekend, and we really liked it. Kind of don't want to hear any more about carl's experience there, since I've been looking forward to going back for food! Also, it's not a "secret" restaurant -- the name is painted on the door. Also -- why didn't you wait/pee at the Hideout??

Sorry to be cap'n save-an-Ada-St.

Actually, my whole post sounds super-bitchy -- ignore me!

1) The all the vegetable dishes were really, really good (incl. black eyed peas and summer squash, which I generally do not like), and the desert was amazing (AMAZING), so yes, go for the food.
2) Yeah, it's got the name on the door, but come on. You don't stick a restaurant that far away from anything other than garbage trucks and the Hideout and call it accessible. My cab driver said he had taken people there before and still had to drive around the block three or four times before he could find it, and I watched other cars of people coming there (because there's no other reason for somebody who is not a garbage collector to be back there) drive right passed it. The insanely inconvenient location is definitely part of the schtick.
3) I didn't realize the Hideout was so close until I was leaving.
4) I will not ignore you!!!

maybe this business model is about appealing to garbage collectors (w/summer squash)

fao rayuela: DORKS WHO SIGN THEIR POSTS LIKE IT'S A FREAKIN EMAIL

I live in a building with like 80 apartments and a probably insufficient number of washers. Today all of the washers were taken and all but one were finished, so I waited my courtesy minute and then removed some clothes so I could do my wash, placing the removed clothing in one of those basket-on-wheels thingies.

As I'm putting in detergent, this guy comes into the room and sees that his clothes have been removed (as it happens, I wasn't the one who removed his clothing -- it had already been removed by someone else before I got there). He goes "Do you know who is using this [the one his clothes had been removed from] washer?"

"No I have no idea"

And he says "I get so pissed off when people touch my clothes! I was only five minutes late!"

Now, for one thing, the dude was like 20 minutes late at least, which was clear from the amount of time that had passed on the cycle on the washer. For another thing, if it pisses you off so much, why don't you make a point of coming down on time?!

I have no patience for people like that. I always set a timer on my phone so I could be back downstairs as the spin cycle was winding down.

IA24421232: 'Deals' that aren't deals. There's a poster up in our building "Fish and Chips and a Beer for £12.50". £12.50?? For fucking fish'n'chips? Fuck off.

welcome to london

food is pretty good value in london.

xpost I know right? It's just so depressing when things like that are presented as OMG AMAYZING DEAL when really it's actually more than you'd normally pay.

Also - when you go to an upmarket supermarket and they have those tags that say "Price Match: Waitrose £1.56 / LIDL £1.56" - I totally get that people will shop at Waitrose for ethical or aspirational reasons but these tags always scream "Yeah we know we're rip off, but this isn't quite as rip off as everything else".

Also - Mars bars £1 each or 2 for £2. (which I've actually seen on more than one occasion).

Heh I nearly went off in some thread (London restaurants?) recently when someone mentioned that "some" pubs in London are fake gastro-pubs which charge £11 for a burger and potato wedges, because in Oxford every single pub, even the most chain-y of microwaved-frozen-food chain pubs, rubbed their hands at the gastropub trend and started charging at least that for a burger and generic potato product, with some flowery (or floury) description on the sepia-tinted menu about authentic Worcestershire beef and crispy golden King Edwards slices

but one of my greatest joys is when Tesco has some sign up saying "Two for £3!" and then you look closely and the price singly is £1.50 or sometimes less, I get to feel that I have outwitted The Man by noticing this and only buying one

also when I shared a laundry room I found that no matter what I did or how often I went downstairs I would miss my wash ending. It is embarrassing to have a stranger go through your underwear but that's my own fault - dump my clean clothes on the dirty floor (and this floor was always visibly dirty) instead of putting them on top or in a basket etc, however, and I will hate you

fao rayuela: DORKS WHO SIGN THEIR POSTS LIKE IT'S A FREAKIN EMAIL

thanks dj mencap, should've known there would be a thread about this!

IA for today: When people insist/parrot stupidy that shaving hair, ie on your legs, "makes it grow back thicker." NO. No, IT DOES NOT. Hair is dead--DEAD!!!! AND THE DEAD HAIR SHAFT CANNOT BACKWARDS-REENGINEER THE FOLLICLE.

Before you even start, I understand how it can seem thicker if the cut bit was a tapered natural hair end and the re-growth is full thickness BUT THIS IS HARDLY EVER THE CASE. People just repeat and repeat this stupid "fact."

OTM

I'm not 100% certain, but I think there is a thing in Canada, or at least Ontario, where if something is $3 and goes on a 2 for $5 special, for instance, you legally must be allowed to buy one for $2.50. Is that a thing anywhere else? They can't force you to buy multiples to get the discount, but they always make the "2 for $5!!" bit a hundred times larger than "$2.50 each."

There are a lot of $2.99 for one or 2/$5 "sales" around here. Our Walgreens has probably half of their store stock tagged like that.

I usually see at least one item at Walmart that's on sale 2 for $10, with the regular tag marked at $3.98.

I spend a quarter of my time in there putting things back on the shelves from my cart.

I was buying cucumber lime Gatorade (hush, it's good) from 7-11 a couple of weeks ago and one bottle was $2.50 but they were on sale two bottles for $2.49. That was more cucumber lime Gatorade that I really wanted, but it was kind of hard to argue with the sale price.

But as for sales that aren't sales, and I may have already kvetched about this here, but I hate when retailers do coupons for 25$ DOLLARS OFF!!!!! and then in fine print (purchases of $150 or more).

Yesterday we went to the local sports bar to watch the second half of the Packers game and there was one dude just yelling and screaming the whole time about the Seahawks game. I understand that we were in college town sports-themed drinking establishment while the first game of the season for only team within 1000 miles is playing, but holy shit this dude was over the top obnoxious. It got to the point that every other table near us was just mocking the guy and laughing at him when something bad happened to Seattle just because it infuriated him so much.

The worst place for coupons ever is Babies R Us, that place is hell on earth. Their coupons and policies are so littered with exceptions and rules that they all end up virtually useless. Which, okay, fine, we'll read the small print and be prepared to be disappointed when almost every brand we'd want to buy is exempted. The frustration comes in when you think you've finally found an item with an applicable coupon that works, you get up to the register and find out, "oh, that doesn't apply if you purchase something else from Department x". What? Seriously the most frustrating store ever.

What does piss me off in my local Tesco is when I want, say, some ham which has a big "Any 2 for £4!" sticker on, and right next to it in the fridge there is some other sliced meat product with the same sticker on, so I think, great, I'll have that too, and then I get to the checkout and discover (or not if I'm not paying attention) that instead of being ANY 2 for £4, it is in fact only 2 of exactly the same item.

The worst place for coupons ever is Babies R Us, that place is hell on earth. Their coupons and policies are so littered with exceptions and rules that they all end up virtually useless. Which, okay, fine, we'll read the small print and be prepared to be disappointed when almost every brand we'd want to buy is exempted. The frustration comes in when you think you've finally found an item with an applicable coupon that works, you get up to the register and find out, "oh, that doesn't apply if you purchase something else from Department x". What? Seriously the most frustrating store ever.

― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, September 10, 2012 12:10 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah. "20% off one item! (does not apply to cribs, playmats, baby clothing, diapers, wipes, rockers, bouncers, play yards, baby swings, carriers, diaper bags, strollers, car seats, toys, games, bathtubs, bath accessories, breast pumps, bottles, formula, sheets, blankets, mattresses, mobiles, crib bumpers, diaper pails, diaper pail bags, nursery furniture, nursery decor, nursing pillows, baby food, baby food makers)"

There's really never any reason to buy anything from that store EVER ime, unless you get a gift card. If you want cheap, order from Amazon or diapers.com. If you want quality and expert assistance, go to a local boutique-type store. If you want cheap but still want to look at the product, go to buy buy baby or albee. Babies R Us also not only hires complete morons (and fails to train them) but hires too few of them to even properly run the store idiotically. I have had employees (1) not know what a "co-sleeper" is, (2) not know what a pack-and-play is, and (3) not know where to find a bath thermometer (hint: in the bath section), among other things.

I had a coupon for something like 40¢ off some cheese.

Brought 32 slices up to the register. Cashier says it's only good for the 16 slice count.

I say, so to get my savings, you want me to buy the item that's less expensive? She says yes.

Now, I know what you're thinking: I should just buy two packages of the 16-count, right? No. Two packages - even with the 40¢ off (actually 20¢/per package) - would cost more than the 32 count.

I told her to keep the cheese.