Petty Annoyances

[Moos]

A little place to vent when you have absolutely no real grounds for complaint whatsoever. Nothing too trivial. Nothing too illogical.*

Mine is pointless shop assistants.

Today's example

I go into a shop and try on a coat. Up drifts PSA.

- Do you need any help?

A fair enough question

- No, thank you, I'm just going to try on this coat.

- Hmmm. Long pause, head on side What size is that?

- Medium.

- Hmmm. then, confidently Yes, that's the right size for you if you want to wear it with something underneath.

Eh?

- Hmmm. Or you could try Small.

- No, I think Medium is fine, thanks. Small would be... you know

To my extra irritation I find that inconsequentiality is catching

- Hmmm. Pause while I struggle with buttons and hope she will go away It looks really nice on you.

- Thank you.

We exchange polite and insincere smiles as I hang the coat back up, and then I slink out.

Gah! Go away! I don't need any help once I've said I don't need help! I don't need you to suggest I try on the wrong size! I don't care if you say it looks nice, because I know you say that to everyone! Please please please just go away! I know you're bored, I do. But do you have to be bored at me?

end of example

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*other than complaining about threads about petty annoyances on internet forums. There are only so many circles of hell.

[Marmora Man]

The new voice on TFL buses - I'm beginning to sreen it out but is annoying the vast majority of passengers, and incurring the installation costs, for the possibility of helping one person who doesn't know the route / cannot see the landmarks a worthwhile balance? Whatever happened to asking the driver, or other passenger, to advise you of the right stop?

[jumpinjackflash]

To train/tube passengers: If you can't be arsed to brush your teeth in the morning then please do not sigh/yawn/cough/talk or even breathe when carriage is crammed.

[Ant]

People in their 20s.

Dithering kidults.

(Gout. The cussed Whigs.)

*stomps off to get pension*

[Jah Lush]

People with no manners. They don't cost anything do they. Is it just me but are people lacking in basic manners these days? Saying please or thank you or excuse me as they brush past you. I've just had some guy in a lift brush past me and practically knock me out of the way. All he had to do was say "excuse me, please." Jeez!

Call me old fashioned but I still open doors for the ladies and I'll offer my seat on a crowded bus or train to someone older than me and who maybe infirm or a woman if she is old or pregnant or carrying bundles of shopping and struggling a bit.

I hear people, and I have to say it's mostly younger people who say it or rude Americans, "give me this or give that," or I need this or I need that." It really annoys me and I don't really think I'm being petty here either but I was brought up to have good manners and respect for my elders but I really do feel that manners DO maketh man.

Rant over.

[Moos]

Jah, a great complaint and definitely not a petty one

[MelbourneGr]

Loading times on computer games

People invading my personal space on the train / bus when there is plenty of room

People who stop to look around or regroup themselves like they've been on a long distance journey at the end of the escalator

People who block the doorway on the bus / Train (for some reason doesn't happen so much on tube)

Crappy loud music from phones / people who shout when they're right next to each other

People who can't drive but somehow end up behind a wheel

Cyclists

Architects

[Ladygooner]

Men who sit on the bus/tube/train with the legs wide apart! I have not had the courage yet to ask one of them if they really have soooooooooo much hanging between their thighs that they need that much space!!!

[giggirl]

Don't even get me started on pointless shop assistants. They should all leave me the hell alone. Unless I want some help. Then where the F do they all go to?

Luckily for us in ED, I?ve found that most pointless shop assistants tend to inhabit the USA. Abercrombie & Fitch takes the prize. I usually avoid Abercrombie & Fitch because (aside from the prices) the girl assistants need a good feed and/or a good slap, and the usual hottie with no shirt on on the way in* really unsettles me to the point of not being able to remember how to put one foot in front of the other.

Nevertheless, I found myself last Christmas Eve in Las Vegas with a suitcase full of summer frocks. I was in the desert, who knew it was going to be freezing? So I?m in A&F at Ceasar?s Palace trying to buy anything with some frigging warmth to it, just as the A&F winter sale started. This was not a good idea but, hey, make a sentence out of ?choosers? and ?beggars? if you will. The place was trashed, seriously trashed. I was already late for cocktail hour and was bitch slapping anything that got between me and anything woollen in my size.

Regardless of the warzone that was their store, they carried on with all their ?Stepford Assistant? crap without any trace of irony. It was scary. ?How are you today?, ?who is helping you today?, and the classic ?were you able to find everything you wanted today Maaam? (no I was not, you pointless stick insect).

I usually let this sort of crap slide over me (I?m a regular visitor to the US) but I was in no frigging mood that day. Plastic and pointless.

Thank you Moos for letting me brain dump this petty annoyance.

* the A&F hottie with no shirt on is not pointless, oh no.

[Moos]

Oh yes, commuter annoyances! Brilliant. People who get off the bus and then stand right outside it to think about where to go next without considering that there might be other people behind them also getting off.

And people who stop in front of the barrier to look for their ticket. Argh. How difficult is it to step aside for a moment?

And people who insist on putting their ticket in the barrier 5 times when it's been rejected. Really. It's not going to work if it didn't work 4 times before.

And people who stop and try to put their ticket in the barrier when they've all been opened because so many hundreds of people have arrived at London Bridge at the same time. Wake up!!

*goes off to lie down after intolerant ranting reaches dangerous levels*

[cdonline]

The staff in Tesco Metro on East Dulwich Road. I know you shouldn't expect much, so just adds to the pettiness of it. If some staff member rings the bell because it's really busy behind the tills, of late they all seem to wait for somebody else to come. Leaving me to fume quietly in the queue. And I'm talking about the male staff here.

The other one that drives me to distraction is buses who go extra slow if they are running ahead of time. Especially during the Summer, when the streets are not so busy. Even in roads like Camberwell New Road, when it single file traffic. Sorry, I'm early but I've got to delay all the traffic.

Good to get off the chest.

[giggirl]

Ladygooner Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Men who sit on the bus/tube/train with the legs

> wide apart! I have not had the courage yet to ask

> one of them if they really have soooooooooo much

> hanging between their thighs that they need that

> much space!!!

Ooohhhh go on Lady G. Ask. I dare you. I double dare you.

[Ant]

People who merely swing their legs a little bit to the side to let you out of the window seat on the bus rather than standing up. They never leave enough room for you to get past.

[Moos]

LadyG, just laughed out loud at that one. I am so with you, it's very confusing. Either we are just ignorant females, or is there something very peculiar going on. Can any men please comment or advise?

And Giggirl, you're welcome - loving the all-directions anger. Bring it out!

[Ant]

It's a game. There are proper rules and and there's league and everything.

But I can't tell you any more; I've already said too much.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Don't know you are born Melb... back in my day it were all 30 minute load times with the very real possibility of it failing on minute 28 - grrrrrrrrrr

[giggirl]

People who wear tracksuits and trainers and don't even go to the gym.

[Ant]

30 minute load times with the very real possibility of it failing on minute 28

And listening to the tape (tape, mind; flimsy and prone to tangling!) go SKREEEEEEEEEEIIIII-AAAAUGH, SKRIIIIII-AAAUGH while mesmerised by the blue and yellow lines.

[Rhinestone Cowboy]

Cyclists who jump red lights.

[missd]

totally agree Rhinestone Cowboy. Are you a pedestrian or a vehicle?! It really annoys me.

[david_carnell]

As for the whole "men with legs open" thing I may be able to shed a little light on the matter and have my own little whinge.

Without going into grpahic details the size of a man's "third leg" is not to blame for the legs apart seated position. This is normally due to f^%&ing train designers who seem to believe that everyone is 5ft tall. On trains I cannot fit in seats with another seat back infront of me without spreading my legs and crossing the boundary into my commuter-neighbours seat. Ditto on those deats facing each other. If I keep my legs firmly close my knees stretch close to the other side leaving no room for the poor person opposite me. Ergo I open my legs, create a little more room and hope the attractive women opposite me doesn't think I'm a sleaze. Ditto all this for buses.

Men on tubes have no excuse - they're just hung like donkeys obviously.

[MelbourneGr]

Men who sit with legs wide apart - no matter how big or small, its very uncomfortable to close legs together squashing the furniture, especially on train seats. Why do women like to keep their legs closed?

[Moos]

Personally, I find it comfortable to sit knees together.

I can see why a man wouldn't want to close his legs completely. The thing that I find puzzling is the menwho sit at a 90-degree plus angle - is it really uncomfortable to sit with legs only slightly wide?

[Marmora Man]

A reasonable gap allows for some ventilation - good for both sexes I believe.

[Ted Max]

Being handed my change on a small silver tray (complete with receipt) in a bar or pub in this country.

Causes a cultural disconnect as I think, "Now, should I leave the 25p lying there as a tip, or is 25p so insulting as a tip I'd be better off taking it. Perhaps I can leave a proper tip the next time I buy a round. Hang on, this is the UK and we've never tipped bar staff in that manner. Perhaps she doesn't even expect me to tip her. But why not tip her, she's probably earning buttons and here I am quaffing away twice her salary every hour as she looks on?...I can't even offer her 'one for yourself' because 'yourself' is a 19 year old Estonian who will think I am trying to chat her up and not understand the offer is only our traditional British method of pretending what is taking place is not merely a monetary transaction but has some deeper social value."

Result... me sheepishly pocketing the money whilst trying to adopt the air of a man who really needs the 20p to make a phone call later. 19 year old Estonian wondering who the mean bastard is who won't even spare 25p for her add to the tips jar.