So, everyone should just go around doing whatever the hell they want and fuck off to everyone else.
Simply a matter of perspective. Just 'cause you don’t deem it worthy of your rage doesn’t mean it’s not wrong. Unless you think someone swindling products isn’t wrong. Not saying it should be punishable by death, just that it makes that individual somewhat of an asshole, in my opinion.
Your condescending tone aside, there’s a big difference between "following all the rules to the letter " and out and out criminal acts, such as stealing and vandalism.
There’s also no law that says some bimbo can’t sit in her big fat SUV for a half an hour and waste her own gas / money, but it’s pretty noteworthy in it’s stupidity.
Living in civilized society necessitates a certain amount of agreement as to what is and isn’t acceptable.
I’m sure we all bow to your superiority and deep insight.
This would have pissed me off SO MUCH. So much. I think I’d have keyed their car. Not really, since that wouldn’t have been following the rules, but I would have liked to.
But yeah, I agree 100% with the OP and the other posters here that this kind of stuff pisses me off big time. Frex, the other day I was riding on the bus and a guy got on with a sandwich and the driver told him to get rid of it, so the guy dumped his brand new, delicious-looking sandwich into the trash. I spent the rest of the day obsessing about it. “A big sandwich like that must have cost at least $5,” I thought. “Why did she force him to get rid of it instead of put it in his bag?” And then, “well, the guy must have a lot of disposable income to dump a big sandwich in the trash, what a jerk!” And then, “there were homeless people near that stop, why didn’t he give it to them? He is the downfall of Western civilization!” I also mentioned the sandwich incident to the friends I was with (who saw it too) for the rest of the day. They thought it was funny, but it wasn’t. It was a really nice sandwich! And it wasn’t even mine, and I cared this much! And fuck, I’m still thinking about it!!!
And before you ask, yes I do have a life, I just think about this stuff on top of living it. It does get in the way sometimes, like when I’m sitting at a restaurant eating and I start thinking about whether everyone else (not my table, I school them in that, but people at other tables) is leaving enough tips or wondering how many napkins they’re wasting and how that contributes to deforestation and how much gas they’re wasting to get here when they could just make dinner themselves and why aren’t I doing that, am I just as bad a consumer as them (yes, I am)? My friends, however, think that it is hilarious, and I guess I can’t blame them. I like to think that most people think this way, they just don’t like to admit it because it would cut into their “fun.” Which it does. But once you start thinking this way it is impossible to stop, so I’m stuck with it now.
For the most part, yes. Do you propose that instead we all monitor each other’s behavior and report back to some central authority?
Sure, it makes her an asshole. What problem is that of mine?
Yes, there is. Ergo my assertion that some things are worth getting upset over, and some things aren’t.
Sure, it’s stupid. But it’s *her * gas/money. I wouldn’t be pleased with her either, but it’s certainly not something I’m going to lose sleep over.
Agreement with whom? It seems to me that loads of things that you find unacceptable happen every day, and yet civilized society abides.
If you mean hovering at one’s window looking for errant trash cans to report, or taking time out of one’s day to report the neighbors for putting their trash out at 9:00pm for a 7:00am pickup, then I agree.
I hate the “rules don’t apply to me” idiots, too. They seem not to understand or care that, by doing that, they are making things just a little worse for everybody.
What really bothers me, though, is when people do something that they should know is wrong, then brag about doing it. Like the “lady” in the OP who was stealing formula.
The “lady” who was stealing the formula- she does realize that idiots like her doing stuff like that is part of why the companies charge so much for formula, does she not? There’s also a chance that her abuse of the system will make the formula company stop its promotion, which means not only will she not get any more free formula, but no one else will get formula or a diaper bag. :mad:
As flawed and occassionally obnoxious as it is, civilization does require us to monitor one another, not to report to some central authority, but to express disapproval with things that most of us don’t like. That is the way a civilization works. It is how a society works. Most of us do follow the rules and only take one of an item that is being offered as a free sample, or else no one would offer free samples. Most of us don’t play our music at top volume or talk loudly in public, or else none of us would ever be able to hear. Most of us do not litter or vandalize public buildings or signs or parks, because we know that they are put there for our use and we want them to look nice, not like a crime zone. Imagine what the roads would look like if nobody thought they had to follow the rules. Hell, they wouldn’t even have to stay on the roads, would they? These people with their off-road vehicles could just take a short-cut through your lawn.
Admittedly some individuals go too far in their busybody-ness, and they are at least as annoying as the rule-breakers. I admit when I was younger that I thought I should get to do whatever the fuck I wanted, but thankfully I’ve outgrown it. Now my philosophy is more ‘I should get to do whatever I want, provided I’m not hurting anybody’.
I don’t feel compelled to “follow the rules”, particularly, but I detest arrogant, selfish, rude behavior. There’s something a little squicky about someone who’ll abuse an offer for free baby formula (or any other item), even if it is a ginormous conglomerate that’s making the offer. The company is trying to do something good for it’s customers, and perhaps potential customers, and some schnoid is just selfishly grabbing all she possibly can. I never lose sleep or get too worked up over this kind of stuff, but yes, it does bother me a little.
When I go to restaurants I always get at least three extra pieces of napkins. I can’t stand it when I get something really greasy or saucy, and they give me ONE napkin to use. :mad:
I wonder: Have any of the people in this thread who admit to getting worked up over the misdeeds of others ever taken the time to compliment someone who they see doing the right thing?
What they said.
I agree 100%. I’m much more annoyed by two of the posts in this thread than I would be by the actions described in them. One of them is this one:
Or maybe she had allergies, thereby finding it easier to breathe in air conditioning than outside, and just decided to make a joke out of your incredibly rude comment.
There is a finite amount of everything, and simply driving a car contributes to higher gas prices – so you were guilty of that, too, in your own “small way.” I can’t stand this kind of baseless moral superiority. The fact that you and davenportavenger would get so worked up over someone’s choice to run their car for 1/2 hour longer than you think is “necessary” truly boggles my mind.
Which leads nicely to the second post that bugs me:
Talk about wasted energy! In your obsession, did it ever occur to you that maybe the guy got flustered when told to get rid of his sandwich, and later regretted throwing it away? Or was it just easier for you to assume that he was this horrible person who deliberately ignored the homeless and wasted food and money?
Seriously, what makes people like you and MLS think that you have the right to judge anyone else’s actions?
One Halloween, I sat out on a lawn chair on my front porch. I dressed like a straw scarecrow: huge baggy flannel shirt and coat, huge jeans, all with straw sticking out of the cuffs. I put a big straw hat on my head and pulled it low over my face. I put a big mixing bowl of candy in my lap and hung a sign around my neck saying “PLEASE TAKE ONE PIECE ONLY, SO THAT THERE’S ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE.” I sat completely still and waited for the kids to come. Without exception, they mistook me for a stuffed dummy. 75% of the kids took a single piece of candy and went on their way. The other 25% tried to take a handful, or even a double handful. Each time they did, I jumped up and let out a bloodcurdling scream and jumped around like a possessed man. And each time, the kids shrieked and jumped out of their fucking skins – even the 14 year old boys who were really too old to be out in the first place. I actually felt bad because one boy, who was wearing his JV football uniform as a costume, got a little quiver in his upper lip and looked like he was about to cry.
Incidentally, every single kid who tried to take more than one piece was a boy between the apparent ages of 10 and 15, trick-or-treating in small groups with other boys of similar age, with no parent. Surprised?
There are reasonable actions, and there are assholish actions. Often, assholish actions are reasonable actions carried to an extreme- it’s reasonable to put your garbage out at 9pm the night before a 7am pickup (unless it’s likely to be scattered everywhere by raccoons or bears), it’s not reasonable to put it out two weeks in advance.
Thinking that signs saying “one per customer” or “buses only” or other rules don’t apply to you is just assholish, under almost all circumstances. Bragging about assholish behavior, or teaching your children to do it, is assholish.
That’s not abusing anything. You’re taking the number of napkins that you intend to use. Now, if you were regularly getting extra napkins in restaurants and taking them home instead of buying napkins to use at home, that would be abuse.
Exactly. If you’re getting worked up over things like people leaving their cars running, or taking extra free samples, or throwing out a sandwich, that’s not about your overwhelming concern for the future of civilization. That’s about spending an hour fuming that you’re a better person than that guy, dammit, and the universe should reward you appropriately. (Or at the very least, punish him horribly.)
Well, maybe you’re a better person and maybe you’re not, but you don’t know for sure from that single action. And when the karmic accounts come due, the universe isn’t going to thank you for the hours you spent obsessing over these ridiculous incidents.
I could, but I have actually stopped going to that message board because there are a lot of examples of immaturity and stubborn insistence on doing things that I can’t agree with. The fact that it’s a parenting message board depresses me too much. I feel bad for the children of these women sometimes.
Another one - today I was walking through the grocery store parking lot - a huge dually (sp?) pick-up truck was rumbling through the crowded lot. The driver realized that he was so busy trying to appear cool, that he missed a vacant spot. So he started to back up - ignoring the car behind him. The driver of the car honked his horn. The truck driver stopped, and then kept backing up, forcing the car to back up about 30 feet, while the truck’s passengers glared at anyone who dared to stare in disbelief at this rudeness. I was in the grocery store approximately 20 minutes - when I came out, the truck was still running, stereo pounding, and it was squeezed so tightly into that parking spot that there is no way the drivers of the vehicles on either side would have been able to leave.
It is STILL bugging me! The parking lot is busy, but not crowded, and this jerk could have driven another 40-50 feet and had a nice big parking spot. There was just no need to be so rude, and to freak out the other driver like that.
Cuz I’m insane? Seriously, I don’t WANT to waste this energy. That just happens to be the places my mind goes. Maybe some people here get off on their moral superiority, but I don’t. I’d much rather not have to think about it.
Exactly - it is very frustrating to go through life wasting this mental energy. I also waste a lot on worrying …
I have been asked by my counsellor to wear a “worry bracelet” and whenever I find myself worrying or stressing about something I can’t control, to touch the bracelet and remind myself that “this has nothing to do with me and I refuse to let it bother me” … well, something like that, I actually forget the exact words.
I also don’t have a bracelet yet - maybe I should start a procrastination thread.
These are habits I would love to break before I pass them on to my daughter. I would love for her to have a happier, more positive, more easygoing mom.
