# Dear paper towel filler person....or non-Christmas mini-rants **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 25, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389 "2010-12-25T23:54:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/281 "2011-01-24T17:41:59Z")
Anyway, **villa** , you should take a leaflet. Hell, take as many as you can get them to give you. Keep them away from someone they might damage. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/282 "2011-01-24T17:42:36Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > I swear, if we can find him slip-on cleats that he can actually walk several miles a day in, he is going to tromp up your nice wooden varnished/polished stone stairs that some of you have said that salt would mar, maybe even give them a little extra grind on the way down. Have you tried [LL Bean’s Stabilicers](http://reviews.llbean.com/1138/IG89373/stabilicers-lite-reviews/reviews.htm)? Or [these](http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/Product___33020)? Both seem to have good reviews; my mom walks a few miles a day in the LL Bean version with no complaints. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/283 "2011-01-24T17:43:39Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Anyway, **villa** , you should take a leaflet. Hell, take as many as you can get them to give you. Keep them away from someone they might damage. I had both hands full. I was thinking of suggesting to the cute one she could stuff it down the front of my pants, but I fear an arrest would have been forthcoming had I done that. I do enjoy taking leaflets from the crazies normally and dropping them straight in the trash. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/284 "2011-01-24T17:46:36Z")
> [@lindsaybluth](#): > > Have you tried [LL Bean’s Stabilicers](http://reviews.llbean.com/1138/IG89373/stabilicers-lite-reviews/reviews.htm)? Or [these](http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/Product___33020)? Both seem to have good reviews; my mom walks a few miles a day in the LL Bean version with no complaints. Oo, thanks for the recommendations! He’s tried a couple brands - not those - including one provided by work, and found them uncomfortable or unstable. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/285 "2011-01-24T18:03:03Z")
> [@](#): > > It is likely that I, as a woman, am likely to be using your products soon after applying lotion to my face or body. I realize your packaging looks pretty, but it is im-fucking-possible to open, particularly with slippery hands. > > I don’t know how people with arthritis can pry some of these tops off. There are these rubber grippy things for sale, or you can use a piede of the rubber shelf liners. If my husband is around, I hand the bottle to him, and say “Here, demonstrate your masculinity.” He smirks and opens the damn thing. Also, put some Vaseline or cheap cream on the threads of nail polish jars…it’ll keep the nail polish drips from drying to both sides, and gluing the bottle shut. > [@](#): > > I do enjoy taking leaflets from the crazies normally and dropping them straight in the trash Don’t do that! Take them, tear them into two or three pieces, and THEN drop them in the trash. Otherwise, the crazies fish them out and hand them out again. Bonus points if you tear them up in front of the crazies. It does no good to try to argue with the crazies, usually, but this was fun: [http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/148607/what\_happened\_when\_i\_yelled\_back\_at\_the\_“christians”\_calling\_my\_wife\_a\_murderer?page=entire](http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/148607/what_happened_when_i_yelled_back_at_the_%22christians%22_calling_my_wife_a_murderer?page=entire) I mean, I’m sorry that the man and his wife went through that, but I’m glad that he vented at them. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/286 "2011-01-24T18:05:03Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Dear fuckheads in my suburb: It has been about a week since we had a ton of ice deposited on all of our sidewalks and driveways. I realize many of you simply drive into your attached garage and never step foot on your outside pavement, but please take pity on your letter carriers, package delivery people, and passersby who do. My husband walks up your driveway/sidewalk/front steps to deliver your mail. On Saturday alone he fell down at least five times, a couple of which were in front of the property owners, and just got jokey “watch it there”-type comments. Really? How about an apology for not salting, because you didn’t all week (shoveling the snow off the ice doesn’t count) and asking if he’s OK? > > I swear, if we can find him slip-on cleats that he can actually walk several miles a day in, he is going to tromp up your nice wooden varnished/polished stone stairs that some of you have said that salt would mar, maybe even give them a little extra grind on the way down. It’s either that or not deliver your mail, because he gets to do that if you’re being selfish idiots that don’t feel like salting/sanding/putting down traction strips/hiring people to stand out there with flamethrowers and melt all the ice off your walks.\* Screw all of you. My sidewalks aren’t completely perfect but the walk up to my house and the stairs are nice and clear. This won’t help your husband (unless some suburban fuckheads are reading), but I’m going to take the opportunity to extol the virtues of ashes. My wife laughed at me for saving all of our barbecue ashes for years until we had an ice storm last month and I spread them out on the driveway. They provide fantastic traction, and are completely nonabrasive. A bit dirty, but they’ll wash away eventually. Also, free. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/287 "2011-01-24T18:11:12Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Take them, tear them into two or three pieces, and THEN drop them in the trash. Otherwise, the crazies fish them out and hand them out again. Bonus points if you tear them up in front of the crazies. But you are missing the joy of seeing a fuckwit having to fish around in a trash can. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/288 "2011-01-24T18:37:58Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Dear fuckheads in my suburb: It has been about a week since we had a ton of ice deposited on all of our sidewalks and driveways. I realize many of you simply drive into your attached garage and never step foot on your outside pavement, but please take pity on your letter carriers, package delivery people, and passersby who do. 1.) Around here that’s illegal and you can be fined for not clearing the snow within 24 hours. You might want to see if there’s a number you can call to report it. 2.) Obviously this wouldn’t be so feasible for carrying on foot the whole route, but could your husband keep a bucket of salt stashed in his car/truck? Then, he could salt the shit out of the walkways of people who can’t do it themselves (and hopefully kill their grass or something). ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/289 "2011-01-24T18:49:34Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > 1.) Around here that’s illegal and you can be fined for not clearing the snow within 24 hours. You might want to see if there’s a number you can call to report it. > > 2.) Obviously this wouldn’t be so feasible for carrying on foot the whole route, but could your husband keep a bucket of salt stashed in his car/truck? Then, he could salt the shit out of the walkways of people who can’t do it themselves (and hopefully kill their grass or something). The only thing I’ve found so far is that you can’t get sued if you do shovel - nothing about ice issues - unless you basically do something that willfully sets up a trap or barrier in the process. And yeah, bringing some salt would be nice but the sheer amount of unsalted/un-whatevered area is huge. I think he was trying to be Mr. Nice Postman, delivering anyway and leaving little preprinted USPS “please shovel and salt” cards, but now he’s probably just not going to risk anything hazardous and bring their mail back with him. Oh yeah, I forgot the jerk who quoted the “neither rain nor snow” line to him. He retorted that ice was not mentioned in that particular quote (and that’s not an official USPS motto anyway). Schadenfreude: He saw one non-salter backing out of their driveway and try to brake; the car didn’t stop and slid diagonally off the driveway and gently into a ditch. He estimated that would require a tow truck call to get it out. Ah, it’s good when karma comes around. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/290 "2011-01-24T19:03:59Z")
Beautiful. I’m sure he was \*much \*too professional to do so, but in my head I’m picturing him driving up, rolling down the window, and pointing to the person in the ditch with a [Nelson Muntz](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Muntz) “_Haw_-haw!” ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/291 "2011-01-24T19:04:39Z")
I feel for your husband, **Ferret Herder.** I like to walk for exercise, even in winter, and I have a list of about 10 neighbours on my routes who haven’t shoveled one damned time this winter. I plan to call in and bust them to the city, which may or may not result in them having the walks cleared for them and being charged to the homeowner. 🙂 Good for him for stopping their mail delivery; maybe that will finally bust through their cementheads that they have to do what everyone else has to do - clean their damned sidewalks. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/292 "2011-01-24T19:42:44Z")
Let the thread know if he tries them an likes either set; I do hope they help at least a bit. But definitely not delivering for them will make them wake up. What lunatics. I’m amazed their kids don’t slip and fall. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/293 "2011-01-24T19:46:48Z")
Kids are rubbery, they bounce, and they’re closer to the ground. It’s us adults and our heavier bodies and more brittle bones that have to worry about falling. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/294 "2011-01-24T20:01:42Z")
And here’s another. I recently discovered some money - not life changing, but a tidy little sum. Found money, as any fool knows, can not be used responsibly. It must be squandered, or the Gods of Profligacy will never smile upon you again. I have always wanted a good set of knives, and I found myself by William Sonoma with 40 minutes left on my parking. So in I toddle, decide on a choice of three sets, and ask if the cabinet can be opened as I am not going to buy without holding the things. 35 minutes later I am still stood by the cabinet, despite the sales guy telling me 4 times he’d be right with me. And then he got snippy when I walked out. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/295 "2011-01-24T20:18:39Z")
I can never go into Williams-Sonoma without at least a half-dozen salespeople hovering around and sequentially asking me if I need help with anything, and/or offering uneccessary, unrequested, and unasked-for commentary on what I’m looking at. I fucking hate it. You can take mine! No clue why the fuck you bothered to wait for the moron instead of finding another salesperson or a manager. I assume from their obnoxious attentiveness that they’re on commission; I feel no obligation to give that commission to someone who can’t be arsed to take two seconds to help me make him money. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/296 "2011-01-24T20:23:11Z")
Every other time they have swarmed on my like a potential shoplifter. Unfortunately - there wasn’t anyone else visible. For some reason, they seemed massively understaffed on a Saturday. Still pissed me off though. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/297 "2011-01-24T20:26:19Z")
Not like you need a big set of knives anyway: a former roommate of mine was a cook, and she only had a couple (but the ones she had were very good). ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/298 "2011-01-24T20:27:04Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > ☹ > > How, exactly, did it die? If the HDD isn’t fried, it should be very easy to chuck it into an external housing and plug it into another computer to retrieve all of your documents. It is entirely likely that the HDD is not fried, and The Other Shoe suspects that the problem is the power supply. So hopefully we can resurrect the computer for not too terribly much money, at which point I will be revisiting the suggestions [Dopers](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=531749)made for me about backing up the drive. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/299 "2011-01-24T20:34:45Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Not like you need a big set of knives anyway: a former roommate of mine was a cook, and she only had a couple (but the ones she had were very good). I was only buying two or three. Paring, Chef’s, and maybe one other - possibly a cleaver. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389/300 "2011-01-24T20:42:30Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > It is entirely likely that the HDD is not fried Woo! > [@villa](#): > > I was only buying two or three. Paring, Chef’s, and maybe one other - possibly a cleaver. Excellent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-paper-towel-filler-person-or-non-christmas-mini-rants/565389.md?page=16)