My mother has never followed soaps. But now she has one she Must Watch.
And I love that!
I wish they played it on the weekends!
There should be more of it!
Why, you must ask?
Because, while I do call Mom and listen dutifully to her recounting of the same stuff she’s already told me three times and refrain from pointing out she’s told me that story until she goes for the fourth attempt; while I do keep a bullet-points list of stuff she’ll want to have mentioned and questions she’ll want asked…
I hate speaking on the phone.
And I hate listening to her recounting a conversation with a third party. I already hate it the first time, but by the third time I want to grab Mom, yell “get to the point woman!” and throw her off her 10th floor balcony, but I don’t because the one she’d fall onto belongs to a family of lawyers and the ensuing civil suit would hurt more than the criminal one. Where other people will tell you “I had an argument with your Lilbro,” what about and how it ended, she must explain:
what was she wearing,
what was Lilbro wearing,
where they were,
how is the room decorated, (Mom, it’s your living room, I know exactly what it looks like, what knicknacks you have and where)
whether there was other people there,
what had they been doing,
the complete conversation, including descriptions of gestures…
So, you know what?
If I call Mom at 3:30pm on a weekday - there is enough time for a bullet-point conversation and then the soap begins! And she Must Watch! So she’s the one who cuts the conversation! YES!
My life should include more of that soap. Specially since, blessedly, Mom doesn’t insist in telling me about it. Now don’t you go giving her ideas!
The BBC has a TV program called ‘Grumpy Old Men’. It hits the spot!
As an elderly teacher, I enjoy telling pupils that they say ‘like’ and you know’ far too often.
Once they listen to themselves e.g. “So I said, you know, that, like, it was dreadful and she went, like, whatever?!”, and really try to stop this habit, they can’t speak continuously. :eek:
Bah, I haven’t liked anything in about twenty years. As my age and my gray hairs increase, I feel more and more like the real me. I’m looking forward to the bizarre wardrobe and the cat collection.
Perhaps it’ll soon be time to dye the hair blue or pink. I can’t wait for that. Funny - we call teenagers with pink hair obnoxious and rebellious, but it’s perfectly acceptable on old ladies. I think old men should get in the game, too.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to get a beehive hairdo.
One of the operators where I work has the annoying habit of saying “that would be…” in response to every question asked by a dispatcher. “Address?” “That would be…” “Phone number?” “That would be…”
It makes me crazy.
And the 21 year old who keeps going to sleep in his chair needs to learn to sleep before he comes to work. I will not cry when he gets fired.
See the mini-rants thread in the Pit for the rant on late co-workers.
I do not crochet, but I do counted cross stitch and have 8 cats.
This is probably more cantankerous than crotchety. But working full time on a school project, and often stopping in at a Starbuck’s when running errands in the afternoon, I see this very often in the late afternoon, around 5PM:
SQUEALING, SHRIEKING, and CRYING tots in their parents’ tow, or sometimes it might be two mothers arriving together who each have their kid in tow. Just because they don’t serve booze doesn’t mean a cafe is a suitable place to bring small children. OTOH it’s difficult to be overly angry at the parents who are likely starved for adult oriented surroundings. The last time this happened I actually got so annoyed I said “God damn it” to no one in particular.
But at least the Starbuck’s people should post small respectfully worded signs asking parents to do what they can to keep their kids quiet. If it means letting toddlers have their favorite toy or treat, then why not? For older kids, maybe a quiet game or toy of some kind would work.
lorene:
Me too, but one fine day, I’m going to throw it all out and start buying all the WTH? stuff I see. I’ve been threatening the kids with it for a long time. “Your kids will never want to come to Grandma Julie’s house!”
Yes, I am turning into a crotchety old man. Morning people who want to jabber away at 7:30 am. I hate life in general at that time so stick your sunny disposition somewhere.
I can’t stand listening to other people eat. My kids may put their elbows on the table, but they shut their mouths when they chew or they hear it from mom.
I get the creeps when people try to read over my shoulder. shudder
I also say “that’s nice.” when a child says “I want (insert food or drink item.)” I expect a “please, may I have” and a decent thank you. I do this to other people’s children as well.
I wear raggy cardigans in the winter and complain about how expensive natural gas is.
I’ve been dying my hair for five years because of excessive greying. I started dying when I was in my late twenties. I have large grey streaks in it now as well as the salt and pepper look other places. If that doesn’t make a girl crotchety, I don’t know what will. :mad:
Depends. Do you leave dirty socks on the floor? What about dirty dishes? are you sanitary? :dubious:
We’ll see.
SNL My husband does that, but says, “is”. To hear him on the phone makes me want to scream. He’ll be ordering something and I’ll hear him say, “…is [insert name here]… is [insert address here]… is [insert phone number]”
AUGH! STFU already. That and he says, “super” all the time. “dinner will be 2 hours late.” Super! “I had a meh day at work.” Super! “#2 son was beaten up and left for dead on the roadside.” Super! (ok, just kidding there. #2 son is just fine).
I want some kind of people annihilator which I can strap on and go through crowds, shouting, “culling!” and fire at will… Maybe I’m more than crotchety.
I used to share an office with a good friend of mine. She told me that I spoke too loudly on the phone; I told her I hated to hear her breathe.
Susan
(The used part of that statement is not because we aren’t friends anymore, it’s just that she left the job. And a good thing too - I was ready to stop the breathing in a violent manner)
