# Life is full of little annoyances. How do you deal with them? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 26, 2005, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603 "2005-05-26T14:36:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/21 "2005-05-30T21:10:55Z")
> [@Habibi](#): > > If anyone has any story of some petty or creative thing they do in the face of any of these types of annoyances, I’d love to read them. > > –ATM fees and any one of a million other reasons to want to poke your thumb at your bank or the banking industry. So don’t go to a bank that’s not yours. Problem solved. > [@](#): > > –Reality TV. It’s a big one, I know. But I wonder if anyone has set up some way to mock or strike back at this trend. I don’t watch these stupid shows. > [@](#): > > –Pushy salespeople who ask every 2 minutes whether you want help. Better that than trying to find someone when you need help, or when the person you do find gives you a deer-in-the-headlights look. > [@](#): > > –When counter clerks drop your change on the counter rather than placing it politely in your outstretched hand. ?? I’ve never had this happen. > [@](#): > > –When credit card offers come in misleadingly official looking envelopes that try to give the impression that youre in trouble. 'Urgent" “Enforcement Division” or other such vague and worrisome tags usually come on the front. Has anyone done anything to get back at this tactic? I dont know, maybe, send an equally official looking envelope (perhaps with lawyer’s office tags on it) to the offending company so that they think they are being sued or somesuch. Junk mail. I open it up, and either feel warm and fuzzy that my credit is good enough that American Express wants to give me a Gold card, or laugh that Capital One expects me to pay $$$ in activation fees. Lighten up. You let these things bother you, you’re going to give yourself an ulcer. ---
**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:** [May 31, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/22 "2005-05-31T00:43:38Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > \Been to a lot of self-motivation seminars, haven’t we? 😉 See, that irritated me a little, but I’m just choosing not to be annoyed. 😃 I think **Nunavut Boy** was joking, judging from the fact that I laughed out loud when I read his post. Feeling jaunty, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/23 "2005-05-31T17:07:16Z")
I drink. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/24 "2005-05-31T18:02:47Z")
Salesclerk: May I help you find something? Me: I don’t know what I’m looking for. If I find it, I’ll let you know. **Long lines, too few checkouts open.** Decades ago, when the hazard-of-the-month said that people with Type-A personalities (aggressive, hate to wait, angry all the time) had more heart attacks, I vowed to quit being Type-A. I look at grocery lines as lessons in patience. I observe other people. I scan the sensational headlines on the tabloids and showbiz magazines and wonder if anybody really cares who a starlet is cheating on her boyfriend with. I use ATM’s all the time, but I don’t pay fees. It’s not hard to go to a branch of my own bank. I get at least ten credit card offers every week. It’s a routine. The first page or two goes in the shredder, the plastic-windowed envelope goes in the trash, and the rest goes in the recycle box. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/25 "2005-05-31T22:52:20Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > I think **Nunavut Boy** was joking, judging from the fact that I laughed out loud when I read his post. Feeling jaunty, eh? Weird - I didn’t get that. Then again, I’ve spent the past few days researching state laws on Medicare for a client. Doing that tends to take away from one’s sense of humor. Sorry 'bout that **Nunavut Boy** if I read you wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2005, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/26 "2005-06-01T03:08:49Z")
I like to think with the **ATM FEE’s** that they are lovingly taking care of my money and giving it a massage and out for a walk. The way I deal with **Every Annoying Thing** which is pretty much everything off this board, really. is look at it this way: In 10 years how will this effect my life? Oh, and prozac deflects the idiotic comments people makes. YAY for Pharmacuetical Force Feilds! w00t! ---
**Author:** ![Habibi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Habibi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habibi)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/27 "2005-06-02T10:39:25Z")
I find it annoying when neighbors park in front of the house even though there is a perfectly good parking space in front of theirs. My tactic is to set the sprinklers to hit their car every morning. Does anyone else have a tactic, other than keying their car? I also hate those subscription cards that fall out of magazines. Sometimes I send them back empty so that the magazine has to pick up the tab, but maybe someone has a more creative thing to do with them? ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/28 "2005-06-02T17:29:02Z")
**WhyNot.** Just wanted to say, you rock. I love your solution to the pushy saleclerk question. Your method of getting the name of the first salesclerk who walks up to you and cheerfully refuffing everyone else by saying, “So-and-so’s got me. Thanks!” is just so effortlessly nice and simple I’m ashamed I never thought of it. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/29 "2005-06-02T17:33:15Z")
Yelling helps. Unfortunately I’m too polite to yell, which annoys me further. So I make up sarcastic comic rants in my head, and more often than not tell them to people later. I’m good at that. Sometimes I wish I was paid to be funny, but I’m not. That’s a pain in the ass. Excuse me. ::Bites desk in frustration.:: ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/30 "2005-06-02T18:01:20Z")
ATM fees: I used to be a member of a bank which subsidized all of my ATM fees because they didn’t have any ATMs in my city. I switched, because it turns out that was the only good reason to use that bank. I give Reality TV the finger by living life instead of watching it. No check-out lanes: I call the store’s management and tell them they’ve lost a customer until they hire enough people to handle their store’s load. I don’t think it’s appropriate to compare Sam’s Club to the Nazi Party. Ever. For any reason. Please don’t. > [@BiblioCat](#): > > I’m actually more annoyed when they give you your bills and drop the change on top of the bills, and then balance your receipt on the top of that. It’s awkward, and requires you to use both hands to get your money back in your wallet. Hand me either the bills or coins first, then the other, and put the receipt in the bag. I only have two hands! Argh! EVERYONE does this. I respond by standing right there at the register while I fiddle with my wallet. If the cashier can’t take the time to be sensible about my change, I can’t be arsed to get out of their next customer’s way. > [@Nava](#): > > This had never happened to me until I went to the US. I’m used to people counting the change on your hand; some of them, if they aren’t sure they have counted right, will move the coins around on your hand like it was a counter. Then I went to the US and it seemed like most of the store and cafeteria clerks were terrified of touching you. Sometimes they would leave the money on the counter; sometimes they would put it on your hand but very very carefully and if they touched you in the slightest they’d apologize worse than if they’d ripped your skirt off. > > I just pegged it to cultural differences, same as this thing about Americans standing further away than Europeans but somehow managing to make me feel like they’re closer. Yup. We’re really, really weird about personal contact. We have such a big nation with such big cities that we feel like we don’t have any idea who is around us and who might intend to do what to us. We hear so much about back-alley murder and rape that we cringe whenever someone touches us unless we know them. > [@overlyverbose](#): > > The thing that annoys me most, though, is something I can do nothing about. Since when did signalling when driving become passe? This drives me absolutely bonkers. How the heck and I supposed to know where the guy in front of me is going if he doesn’t let me know? When that happens, all I can do is mutter under my breath. LA drivers have an effective solution for these kinds of transgressions. Unfortunately, they usually end up in jail. But I applaud their commitment to clean up society’s highways anyway. > [@ivylass](#): > > So don’t go to a bank that’s not yours. Problem solved. Not that simple. People may join a military service which doesn’t have a base where they live, and then get an account with that service’s credit union. Between that time and the time they ship out for basic training, they have no access to their bank’s ATMs. I don’t really let it bother me, though; I just use my debit card or pull out cash when I need it and deal with the fees. Don’t take life too seriously; you’ll never get out alive. > [@Habibi](#): > > I find it annoying when neighbors park in front of the house even though there is a perfectly good parking space in front of theirs. My tactic is to set the sprinklers to hit their car every morning. Does anyone else have a tactic, other than keying their car? I have a friend who pisses on the car. If it’s a convertible with the top down, he pisses in it. It never happens twice. > [@Marley23](#): > > ::Bites desk in frustration.:: I’ve heard they’re delicious with A1. ---
**Author:** ![Habibi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Habibi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habibi)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/31 "2005-06-03T10:59:55Z")
I hate it when Im calling a helpline or customer service number and I cant speak to a real human being! I dont know that there is a tactic for it short of circumventing the recording by hitting zero or saying operator over and over again, but I think a lot of people suffer from the fact that the automated recordings often do not understand what you are saying. The trend now is to get rid of humans who can help customers and instead send everyone to the website. (visit us on the web at www. and check with out encyclopedia of answers… blah blah blah… you practically have to become your own research librarian to solve a problem that their product has and shouldnt). Does anyone have any creative ways of dealing with this situation? ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/32 "2005-06-03T11:50:18Z")
**–ATM fees** This is the up side of using a bank that has swallowed or been swallowed many times over and dominates the state – there’s always an ATM nearby. I found out that they charge a fee if you use the ATM card as a debit card in a store, but no fee if you use it as a credit card (something to do with the entirely different mechanisms and networks used for credit vs. debit), so I _always_ say “credit” when handing over my card. **–Reality TV** I have never been too sure what constitutes “Reality TV”. I don’t get into those “Bachelor” style programs or “Fear Factor” and the like, and I simply don’t watch them. I have no problem whatsoever wasting two hours watching “Cops” or watching those forensic science programs (the real ones, not the fiction ones). I feel a twinge of guilt because of this, but I get over it. **–Stores that require you to check your bag at the front.** Never bothered me. Some places are just like that, particularly in the city. The first time I was in Brazil, I was surprised to see just how ingrained in day to day life this was – when we went to the supermarket, there was a big room by the entrance, full of small cubby holes, with an attendant. Just like a coat check room, the nice lady would take your stuff and hand you a token of some sort. When you finished shopping, you picked up your stuff. There was a long fast-moving line for this service, but everybody _knew_ that this was the thing you do when going shopping. **–Pushy salespeople who ask every 2 minutes whether you want help.** I think that this one is often easier for guys to handle. One half-growled “No thank you, just looking” seems to always take care of this. **–When counter clerks drop your change on the counter rather than placing it politely in your outstretched hand.** Bugs me too. **–When credit card offers come in misleadingly official looking envelopes** I actually get a kick out of these and think it is fun sport to identify them – I proudly state “Junk mail” in a firm voice to my wife as I am sifting through them, and she is often surprised that I spotted it. The ones that really give me a chuckle are the ones that have the window cut to expose the words “Pay to the order of:” next to my name. Not only is nobody going to send me unsolicited money, but they tend to hide those words if it is a real check. My shredder kicks ass, it swallows unopened envelopes whole. Unless I am absolutely certain of the junk status, I do take a quick peek before shredding, though. **Habibi** has reminded me of my latest annoyance: all of the folks who call my phone number via some loophole in the National Do Not Call rules. In particular, political recordings and surveys top my list. Of course, anyone who calls me illegally really pisses me off. One fellow once started to argue with me when I advised him that he was not allowed to call me after 9pm. A woman last week told me that I needed to give her my phone number before she could take me off the list – she said that it was auto-dialed and she didn’t have access to the number. ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/33 "2005-06-03T15:14:51Z")
My little small-town one-branch bank doesn’t charge any fees for using another bank’s ATM… or for using my debit card. And they’re allied with a bunch of other smallish banks in the state, so there’s something like 400 ATMs I’m guaranteed no fees on. There’s no minimum balance OR service charge on my checking account, I get free online banking, AND they know how to spell my last name without asking. They also let you use their notary public and their copy machine for free with some types of accounts, I think. As if that weren’t enough, their drive-thru uses vacuum tubes that go **FOOM!** Honestly, the vacuum tubes are my favorite part. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/34 "2005-06-03T18:21:50Z")
> [@elfbabe](#): > > As if that weren’t enough, their drive-thru uses vacuum tubes that go **FOOM!** > > Honestly, the vacuum tubes are my favorite part. My bank (credit union, actually) uses the FOOM-y vacuum tubes in their drive-thru, too. The best part is that if I have my dog in the car they’ll send back a Milk Bone with my money. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/35 "2005-06-03T18:47:44Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > The best part is that if I have my dog in the car they’ll send back a Milk Bone with my money. 😛 When I was little and went to the bank with Grandpa, they’d send back some tootsie rolls for me. But I’m apparently too old for that now. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/36 "2005-06-03T18:53:16Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I no longer open anything with a return adress in Delaware, unless I know the company sending it. Everything from a company I’m doing business with has their name on it. Only the blanket mailings are blank. I just hope I don’t have a long lost rich relative in Delaware whose estate lawyers are trying to get in touch with me! 😃 I’ve got a couple of really annoying _counterexamples_ to the “no name on the return envelope = junk” rule. Credit cards often come in unmarked envelopes - to reduce theft, I guess. At least you can tell those by the feel of the envelope; those little rectangles are pretty obvious. But then there are the [amazon.com](http://amazon.com) certificates I get as a result of having one of their “perk” cards. Instead of emailing me a code, they send an actual certificate. In a plain white envelope. With “Awards department” or some such useless info for the return address. I nearly tossed the first one in the trash, assuming it was junk. So now I can’t just toss the crap mail, I have to actually _look_ at the stuff :mad: My own petty annoyances: - Traffic jams with _no known cause_. You know, the kind that you’re stuck in, then suddenly you’re through them and in the clear, with no obvious reason why (like a highway exit, or you’ve passed beyond a fender-bender, etc.). I mean, I hate being stuck in _any_ kind of traffic jam, but at least if there’s a reason, I can understand them. - Having to walk through the crowd of smokers that form a human barrier between the office building at the parking lot. - Unsolicited mortgage offers. The kind that come in envelopes saying “Important information about your mortgage!!”. - Unsolicited offers encouraging you to sell your house because “we have people very interested in moving to your neighborhood”. We moved 2.5 years ago and still get those offers to buy our _old_ house. The one we don’t own any more, as evidenced by the fact that the letter is addressed to us at our _new_ house. Hellooooooo!!! if we sold you the old place, you’d have to address your next letter to us at the Big House :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/37 "2005-06-04T05:50:41Z")
2 more for you. Both concerning grocery stores. First. Grocery checkout clerks who cough and sneeze into their hands and then scan your item. That’s my food dammit! Keep your germy hands off it. If you’re sick stay home. I’ve complained to the manager on several occasions but it doesn’t seem to do any good. Second. Why does Italian/French bread stick out of the wrapper? Can’t they make the wrapper 3" longer? I’m almost afraid to complain about this though. They might solve the problem by making the bread 3" shorter. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/38 "2005-06-04T20:16:02Z")
I’ve never tried those drive-through ATMs with the tubes. They’re unfamiliar and scary. ---
**Author:** ![Habibi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Habibi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habibi)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/39 "2005-06-06T09:29:59Z")
Speaking of junk mail, Ive heard that you can put the recipient’s name in both the return address spot and the addressee spot and not use a stamp. When the post office sees it has no stamp, it will return it to the address in the return address spot, thus sending it to where you want it to go. Has anyone ever tried this to see if it works? ---
**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:** [June 6, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603/40 "2005-06-06T16:17:20Z")
I believe that would be a Federal Offense, and a crime. On the other hand, Canada Post is so incompetent I have started using a marker and blacking out the address when I try to return a letter delivered to me by mistake so that they quit returning it to me, over and over, with “Not at this address. Return to sender.” clearly marked on it by me. They can’t handle those Business Reply cards, either. I tried to send one for a magazine subscription that I wanted, and they just returned it to me because it had no stamp. Um, turn it over? :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-full-of-little-annoyances-how-do-you-deal-with-them/305603.md?page=3)