# Mini rants **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 8, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695 "2005-09-08T19:35:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_of_the_Lake)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/41 "2005-09-08T21:46:52Z")
> [@OrangeJumpsuit](#): > > The cat doesn’t exactly “gnaw,” but he indeed bites and scratches completely unprovoked. The little shit is trying to be smart now. Sometimes he bites me, then runs outside through the kitty door so I can’t kick his sorry ass. Freeloadin’ cat is biting the hand that feeds him. All this talk is making me want to go backhand the little bastard right now. The bright spot about having such a cat – its fun to watch her get her paw stuck on stuff in mid attack! I stand just outside of the bleeding zone and laugh and laugh as she tries to free her paw to get at me! Ha! ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/42 "2005-09-08T21:47:08Z")
For the record: we do not have voice mail. Hell, we don’t even have an answering machine! (He forwards the calls to his cell after hours). **JerH** , I’ll grant you that some message takers are probably idiots, but I assure you: I am not. I know the names and issues with each and every one of our clients. They usually ask to speak to \_\_\_\_\_. I say he is out, but would they like me to take a message? “Wha wha WHA?!? He doesn’t have VOICE MAIL?” “No Mrs. Smith, he does not have voice mail ((thinking to self: yes, our office of TWO PEOPLE has a very in depth and complicated computerized voicemail system…our clients know this is a small office)). May I take a message?” “But, can’t I just leave it on his voice mail??” “Ma’am, we do not have voice mail. If you have an issue that needs to be handled right away, perhaps I can help you?” “Well tell him Mrs. Smith called from 123-456-7890.” “Not a problem, may I ask what this call is regarding?” Now here they either say: “Taxes” ← duh, we are a tax business! Or give me their long, complicated question which I handle with ease. Maybe my anger stems from the fact that I loathe being talked down to. Yes, I am young. Yes, I am the owner’s daughter. But you know what? I am also an Honors class acing, State Champion debating, college student. Oh, and I’ve been working here since I was 14! I do all the tax returns; hell, I call the IRS on most of your cases. Don’t speak to me like I am some ninny who can’t handle writing down 7 numbers and a name. :mad: Well, that was theraputic 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/43 "2005-09-08T21:51:30Z")
**People who drop calls.** For those that don’t know, the appropriate etiquette when transferring calls is to announce to the recipient who is on the line before you transfer them through. Let’s just say that I have a silly way of answering the phone when I know it’s the receptionist. Which is NOT how I answer the phone when I’m being “ **Worker Niblet\_Head** ”. Today I didn’t realize the receptionist had gone to lunch and her fill-in was dropping a call on me when I picked up the phone. Thank god it was only a salesperson. **You Get Paid Three Times As Much As Me. Don’t Ask Me How to Complete Your Budget.** And issues of this ilk. I am your boss’s admin. Yes, I’m not un-bright. I don’t know why it annoys me that _I_ can figure out stuff (that is part of YOUR job description) that you apparently can’t. But it does. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/44 "2005-09-08T22:01:36Z")
I hope all the **nasty skanks who pee on the toilet seat and don’t clean up after themselves** get a grisly disease that cause their labias and noses to fall off. Disgusting, uncivilized creatures! **People who talk and act rude when an opening band is on**. Look, I know you didn’t come to see the opening band, and I know that sometimes opening bands aren’t all that great, but often, opening bands are really good, and they’re trying hard. Give them a break. **Fucking useless Flash/Javascript-only web sites**. I don’t care if businesses tell customers or potential customers to fuck off. Their loss. I do care that nasty, horrible Flash/Javascript web sites are a downright epidemic among interesting female singers that I like. Jane Siberry, Feist, Emiliana Torrini, Lili Haydn, Charlotte Martin, Jorane, Sheila Nichols, Rachael Yamagata, Katell Keineg, Dulce Pontes, Sophie Zelmani, Eleni Mandell, Heather Duby, and so so so many others (I’m not providing links because I hate their sites so much). Flash-only web sites are the equivalent of stationing a bouncer at the door, turning away innocent interested people because they’re not _cool_ enough. I don’t bitch for myself. I can access their sites, but I have friends who can’t, and it bugs me. It can be inconvenient too. I wanted to provide a mailing list I’m on a list of Feist’s upcoming concerts. Because it’s Flash-only, I can’t just cut and paste, and by god I’m not going to sit there and type out each goddamned date/city/venue. ARGH! ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/45 "2005-09-08T22:03:33Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > I hope all the **nasty skanks who pee on the toilet seat and don’t clean up after themselves** get a grisly disease that cause their labias and noses to fall off. Disgusting, uncivilized creatures! Word. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/46 "2005-09-08T22:12:39Z")
> [@The Sausage Creature](#): > > Word. I would like to second that word, but add in women who somehow manage to get BLOOD on the toilet seat, floor, toilet paper holder, and ceiling (no seriously, I saw this once). ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/47 "2005-09-08T22:19:37Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > ATM card, debit card, who gives a F\*. Their convenient, their fast, their easy. Get your ass out of the stone age and learn to use one. > Checks are for writing your electric and water bills and sending them in the mail. Your checkbook should never leave the house. Too damn bad. The world is not designed specifically for your personal convenience; learn to co-exist with other people who may not think exactly as you do. I’ll use cash, check, or card, whichever I feel appropriate at the time, and I won’t shed any tears over your wounded sense of what is right. **jacquilynne** , there are ATM cards which do not function as debit cards. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/48 "2005-09-08T22:20:43Z")
> [@sciguy](#): > > **LoPoYPDNCaEoMP**. “Lack of Planning on Your Part Does Not Constitute an Emergency on My Part”. Do not come to me with a task that needs to be done ASAP that you knew about and actually could’ve informed me of last week. Especially when there are necessary sub-tasks (which you also haven’t done) completely out of my control that tend to have long turnaround times. _Exactly_! Also, it is not my fault that every major project in the company decided to have software deliveries in early October, thereby ensuring that all four technical writers are extremely busy until then. You’re going to have to write that 70-page document that’s due on 10/10 all by yourself; at best, we’ll be able to shake someone loose to do some copyediting/proofreading. No, it’s not “a problem,” it’s _your_ problem. > [@Equipoise](#): > > **People who talk and act rude when an opening band is on.** Look, I know you didn’t come to see the opening band, and I know that sometimes opening bands aren’t all that great, but often, opening bands are really good, and they’re trying hard. Give them a break. And then they don’t even clap. Fuckers. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/49 "2005-09-08T22:27:32Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > I would like to second that word, but add in women who somehow manage to get BLOOD on the toilet seat, floor, toilet paper holder, and ceiling (no seriously, I saw this once). On the ceiling? Oh dear. ---
**Author:** ![First\_Lady\_of\_Infinity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@First\_Lady\_of\_Infinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/First_Lady_of_Infinity)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/50 "2005-09-08T22:36:02Z")
> [@The Sausage Creature](#): > > On the ceiling? Oh dear. Hmmm, maybe that instruction page inside each and every box of tampons really does have a use. I think someone’s found their target audience! (And WORD to **The Sausage Creature** ’s original post. If your pink and private parts are so delicate that you can’t expose them to toilet seats, maybe you should consider peeing before you leave home. That way, you can hover and urinate in a place where I’m not likely to be exposed to your pure, unadulterated nastiness. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/51 "2005-09-08T22:43:44Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > Too damn bad. The world is not designed specifically for your personal convenience; learn to co-exist with other people who may not think exactly as you do. I’ll use cash, check, or card, whichever I feel appropriate at the time, and I won’t shed any tears over your wounded sense of what is right. I don’t have a problem with you using any form of acceptable payment at all. What I do have a problem with is you waiting until you get to the top of the line to dig your checkbook out, search ten minutes for a pen, then _balance your checkbook in line_. I’m not saying \*you \* do any of these things, just a generic “you”. I have the same irritation with people who upon confronted with the total, then decide hunt around for money, and worse, hunt around for those last three cents in the bottom of their purse, rather than just handing them the whole bill. I don’t have a problem with people who do this and have some change ready in their hand. It’s the hunting I despise. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/52 "2005-09-08T22:44:09Z")
Huh? That wasn’t me, that was **Equipoise**. Thanks for the shout-out anyhow. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/53 "2005-09-08T22:44:11Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > ATM card, debit card, who gives a F\*. Their convenient, their fast, their easy. And, nowadays, they are the same card. At least mine are. > [@](#): > > Get your ass out of the stone age and learn to use one. > Checks are for writing your electric and water bills and sending them in the mail. Your checkbook should never leave the house. A-FUCKING\_MEN! And, if you _must_ write a check at a store, get out the check and the pen _while you’re waiting in line_, and do what **First Lady of Infinity** does: > [@First Lady of Infinity](#): > > I’ll even fill in the store name, date, memo, and signature while I’m waiting, and get out my ID while I’m at it. Simple – just fill in the amount when I get a total and hand check & ID to the cashier. And don’t even _think_ about balancing your checkbook while standing in front of the cash register and preventing the rest of the line from moving. People who do that should be dragged out and shot. Balance your checkbook in your car, or when you get home. Another grocery store line rant: **People who won’t move up in the line when they can** Some of us would like to put our groceries on the belt before we get up to the cashier. They put out little plastic dividers next to the belt for the purpose of allowing more than one person to do this at a time, which makes for more efficient movement of the line. But if you hang back, as if you thought the cashier or the person in front of you has a deadly plague or something, you make it so people in line behind you can’t put their groceries on the belt. This makes the whole line move slower, and makes everyone overall less happy, since most of us can think of many more enjoyable uses of our time than standing in a grocery checkout line. > [@BiblioCat](#): > > It’s grass. > [Non-technical possibly slighty wrong laymen’s terms] It germinates this time of year before going dormant for the winter, thereby spewing grass pollen thingys into the air and causing many people to have a whole new allergy-funfest, complete with snotty runny noses and itchy eyes. [/n-tpswlt] I always had grass allergies in the fall when I lived on the East Coast. Until this year, though, it wasn’t so bad here in California. I have been living on Sudafed for the last month, too. > [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > The same people above who think a tuna sandwich has to have at least two ice-cream scoops of tuna. And, of those 2 scoops of tuna, about 1 1/2 scoops are mayonnaise. If I must have a mayonnaise sandwich (I don’t even like mayonnaise), I’d like to have some tuna on it, please. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/54 "2005-09-08T22:45:15Z")
> [@The Sausage Creature](#): > > Huh? That wasn’t me, that was **Equipoise**. Thanks for the shout-out anyhow. 🙂 Err, that was in response to **First Lady of Infinity**. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/55 "2005-09-08T22:47:11Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > I’ll use cash, check, or card, whichever I feel appropriate at the time But, if you had a debit card, I can’t imagine why you _would_ want to write a check. To use the debit card, you have to find one card, and remember a four-digit number that rarely changes. To write a check, you have to find your checkbook and a pen, remember today’s date, and write all the information out on the check. That just seems like so much more work than using a debit card, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to do that. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/56 "2005-09-08T22:49:36Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > What I do have a problem with is you waiting until you get to the top of the line to dig your checkbook out, search ten minutes for a pen, then _balance your checkbook in line_. I’m not saying \*you \* do any of these things, just a generic “you”. I have the same irritation with people who upon confronted with the total, then decide hunt around for money, and worse, hunt around for those last three cents in the bottom of their purse, rather than just handing them the whole bill. I don’t have a problem with people who do this and have some change ready in their hand. It’s the hunting I despise. I can agree with all of this. It’s called “Be Prepared”. I admit, I get irritated with people who get all their stuff rung up, and then begin to root around for their debit card. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/57 "2005-09-08T22:49:41Z")
**Stores that do not take credit/debit cards** - Look, can we at least agree that it’s time to get up to a 1970’s level in the retail sector? I’m continually amazed by stores that are cash only - unless you’re a fucking hotdong stand, you need to accept visa or visa check cards. Nobody carries cash anymore, and you - not me, the customer - looks like an archaic ass when you have to tell me that you don’t take it. I’ve actually started to respond with “You’re joking, right?” when businesses tell me that they don’t take cards. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/58 "2005-09-08T22:50:07Z")
> [@First Lady of Infinity](#): > > If your pink and private parts are so delicate that you can’t expose them to toilet seats, maybe you should consider peeing before you leave home. No, I think that, if you’re that prissy, you should realize that your home toilet seat is covered with germs, too. You should just hold it in until you explode, and do the species a favor. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/59 "2005-09-08T22:53:27Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#): > > But, if you had a debit card, I can’t imagine why you _would_ want to write a check. Primarily: at the grocery store on payday, after my money is in the bank, but before that knowledge has made it’s way to the system that handles the cards. They poll my bank once a day for account balances. I found this out the hard way at Sears with four brand new tires on my car. (Sears took a check.) ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695/60 "2005-09-08T22:55:05Z")
> [@VCO3](#): > > I’ve actually started to respond with “You’re joking, right?” when businesses tell me that they don’t take cards. Some stores don’t wish to pay the fees, and they’re willing to do without your business in order not to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mini-rants/320695.md?page=4)