# Minor Pittings of the Week **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 12, 2006, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684 "2006-01-12T17:28:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/101 "2006-01-16T21:26:02Z")
> [@Troy McClure SF](#): > > I’m driving along, and the car in front of me slows down, and down, and down. Then they put their blinkers on. _But don’t stop_. These are especially fun for cyclists. (Almost) ran into one yesterday. Driving along the curb (ie in bike territory), a bit slower than my fast pace, but fast enough that it’s not clear that he’s about to stop. I come up behind him. Do I go out towards traffic to pass, which means risking that the doofus will pull out to the left when I’m beside him (thus grinding me into the streetcar tracks, lousy fucking hazardous streetcar tracks, how do I love everything about streetcars except for the slippery nasty tracks that are just lurking, perpetually waiting for the chance to grab my wheels) or that he will speed up and start going faster than me (which means getting rear-ended or passed in a hurry), or do I slow down and wait for him to finish being a doofus, which means basically walking my bike along behind him? ---
**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 17, 2006, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/102 "2006-01-17T05:01:29Z")
Ooh, that one gets me, too. If you’re slowing down for a reason, turn signals can be used to indicate that reason - ie, you’re turning or pulling over to park. If you’re slowing down for no reason, get a bus pass and make the roads safer for all of us. ---
**Author:** ![Mellivora\_capensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mellivora\_capensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mellivora_capensis)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/103 "2006-01-17T13:04:44Z")
Got nothing to pit, but I would like to just comment on the slow approach to red lights. In South Africa it’s considered a useful anti-hijacking tactic, and you’ll see many vehicles slowly approach red lights in the hope they change and they don’t have to stop. It also pisses off the panhandlers. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/104 "2006-01-17T14:15:43Z")
I drive to work in Atlanta, Georgia so let’s understand that I expect to be tied up in traffic in the morning. Every morning. Every night. Such is life. I pit the selfish driver who ‘parks’ in the far left lane of a six lane interstate highway and doesn’t keep up with the changing flow of traffic. The guy who allows 10 spaces to open up in front of him (at 30 MPH) so that he doesn’t need to EVER tap his brakes for the 20 or so mile trip. Has this idiot ever considered the “butterfly effect” of his selfishness? If all cars maintained the speed of the _current_ flow of traffic, the commute wouldn’t be so frustrating. I do understand the need for braking space but there is no need for 10 car lengths if our speed is 30 MPH. Now I understand Ludacris’ song -“Move B$%\*^, Get Out The Way”. It was about rush hour. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/105 "2006-01-17T14:56:06Z")
I’ve had it with chowderheads that forward emails of outrage without even finding out if it’s true or not. I recently got one alleging that Target does not support veterans charities, only supports gay and lesbian causes, etc. and we should all boycott Target because they’re French owned, in addition to the other stuff mentioned. [Of course, none of it is true.](http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/target.asp) When you get an email filled with righteous indignation, for God’s sake check out if it is true before you pass on malicious gossip. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/106 "2006-01-17T15:26:17Z")
People who don’t put their name on their work voicemail. It’ll just say, “I’m not here right now, please leave a message.” I may not know who you are. I may be calling you for the first time. How do I know I got the right person? It’s extraordinarily unprofessional, and it’s not difficult to say, as I do, “You’ve reached the voice mail of **Lord Ashtar**. Please leave me a message with all the pertinent information and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.” ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/107 "2006-01-17T16:42:14Z")
> [@Lord Ashtar](#): > > People who don’t put their name on their work voicemail. It’ll just say, “I’m not here right now, please leave a message.” > > I may not know who you are. I may be calling you for the first time. How do I know I got the right person? It’s extraordinarily unprofessional, and it’s not difficult to say, as I do, “You’ve reached the voice mail of **Lord Ashtar**. Please leave me a message with all the pertinent information and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.” My voicemail Pit is for people who leave messages in a voice that alternates between William Shatner and an Arkansas hog auctioneer, e.g.: “Hello… I’m calling about a… case… case number… fivefivetwoonesevenoheightsixsixnineohone… I’m trying to… check… on the… case status… call me back… at… fivefivefiveonetwothreefour.” ---
**Author:** ![Canadiangirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Canadiangirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadiangirl)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/108 "2006-01-17T17:13:31Z")
Here’s mine: IT’S A PASSING LANE!!! Move the fuck over if you insist on going 30 mph in a 50 zone so that other people can pass. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/109 "2006-01-17T18:52:44Z")
Oh, I’ve got one. I just saw this: The dude that cuts in front of you or races ahead of you to get to the exit from the parking lot - only to stop to take a difficult left-turn which will take a while. You can’t really Pit this individually. Because he doesn’t know that I’m not taking a left turn, too, right? But why do you need to race there just to stop dead? You know you’re going to be a while during rush hour no matter what, why not take your time and not endanger people in the parking lot? Grr. People need to be taught parking lot etiquette. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/110 "2006-01-17T19:11:04Z")
> [@pizzabrat](#): > > When people don’t put their location in their location space. Seriously! This ticks me off. Sometimes I’m curious to know whether a word someone uses is, for example, some kind of British slang or something; I check the location and get something cute like “OMG in your eye!!!” Makes me _want_ to track someone down and poke 'em in the eye. > [@Lord Ashtar](#): > > It’s extraordinarily unprofessional, and it’s not difficult to say, as I do, "You’ve reached the voice mail of Lord Ashtar. That must make voicemail messages interesting! 😃 > [@Steve MB](#): > > My voicemail Pit is for people who leave messages in a voice that alternates between William Shatner and an Arkansas hog auctioneer Ugh! I hate this too. I always fully enunciate numbers, and I wish everyone else did too, because it’s fuckin impossible to glean numbers off some peoples’ messages. How about the folks who insist on going 55 on a 65 freeway where everyone’s trying to go 75? > [@Anaamika](#): > > Grr. People need to be taught parking lot etiquette. Yeah, seroiusly. The bigger the mall, the more people want to play extreme sports games in the parking lot. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/111 "2006-01-17T19:37:10Z")
> [@fetus](#): > > That must make voicemail messages interesting! 😃 Maybe that’s why I get all those weird looks around the water cooler… ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/112 "2006-01-17T19:40:41Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > The dude that cuts in front of you or races ahead of you to get to the exit from the parking lot - only to stop to take a difficult left-turn which will take a while. > > You can’t really Pit this individually. Because he doesn’t know that I’m not taking a left turn, too, right? But why do you need to race there just to stop dead? Because that way, HE WINS! He’s ahead of you! He’s faster and has a better car! :rolleyes: Yeah, he’s still an ass, but I swear that’s the line of thinking that seems to go with this type of driving. Morons, all of 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/113 "2006-01-17T23:52:23Z")
Some twit stole my lunch today. It was homemade sausage rolls, extras from a batch I made for a party on Saturday. I live in the US. If I want sausage rolls, I have to make them myself, and making a dozen or so at a time for one person isn’t practical, so they’re a rare treat. Look, if whoever took them had asked, I’d have been happy to share or make more some other time. As it was, on a day when far too many other things were going wrong, I also wound up making a run to the nearest fast food joint, a couple of miles away. I know we had this rant last week; next time I’ll ask the thief to time things better. After lunch, thoroughly grouchy, I was cleaning out our contact management software as part of preparations for a move to new software. While doing so, I came across an account with one phone call on record dating from last spring. The note for that account read “Out of business”. If the account’s out of business, they’re not likely to do business with us, so why did the rep leave the account in the database? We didn’t have any prior history with them and we certainly don’t have a future with them. After the original sales rep made the note, the account was transferred to a new rep, one who’s no longer with us. Why did the original rep have us waste our time with that account? Those are the two major annoyances today. Hang it, I want my sausage rolls! 😉 sort of. CJ ---
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/114 "2006-01-18T00:26:38Z")
This may sound strange, but I pit the “1,2,3,4,5-6,7,8,9,10-11,12” song from Sesame St. All week, whenever I’ve been counting stuff at work, I’ll be counting to this tune. Its driving me mad and I cant get rid of it. Do they still play this song in Sesame St.? It used to have a little video to go with it, like a pinball whizzing round a track. I was going to post this as a thread on its own, but… y’know. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/115 "2006-01-18T12:03:12Z")
I pit the cow-orker whom I gave a lift because his car broke down ( so far no problem) but who has neither fixed the car nor gotten a new one and it’s now about six weeks later (two weeks of which were holidays). He’s just assumed I’m happy to give him a lift every day because I did it the first week and has never asked me if I’m still okay with the “arrangement”. He talks in the mornings and I’m not a morning person (putting it very mildly). He prevents me making full use of the flexible working hours we have. He has not once offered any money for petrol. He is NOT stuck without me. There’s a bus service and there are other cow-orkers some of whom might even like the company/petrol money (should they get any, which, as I said, I don’t). He is a fucking back seat driver who comments on my driving (watch out! A car! Stop here now. Etc) and even has the guts to suggest different routes because he is running late. If you want to decide how and where a car is driven. GET YOUR OWN FUCKING CAR. Yes, I should just tell him to get lost (hey, this is the Pit not IMHO you know) but I hate having to feel like a meanie when it’s he who has put me in this position by just not taking my side of this into consideration at all. Thanks for listening. ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/116 "2006-01-18T12:42:47Z")
> [@Audrey Levins](#): > > People who cheerfully wander around shopping all day without an actual paper dollar to their names, despite all of the ATMs that abound, thus purchasing cups of coffee, and other equally minute and mundane items, with their fucking credit cards, are a major pet peeve of mine. To the Pit with them! It’s A DOLLAR NINETY EIGHT! WHY THE FUCK DON’T YOU HAVE A DOLLAR NINETY EIGHT IN CASH? POCKET CHANGE? WHEN’S THE LAST TIME YOU SAW AN ACTUAL PIECE OF AMERICAN CURRENCY, YOU ANNOYING TIME-CONSUMING-MAKE-SURE-YOUR-SIGNATURE-IS-PRETTY-AND-YOU-TUCK-YOUR-RECEIPT-AWAY-CAREFULLY-IN-THE-VERY-SPOT-YOU’RE-SUPPOSED-TO-KEEP-REAL-FUCKING-MONEY-MOTHERFUCKER? My apologies if this has already been mentioned; I’m overdue to get to bed and may have missed it, but… I don’t have any clue about US mortgages, but in Australia there’s a very handy mortgage system whereby all your pay goes straight into offsetting your mortgage, and everything - bills, you name it - is paid on your linked VISA card. Then, at the end of the VISA billing cycle (ie, every month) money is automatically transferred from the mortgage/whole-of-pay account to clear out that ‘debt’ so that no interest is ever paid on the VISA. During that month, however, every cent you earn is counting towards your mortgage. It’s working brilliantly for my husband and I, but it does mean that we just simply don’t have actual cash in our hands unless we make a special effort to transfer funds to a cash account first so that we can use an ATM. We try not to do that, obviously, because it’s neither convenient nor a particularly smart use of our mortgage set-up. For what it’s worth, I’m not out to bug anyone by doing it, and I’m not over-fond of seeing my name in print (though it is a nice name. I chose it myself.), I’m just acting as financially responsible as I can…and believe me, ‘financially responsible’ is not my natural state of being. 😉 I’m more responsible with a card I have to sign for than I am with actual real cash too. I used to just burn through cash with no idea where it went, but I’m more alert to what I’m spending if there’s a signature involved. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/117 "2006-01-18T14:34:57Z")
> [@Audrey Levins](#): > > It’s A DOLLAR NINETY EIGHT! WHY THE FUCK DON’T YOU HAVE A DOLLAR NINETY EIGHT IN CASH? POCKET CHANGE? WHEN’S THE LAST TIME YOU SAW AN ACTUAL PIECE OF AMERICAN CURRENCY, YOU ANNOYING TIME-CONSUMING-MAKE-SURE-YOUR-SIGNATURE-IS-PRETTY-AND-YOU-TUCK-YOUR-RECEIPT-AWAY-CAREFULLY-IN-THE-VERY-SPOT-YOU’RE-SUPPOSED-TO-KEEP-REAL-FUCKING-MONEY-MOTHERFUCKER? Goddamn ATMs that have user fees. Four bucks to pull a 20 out of my account? Eff that. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/118 "2006-01-18T15:06:48Z")
> [@PookahMacPhellimey](#): > > I pit the cow-orker whom I gave a lift because his car broke down ( so far no problem) but who has neither fixed the car nor gotten a new one and it’s now about six weeks later (two weeks of which were holidays). He’s just assumed I’m happy to give him a lift every day because I did it the first week and has never asked me if I’m still okay with the “arrangement”. > > He talks in the mornings and I’m not a morning person (putting it very mildly). > > He prevents me making full use of the flexible working hours we have. > > He has not once offered any money for petrol. > > He is NOT stuck without me. There’s a bus service and there are other cow-orkers some of whom might even like the company/petrol money (should they get any, which, as I said, I don’t). > > He is a fucking back seat driver who comments on my driving (watch out! A car! Stop here now. Etc) and even has the guts to suggest different routes because he is running late. If you want to decide how and where a car is driven. GET YOUR OWN FUCKING CAR. > > Yes, I should just tell him to get lost (hey, this is the Pit not IMHO you know) but I hate having to feel like a meanie when it’s he who has put me in this position by just not taking my side of this into consideration at all. > > Thanks for listening. I know this is the Pit and you’re not looking for advice but you need to tell him to get lost, yes, guilt-free. You’re a good person for doing it so long. Or you need to flat out ask him for money. And since this is the Pit, I’ll add - don’t be such a fucking pussy. Stand up for yourself, or people will forever walk all over you. You don’t have to be mean about it. This is a good reason: > [@](#): > > He prevents me making full use of the flexible working hours we have. So - get on it! My Pit this morning is people who think it’s funny to complain to you over and over, about the same thing. “So how’s your car? Break down yet? You should shoot it!” Bwahahaha! Very fucking funny, asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/119 "2006-01-18T15:36:30Z")
> [@Siege](#): > > Some twit stole my lunch today. It was homemade sausage rolls, extras from a batch I made for a party on Saturday. I live in the US. If I want sausage rolls, I have to make them myself, and making a dozen or so at a time for one person isn’t practical, so they’re a rare treat. Look, if whoever took them had asked, I’d have been happy to share or make more some other time. As it was, on a day when far too many other things were going wrong, I also wound up making a run to the nearest fast food joint, a couple of miles away. I know we had this rant last week; next time I’ll ask the thief to time things better. > > After lunch, thoroughly grouchy, I was cleaning out our contact management software as part of preparations for a move to new software. While doing so, I came across an account with one phone call on record dating from last spring. The note for that account read “Out of business”. If the account’s out of business, they’re not likely to do business with us, so why did the rep leave the account in the database? We didn’t have any prior history with them and we certainly don’t have a future with them. After the original sales rep made the note, the account was transferred to a new rep, one who’s no longer with us. Why did the original rep have us waste our time with that account? > > Those are the two major annoyances today. Hang it, I want my sausage rolls! 😉 sort of. > CJ My major bitch for the day is that you didn’t post the recipe for the sausage rolls. I must know what they are! Signed – Kalhoun the Sausage Freak ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684/120 "2006-01-18T15:57:42Z")
> [@bubastis](#): > > This may sound strange, but I pit the “1,2,3,4,5-6,7,8,9,10-11,12” song from Sesame St. All week, whenever I’ve been counting stuff at work, I’ll be counting to this tune. Its driving me mad and I cant get rid of it. Do they still play this song in Sesame St.? It used to have a little video to go with it, like a pinball whizzing round a track. I was going to post this as a thread on its own, but… y’know. They did a parody of this on Family Guy a few weeks ago. I’d link to the file on devilducky, but you’d probably leap through the computer and kill me dead. My pit for today is the way people driver in the rain. Hey! Dumbass in a truck! Did you know that in North Carolina the law says that if your windshield wipers are going, you need to have your headlights on? Great day in the morning, it’s either feast or famine with these damn headlights around here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-pittings-of-the-week/339684.md?page=7)