# New Mini-Rants for 2007 **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 5, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859 "2007-01-05T20:36:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![lowbrass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dc4da7/32.png) [@lowbrass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lowbrass)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/41 "2007-01-07T22:58:41Z")
[QUOTE=black rabbit] Corollary: If you park facing outwards by pulling through to the empty space on the other side of the row, YOU SUCK. Especially if you do it in a crowded lot. [/QUOTE] Dang. I guess I suck. I never did it to snipe a space from another driver, though. So I guess I don’t especially suck. I just regular suck. Note: Make sure there isn’t one of those concrete divider thingies on the ground before you try it. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![katie1341](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/91b2a8/32.png) [@katie1341](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/katie1341)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/42 "2007-01-07T23:32:44Z")
I am a public defender. I hate, hate, hate it when I go to the jail to see a client, and he’s been taking advice from the other inmates. And, since they’re telling him what he wants to hear and I’m not, he believes the inamtes. Inmate: I’m charged with burglary, but I’m not guilty. Me: The police report says you were arrested coming out of your neighbor’s house carrying a TV. How do you figure you’re not guilty? Inmate: I didn’t break in. The door was unlocked. Me: It wasn’t your house and you didn’t have permission to either go in or take the TV. It’s not how you get into the house that matters, it’s whether you had permission to be there, and what you do while you’re in it. Inmate: Yeah, but the door was unlocked, and the guys in my dorm said that’s not burglary, and I shouldn’t plead guilty to anything. They said I should ask for a jury trial, and I’m not pleading to anything. Me, in my head: Three years of my life and thirty thousand dollars in tuition pissed away. I could have just gotten arrested and known everything there is to know about the law… ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/43 "2007-01-07T23:54:59Z")
[QUOTE=black rabbit] Corollary: If you park facing outwards by pulling through to the empty space on the other side of the row, YOU SUCK. Especially if you do it in a crowded lot. [/QUOTE] Huh? Most crowded lots, by definition, generally don’t have enough free spaces to allow this tactic anyway. I pull through empty spaces to park facing outwards quite often, and in such cases the lot usually has dozens of free spaces, so no-one is inconvenienced. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/44 "2007-01-08T03:17:01Z")
When entering a round-about: YOU are suppose to yield to the people in the round-about not the other way around. Do not close your eyes and hope for the best while you are driving faster than the people in the round-about! ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/45 "2007-01-08T03:28:44Z")
Here in the Desert Southwest a green left turn arrow means: consider your options, then proceed. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/46 "2007-01-08T03:39:23Z")
[QUOTE=Anduril] [nitpick] It’s “Gratuitously.” 😃 [/nitpick] [/QUOTE] I pit all those who have nothing better to do with their time than to nitpick others’ spelling on ogdamned Internet message boards. LD ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/47 "2007-01-08T03:42:11Z")
People in the gym: the machines with the blue and yellow cushions are for the “quick workout” circuit. There are only ten of them. They are not unique or special in any way other than the fact that they have been put in a line in a specific order so a person can start at machine #1 and progress to machine #10 in less than half an hour. So STOP FRICKIN’ HOPPING IN THERE! There are four other machines of each kind of version out there on the rest of the floor. All I want to do is work out on the machines in the order the well-paid whosit corporate person put them in , and you are Getting In My Way. If you are just dying to work out on these machines, then START AT THE BEGINNING AND GO IN ORDER! ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/48 "2007-01-08T04:45:29Z")
[QUOTE=black rabbit] Corollary: If you park facing outwards by pulling through to the empty space on the other side of the row, YOU SUCK. Especially if you do it in a crowded lot. [/QUOTE] Why? I’ve been going over the possibilities in my head, and I genuinely cannot think of any reason someone would be bothered by this. Please inform. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/49 "2007-01-08T05:22:28Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] And sometimes doesn’t even know what the produce is. My tiny rant: I’m at the self-checkout and am clearly thumbing through the produce code list, looking for the code for an artichoke. I can’t find it. I turn to the checker covering the four self-check stations, who has been watching me, hold the artichoke up and ask, “What is this?” meaning, what code is this item? Her: “You’re buying something and you don’t know what it is?” Me: “Of course I know what it is; I just need the code for it.” Her: “Well, what is it?” Me: “YOU don’t know what it is?” Her: “No!” Me: “It’s an artichoke.” Her: “What’s an ‘artichoke’?” Me, waving it at her: “THIS is an artichoke. What’s the code, please?” Her: How do you spell ‘artichoke’?" Me did NOT say: “Just look under “A”, after “apples” and yell out the code for any word you don’t know.” She’d probably have given me the code for asparagus. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] I work as a cashier in a supermarket, and I know what most of the produce is (and a lot of the codes). If I don’t know what something is, I figure out what it _could_ be, and ask the customer which it is: “Is this lettuce or cabbage?” Artichoke is 4084, by the way. 😉 ---
**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 8, 2007, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/50 "2007-01-08T06:36:37Z")
[QUOTE=black rabbit] Corollary: If you park facing outwards by pulling through to the empty space on the other side of the row, YOU SUCK. Especially if you do it in a crowded lot. [/QUOTE] My husband hates this, too, so I went and asked him why. He said it is because you expect other cars to be backing out of spaces, not driving out frontwards, so you are creating a hazard by not doing what other drivers expect you to. I’m not completely convinced; I think drivers driving way too fast in parking lots is a bigger safety issue than people driving out of parking spots frontwards. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/51 "2007-01-08T07:37:21Z")
If the car is coming in your direction, what’s it matter if it’s facing you or facing away when it does it? And if it’s facing toward you, the driver in the parking spot can see you as easily as you can see him. Any time I’ve almost been hit in a parking lot, it’s been from someone backing up. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/52 "2007-01-08T08:26:58Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] My husband hates this, too, so I went and asked him why. He said it is because you expect other cars to be backing out of spaces, not driving out frontwards, so you are creating a hazard by not doing what other drivers expect you to. I’m not completely convinced; I think drivers driving way too fast in parking lots is a bigger safety issue than people driving out of parking spots frontwards. [/QUOTE] I seldom can do this, but when I do I can see the idiot speeding down the aisle much better pulling out forward. It’s also easier to see if someone else is backing out at the same time. Which leads to my parking lot rant - why shopping center designers in the Bay Area can’t design decent parking lots. In normal parts of the world the aisle are perpendicular to the main lanes through the lot - here they are at 45 degree angles. One place has very short lanes, interrupted every so often by planters. This place also has stop signs on the main lanes that have no relation to any road that might be stopped for - best I can figure is that they had a good post to put a stop sign on, and did so. Roads through parking lots diverge and converge for no reason, and some pretty much dead end. And a special mention to the idiot woman who turned left through a red light today. If I weren’t a gentleman, I would have followed her home and assisted her in the proper way of using a cellphone while driving by ramming it up her ass. ---
**Author:** ![Anduril](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c0e974/32.png) [@Anduril](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anduril)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/53 "2007-01-08T14:41:31Z")
[QUOTE=ElvisL1ves] I pit all those who have nothing better to do with their time than to nitpick others’ spelling on ogdamned **Internet** message boards. LD [/QUOTE] It was a joke. BTW, [nitpick] it should be “internet”. You shouldn’t capitalize the I. [/nitpick] 😃😃😃 runs away to hide… ---
**Author:** ![justpassingthrough](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@justpassingthrough](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justpassingthrough)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/54 "2007-01-08T15:16:07Z")
More parking lot annoyances: Drivers who can’t read arrows, for crying out loud. If a parking aisle is marked as one way only, don’t decide it’s ok to go the opposite way. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/55 "2007-01-08T15:16:53Z")
[QUOTE=ElvisL1ves] I pit all those who have nothing better to do with their time than to nitpick others’ spelling on ogdamned Internet message boards. LD [/QUOTE] But I already _did_ this. Get yer own! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/56 "2007-01-08T15:21:32Z")
From a recent letter: > [@](#): > > Dear madam or sir, > > I’m slightly disturbed by a way I see tea being prepared in a number of (though not all) Tim Hortons stores. When asked to prepare tea with milk, I have seen employees add hot water to milk, and then place a tea bag in the milky mixture. > > This is not tea with milk; it is a teabag in unclean water. Tea cannot be made in this fashion; the result is not drinkable. It is of course a matter of debate in some circles whether tea, once steeped, should be added to milk or milk added to the tea; but there is universal agreement that tea is made with pure water, following which the prepared tea may be combined with milk. > > Apparently the issue is that some Tim Hortons restaurants use boxed milk rather than the milk dispensers, and it is inconvenient to have to retrieve the milk after the tea is made. In that case, may I recommend the technique a Tim Hortons clerk used when I noticed and objected to this process? He made the tea properly, then gave me a milk packet. > > I am sure I am not the first to object to the above-described method, but I really would appreciate it if some sort of memo could be circulated to all locations, reminding them that tea is properly made with pure water. > > Thank you very much for your attention to this matter. > > Yours faithfully, ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/57 "2007-01-08T15:23:46Z")
This must have been ranted at before, but it irked me this weekend. Compact Car Only isn’t a suggestion. And your Chevy Tahoe is not a compact car. Especially in parking garages with very tight turns and two way traffic, you can significantly add to the length of time it takes me to get out of the garage by ignoring this. Also, people who deliberately park in the middle of two spots because they think their car is important enough to merit extra protection. ---
**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 8, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/58 "2007-01-08T15:35:15Z")
And people who park up the driving lanes because the parking lot is crowded (but usually not full further away from the doors). Where the lines delineating parking spaces stop, parking stops, you bunch of knobs. Our local zoo is terrible for this - on busy summer days, some lanes are completely blocked with almost a dozen cars blocking them. We go to the zoo frequently, and I have seriously considered making up little cards for these days to leave on windshields - “THIS IS NOT A PARKING SPOT, YOU IDIOT.” Probably with the “YOU IDIOT” left off. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/59 "2007-01-08T19:14:36Z")
[QUOTE=DeadlyAccurate] [QUOTE=black rabbit] Corollary: If you park facing outwards by pulling through to the empty space on the other side of the row, YOU SUCK. Especially if you do it in a crowded lot. [/QUOTE] Why? I’ve been going over the possibilities in my head, and I genuinely cannot think of any reason someone would be bothered by this. Please inform. [/QUOTE] The only thing I can come up with is that someone else (perhaps someone such as **black rabbit** ) may be approaching the parking spot from another direction planning to pull into it, when your car drives into the spot from the opposite side. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859/60 "2007-01-08T19:25:39Z")
Hah, **Matt**? In India, milky tea is often made by boiling the milk in the water. But you’re right, the water & tea is brought to a boil first, _then_ the milk poured in, then brought to a simmer. So I do agree with you. I’ll add - people whom you addres a specific situation with, resolve, and then a year later claim they never heard of whatever you were talking about. Bad enough, but then they don’t even apologize when you pull up **written documentation** stating they’re wrong! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mini-rants-for-2007/386859.md?page=4)