# The worst things in the world **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 6, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-things-in-the-world/552849 "2010-09-06T22:46:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-things-in-the-world/552849/121 "2010-09-14T18:42:25Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > 1. The guy in front of me paying for $13.56 in groceries with spare change. THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE IN THE…ah fuck it. Must be the guy who broke into my car last night. All he got was approximately $13.56 in change. :dubious: I figured he needed to do laundry… ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-things-in-the-world/552849/122 "2010-09-14T23:26:03Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > > [@Scylla](#): > > > > The worst thing in the world is watching someone you love suffer horribly while being powerless to do anything about it. > > That’s what it was like for you watching Bush getting criticized, huh? No. I was thinking about my father losing his tongue, lower jaw, floor of his mouth and part of his neck to cancer, watching him breathe, and eat through tubes, and try to communicate with a speak and spell, seeing the agony in his eyes and being powerless to do anything to help him. ---
**Author:** ![Faruiza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@Faruiza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faruiza)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-things-in-the-world/552849/123 "2010-09-15T03:11:31Z")
**Scylla** , it sounds like you need to get some of this off your chest. I’d like to suggest a whole new thread for it. I even promise to pay attention. ---
**Author:** ![BayouHazard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@BayouHazard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BayouHazard)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-things-in-the-world/552849/124 "2010-09-15T04:31:22Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Must be the guy who broke into my car last night. All he got was approximately $13.56 in change. :dubious: I figured he needed to do laundry… Nope, that’s crack money. It is a crackhead thing to do to break into your car JUST for the spare change in it. They may often ignore more valuable items just for the spare change-because they can’t immediately get crack with them. Bad news, my friend-he or she will likely be back, now that they’ve gotten change out of your car. Because the next time they haven’t got enough to buy a rock, their fried little brain WILL go there. Better do something about this. -From the “I’m not kidding you” section. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-things-in-the-world/552849/125 "2010-09-15T20:56:20Z")
The soccer mom and her two darling daughters that almost got murdered by me yesterday. Gee, I know it’s cute that you guys are so perky and happy and such a wonderful family. But when you are descending a 10 FOOT WIDE staircase in a subway station that is designed for foot traffic in both directions it’s not at all cute and sweet when you let one of your children grab the left handrail, the other the right handrail and you walk in the middle holding both their hands, can’t you see through your “happy mommy googles” and realize that you are making a freaking human chain that is keeping everyone else from getting up and down the stairs in the way that God, the MTA and common sense intended?? Bitch ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-things-in-the-world/552849/126 "2010-09-15T22:46:57Z")
> [@Faruiza](#): > > **Scylla** , it sounds like you need to get some of this off your chest. I’d like to suggest a whole new thread for it. I even promise to pay attention. Nyah, douchebag begged an answer. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-things-in-the-world/552849/127 "2010-09-15T23:07:51Z")
Oozing and slithering down towards the bottom of the barrel of the worst things in the world are pronouncements like “This needs finished.” Leaving out the words “to be” in this fashion is the grammatical equivalent of nails scraping across a blackboard. On a happier note, [this](http://s304.photobucket.com/albums/nn176/Voltaire1778/?action=view¤t=Thing_Addams-Family_001.jpg&sort=ascending) is the Best Thing in the world. ---
**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:** [September 15, 2010, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-things-in-the-world/552849/128 "2010-09-15T23:43:07Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > The soccer mom and her two darling daughters that almost got murdered by me yesterday. > > Gee, I know it’s cute that you guys are so perky and happy and such a wonderful family. But when you are descending a 10 FOOT WIDE staircase in a subway station that is designed for foot traffic in both directions it’s not at all cute and sweet when you let one of your children grab the left handrail, the other the right handrail and you walk in the middle holding both their hands, can’t you see through your “happy mommy googles” and realize that you are making a freaking human chain that is keeping everyone else from getting up and down the stairs in the way that God, the MTA and common sense intended?? > > Bitch You just reminded me that I have to get all my Christmas shopping done soon, because these kind of idiots like to teach their toddlers to walk in malls during the Christmas shopping season, and **I’M** the bad guy if I punt them across the concourse. ---
**Author:** ![Faruiza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@Faruiza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faruiza)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-things-in-the-world/552849/129 "2010-09-17T22:11:54Z")
> [@Scylla](#): > > > [@Faruiza](#): > > > > **Scylla** , it sounds like you need to get some of this off your chest. I’d like to suggest a whole new thread for it. I even promise to pay attention. > > Nyah, douchebag begged an answer. Wait, what? Did you just call me a douchebag? ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-things-in-the-world/552849/130 "2010-09-17T22:31:32Z")
> [@Faruiza](#): > > > [@Scylla](#): > > > > Nyah, douchebag begged an answer. > > Wait, what? Did you just call me a douchebag? No, **ElvisL1ves** , who is indeed pretty much a d-bag. ---
**Author:** ![Faruiza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@Faruiza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faruiza)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-things-in-the-world/552849/131 "2010-09-18T02:42:32Z")
Ok! Carry on then! Nothing to see here. Sorry **Scylla**. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-things-in-the-world/552849/132 "2010-09-18T18:53:42Z")
An idiot reminded me today… Does your town have little red flags on sticks, in boxes at intersections, so pedestrians can grab them and wave them at drivers as they cross the street? Oh man I HATE those things and the people who use them. They all seem to think it’s a portable stop light – they just grab one, start shaking it like they have an epileptic arm, and walk right into the street regardless on oncoming vehicles. Or maybe they think it makes them unbreakable. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-things-in-the-world/552849/133 "2010-09-18T19:51:49Z")
Whaaaaat? I see you’re in Wisconsin. This must be one of those weird Great Lakes things, no offense. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-things-in-the-world/552849/134 "2010-09-18T22:13:17Z")
I’ve never seen it anywhere else, even in Wisconsin. I dunno where the hell the idea came from. Probably the UN. 😛 A few years back the city council passed a law that trains passing through town couldn’t blow their whistles and disturb the peace. In the next year there were 5 idiots hit and killed by trains. Silly me – I thought that meant the law was working. But apparently they intended something else, and they rescinded the law. I think this red flag thing is something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-things-in-the-world/552849/135 "2010-09-18T22:57:33Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > An idiot reminded me today… > > Does your town have little red flags on sticks, in boxes at intersections, so pedestrians can grab them and wave them at drivers as they cross the street? > > Oh man I HATE those things and the people who use them. They all seem to think it’s a portable stop light – they just grab one, start shaking it like they have an epileptic arm, and walk right into the street regardless on oncoming vehicles. Or maybe they think it makes them unbreakable. It’s pedestrians taking the fact that pedestrians always have the right of way over cars, and using it as an infinite license to ignore vehicle movement. I see this in every parking lot I frequent. I can turn on my turn signal and start backing out of my space, and have someone blithely stroll in back of my car after it’s already started moving, confident that of course I can see in an uninterrupted 360-degree arc and that I will immediately stop, as many times as it takes for a string of people spaced four seconds apart to stroll past, unconcerned as tame deer in a protected grove. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-things-in-the-world/552849/136 "2010-09-18T23:03:55Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > > [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > > > An idiot reminded me today… > > > > Does your town have little red flags on sticks, in boxes at intersections, so pedestrians can grab them and wave them at drivers as they cross the street? > > > > Oh man I HATE those things and the people who use them. They all seem to think it’s a portable stop light – they just grab one, start shaking it like they have an epileptic arm, and walk right into the street regardless on oncoming vehicles. Or maybe they think it makes them unbreakable. > > It’s pedestrians taking the fact that pedestrians always have the right of way over cars, and using it as an infinite license to ignore vehicle movement. I see this in every parking lot I frequent. I can turn on my turn signal and start backing out of my space, and have someone blithely stroll in back of my car after it’s already started moving, confident that of course I can see in an uninterrupted 360-degree arc and that I will immediately stop, as many times as it takes for a string of people spaced four seconds apart to stroll past, unconcerned as tame deer in a protected grove. Yes, those people are annoying too, but it’s way worse when you’re doing 23-35 mph on the street, than maybe 5 mph in a parking lot. I dunno whether it would be better or worse if they handed out the flag things in parking lots, and I don’t want to find out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-things-in-the-world/552849.md?page=6)