# Things that infuriate you well beyond their actual importance **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 4, 2024, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712 "2024-09-04T02:18:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 100
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1981 "2025-07-29T11:12:37Z")
One person just killed another outside my city library and was arrested and charged with unspecified charges. The deceased was punched and then shoved down a cement outside stairwell. The librarian I went to school with is taken aback by the situation. The library is in a neighborhood where violence is very rare. The city offices/city council chamber are right next to the stairwell so it was previously very peaceful there. Families with children hang out there and the area has always seemed to have a nice vibe. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1982 "2025-07-29T15:09:47Z")
Really, that’s pretty important. I have lived in a very safe place for 33 years. As in you would be crazy to get to my house and commit a crime. But, ya never know. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1983 "2025-07-29T16:08:00Z")
Was it random, or did they know the specific person attacked and just happened to catch up to them in that location? Is it known whether they meant to kill, or thought their victim would be only bruised? (This, admittedly, may not ever be known; as they may well claim the death was unintentional even if they meant it, in hope of a lesser penalty.) – You may still have “a neighborhood where violence is very rare.” My county seems to have a homicide about once in twenty years (people punching each other out is somewhat more common, but rarely random); but the occurence of one hasn’t, at least so far, meant that there’s about to be a batch more of them. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1984 "2025-07-29T17:39:50Z")
> [@peedin](#): > > White toenail polish. Apparently someone dropped a bottle of correct fluid on your feet. Nobody looks good with white toenails. Or fingernails. It always looks like they’ve used correction fluid to me, as well. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1985 "2025-07-29T17:55:32Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Was it random, or did they know the specific person attacked and just happened to catch up to them in that location? Several years ago someone was stabbed a few blocks from my house and then the perpetrator was shot by the police. Or something close to that; I no longer remember the exact details. But it was an incident of domestic violence, not a random act, so I still consider my neighborhood a reasonably safe one after that incident. Anyway, the actual unimportant thing I came here to complain about: My phone’s face ID no longer recognizes me when I’m wearing sunglasses. It used to recognize me even when I was wearing sunglasses and a hat, which I found quite impressive. But then I got a new pair of sunglasses a few weeks ago, and it no longer recognizes me when I’m wearing them. The new sunglasses are polarized, and IIRC the old ones were not. I wonder if that makes a difference? Like the phone’s camera was able to “see” through the old non-polarized lenses well enough to identify my eyes, but not through the new polarized ones? ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1986 "2025-07-29T20:32:46Z")
Thank you for your questions. The two persons at my library did seem to have a previous acquaintance and my friend said she’d seen them arguing before. Probably no one thought their dispute could go so far. Overall my city seems to need a security guard for the library. They’re expensive but it is a fairly wealthy city so they can afford one; some other city offices have guards here. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1987 "2025-07-30T02:24:58Z")
Okay, my house was equipped with wired in smoke detectors. BUT they also need batteries. 9v of course. But here’s the super annoying part- when the detector gets to the end of it’s life, it also starts beeping. But you have no way of knowing that- it is the same beep. So you unplug it, put in a fresh battery, then plug it back in- which is quite difficult. And then it still keeps beeping. You have to do severe damage to it to stop it (it will stop by itself after sometime). ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2025, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1988 "2025-07-31T17:03:06Z")
I’m more saddened than infuriated, but I am upset that my favorite taco place closed. [https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article311510914.html](https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article311510914.html) ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2025, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1989 "2025-07-31T23:19:07Z")
Authors who say “Wehrmacht” when they mean “German army”. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1990 "2025-08-05T18:32:29Z")
Not quite to the level of infuriated, but the mock protest at the Bean (Cloudgate) in Chicago “protesting” that there’s a man trapped alive inside since its construction over two decades ago 🙄 strikes me as idiotic and not harmless. I know it’s a parody, but it’s precisely the “won’t break kayfabe” faux-earnest faux-outrage that bugs me. My feeling comes down to two reactions: 1. We’ve got a political party and movement working furiously to dissolve the line between reality on one hand and fiction and lies on the other with the goal that whatever they say, however absurd, is accepted and followed. Their efforts towards the death of truth or reality are aided at every turn by hallucinating AI. Why would anyone assist them in their efforts, even inadvertently? 2. There’s plenty of stuff right now to ACTUALLY protest. My wife and I went to a No Kings rally with homemade signs. All those people out there that day were protesting real, serious, issues that need to be addressed. Why don’t these comedians stop laughing up their sleeves at their own joke and join an actual protest? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1991 "2025-08-05T19:33:00Z")
Huh. I live here and somehow have missed all that. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1992 "2025-08-05T20:10:30Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > I know it’s a parody, but it’s precisely the “won’t break kayfabe” faux-earnest faux-outrage that bugs me. I felt the same way about the anti-Renoir protests in Boston ten years ago. > **['Renoir sucks at painting' movement demands removal of artist's works](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/oct/06/renoir-sucks-at-painting-protest-boston-max-geller)** > > The group has protested at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, while its Instagram account has drawn the ire of the artist’s great-great-grandgaughter ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1993 "2025-08-05T20:10:53Z")
The live “protest” was held during Lollapalooza to attract the attention of the crowd. Though the meme is continuing online, I don’t think anyone is still physically protesting at the Bean. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1994 "2025-08-05T20:20:55Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > Authors who say “Wehrmacht” when they mean “German army Rookie mistake: the army was the Heer. “Wehrmacht” also included the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe ---
**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:** [August 6, 2025, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1995 "2025-08-06T10:27:39Z")
Every time I plug in a USB type A plug, it’s upside-down. I’m talking about the OG, the USB jack from the 90s. I wonder just how many millions of hours have been wasted over the decades by people needlessly flipping USB plugs this way and that as they reach behind a computer to plug it in. Some cables have a logo or a seam that helps identify the top, but this is inconsistent. At one point I was putting a strip of red nail polish on the top of all of my USB plugs. USB C has solved this problem but brought issues of its own: have you ever noticed how certain devices require their own cable, and not just any cable? It’s because USB C devices are supposed to negotiate power requirements (e.g. “Give me 12v please!”), but not all “USB C” cables support those requests. The ones that have a USB A plug on one end and a USB C plug on the other won’t do the power negotiation thing, so they don’t support fast charging or higher powered devices. Worse, some cheap devices don’t have the internal electronics to do the power handshake, so they can only function off of one of those lame USB A-to-C cables, which have a 5v hard-wired connection. That’s why some cheap devices require their own stupid cable to work even though they have a USB-C jack on them, but won’t function when you plug your fancy laptop charger or iPad charger into them. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2025, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1996 "2025-08-06T10:34:12Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Every time I plug in a USB type A plug, it’s upside-down. I’m talking about the OG, the USB jack from the 90s. > > I wonder just how many millions of hours have been wasted over the decades by people needlessly flipping USB plugs this way and that as they reach behind a computer to plug it in. There’s a scientific explanation for this phenomenon: [https://www.howtogeek.com/713525/the-usb-paradox-why-do-usb-connections-need-three-tries/](https://www.howtogeek.com/713525/the-usb-paradox-why-do-usb-connections-need-three-tries/) > [@](#): > > Many geeks have speculated that USB connections have a sort of “superposition.” You must spin a USB device around three times because it has three states—up, down, and a third position we do not fully understand. Only in this position will the connection be in a correct, pluggable state. > > That’s all pretty funny, but of course, it’s just a joke. However, it’s funny because there does seem to be something unusual about USB compared to the other common connectors we use every day. > > These USB connection issues are [a meme](https://www.howtogeek.com/356232/what-is-a-meme/) at this point. This problem is also known as the “USB paradox”: If there are only two ways a USB connector can fit, why does it take three tries to plug it in? ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2025, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1997 "2025-08-06T14:11:19Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Every time I plug in a USB type A plug, it’s upside-down I do this with regular electrical plugs! 90% of the time, when I go to plug in my curling iron, I try to plug the wider prong in the smaller slot. I know I could/should just look at it before I plug it in, but why make things easy? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2025, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1998 "2025-08-06T15:07:00Z")
For USB A plugs, I just bought a bottle of red nail polish. Put a dab on it and you can see it and feel it. What’s up. You can put a dab on the device it plugs into as well. I have some headphones that I can never see where to put the charging plug into. I put dots around that as well. I keep a bottle in my office. This also works for old keyboards where the home key nubs have worn off. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2025, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1999 "2025-08-06T16:01:08Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > I do this with regular electrical plugs! > [@enipla](#): > > I just bought a bottle of red nail polish I put nail polish or permanent marker on 2-pronged cords (like the toaster or a tabletop fan), noting which side should be up when plugged in to the outlet. Before I started doing this, I had a very poor track record of getting it right the first time. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2000 "2025-08-08T17:17:22Z")
The [Crest Theater](https://cresttheater.com/) in Sacramento was until recently one of the few non-Ticketmaster entertainment venues in the city – they were independently owned and sold tickets through Eventbrite. Not anymore. They are now under new management, and the banner on their website now proudly (ha!) proclaims “A Ticketmaster venue”. ☹ That already kind of infuriates me, but what infuriates me more (and maybe is kind of important) is that multiple shows that were scheduled to play at the Crest have been canceled, presumably related to the change in management. I had a ticket to see Ben Folds there tonight, and to see Lewis Black there next Friday. Both of those shows have been canceled. I did not receive any notification that either show was canceled. I only figured out the Ben Folds concert at the Crest was canceled because I follow him on Facebook and I happened to notice he announced a new show at a different venue on the same date. I was at least able to get a refund for that ticket and buy a ticket for the new show (so I am still going to see him tonight, just at a different venue). I just figured out the Lewis Black show was canceled today, when I noticed it was no longer listed on the Crest’s event calendar and Lewis Black’s tour website, and then found a post on his social media confirming it was canceled. I put in a request for a refund from Eventbrite, hopefully they’ll come through. It looks like he is performing in Sacramento at a different venue on a different date, but it’s on a Thursday night so I won’t be able to attend. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712.md?page=99) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712.md?page=101)