# 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:** 144
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2026, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2861 "2026-04-07T12:57:00Z")
You didn’t ask me but lots of things. It really depends on where you work - I worked for a government agency which means employees paid for and organized all parties and gifts . So people would collect for the Christmas party, to put in a card for a funeral, to havge a baby shower etc. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2026, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2862 "2026-04-07T13:16:27Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > The people at airport gates who place their bags on the chairs next to them and leave them there even when the area starts getting crowded and other people have no place to sit. Have a little common courtesy, assholes! My mother did that once at a train station in the north of England, many years ago. A large and formidable matriarch took the bag off and plonked herself down. When my mother said she was saving the seat for someone, she was firmly told “It’s bums as saves seats, not bags!” Been a family saying ever since. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2026, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2863 "2026-04-07T13:43:20Z")
Well, if you’re legitimately saving a seat for someone, that’s okay in my book, formidable matriarchs notwithstanding. But I’ve seen solo travelers spreading out their bags on both sides of themselves, taking up three or even four seats. Assholes! ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2026, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2864 "2026-04-07T13:49:00Z")
intersection w/ traffic light and dedicated “turn-left” lane. about 70% of all drivers who turn left, do NOT do so with green light, b/c there is also a traffic light with green-left-arrow (which gives them “right-of-way”). You come to an intersection, have green light and its safe to turn left, why are you parked in the middle of the street and not advancing - b/c you wait for the green arrow??? CAMMON!! There are 2 notorious intersection in my daily ways where I keep extra space to be able to go around the stopped left-turner, pass them and then turn in front of them (when it’s safe) ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2026, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2865 "2026-04-07T14:00:56Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > “It’s bums as saves seats, not bags!” Been a family saying ever since. Hilarious! I’m pretty sure I’ll never say anything in my life that would be enshrined in family tradition like that. Scary matriarch, I salute you, wherever you are. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2026, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2866 "2026-04-07T14:29:42Z")
I imagine her as something like Ena Sharples: [![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5876279bbebafb82a7c81c00/8abbc754-1a54-48fe-81e6-74ff13f0fc3b/Ena+milk+stout.jpg) ](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5876279bbebafb82a7c81c00/8abbc754-1a54-48fe-81e6-74ff13f0fc3b/Ena+milk+stout.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![VanillaHazelnut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5daacb/32.png) [@VanillaHazelnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VanillaHazelnut)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2026, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2867 "2026-04-07T15:11:41Z")
Not quite sure how to describe this… When you talk to someone and they keep using a certain term/phrase/slang, because they assume that you don’t know what it is, and they’re just waiting for you to ask. They want to hear themselves give an explanation of it. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2026, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2868 "2026-04-08T00:18:29Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Scary matriarch, I salute you, wherever you are. On the notalwaysright site one of the standard labeled memes is _Do not pick a fight with an old Scottish woman_. ([Example](https://notalwaysright.com/never-pick-a-fight-with-an-old-scottish-woman-part-9/386794/)) North England isn’t that far away. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2026, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2869 "2026-04-08T13:24:40Z")
Yes !! ---
**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:** [April 8, 2026, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2870 "2026-04-08T22:54:59Z")
People who say “the dark side of the moon”. The entire moon is lit (half of it at a time, of course) for half of its roughly 28 day cycle. When we see a new moon, the side we can’t see is fully lit. It’s the FAR side of the moon, dammit. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2026, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2871 "2026-04-08T23:02:17Z")
There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it’s all dark. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2026, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2872 "2026-04-09T13:16:44Z")
I have several e-mail accounts with Earthlink. Years ago, they purchased Mindspring, so my oldest accounts have @mindspring.com and my newer accounts have @earthlink.net. Very early this morning, they apparently decided that the mail server [pop.mindspring.com](http://pop.mindspring.com) would no longer work and that I would need to change my settings to [pop.earthlink.net](http://pop.earthlink.net). Mozilla Thunderbird immediately stopped working for half my accounts. No error messages, no nothing. There was no advance notification from Earthlink. My e-mails were available on a web browser, so I knew that I didn’t lose any, but…what the hell? All I had to do (after working on the problem, reinstalling TB, rebuilding indexes, etc. for an hour) was change the name of my e-mail server in two locations. Rassen-frassen. (And, yes, I should use IMAP, but I’m old and feeble.) ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2026, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2873 "2026-04-09T17:17:30Z")
My email is on @mindspring as well (for decades now) and I had no interruption today. ---
**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:** [April 9, 2026, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2874 "2026-04-09T22:34:29Z")
The thread about roundabouts has evolved into a discussion about turn signals and when to use them, which reminded me of this: I’ve noticed on several occasions I’ve been driving in the right lane of a multi lane street, and come up behind a slow car. So I wait for an opening in the left lane and move over to the left lane and pass the slow car. And then as soon as I do so the driver of the slow car puts on their left turn signal and merges into the left lane behind me and then turns left at the next intersection – because apparently the reason they were slowing down was to wait for an opening in the left lane and also not miss their turn. If they had just put their turn signal on earlier I would have known why they were slowing down, and instead of passing them I would have just let them get over to the left lane and gone on my way. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2026, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2875 "2026-04-09T23:37:06Z")
> **[Lesley Gore – That's The Way Boys Are](https://genius.com/Lesley-gore-thats-the-way-boys-are-lyrics)** > > \[Verse 1\] / When I'm with my guy / And he watches all the pretty girls go by / And I feel so hurt / Deep inside, I wish that I could die / \[Chorus 1\] / Not a word do I say / I just What a pile of shit. Lesley had her hit, but then she needed to shut up. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2876 "2026-04-10T03:33:56Z")
Dishwashers designed so you have to fully close it by pushing the whole door in and open it by pulling the whole door; instead of a lock/unlock lever. I’m convinced that pulling at the door through years of use can cause a membrane button control panel, and I’ve already had to replace mine once. In a similarly domestic line, why is only one of the vacuum cleaner attachments swivel mounted? A swivel mount would be useful on almost all of them. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2877 "2026-04-10T04:55:11Z")
My complaint is pepper grinder adjacent, I guess. I’m _supposed_ to be on a low-sodium diet. Therefore I tend to use a lot of pepper when I’m doing the low-salt thing. I have noticed that the pepper in the shakers at every restaurant I’ve eaten in since 2010 is nearly completely tasteless! The reason is that that pepper does lose its flavor over time and that people don’t use as much pepper in a restaurant as they do salt so the pepper shakers rarely get refilled. I had a conversation with a waiter about this one time and he agreed the pepper in the shakers was probably over a year old. It wouldn’t cost a sit-down restaurant too much to place grinders on the tables- the $1.99 disposable kind would be much better than the regular shakers. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2878 "2026-04-10T04:58:06Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > What a pile of shit. Lesley had her hit, but then she needed to shut up. Never heard of that one but she followed “It’s My Party” with “[Judy’s Turn to Cry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy%27s_Turn_to_Cry)” that continues the saga. > Oh, one night I saw them kissing at a party (a party) > So I kissed some other guy > Johnny jumped up and hit him > 'Cause he still loved me, that’s why > > So now, it’s Judy’s turn to cry > Judy’s turn to cry > Judy’s turn to cry > 'Cause Johnny’s come back > (Johnny’s come back, come back) > To me Johnny sounds like a real catch. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2879 "2026-04-10T12:17:44Z")
Right? Hopefully they didn’t reproduce. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2880 "2026-04-10T14:54:39Z")
Doesn’t infuriate me, but I hate it when people ask a question, and it has absolutely no context. They ask it in the middle of a a thought, and blurt it out. “What about tomorrow?” - “What about it?” “Did you see the neighbors” - “Uh, maybe?” The open ended stuff that can mean almost anything. I really need some context. I am not in your mind, start from the beginning please. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712.md?page=143) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712.md?page=145)