# 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:** 158
**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:** [October 8, 2026, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3141 "2026-10-08T17:07:06Z")
Jumping off the post above post above, something that mildly annoys me is when claim something is a “poor value” without taking quality into consideration at all. I don’t just mean handmade “artisanal” items; I’ve seem Yelp reviews for national chains like Shake Shack claiming their burgers are a poor value simply because they cost twice as much as what you’d pay for the same quantity of food at McDonald’s. On a purely price per unit basis that might be true, but Shake Shack’s food is higher quality that McDonald’s, too, and that’s worth paying for IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3142 "2026-10-08T17:52:08Z")
The usage of “Resolved” to begin the titles of debates; sometimes seen in debates threads here. Looking it up it’s actually short for “Be it resolved”, but on the face of it it always looked to me like somebody arrogantly declaring the result ahead of time by fiat. Always gave me the urge to yell “No, it _isn’t_ resolved”. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3143 "2026-10-08T19:28:09Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Because they are a hallowed “locally owned” business and people should patronize them instead of those big chains or the ones started by immigrants that are open at 6:00 with no regard for the work life balance of the owners/employees Ha! Yes! I was working in San Francisco, and after a nap on the train, I needed some serious caffeine. So I tried the various coffee places around or on the way to work. looking for the best Mocha. The best was a local small chain of IIRC three shops, followed closely by Peets (in fact the coffee was about the same, but no lines at the small local “italian style” chain) . Then the bakery, then Starbux. The very worst was a family owned place that styled itself the “anti-starbux”, the coffee was not better than Starbux , the prices were higher, and the service was damn rude. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2026, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3144 "2026-10-09T09:19:46Z")
Yep. I’ve known since my school days that it’s a term of art in the formal debate game. But it always struck me as assuming the affirmative conclusion and asking the other team to fight uphill for the rest of the game. They ought to use “Is it true/false that: …” instead. Or some other pithier phrasing that is still clearly neutral on the truth of the proposition. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderMagnolia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@LavenderMagnolia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderMagnolia)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2026, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3145 "2026-10-09T13:06:43Z")
A local coffee shop opened a second location in the downtown area of the next city over. The owner stated (in a newspaper article) that he is not trying to put other local coffee shops out of business - he wants to “put Starbucks out of business”. I think if your business is good enough, you won’t feel a need to attack Starbucks. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2026, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3146 "2026-10-09T16:44:21Z")
You’re right, of course. Also: Not knowing the coffee shop owner at all, I don’t imagine he’d be terribly upset if he put a couple of other “local coffee shops” out of business… ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2026, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3147 "2026-10-09T18:02:22Z")
Here’s one: When I have to give someone a phone number and it’s like I’m trying to tell them who’s on first base. Me: “OK, the number is 239-555-9999.” Them: “2…” Me: “2… 3… 9… 5… 5… 5…” Them: “3…” Me: “9… 5… 5… 5…” Them: “Wait. Let me get a pencil so I can write it down…” Me: “OK.” Them (eventually): “2…” ---
**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:** [October 9, 2026, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3148 "2026-10-09T18:22:06Z")
I’m with you all the way! Or how about when you say the first number, and they say “uh-huh” at the same moment you say the next number, so they miss it? 🤬 ---
**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:** [October 9, 2026, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3149 "2026-10-09T18:26:13Z")
Arthur on _The King of Queens_, dictating a phone number as Doug dials it: “Four [beep]…six [beep]…teen…” ---
**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:** [October 10, 2026, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3150 "2026-10-10T22:20:00Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > But. At the second red there was no one going through the cross street, so no reason for it to change in the first place. And when I got the green it _did_ stop someone else who _was_ approaching the cross street. So basically it’s an all around horrible light. I call those Exxon lights. You’re going to burn gas speeding through it or idling while waiting for it to change – it doesn’t care which. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3151 "2026-10-11T13:15:45Z")
When my wife and I first married, we moved to this small-ish town. Every year, they had a “founders day” in the local park; a nice little affair — local bands, funnel cake, the usual stuff. And a fortune teller; someone’s grandma would dress up in skirts and babushka and tell little kids things like _You’ll meet a handsome man some day and get married and have a dozen kids_ (Gross! No way!). Well, the local Catholic church got wind of this and would have none of it; they browbeat the organizers and the local newspaper about witchcraft being practiced at the event and eventually the fortune teller grandma was given the boot. The next year, there was a religious fortune teller at the event. And they charged for the service. And kept the money! Going on thirty years later and I still fume. Thank you for letting me get that off my chest. ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3152 "2026-10-11T13:54:05Z")
I’m trying to figure out which type of religion would endorse fortune-telling. I’ve never been a devotee of a religion so can’t give an example. Asking AI only seems to give vague answers. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3153 "2026-10-11T15:32:13Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > a fortune teller; someone’s grandma would dress up in skirts and babushka and tell little kids things like _You’ll meet a handsome man some day and get married and have a dozen kids_ That sounds awesome. It prompted in me what I think is a great idea. Why not have a negative/insulting fortune teller? [Link](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-not-so-positive-fortune-teller/1033748) to thread game. mmm ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3154 "2026-10-11T15:47:23Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Why not have a negative/insulting fortune teller? This actually happened to my sister years ago. She lives in south Florida, and I was paying a visit. We had taken a trip down to Key West, and walking along Duval Street, she saw a fortune teller sitting at a little booth along the side of the street. She said, I think it’ll be fun to get my fortune told! I said go ahead, waste your money if you want, I’ll wait. So, yeah, you assume a fortune teller, especially one operating in a fun, touristy area like Key West, is going to tell you only positive, uplifting fortunes. But 10-15 minutes later she comes back looking shaken, like she’d seen a ghost. She said the teller told her: - She would have a miscarriage (she and my BIL I think had been trying to get pregnant for awhile at the time, so far unsuccessfully). - Her husband would eventually cheat on her. - A third equally awful thing I forget. It was like a Stephen King short story. “Hey, I’m going to get my fortune told— it’ll be fun!” And then… ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3155 "2026-10-11T16:12:08Z")
Here’s one closer to home for all of us here. When two Dopers get into a tit for tat about misunderstanding each other’s criticism of each other’s position. With every shorter quotes and rebuttals until they’d throwing individual words at each other. But with ever more of them in each post. Soo each post is a page long and almost content free except for the self-righteous vitriol. If there was a button to mute the participants for that thread I’d sure push it. Better yet, one to summon a Mod in real time to give them both thread timeouts for 48 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3156 "2026-10-11T16:12:10Z")
Yikes, that is not at all what I had in mind. More along the lines of: “You will drop your next ice cream cone onto the pavement.” mmm ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3157 "2026-10-11T17:37:44Z")
(I did not read through this thread before posting here. So if my post duplicates someone else’s…Tough Bananas, King Kong.) I’m not a guy who enjoys talking on the phone a great deal, and one of the boons of the Information Age is that email has largely supplanted phone conversations as the main method of communication in my line of work. Occasionally, though, I have to speak to a client in Real Time, so I call them. They might not be in or otherwise available to speak to me, and I accept that. But two scenarios occur with annoying regularity: 1. The voice mailbox on their mobile phone has not been set up and cannot take a message. 2. The voice mailbox on their mobile phone is full and cannot take a message. The first one…it takes five minutes, _if that,_ to set up your voice mail. These days, they don’t even require you to come up with a clever greeting – just speak your name and the phone will do the rest. But you can’t even take the time to do that?? As for the second…how many people are calling you and leaving messages that you cannot keep up with listening and then deleting messages? Or are you just the same sort of lazy slob behind Door #1? I have no idea of the maximum capacity in (I assume) megabytes, but I would think it would take a least a dozen messages of an average length of one minute to fill up a voice mailbox. Why would you save all of those? ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3158 "2026-10-11T18:07:06Z")
I have received 149 voicemails on my phone since 2019. 134 of those are spam. 5 are from my doctor reminding me of appointments. The rest were from our town’s emergency notification system. All of which (doctor and EMS) were followed up by texts. Voicemail is simply not a form of communication humans use in my experience. My mother, who is in her eighties does not leave messages. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3159 "2026-10-11T18:27:37Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Why not have a negative/insulting fortune teller? Psychic Irene Hughes once gave me an extremely negative reading at a psychic fair at my college. I happened to be sitting at the table where she then came and set up, so when she offered a reading, I said yes. I assumed she gave me a terrible fortune because I was annoying, but everything she said came to pass that year. I blame her. ---
**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:** [October 11, 2026, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/3160 "2026-10-11T18:41:07Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > When two Dopers get into a tit for tat about misunderstanding each other’s criticism of each other’s position. With every shorter quotes and rebuttals until they’d throwing individual words at each other. But with ever more of them in each post. Soo each post is a page long and almost content free except for the self-righteous vitriol. > > If there was a button to mute the participants for that thread I’d sure push it. Better yet, one to summon a Mod in real time to give them both thread timeouts for 48 hours. You could try reporting it as a form of hijack; or possibly for the vitriol. > [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Voicemail is simply not a form of communication humans use in my experience. My mother, who is in her eighties does not leave messages Well, she’s probably never going to get ahold of me (not that I think she’s trying to.) I get way too many scam calls to run and pick up the phone, and the phone number most people not close to me get doesn’t take texts. Leave a damn voice mail, it’ll take you less than a minute. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712.md?page=157) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712.md?page=159)