Yeah, attempts to save a few bucks can ruin things- take Sprouts for example- a kinda Whole Foods with better prices. Some of the cleanest public restrooms I have every seen, with store product pump soap, and real paper towels, not cheap blow jobbers. But then the Toilet paper- someone switched, and it was so thin and so fragile, i ended up using many times my normal amount- and yes, I complained to management- along with the compliment on how nice their restrooms were- otherwise.
I would guess people at the Naval Observatory do “really know what time it is?”
I’ve noticed on some websites where you have to enter a phone number or date it will display an “invalid” message until you’ve punched the whole thing in. I can see giving an error if you try to leave the field and it appears to be incomplete, but don’t check it after every keystroke!
Didn’t think of that, so I’m not sure whether it would have let me keep typing. But the actual human at the window three steps away checked me in just fine.
My various doctor’s offices within my plan let me check in in advance. They just send me a text message within 30 minutes of my appt, and I just reply when I get there. I don’t have to deal with check in. I get all my drugs by mail, but if there’s ever a time I have to go in person, the lines can be crazy. Ugh.
This used to be just an annoyance, but it has become infuriating. I HATE all the little mylar confetti contaminating my office building. The head of the department had a birthday and they filled her office with balloons. Many of these balloons have confetti in them composed of little colored circles of mylar about a centimeter across. This is on top of all the confetti that they just threw around her office. It’s been a few weeks since it appeared and that stuff keeps getting EVERYWHERE. It’s really pissing me off now.
Restaurant-related. These relatively small things annoy me so much there are times I vow never to eat out again.
“I’ll be taking care of you today.” This one’s not new but it drives me crazy every time nonetheless. You are NOT “taking care of me”. You are not my mother. You are my server who brings my food. I don’t know if this “taking care of” crap was started to try to make customers feel all warm and fuzzy or because “server” sounded too subordinate and restaurants want to make their employees feel empowered over the customers. Regardless, it’s obnoxious and appears to infantilize the customer. I cannot articulate how much I hate it.
Then there are the servers who walk up to the table and just begin speaking over whoever is already talking. Look, I was a server at a couple different places in my younger days. I know it’s a stressful job and can be fast-paced. But when I walked up to a table and people were conversing, which was pretty much any time there were two or more people present, I waited a beat for someone to finish their sentence before I spoke. That never happens nowadays. Servers don’t even say “Excuse me” any more - they just walk up and start talking right over whoever is speaking without apology. It may be a generational thing - they aren’t trying to be rude and I get the sense that they genuinely think there is nothing wrong with this. But IMHO it’s incredibly rude and disruptive and conveys the sense that the customer is not nearly as important as the server. Whatever you, the customer, were discussing is not nearly as important what I, the server, want to say…so unimportant, in fact, that I do not even have to acknowledge that I am interrupting you, and I do not have to take the two seconds to say “excuse me..” before cutting you off in mid-sentence. Seriously, have you no idea how rude that is? Would you do that in a regular social interaction???
Actually, maybe a lot of them would and I’m just showing my age. Nevertheless, it pisses me off to no end. If a restaurant’s employees talk to me like I’m a small incapable child AND derail the conversation while signalling that my interaction with my companions is of no importance compared to theirs, then I’m not inclined to come back.
Use the word “server” or “waiter” and say “Excuse me…” before you interrupt. Is that so freaking unreasonable? And get off my lawn after you deliver my pizza!!!
By at least acknowledging that someone else is talking and that they are being inconvenienced by being interrupted. Otherwise it seems like whoever else might be conversing is beneath the notice of the interrupter.
I think we all have to face this at some point as polite manners slide.
My pet peeve with casual manners (probably mentioned by me upthread) is saying “excuse me” when you cross in front of someone.
Seriously. My mom taught me to do this as a small child, and it comes absolutely natural. I can’t imagine walking even a few feet in front of someone without saying “Pardon me”
I’m talking about situations like walking through grocery store aisles and walking between a person and the shelves, or going to Starbucks and walking between waiting customers and the counter.
I say it multiple times a day, but I can recall maybe once per month where someone says it to me.
Especially rude is when someone squeezes through a two-foot gap between me and a front desk or counter walking along with eyes forward as if they have no clue they just walked in front of someone.
Well, according to my (then) 5 y.o. granddaughter, “You only need to say excuse me if you burp or fart.” Although, this was in response to my habit of saying “excuse me” when I yawn, which I apparently do a lot. I do say excuse me when trying to get around or between people.
The funny thing is, I know I generally give off a lunkhead kind of vibe, just in the way I dress and diddy-bop through the world, but I am exceedingly polite. I always have been. And it’s not even altruism. It makes ME feel good. “Excuse me,” when I pass someone on the sidewalk, holding doors for anybody, “thank you,” at every turn and for every transaction. But say something sideways to me and I’ve got the vocabulary of a drunken sailor with a herpes sore on his dick and I’ll go up one side of you and down the other.
But then I’ll say, “excuse me,” as I walk past the person behind him.
Heck, I always figured the UK equivalent involved the F word or C word, just that it was a term of endearment lacking in the shock value of its US equivalent
I have a new Samsung 65 inch TV. I want to subscribe to Samsung’s Art Store. Basically a screen saver of ~3000 classic pieces of art.
But my NEW Samsung TV will not do it. I’m totally willing to pay the ~$50 a year to Samsung for it. But no, you have to buy a different Samsung ‘Frame’ TV to do it.
It’s.
Just.
A.
TV.
WTF? I just bought a new Samsung. Release this to everyone and collect your 50 bucks a year.
This really, really pisses me off. WTF?
I may never buy another Samsung product. This is bullshit.
If two people are having a conversation in a hallway such that it’s impossible to pass without going between them, I make sure to say “Excuse me” louder than either of them are speaking.
Ha ha… when in different linguistic zones, it’s wise to be rather careful when treading the line between things that might be considered a jocular or affectionate throwaway in one but a very vulgar or offensive phrase in others! You silly bugger, you.
So that’s what the Frame TV does. Just last week I needed to buy a TV and perused the offerings at Costco. The Frame was available and had its own little section on the shelf but it wasn’t clear why is was set apart from the other Samsungs.
