# Things that you wish you could get away from but find everywhere **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 15, 2009, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-wish-you-could-get-away-from-but-find-everywhere/513853 "2009-10-15T01:23:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-wish-you-could-get-away-from-but-find-everywhere/513853/21 "2009-10-16T15:59:10Z")
For some reason there has to be music music music EVERYWHERE now. I’m not against a little light background music with my dinner or whatever but now every time you go into a store or ride in a car or anyplace you are bombarded with music, and it seems to be getting louder and louder. We were out to dinner one night and I couldn’t even hear what the other person was saying right next to me. I asked politely if the music could be turned down a little (not OFF!) and received a terse “NO!” If you go into a “youth oriented” clothing store like “Abercombie & Fitch” or “Charlotte Reusse” (sp) it’s positively blasting. Even grocery store music is giving way to standard top 40 and it’s getting really annoying to try and shop with the usual din of kids screaming and checkers shouting for additional baggers, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-wish-you-could-get-away-from-but-find-everywhere/513853/22 "2009-10-16T16:05:16Z")
> [@Rack-a-Bones](#): > > In 1989 when I went to Moscow I was surprised to find Dr Pepper there. About a year after I left they opened a [McDonalds in Pushkin Square](http://www.mcdonalds.com/countries/russia.html). Made me kind of sad. > [@CookingWithGas](#): > > American chain restaurants. In Cairo I was invited to lunch at Applebee’s. :smack::rolleyes: Try Nepal. Unless it’s changed in very recent few years, there are no fast-food or restaurant chains at all, American or otherwise. Nary a MacDonald’s in sight. But then, it used to be so in Cambodia, too, but that’s certainly changed in the past few years. (I’m still tickled by their Pizza Hot chain, a blatant rip-off of Pizza Hut, complete with similar logo.) And Laos, which I believe now at least has Starbucks. Maybe Burma? I know Vietnam has a Gloria Jean’s Coffee, but I don’t think there’s much else in the way of chains. Will let you know in a few months when we get back from there. > [@BlackKnight](#): > > Needless people noise. > > The average person seems to despise quiet, and is always seeking its annihilation. Is the room “too quiet”? Well, better bang your pop bottle against the table a few dozen times. Are people sitting quietly? Well, it’s best you make a hilarious, clever joke by yelling, “Jesus Christ everyone! Shut the hell up!” Then laugh loudly at your own cleverness. Is someone reading? They sure as hell don’t want to _keep_ reading; that would be crazy! You’d best attempt conversation with them. Repeatedly. Do not give up. If you’re truly in danger of having to experience quiet, resort to using your cell phone. Call, text, play games, whatever, so long as it makes beeps, clicks, or chatter. > > When I am God-King, these people will be shot. > > (I’ll use a silencer.) Oh Lord yes! This one is mine. The Thais think of themselves as the quietest people in the world, but it just ain’t so. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Real\_Regency\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@The\_Real\_Regency\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Real_Regency_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-wish-you-could-get-away-from-but-find-everywhere/513853/23 "2009-10-16T16:14:56Z")
Bad CGI in commercials. Especially when they make a normally inanimate object do that ultra-twee bouncing up and down motion (only the lower part doesn’t leave the ground/table) in ads aimed at people older than age four. Come to that, ads in general. Last week I flew for the first time in over 18 months and was annoyed to see that RDU has put up big TV screens broadcasting the same few ads over and over in the baggage claim area. And I’ve seen grocery stores and gas pumps that blare commercials too. Where does it end? ---
**Author:** ![RunSilent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@RunSilent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RunSilent)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-wish-you-could-get-away-from-but-find-everywhere/513853/24 "2009-10-16T16:20:50Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > Old people. > > God, they’re everywhere! I work in a doctor’s office- there they are! I go to the grocery store, there they are! I’m trying to go faster than 30 in a 40 down a main artery of town NOT within rush hour- there they fucking are! Holy crap, “winter” in Tucson is an old person’s world! Young People! God, they’re everywhere! Fouling the air with cigarette smoke! Playing rap music! Riding bicycles at night with no lights! Walking out into the street in front of traffic! Weaving in and out of traffic on motorcycles! Constantly slacking off at work! Etc! ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-wish-you-could-get-away-from-but-find-everywhere/513853/25 "2009-10-16T16:46:08Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Agreed, however to me graffiti becomes interesting if (a) it’s more than a few decades old and (b) it consists of something other than a banal tag or obscenity. > > I was poking around in an [old chapel](http://people.bath.ac.uk/lismd/dorset/churches/st-aldhelm.html) on the cliffs the other week and there’s loads of graffiti carved into the stone, dating back to at least the [17th century](http://www.flickr.com/photos/pluralzed/244740522/in/set-72157594288348202/). Standing in that spot and imagining some dude etching that into the stone all those years ago was rather more edifying than waiting on a railway platform and noting that “TOX” passed this way with a spraycan in '08… If you’re ever in DC go to the left of the steps on the Lincoln Memorial and take the tour of the foundations. There are these great cartoons drawn on the walls by the builders. Intrusive perfumes. Maybe it’s just because they last so long, but I sometimes feel that I’m in the Truman Show, with an obnoxious perfume-wearing producer _just_ preceding me into every restaurant, office, hallway and even bathroom I walk into. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-wish-you-could-get-away-from-but-find-everywhere/513853/26 "2009-10-16T17:39:19Z")
I see Stupid People. All the time. They’re everywhere. And they don’t even know that they’re stupid. More seriously: > [@CookingWithGas](#): > > American chain restaurants. In Cairo I was invited to lunch at Applebee’s. I’ve only been to three foreign countries (none of which were Canada), and seen a Dunkin’ friggin’ Donuts in two of them. I mean, driving around the backroads of New England, a Dunkies is really a better-than-average option for a coffee fix (well, I suppose a Dunkies _is_ the average option. But it’s acceptable is my point, unlike XXXX-brand donut shop or god-forbid a gas station). But in a large exotic city, particularly where there’s some at least some faint culture of decent coffee and exotic sweets, Dunkin’ Donuts is like a big fat welcome to the mundane world of globocapitalism. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-wish-you-could-get-away-from-but-find-everywhere/513853/27 "2009-10-16T17:55:21Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > But in a large exotic city, particularly where there’s some at least some faint culture of decent coffee and exotic sweets, Dunkin’ Donuts is like a big fat welcome to the mundane world of globocapitalism. Send yer Dunkers over here to London, please. I think there may possibly be one or two here, but I don’t recall seeing one for a couple of years. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-wish-you-could-get-away-from-but-find-everywhere/513853/28 "2009-10-16T18:03:10Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Graffiti. Especially when it’s on millennia-old structures or walls. It’s everywhere. > [@Colophon](#): > > Agreed, however to me graffiti becomes interesting if (a) it’s more than a few decades old and (b) it consists of something other than a banal tag or obscenity. Oooh, yeah. On a school trip to London in the late '80s I toured St. Paul’s Cathedral, and noticed someone had carved his name into one of the columns - in 1767. That just blew my mind. > [@TruCelt](#): > > If you’re ever in DC go to the left of the steps on the Lincoln Memorial and take the tour of the foundations. There are these great cartoons drawn on the walls by the builders. They do that regularly?! I thought it was only done by special arrangement. Damn! Another missed opportunity! I’d like to be able to get away from American TV and movies. It wasn’t all that bad in Turkey, but here in Sweden they have a couple non-cable channels that play nothing _but_. With subtitles. Blurrrgh! ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-wish-you-could-get-away-from-but-find-everywhere/513853/29 "2009-10-16T18:27:40Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > American chain restaurants. In Cairo I was invited to lunch at Applebee’s. :smack::rolleyes: Ah, yes, my fellow Americans like to go to KFC, Burger King, Chili’s, Hooters, and other American chain restaurants as often as they can. For future reference when I change my location field, we’re currently in the Mexico City area. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-wish-you-could-get-away-from-but-find-everywhere/513853/30 "2009-10-16T18:28:53Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > BREAKING NEWS reports, where the report is some mundane weather issue, like a thunderstorm watch or snowstorm on the way. Unless it’s something emergent like a tornado it can wait until the regular news, a newsbreak during the commercials, or even be taken care of with those stupid crawls at the bottom. Stop interrupting shows just so the weatherman can spend 5 minutes blabbing and giving about 10 seconds of worthwhile info. Seems to happen a lot more than it used to, guess people used to not think the sky was falling everytime a snowflake fell or a clap of thunder hit. Oh Ghod yes. I cannot STAND it when I miss all of the national news broadcast because the local weather guessers preempt it to blab on and on and on about a stupid thunderstorm. There is NO REASON FOR THIS. Use the crawl. > [@TBG](#): > > Worst of all, is when the cable company decides some weather non-event is an event and hijacks your cable box to “warn” you. You can’t even change the channel then, no way to get away, beyond shutting off the TV. And heaven forbid you were using a cable company issued DVR. Congrats, your recordings just got hosed. Holy crap. Another reason to be glad I’ve got satellite instead of cable! ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-wish-you-could-get-away-from-but-find-everywhere/513853/31 "2009-10-16T19:04:25Z")
Office politics. I hate, hate, hate ego stroking and having to know who to go to who actually does their job. Yet I’ve never been able to find a single job, other than when I was working entirely alone, where some amount of jockeying and stroking hasn’t been required to actually get things done. I second the dislike for constant noise. Why the hell are people uncomfortable with silence? Does the TV have to be on every second of every day? Do you really have to fill up an hour or two with nonsense? In the same vein, wherever I go, I seem to be surrounded by people who demand answers for rhetorical questions or responses to random comments. Example: I’m sitting on the couch reading a book. My sister looks out the window. “Wow. It sure is raining hard.” I glance out the window and make a faint sound of agreement, but otherwise don’t reply. It is, indeed, raining hard - as far as I’m concerned no further response is necessary. “Isn’t it?” she demands. “Wha?” I ask, not certain what she’s expecting. “Isn’t it raining hard?” “Um, yeah.” ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-wish-you-could-get-away-from-but-find-everywhere/513853/32 "2009-10-16T19:36:55Z")
> [@Neeps](#): > > Oh god yes! I go to the great outdoors to find a bit of piece and quiet, and without fail, there is always someone yapping away disturbing my zen-like calm. I’ve encountered more and more hikers jabbering away on cell phones lately. The last time I was in Yosemite, there were three people having phone conversations on the summit of Clouds Rest. ---
**Author:** ![Elysian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Elysian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysian)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-wish-you-could-get-away-from-but-find-everywhere/513853/33 "2009-10-16T22:39:54Z")
I just get tired of noise. No matter where you are you’re going to hear planes going over, cars driving down the street, people banging, and so on. I also really wish I could get away from light pollution. I’ve thought about, wistfully, being on a boat in the middle of some warm ocean, being able to stare at the stars and listen to nothing but water. But there would be the lights from the boat and noise from planes. Sometimes I wish I had been born hundreds of years ago. ---
**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 17, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-wish-you-could-get-away-from-but-find-everywhere/513853/34 "2009-10-17T02:05:30Z")
1. Rap music. 2. Women in tight pants and thong underwear, and nothing between their pants and their cellulite. 3. Bottled water. 4. Teenaged guys (and older) still wearing pants falling down. 5. Women in yoga pants walking while pumping their arms to prove to themselves and the world they’re not just walking, they’re taking care of themselves, just like every cover of Self magazine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-wish-you-could-get-away-from-but-find-everywhere/513853.md?page=1)