# Things You Look Forward To That Always Disappoint
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 21, 2014, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298 "2014-11-21T22:58:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2014, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/61 "2014-11-24T17:17:08Z")
Christmas.
For me, it isn’t the Baroque horror that it is for many 'Dopers (the family gets along, for the most part), but the days of gleefully tearing into packages like a kid are long gone. At my age and socioeconomic level presents are mundane (viz, clothes). I find putting up (and taking down) the decorations to be far more of a hassle than it’s worth. And if I never see another flake of snow again, it will be too soon.
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2014, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/62 "2014-11-24T17:24:32Z")
Raw potatoes. Everything else, onions, celery, carrots, peppers, whatever veggie I’m chopping has a fun and interesting flavor raw and it’s nice to pop one in your mouth while getting dinner going. Except raw potatoes. Raw potatoes are just not fun. But every time I forget and pop a slice in my mouth. And then I am sad.
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### Author:  [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/63 "2014-11-25T23:13:12Z")
All seafood that isn’t shrimp, crab, or lobster.
I like the idea of mussels and clams. Although I didn’t grow up eating this, I always think I like them. I never do. But I refuse to think of myself as someone who doesn’t like a broad category of things… maybe here, in Vancouver I will like a breaded oyster po’boy. Maybe i haven’t had the right kind of clam linguini? Catch of the day mussels in beer broth sound awesome. I always gag my way through about a third of my order and give up. But I keep trying to enjoy this!
My finicky eating husband just shakes his head. He never orders outside his comfort zone, so he never faces that problem, but he also never discovers something new and delicious!
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### Author:  [@ASGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASGuy)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/64 "2014-11-27T17:16:39Z")
I did exactly the same thing as Enipla except it was new construction. Six inch longer (5.5ft) tub with a bit more depth. I wanted to stretch out and be covered for that OP concept of a long hot bath. After a few of these it just became another pointless exercise. Oh well.
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### Author:  [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2014, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/65 "2014-11-28T19:17:06Z")
Vacations. For at least a month in advance, I look forward to a relaxing car or airplane ride, putting the cares of the world behind me, having a few drinks and relaxing on the beach/at the casino/in the mountains, etc.
The day of the vacation, I’m running all over the place making sure I have my clothes, meds, e-cig flavors and chargers, mail stopped, dog taken to friends’ house. Then when I get there, it is hot, sandy, cold, crowded, I forgot something, hotel doesn’t give me the room I asked for, I get a smoking room or alternatively I have the urge to smoke a cigar but smoking isn’t permitted within 4 miles of the hotel, internet doesn’t work, a client calls or emails with an emergency, I get sick, I drink too much, there is no booze available, I shop or do activities that are tiresome and that are too expensive…the list goes on.
By the last day, I can’t wait to get home just to get back to work. At work, though I am telling people that I had a wonderful time and am convincing myself that is true.
In the future, I should drive five miles down the road and check into a hotel with a bar.
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### Author:  [@susanlinda823](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susanlinda823)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/66 "2014-11-28T19:19:23Z")
Christmas, going back home to see everyone. Always the same crap.
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### Author:  [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/67 "2014-11-28T19:38:01Z")
> [@Jophiel](#):
>
> My bath complaint is that I picture myself Dagwood-ing out in the tub but the overflow drain in my tub is low enough that I can barely cover my legs and hips with water. Slouching down just raises the water level and makes the problem worse. So unless I jury rig something to block up the overflow drain, it’s never actually a satisfying soak even under the best of conditions.
I actually just duct-taped over the whole thing. Works like a charm.
For me, barbecues. They never time the food right, so you’re waiting two hours and starving out of your mind for an overcooked hockey puck, talking to neighbors you hate, and the waiting is driving you crazy and there’s not enough food to go around because they have to cook in batches and everything is terribly, terribly executed.
And s’mores. They fail. Sticky, gooey, gross.
And since I’m in a bad mood, every other goddamn thing on this list. Especially takeout food. SIGH.
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### Author:  [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2014, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/68 "2014-11-28T20:27:12Z")
Concerts. The basic concept of sitting and watching musicians at work doesn’t make a lot of sense to me as a non-musician. I can understand wanting to see your idols in the flesh and hearing a different version of your favorite songs, played in a new setting. But beyond a half hour, it’s like watching my plumber working. The flashing lights and animated crowd helps pass the time for a while but if the music was so great all by itself those things wouldn’t be necessary.
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### Author:  [@AuBree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuBree)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/69 "2015-05-28T17:34:02Z")
Any fun thing at school. I am ALWAYS late to school. I had my talent show today and I missed it! I didn’t even bother going to school anyway…
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### Author:  [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2015, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/70 "2015-05-28T17:57:25Z")
I have to go with holidays. For so many years they were great and even with all the extra work involved, I really looked forward to them and enjoyed them. But in the last few years, with my husband gone and my children living in different states, they are just another day to me. Maybe once I’m retired and can go visit the kiddos on the holidays that they can’t visit me, things will get better.
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### Author:  [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2015, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/71 "2015-05-28T18:10:09Z")
Getting new furniture.
It looked so good in the store. Was going to freshen up the house, right? But because it is so new, it makes all the other stuff look a bit dirty, faded or scruffed in comparison.
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### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2015, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/72 "2015-05-28T18:19:13Z")
Shopping malls-all the same, stores the same, stuff the same. And filled with teens with “attitude”.
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### Author:  [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/73 "2015-05-28T18:30:18Z")
New Year’s Eve. Anything that involves crowded bars or parties inevitably ends up being more trouble than it’s worth. I start the evening pumped and then I’m dying to go home at 11:00. Much easier just to stay in.
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### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/74 "2015-05-28T18:30:31Z")
Fishing. I’m fine walking on a beach, sitting on a dock, or going on a boat. Trying to catch a fish in any of those places ends up being a lot less fun than doing nothing.
As for holidays, they don’t meet the OP’s criteria for me as I no longer look forward to them one bit. Quite the opposite in fact.
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### Author:  [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/75 "2015-05-28T18:48:31Z")
> [@leahcim](#):
>
> I extend that to delivery pizza in general. When Spouse B is out I always think, “time for some cheezy, greasy delivery food! Yum!”, and then when it shows up it’s, “oh, some cheezy, greasy delivery food.”
You have a Spouse A and a Spouse B??
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### Author:  [@Hopeful\_Crow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hopeful_Crow)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2015, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/76 "2015-05-28T20:02:36Z")
I think we’ve all become curmudgeons. When the heck did that happen?
I know a couple who go every year to see The Messiah preformed by the Seattle Symphony. They just love it and it’s one of the highlights of the Christmas season for them. Several years ago, they invited a friend and me to go with them. I hadn’t been to the symphony since the 6th or 7th grade when we went on a field trip. I thought, “I’m an adult now. The experience is going to be much better than when I had to go with a bunch of bored adolescent jerks.”
Nup. As much as I wanted to be really into the music and be right there watching the performers in person, I was just underwhelmed. Makes me sad to think of it right now because I really do like classical music.
Then, few years ago, the couple couldn’t make it to The Messiah because they were going on their annual Christmas trip (the other highlight of the season for them) early, so the offered my friend and me their tickets. The experience was better that time. We were a little closer to the stage, and the current conductor (IIRC, it’s someone different each year) made some changes that appealed to me much more.
Still and all, though, I could have listened to it on the radio and have been just as happy, if not more.
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### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2015, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/77 "2015-05-29T11:47:50Z")
Cape Cod: the traffic is horrendous, the ocean water is freezing, the restaurants are overpriced. Plus, the beaches feature mosquitos and biting flies (horseflies). Why people endure the weekend traffic jams to get to this place is beyond me. What was once a nice little town (Hyannis) is now a drug-infested slummy suburb of Boston.
Every time I go there, I think it will be different-but it’s the same old same old.
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### Author:  [@mo50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mo50)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2015, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/78 "2015-05-30T12:20:06Z")
Movie popcorn. Smells gtreat, looks great, tastes like Styrofoam and always ends up giving me the runs. :smack:
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### Author:  [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/79 "2015-05-30T15:46:15Z")
Frozen pasta dinners. They look so good on the box, but when you nuke them they’re just sad and pathetic.
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### Author:  [@Saro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saro)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2015, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-look-forward-to-that-always-disappoint/705298/80 "2015-06-01T02:37:31Z")
Episodes of TV series made a while after the run of the original.
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