This reminds me of the reaction people used to have if said you did NOT own a television and had no desire to buy one.
It’s a kind of humor I never really got. Probably because of middle school.
If there wasn’t a negative reaction by a few people, what would be the gratification in not having a TV or smartphone?
You know, I’ve never seen someone have a reaction to someone simply not owning a TV or not owning a smartphone or not watching TV. I only see the bad reaction in response to something a little different - when the person seems to be judging those who do have a TV or smartphone or who do watch TV. For example , there will be a conversation going on about streaming services or a particular TV show - and instead of simply saying nothing or explaining her lack of participation in the conversation by saying that she doesn’t have that service or didn’t watch that show , she must , every.single.time, announce “I don’t watch TV” * with a definite implication that she spends her time in better ways. Which is why she gets the comments she does ( and why one day , I’m actually going to ask if following her cats around her apartment is a better use of her time)
* which she does actually, she just seems to have defined certain things, such as watching the news and sports as not watching TV
The new version of this is “I don’t have cable”.
Ahhh, a threadshitter in real life!
I know someone just like this at work. Very strong overtones of “I’ve got better things to do”…Except when it comes to the TV in the break/lunch room at work, whereby he highhandedly dominates the remote to watch what he wants, usually sports, at high volume, and if anybody else doesn’t like it, tough toenails. When his hypocrisy is pointed out, he just shrugs and dismisses it.
Exactly! I’ve heard that uttered, with a certain smugness, scores of time by people.
It isn’t a gratification. It’s just a “lifestyle choice”. I don’t have a tv because I hate and I mean really really really hate ads. I hate swoopy flashing shouty things and people, I hate smarmy announcers, I hate talking heads,I hate soundbites, I just hate all that stuff. I hate looking at bad things happening. For example I am probably the only person left on the face of the earth who has never seen the planes flying into the world trade center. I have inadvertently seen a still photograph of it once or twice. So no tv just means a lot less of things I don’t want to experience. If I want to watch a dramatic series or something, I can stream it on my lap top, sans ads.
I tried very hard to live without a smartphone but the world would not let me. I use it for calling people, and gps (I track my mileage on horseback), and for texts with people who will not use email or phone. Useful for extremely brief messages on the road (“I’m at your house now”), and getting reminders for doctor appointments. I don’t use it for anything I don’t have to, because frankly I find it quite frustrating to try to make the damn thing do anything right.
I used to feel rather superior not watching tv, but my sense of superiority for my constant attempts to live a peaceful harmless life has evaporated, leaving only grief and despair for the planet we are killing.
Your post reminded me of this video.
Errors at restaurants get people way to upset. My coworker would come back from lunch griping about sugar in his unsweetened tea.
Next day, a group of us is going to David’s Burgers. hey! they put sugar in my tea yesterday
Dude, Give it a rest, let it go
Life is too short to stay that bitter.
I ask for a mistake to be corrected and then I move on. It’s not worth souring the rest of the day over something trivial.
Like the friend who is superior for not having a TV, but frequently posts on Facebook about all the culturally enriching programs she watches, presumably on her laptop or phone.
Rest of the day??? Try over a decade. I have a good friend who I try to go out to eat with. The problem is, I’ll be texting suggestions, and for each one, I’ll get the
l
o
n
g
e
s
t
text ever, detailing the one time in 2012 when that bistro had served him roasted brussel sprouts that were supposed to have fried leeks in them, but they’d made it that once with fried shallots. (I looked it up, that was his appetizer… I’d bet the rest of his meal was excellent).
After the fifth time I left a restaurant with him and he announced “Well, I’m never eating THERE again!”, I asked him how many places in town he had left to eat at.
Luckily, he didn’t take offense, I just got a litany of other places that’ll never get his business again.
I’m with you for the most part, and I typically let those things go, but I’m pretty damn tired of getting cheese on my hamburgers. Honestly, it’s about 10% if the time. I can order a Whopper, which doesn’t even come with cheese, and it’ll have cheese on it.
For those of you who order cheeseburgers, do they ever leave the cheese off?
that has never happened. But try to get one without ketchup, mustard, mayo, or whatever, and they’ll screw it up at least 20% of the time.
I ask for no tomato and they’ll sometimes forget.
I think it happens when they have a stack of Whoppers already prepared. They’re ready to hand out during the lunch rush. Custom orders require special handling.
I usually give my wife the tomato. Removing unwanted cheesr wouldn’t work. They’d have to make another butger.
Back when I was dating I kept my TV in the closet. The only reason I even had the thing was because my father insisted on giving me their old one when he replaced it. I did not have an antenna and cable was kind of a big deal that I couldn’t afford anyhow.
Every single man I ever had in my apartment would comment on my lack of TV at least once. When I told them where it was, every single one offered to hook it up for me.
As to the whole “I don’t watch TV thing”, I never did that because I just didn’t want to get into it. I just said something about having to do chores or errands or wash my hair when the referenced show was on. People who didn’t come to my apartment had no idea that I kept my TV in my closet.
I don’t care for tomato, either. If I was with my mom, I’d give it to her. Since she died, I’ll eat the tomato and think of her.
Cheese is harder to remove. And I don’t think it’s that they have a bunch pre-made; I tend to eat out at odd hours and miss the rush.
Hah! This person I spoke of does exactly that, all the time. Always telling me, in a very declamatory manner, about this or that video he saw on Youtube, and urging me to do the same.
That’s really weird. I can see holding a grudge if you really dislike what you got, and you either couldn’t get it replaced, or had a lot of trouble doing so. But… I’m a picky eater. I often ask for something a little different (such as no cilantro) and if they mess up, I either pick out the offending ingredient, or send it back. And so long as that works, I’ve probably forgotten by the time I finished eating the dish.
Yeah, we get that here too, there will be a thread about “what is your fave TV show?” or something and some jerk will chime in with “I don’t watch TV”. That is threadshitting, IMHO.
We play D&D, and one of the players hasn’t watched hardly any of the culturally significant films, so she doesn’t get some of the references and jokes. It is now a standing joke, like Captain America when he said he got that reference. She has a great sense of humor.