# 'Tis the season to be ranty - December Minirants **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 1, 2014, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028 "2014-12-01T14:11:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/361 "2014-12-24T13:50:13Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > When I was a kid, there were public toilets in very convenient locations in parks and sports fields and the beach. They may not have been hygienic or safe, but they were functional and open. > > Not anymore. Now they’ve all been knocked down, or are kept locked unless there’s an event on. The only ones you can find open are in shopping centres or the occasional fast food joint, which is usually many blocks, if not suburbs, away from the park. They may be clean and safer, but they’re utterly useless if they’re that far away and you get caught short. > > Today I got caught short. > > Ugh. I’ve been in situations like that. Maybe not in parks, but just about anywhere downtown, the only bathrooms are in restaurants and usually they make you buy something. I actually got chased right out of a bathroom stall by an angry employee once, and that time, I had even intended to buy something after using the bathroom! I try not to gripe about that here on the board, though, because for some reason I always get huge opposition to my view that people should be able to go to the bathroom and not have to buy something. Though, admittedly, it was more of a problem when I used to get drunk and then have a long ride home. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/362 "2014-12-24T16:36:21Z")
Yeah, in keeping with my last post on the subject, I just want to get out of here. I hate this place. I hate everything about it. I hate the people here, with one noteworthy exception. I should be spending time with my mother, who I know is a little lonely. I should be spending time with ANYONE ELSE other than these people I cannot fucking stand to be around. I hate this fucking room. Cold, empty, drab (like, seriously, it’s REALLY FUCKING COLD IN HERE)… Can’t even lean up against the headboard on the bed because of how the roof is. But when I’m not up here I’m stuck staring into their ugly fucking faces. These fucking people I don’t respect and cannot stand. I don’t even know why. I can’t even rationalize it to myself. I just hate them. For no good fucking reason. That’s not making it any easier not to hate them, but it is adding a solid layer of self-hatred on top of how rotten I feel. TL;DR: I’m kinda with **Locrian** at this point. Fuck Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/363 "2014-12-24T17:05:52Z")
Sorry the whole situation is weighing on you so heavily, **BPC**. Do you think it might help if you post some specifics about their behavior/verbal inanities you’ve witnessed during this encounter, and see if we can riff on them? ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/364 "2014-12-24T17:33:44Z")
Is there no way you can bail? Invent a crisis at work or something? If you have to wait on using a plane ticket or something it might be worth it to pretend to leave and actually hide out at a motel. Because it sounds dreadful. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/365 "2014-12-24T18:30:11Z")
When is “Save” not really a save at all? Apparently when it’s fucking ArcMap. I’m only just learning this piece of junk. Yesterday I lost about 4 hours of work when it crashed. Silly me I thought it saved along the way, turns out it doesn’t. Ok, I’m pissed, but that’s my fault, I can deal. Today I thought I’d be smart about it and after I did a few minutes of work I hit what I thought was the “Save” icon, you know, the one with the little diskette, turns out that only seems to save the fucking view. Four hours into my work again it crashes. Everything is gone yet again. So it seems that to actually save work you have to go in to a drop down menu and save there! So fuck you ArcMap for having the save button in the most fucked up place one can imagine. :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/366 "2014-12-24T19:00:50Z")
I’ve been trying to reach my mom, who is actually close enough to realistically pick me up. No dice. 😕 Other than that, it’s mostly hitchhiking. I could ask my SO, but what am I supposed to say? “Honey, your family is causing an irrational psychological reaction with me. I utterly hate their guts for stupid, grudge-related reasons and cannot stand the sight of them. Can you remove me from this situation?” Good luck wih that. And the worst part is, they’ve been perfectly rational, sane, and civil. I’m the one losing my mind, because _of course I am_. I’m not in my right mind. Rarely am. It’s just that it usually doesn’t manifest itself like this. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/367 "2014-12-24T19:43:10Z")
Jesus Christ on a friggin pogo stick! I’ve been on hold for about 15 minutes with a particular law enforcement center located in a SW state. I have never heard such bloviating spammy promo ads for ONE PERSON. You know who I’m talking about, don’t you? Who thought putting a promo against beastiality (!!) next to a promo about how great pink underwear is would be a good thing? And this woman’s voice is SO damn chirpy discussing BOTH subjects with the same excitement. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/368 "2014-12-24T19:46:22Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Oh, there probably is someplace, but not anywhere I know about off the top of my head. I just wanted to be able to go to a Target, or at worst a Williams-Sonoma or something, and pick up a rack for under $30. Sorry I sounded rude to you, but I didn’t mean to be. Not at all; I’ve had the same experience. What really annoys me is to go to some large store, unsuccessfully look for something you know they must have, then go to an employee to ask about it and have the following happen: Me: Do you carry xxx? Idiot employee: (looks around aimlessly for a moment) Maybe in aisle 354? Starts off towards 354 from aisle #2 where you’re standing. Me: “Wait! I’ve been down there and I didn’t see it. Another employee told me it was in aisle 2.” IE: (starts looking on the shelves in aisle two) “Hmmm. . .I don’t see it here.” (No fucking shit?) “Let’s go look in aisle 7,265.” Me: Can’t you just call somebody and ask him? IE: I don’t think we carry that item. Me: But I saw it in your ad. IE: Oh, we must be out of them. Me: (calmly pulls out automatic weapon and locks/loads) Honestly, I can wander around a store aimlessly without needing some ass clown to _help_ me wander around aimlessly. I asked for help because I don’t want to guess at random locations. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/369 "2014-12-24T20:04:29Z")
Or my experience at Walmart looking for a lamp. “Excuse me, do you know where your lamps are? Because your light bulbs are over there, and your furniture over there, but no lamps anywhere near them.” “Oh, they’re over there near the rugs” (which are near the candles on the opposite side of the kitchen stuff from the light bulbs and furniture.) No goddamned sense. Because when I buy a lamp, I want to have to walk half-way across the store to get a fucking light bulb for it. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/370 "2014-12-24T20:40:46Z")
Don’t you understand? Light bulbs are ‘Hardware’ and lamps are ‘Home Decor’ and neither the twain shall meet. Ask them about lamp shades once, I dare you. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/371 "2014-12-24T23:06:10Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > Don’t you understand? Light bulbs are ‘Hardware’ and lamps are ‘Home Decor’ and neither the twain shall meet. > > Ask them about lamp shades once, I dare you. > > 😃 Also, if you have to walk halfway across the store, you might see ten other things that you just can’t do without. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/372 "2014-12-25T01:37:17Z")
A very minor rant, mostly it just made me sad. I bought some Play-Doh for my nephew, and while wrapping I noticed it’s _Made In China_. That seems so wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/373 "2014-12-25T02:19:14Z")
Total First World Problem coming right up! My mother in law decided to buy me a tablet for Christmas. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that it would be easier to play this one game I like if I had a tablet. But that’s it. I never said I really _wanted_ one. It wasn’t on my list. Hell, my husband would have been happier about it than I was - he’s a techie/gadget nut. I would have rather had money to buy a new purse or some cute boots. Thanks … I guess? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/374 "2014-12-25T06:01:18Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Or my experience at Walmart looking for a lamp. > > “Excuse me, do you know where your lamps are? Because your light bulbs are over there, and your furniture over there, but no lamps anywhere near them.” > “Oh, they’re over there near the rugs” (which are near the candles on the opposite side of the kitchen stuff from the light bulbs and furniture.) > > No goddamned sense. > > Because when I buy a lamp, I want to have to walk half-way across the store to get a fucking light bulb for it. “Excuse me, I’m looking for clothespins, do you happen to know where they are?” “😃 Luckily, yes! Come with me, please. Just out of curiosity, did you look over in cleaning supplies and also over there where we have the drying racks?” “Yes, both places.” Pointing “plastic here, wood here. And don’t ask me who thought it was a good idea to put them right next to the flower pots, I swear it’s the one article we get most questions about!” ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/375 "2014-12-25T19:12:35Z")
> [@Helena330](#): > > A very minor rant, mostly it just made me sad. I bought some Play-Doh for my nephew, and while wrapping I noticed it’s _Made In China_. > > That seems so wrong. So I guess it’s a bad idea to take a tiny experimental nibble? (Admit it, you’ve tasted it. Every kid has.) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/376 "2014-12-25T19:20:39Z")
My 12/25 rant is that a certain person in my city is alive to have a Christmas celebration. My dad is the man he killed, by looking away from the road to put a fucking CD in his truck player, and not seeing my dad on his motorcycle. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/377 "2014-12-25T19:32:46Z")
Great family meal and gift exchange. Good time. Well, except my dad has to spew Fox News talking points in anger all over everything. At the dinner table, he rants on about the rising minimum wage and how this is so destructive and counter-productive. :rolleyes: Gives the same old “if you don’t like the wages your job pays, get another job” bullshit that goes oh so well when the economy doesn’t provide those hypothetical jobs. Then at the very end, when we’re done and saying thanks… He has to rant about Toys for Tots and how fraudulent it is and how people are cheating the system getting more toys for their kids than rich people, blah blah blah. I said “Well, this is Christmas and we don’t need to complain about that right now”, which shut him up. Then I go home and with a very quick Google search: The Twin Cities TfT campaign distributed 189,000 ‘toys, books and stocking stuffers’ to 126,000 kids in 2012. That’s an average of 1.5 per kid, and we’re not talking Nintendos and Playstations here. So if there’s a kid getting 12 toys from them, that kid is an extreme outlier and by no means representative of the system. The number of kids is also 4% of the population of the metro area, where the poverty rate is about four times that. So thanks so much for vomiting your Fox News LIES all over our family celebration, dad. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/378 "2014-12-25T20:18:10Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Ah yes, I had forgotten how cats like to “help” with the wrapping paper. Silly me, how could I have forgotten something like that? That is a lesson that I have to relearn every year. I’ll figure it out someday. 😉 [I think this cat was on drugs.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm3dm5J5r0A) For the record, putting rain deer antlers and bells on willing hounds is NOT animal cruelty. Taking them to the mall to have their pictures taken with Santa might be a little over the top, but its still not animal cruelty. Especially not when said hounds are happily sucking up the attention and pettings. If the place hadn’t been crawling with kids, my language might have been much worse when some old bint got in my face about it. Dogs were happy, kids were happy, I was happy…what’s the harm? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/379 "2014-12-26T19:12:19Z")
I must pit myself for talking politics on both the 24th and the 25th. One of the points that I tried to make was that the economy was improving and I mentioned that the unemployment rate was the lowest that it had been in many years - and the point was rejected because, it was claimed that the numbers were fictitious. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028/380 "2014-12-27T05:25:50Z")
Hey idiot on Facebook, telling a Jew “u need Jesus” on Facebook because I dared call the Duggars Taliban without the burka only makes you look even dumber. I daresay even Jesus might have rolled his eyes at them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-to-be-ranty-december-minirants/706028.md?page=20)