# What Rants May Come (Monthly Mini-Rants) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** monthly-mini-rant\ **Created:** [May 1, 2026, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688 "2026-05-01T05:08:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/161 "2026-05-19T07:03:05Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I did _almost_ the same thing to myself a couple weeks ago. It was a long time ago, but I once went to the airport for a flight. The airline employee at the counter couldn’t find my reservation. After several minutes she figured it out and told me that my reservation was for the following day. I felt a bit sheepish, but at least I didn’t miss my flight. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/162 "2026-05-19T07:12:55Z")
I once went to traffic court to plead my case on a ticket. I took careful note of the date and time, went to court, and patiently waited my turn. When I was finally able to address the judge, he informed me that I had the right appointment time and date except I was there **a month early**. Oops. However, since I’d waited so patiently, he basically said fuck it and asked me what was going on. I explained the situation, he agreed with me and got the ticket dismissed. > **Long Story** > > Basically I’d been given a ticket for driving without insurance, because my card - a shitty thin piece of standard paper - had fallen out of my wallet. The cop wouldn’t let me grab another copy out of my house that we were right outside. I showed the judge I had coverage going back to long before I got the ticket, and the judge said that clearly I was not in violation and made it go away. The hours I sat in court before that time were extremely entertaining. He was like a real life Harry Stone, and was damn hilarious responding to all the stories of everyone. I’d have paid admission to watch him. Except when it was my turn, he reached a conclusion in about 2 minutes; short and sweet and no nonsense. That guy was so freaking cool. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/163 "2026-05-19T09:56:54Z")
Well at least you’re ok now and complaining about the food - that’s a good sign ! (We\* get worried when someone says they’re going in for surgery and we don’t hear anything for a week !!) \* I ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/164 "2026-05-19T11:54:06Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > told me that my reservation was for the following day I showed up a week early for a sleep study once. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/165 "2026-05-19T13:33:03Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > It was a long time ago, but I once went to the airport for a flight. The airline employee at the counter couldn’t find my reservation. After several minutes she figured it out and told me that my reservation was for the following day. I felt a bit sheepish, but at least I didn’t miss my flight. I did the same thing once, although I can’t remember if I had showed up a day early or a day late. Fortunately I was able to get the flight re-booked at the gate with minimal fuss. I also once showed up at the local clinic for an exam and when they couldn’t find me on the schedule it was discovered that I had gone to the wrong clinic. I had no way to get from where I was to where I should be, and I had to reschedule for another date. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/166 "2026-05-19T16:20:19Z")
I walked into my dentists office whn. I gad a (new) doctor’s appointment; in my defense they’re not even 1/2 block apart ---
**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:** [May 19, 2026, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/167 "2026-05-19T17:55:31Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > I showed up a week early for a sleep study once. I showed up a week early for a play last month. Fortunately, they had a seat available that was actually better than the one I’d chosen for the following week. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/168 "2026-05-19T21:38:01Z")
I may have told this before, but I had a hard-to-get teleconsult back in January with a hard-to-get medical specialist. To be sure I didn’t miss it, I made a mental note repeating to myself over and over again that it was on January 14. When the day came, I waited patiently for the phone call. The appointed time arrived and went, and there was no phone call. I checked my email records and the actual appointment had been on January 6! How Jan 14 entered my brain and lodged there so firmly I have no idea. Fortunately, the office was kind enough to overlook my missed appointment and expedited a new one for me. ====================== On a different topic of medical care, my cardiologist is a mixed blessing. On one hand, he is hands down the best doctor of any kind I’ve ever had – extremely knowledgable, extremely caring, and highly invested in “collaborative medicine”, keeping me closely informed of all my test results and generally compliant with my objections about things that I don’t want to do. But the things he wants to inflict on me are innumerable and I feel there’s a limit to how far I can push him before he kicks me out as a patient. I dread my visits to his lovely office every two years because I know more will be inflicted. I was there today, and left with (a) requisition for a blood test, (b) requisition for a carotid artery ultrasound, (c) appointment for a cardiac ultrasound at his office, where also (d) I will be once again burdened with an overnight holter monitor, which after a sleepless night I will (e) have to return early the next morning. The man is just doing his job, and doing it well. Some years ago I had a mild heart attack and this man saved my life. But I’m pretty sure that with the fantastic cardiac care I’m getting, something else will kill me before a heart attack does. I suspect something related to excessive Caesar consumption. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2026, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/169 "2026-05-20T11:42:31Z")
[https://singletrackworld.com/2009/02/the-picolax-thread-returns/](https://singletrackworld.com/2009/02/the-picolax-thread-returns/) Imagine doing a prep… 2 days early… ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2026, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/170 "2026-05-20T12:55:36Z")
Now _that’s_ funny! Unless you wanted to endure a weeklong fast, you’d sorta have to go back to eating, then the next day or so get back into fasting & prepping, fasting and prepping … ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2026, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/171 "2026-05-20T13:22:30Z")
I showed up a month early for a fountains of Wayne concert and was standing in line and the people in line were slightly younger and punker than I expected, but what really made me check my ticket was when they were talking about how soaked in blood they were going to get. Turns out that day was a Gwar concert. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2026, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/172 "2026-05-20T14:35:34Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Turns out that day was a Gwar concert. Their covet of “Stacy’s Mom” is really something. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2026, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/173 "2026-05-20T15:49:12Z")
I too covet Stacy’s Mom. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2026, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/174 "2026-05-20T16:06:44Z")
A micro-rant pimple on my existing mini-rant baby elephant… Quoting a snip from my post upthread for context: > [@LSLGuy](#): > > my primary gasoline card has been switched Today I finally need gas, so time to test out my new card, both the physical one and the one stored in my phone’s e-wallet. Place has 14 pumps. They’re mostly occupied. So I pull up to an open one, shut down, hop out, … and discover I picked the pump where the tap-to-pay feature doesn’t work. At all. So I can’t test either my phone or the tap feature of my shiny card. You know, the only feature I ever want to use except under duress. Rats! 🐀 🐀 🐀 Good news is the insert-to-read-chip feature worked fine. Sigh; maybe next week. 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2026, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/175 "2026-05-20T17:38:40Z")
I’ve been front row for GWAR, can confirm that I was stained red for a couple of days afterward. Such a fun show. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2026, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/176 "2026-05-20T19:35:19Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I too covet Stacy’s Mom I’ll [drink](https://cityhive-production-cdn.cityhive.net/products/5d3fe27e1327e607d37548e6/large.png) to that! ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2026, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/177 "2026-05-20T23:22:44Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > After several minutes she figured it out and told me that my reservation was for the following day. Many many years ago, I showed up to class on what I thought was the first day of the semester. I was a week early. 🫠 (The campus was surprisingly active, and the building was open.) ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2026, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/178 "2026-05-21T16:36:55Z")
the first heatwave of the year ended in dramatic fashion yesterday evening with a very intense line of thunderboomers & pitch- ~~black~~ very dark grey skies two hours before sunset. Made for an interesting drive home last night, a couple of detours from downed trees &/or power lines, evidence of some earlier road closures that the various highway depts had already gotten to & reopened roads, & then someone going the wrong way thru a [traffic circle](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roundabout-hysteria/1028186/210); that was pucker factor 11! Mostly on curvy two-lane country roads that don’t have streetlights so it was only my headlights to find anything in the road, like branches. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2026, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/179 "2026-05-21T18:11:50Z")
My next door neighbour is playing Whitney Houston at full volume at (local time) 19:57 I am super tempted to unpack my fairly impressive Bose / Harman Kardon system and respond with the classic Hallucinogen “Jiggle of the Sphinx”, an genre crossing masterpiece of electronic pyshedelica which is literally guaranteed to annoy anyone who is not in a very, very niche audience. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/i7wDGieAE2I/maxresdefault.jpg "Hallucinogen - Jiggle of the Sphinx") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7wDGieAE2I) It is notable in electronic music for shifting between standard electronic beats to a Scots reel, and back. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2026, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/180 "2026-05-21T19:36:40Z")
I used to have a CD of Chinese Opera for just such occasions. It is indeed emotionally intensive music skilfully performed. But for someone accustomed to Western music … well, let’s just say until you’ve built up some immunity, it’s a pretty strong first taste. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688.md?page=10)