The (non-political) gripe thread

[beancounter]

I thought starting a thread where people can get things off their chest might be a good idea.

I'll start.

I live in an area where two neighboring towns share the exact same zip code. This causes a lot of confusion to outsiders in general, but recently a new condo community was built with a new access road name that is exactly the same in both towns.

Over the past year or so, I have about half a dozen service workers stop by my home and ask if I called for service, and I have to explain to them, no, you're looking for the road located in the other town.

I don't blame the service workers. A lot of GPS's will default to one of the two towns if you type in the zip code, without entering the town name.

I just want to slap the idiot who:

1. Approved of the road name in the 2nd town town without first checking if the road name was already being used in the first town town.

2. Who chose to use a name for the new condo community that was very similar to the existing community.

 

[ttwtt78640]

The first address on our road (for reasons which nobody could explain) was 11. When the pasture on the other side of the road was sold and subdivided some genius decided that the first address (of the 10 newly created lots) should be 2. This allegedly confused "first responder" folks so they decided, rather than simply assign the first new lot a number of 10 (or 12), that it was "best" to renumber all of the the existing odd numbered lots starting at 3. Thus we had to change our address.

 

[Lovebug]

Beltline RD, Dallas, 90 + miles, several cities. When you think you are close to your destination, think again.

 

[TheParser]

One of my gripes is about thoughtless people who board a bus and promptly plop themselves in the aisle seat even though the window seat is unoccupied.


Some people are hesitant to say, "Excuse me." [ = Would you move your feet so that I can reach the window seat? I am pretty sure that you did not pay for two seats].

I never say anything, for I realize that anyone who would do something like that may be dangerous.

So I just stand.

Many years ago, I saw an elderly lady, so I assumed that she would be very gracious. Boy, was I wrong! When I said, "Excuse me" (with a smile), she glared at me for a few seconds, but she did finally make room for me. Apparently, it never occurred to her that someone else might want to sit down, too.

Of course, I would never even think of saying anything to rough-looking youths.

The behavior of people on public transportation is one reason why I am no longer a bleeding heart, as I was when I was young and naïve.

 

[beancounter]

So I just finished my workout at the gym, and I'm at my locker changing. A guy comes over and is all huffy because I'm blocking his locker.

My gym has a bunch of lockers anyone is free to use, and most people secure the locker they're using with a combo lock.

Some people choose to just toss their cloths and belongings in a locker, and don't bother securing it. It's a free country, they can do that if they want, but without a lock, I won't know that someone is using the locker next to mine, so if I'm in their way, well, that's their fault...

 

[Lovebug]

Gripe of the day, and many other days really. Why are people so "important" that they can't stop for an ambulance or a fire truck? That ticks me off to no end. I just watched three, not one but 3 cars cut in front of both rescue vehicles because ...and I am guessing here...they had the green arrow. Did they not see these large vehicles with their loud sirens and the flashing lights?

 

[beancounter]

Gripe of the day, and many other days really. Why are people so "important" that they can't stop for an ambulance or a fire truck? That ticks me off to no end. I just watched three, not one but 3 cars cut in front of both rescue vehicles because ...and I am guessing here...they had the green arrow. Did they not see these large vehicles with their loud sirens and the flashing lights?

Or a school bus...

 

[beancounter]

I live in New England, and as you probably know, a lot of towns in my area are named after towns in England.

I have a cell phone with the location setting turned on (for my Fitbit). The phone should know where I am...

Yet, when I type in a city name to get a map, or find a store, or the store hours, etc, the phone will often return information about a location in England.

If the phone knows where I am, why the **** does it assume by default that I want information in a town that I am many hours by plane from, instead of info on a town that I'm just a few miles from?

 

[TheParser]

We all know that when speaking to a group of males and females, it is no longer acceptable to say "Everyone should bring his book tomorrow."

We are told to say "Everyone should bring their book." "Their" is now the gender-neutral pronoun.


For those of us (mostly older people) who cringe at this innovation, we have to resort to the clumsy "Everyone should bring his or her book."



*****


My gripe is with those growing number (?) of males and females who want to show that they are ardent feminists. They will, of course, avoid the old-fashioned "his" as the gender-neutral pronoun. But they see nothing wrong in using "her" as the gender-neutral pronoun: "Many men and women work here. I have asked everyone to bring her spouse to the holiday party."


And no one, of course, dares to call them out on this sexist practice. In other words, "his" was used as the gender-neutral pronoun for so long that some people feel justified in now using "her" as the gender-neutral pronoun.