What is your pet peeve of the day?

[samclem]

I thought it was so cool that my present house has 100% copper fresh and drain pipes. Then the drain pipes started rotting out..........

I've never seen copper waste pipes (aside from the tailpiece from a tub, etc), that must have been a nice installation. Reading up on it, seems the DWV copper has a thinner wall than the tubing used for copper supply lines, so I imagine it might eventually give some trouble (esp if the water's pH is a problem).

I'm really liking PEX pipe now. Fast, cheap, permanent. I've put in about a dozen fittings and haven't had a single one leak. Much better than my record with sweating copper.

 

[Derslickmeister]

Texting and driving. It is completely out of hand now. Folks drive better drunk than with a phone in their hands. Grrrr

 

[MRG]

Texting and driving. It is completely out of hand now. Folks drive better drunk than with a phone in their hands. Grrrr

+1
In this state it's legal to text and drive as long as your over 21. I think there's a bill in the legislature to be debated, not sure what there is to debate. :what: I guess there is a difference between dumb and stupid.

 

[travelover]

I've never seen copper waste pipes (side from the tailpiece from a tub, etc), that must have been a nice installation. Reading up on it, seems the DWV copper has a thinner wall than the tubing used for copper supply lines, so I imagine it might eventually give some trouble (esp if the water's pH is a problem).

I'm really liking PEX pipe now. Fast, cheap, permanent. I've put in about a dozen fittings and haven't had a single one leak. Much better than my record with sweating copper.

Yea, the copper rots where the pipes have a shallow slope. Some kind of a chemical reaction with the water.

I have not used Pex yet, but that would be my first choice for a new installation.

 

[nate2953]

"I really get miffed by retail employees who give priority service to phone customers vs. in-store customers."


I've never understood this either. When I was in college I w*rked at a sporting goods/retail store and my manager would always harp on us to answer the phones, being priority over everything even customers in the store. One day I finally asked him why we didn't help the customers here in the store who were almost guaranteed to spend money, so I figured we should give preferential treatment to them. His response was that the customer already in the store was probably gonna spend money here anyways. The customer on the phone was the one we needed to make sure wound up coming into the store and spend money. So that meant we had to answer the phones so they came to our store instead of going elsewhere. He said he's rarely ever seen people actually leave the store because the associates were busy answering phones. He said most of the time people are too passive to say anything, will grumble slightly, but they'll give us their money and they'll wind up coming back.

After he explained it, I can see the rationale from a strictly profit point of view, but it just didn't seem right to me.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Derslickmeister]

+1
In this state it's legal to text and drive as long as your over 21. I think there's a bill in the legislature to be debated, not sure what there is to debate. :what: I guess there is a difference between dumb and stupid.

The legality here is determined by cities. In my city it is illegal but folks still do it in droves. Very frustrating...

 

[ERD50]

"I really get miffed by retail employees who give priority service to phone customers vs. in-store customers."

I've never understood this either. When I was in college I w*rked at a sporting goods/retail store and my manager would always harp on us to answer the phones, being priority over everything even customers in the store. One day I finally asked him why we didn't help the customers here in the store who were almost guaranteed to spend money, so I figured we should give preferential treatment to them. His response was that the customer already in the store was probably gonna spend money here anyways. The customer on the phone was the one we needed to make sure wound up coming into the store and spend money. So that meant we had to answer the phones so they came to our store instead of going elsewhere. He said he's rarely ever seen people actually leave the store because the associates were busy answering phones. He said most of the time people are too passive to say anything, will grumble slightly, but they'll give us their money and they'll wind up coming back.

After he explained it, I can see the rationale from a strictly profit point of view, but it just didn't seem right to me.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

That explanation does make some kind of sense. But to me, it begs the question - why not route those calls to someone not dealing with in-person customers? Give both of them good service.

Might not work in a very small store with only a few people available, but this seems more wide-spread than that.


-ERD50

 

[ERD50]

Galvanized iron water pipes. I just spent about 5 hours replacing two GI fittings that some idiot ....

Five hours! Fittings that are accessible! Luxury! (cue The Four Yorkshire-men).

We had our well leaking, water was pooling on the surface outside. It was late winter, and I just thought the pool was snow-melt, then I started noticing our water pressure was dropping.

Call 'the well guy', they dig it up and find a galvanized elbow fitting from the well to the tubing feeding the house (just below frost level) has corroded. Replaces the galvanized with brass.

OK, so a brass elbow is, I dunno, $10, $20? Of course, to dig up and replace it is a grand. I'm also pretty sure that they knew brass was better than galvanized 30 years ago. Why not use brass? Five feet underground. Where you can't tell it is leaking for months (yes, my electric bill went up that month, and it probably put years of wear on my pump).

-ERD50

 

[nate2953]

That explanation does make some kind of sense. But to me, it begs the question - why not route those calls to someone not dealing with in-person customers? Give both of them good service.



Might not work in a very small store with only a few people available, but this seems more wide-spread than that.





-ERD50

We were routinely understaffed. 1 cashier, 1 in footwear, 1 for team sports/outdoors, 1 for golf/fitness.

I guess it all comes down to the fact that management made the decision that even if service is poor, the sales still get made. A 100 dollar purchase gets deposited into the safe the same whether it's a happy hundred bucks or a disgruntled 100 bucks.

Granted we all understand the customer service costs of retaining/losing/gaining new customers, but I guess it didn't hit the bottom line hard enough...
I saw plenty of the same disgruntled customers time and time again. I think a lot of people have less resolve than they think when it comes to "showing them".


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[nafddur1]

People who still refuse to wear seat belts, and people who smoke in their cars with the windows down.

 

[samclem]

People who don't comply with the coupon rules at the supermarket, and cashiers who accommodate them. I was behind a customer yesterday who had 3 debates with the cashier over expired coupons or ones for which she had put the wrong size/type in her cart. On two other occasions she sent her kid back to the aisles get another item to meet the purchase quantity requirements of the coupon. Meanwhile, the line is backing up, all my food is on the belt getting warmer--me too.
After the first time (everyone makes mistakes), the cashier should have just put the offending items to the side and gave the customer the option to buy them at full price or go back in the store to get the right ones, then get back in line behind all the customers who knew how to shop.

 

[folivier]

People who don't comply with the coupon rules at the supermarket, and cashiers who accommodate them. I was behind a customer yesterday who had 3 debates with the cashier over expired coupons or ones for which she had put the wrong size/type in her cart. On two other occasions she sent her kid back to the aisles get another item to meet the purchase quantity requirements of the coupon. Meanwhile, the line is backing up, all my food is on the belt getting warmer--me too.
After the first time (everyone makes mistakes), the cashier should have just put the offending items to the side and gave the customer the option to buy them at full price or go back in the store to get the right ones, then get back in line behind all the customers who knew how to shop.

And with a couple of people behind you they open a new register and they all run over there and get checked out while you're still stuck behind the "coupon picker".
Occasionally the new checkout person will say "I'll take the next person in line" and I always say loudly "thank you!"

 

[razztazz]

People who don't comply with the coupon rules at the supermarket, and cashiers who accommodate them. I was behind a customer yesterday who had 3 debates with the cashier over expired coupons or ones for which she had put the wrong size/type in her cart. On two other occasions she sent her kid back to the aisles get another item to meet the purchase quantity requirements of the coupon. Meanwhile, the line is backing up, all my food is on the belt getting warmer--me too.
After the first time (everyone makes mistakes), the cashier should have just put the offending items to the side and gave the customer the option to buy them at full price or go back in the store to get the right ones, then get back in line behind all the customers who knew how to shop.

I am surprised that there are not more "Line Rage" killings at supermarkets in this county

 

[Sarah in SC]

Whatever, I can take anything except the old lady writing a check. All other line rage inducers pale compared to that one.

 

[travelover]

Whatever, I can take anything except the old lady writing a check. All other line rage inducers pale compared to that one.

I was behind an elderly woman that insisted on shakily writing her full name in cursive on the credit card reader. It repeatedly timed out before she got done. I was so tempted to say "just scribble anything, the damn thing doesn't care!" I jumped lines before anyone got hurt....

 

[samclem]

Whatever, I can take anything except the old lady writing a check. All other line rage inducers pale compared to that one.

Oh, yes, I like that one. And it almost always starts with the cashier telling the customer the amount and THEN begins the search through the purse for the checkbook. And her favorite pen. I guess every time it is a surprise that she'll have to pay for her groceries.

We are a grumpy bunch!

 

[ArkTinkerer]

People who don't comply with the coupon rules at the supermarket, and cashiers who accommodate them. I was behind a customer yesterday who had 3 debates with the cashier over expired coupons or ones for which she had put the wrong size/type in her cart. On two other occasions she sent her kid back to the aisles get another item to meet the purchase quantity requirements of the coupon. Meanwhile, the line is backing up, all my food is on the belt getting warmer--me too.
After the first time (everyone makes mistakes), the cashier should have just put the offending items to the side and gave the customer the option to buy them at full price or go back in the store to get the right ones, then get back in line behind all the customers who knew how to shop.

I get a bit torqued when the rules for some of the sales are not obvious. Sometimes 10/$10 means $1 each. Sometimes it means you must buy 10. Last time, it depended on the color of the sales tag!

 

[Bestwifeever]

Whatever, I can take anything except the old lady writing a check. All other line rage inducers pale compared to that one.

You might justifiably smack DH, who would put the old lady check writers to shame with his inability to move from the cash register until he has carefully put his receipt and change or credit card back into his wallet and returned it to his pocket and double checked his pocket and then surveys the surrounding area for personal items before picking up his purchase and moving out of the way (and the glares) of the next customer.

Today I went to the post office to mail a package. The line grew from just me to ten or so people as the customer ahead of me perused the clerk's big notebook of available postage stamps for several minutes and discussed most of them with the clerk before he decided not to buy any. Grrr.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Feever, this is why I don't let DH pay when we go to stores together. He's also that guy. Gaaaah!

 

[aja8888]

Feever, this is why I don't let DH pay when we go to stores together. He's also that guy. Gaaaah!

I'm kind of like that when I go to the grocery store after leaving my cell phone at the register a few times.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

A snip-it from one of my favorite Richard Brautigan short stories, "complicated banking problems" -

When I wait in line there are almost always people in front of me who have complicated banking problems. I have to stand there and endure the financial cartoon crucifixions of America. It goes something like this: There are three people in front of me. I have a little check to cash. My banking will only take a minute. The check is already endorsed. I have it in my hand, pointed in the direction of the teller.
The person just being waited on now is a woman fifty years old. She is wearing a long black coat, though it is a hot day. She appears to be very comfortable in the coat and there is a strange smell coming from her. I think about it for a few seconds and realize that this is the first sign of a complicated banking problem.
Then she reaches into the folds of her coat and removes the shadow of a refrigerator filled with sour milk and year-old carrots. She wants to put the shadow in her savings account. She’s already made out the slip.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

One of the younger professional engineers at w@rk, a female, cannot speak a sentence that isn't a question? It drives me up the freaking wall? She doesn't seem to get that this intonation completely destroys the credibility of everything she says?

 

[Tom52]

I am not sure I am peeved at Fed Ex or the manufacturer of the glass top table ordered online from Hayneedle. We paid extra for 3 day delivery about 3 weeks ago. First table base came but without the glass table top, (order shipped in two separate boxes). Fed Ex claims damage during shipment. So we contacted Hayneedle and spell out the problem. They will request a second table to be shipped, they can't request just a replacement top, the entire table base and top must be shipped and the extra table base must be shipped back, HUH??

About 10 days later a second table base shows up but again no glass top. We check the Fed Ex website and it shows the second glass top was damaged in shipment. By this time I am

Again we notify Hayneedle and they again are going to arrange for the third table to be shipped. They advise delivery is estimated about two weeks out. We remind them that we paid a premium for fast delivery, but they don't care. I am not holding my breath that the third glass top will be delivered undamaged. I suspect the shipper/manufacturer is not properly packaging the glass top. It is also possible Fed Ex employees see a box marked Glass/Fragile and they see how roughly they can handle it.

 

[aaronc879]

I hate when smokers throw their butts onto public or private property instead of in the trash. I live on the bottom level of a condo building. The balconies are made of wood and have gaps. The person 2 levels above me drops her butts and they fall down to my patio. I've had to sweep up dozens of butts along with the ash since she moved in a few months ago. I've asked her to stop. I've told the condo management(twice) and last week I called the police. She still does it and no one seems to care. I hate people who have no consideration for others.

 

[Walt34]

She still does it and no one seems to care. I hate people who have no consideration for others.

After you sweep them up deposit them on her doorstep. Perhaps that will make the lesson sink in.