What is your pet peeve of the day?

[MRG]

Our small city recently got a few roundabouts. The first day they opened one of them, the newspaper got a picture of a car going the wrong way (how do you even do that??). Another roundabout generated a letter to the newspaper's "pet peeve" column when someone was stopping inside the circle at every single exit.

But the best was our first roundabout, which generated complaints from the neighborhood about all that loud honking late at night.

The way I watched the person I mentioned. They should have gone round 270° to the right, instead went 90°left! I can only assume the person had never seen one, but who knows.

First time I had to deal with them it was the first day I was driving on the left side of the road in a stick shift. Pretty exciting expecially driving south of Capetown right next to the ocean 500 or so feet down.

 

[CardsFan]

For example, I have yet to see anyone use their turn signal upon exiting. Makes it difficult to keep things moving when drivers entering have to stop because they don't know if the approaching vehicle is going to exit or not.

Do you really trust turn signals? I have had too many close calls. I believe the person is turning only when I see that happen!

Roundabouts are starting to appear here as well. Usually on roads that are not heavily traveled, and I would agree they have improved the traffic flow.

Back when I grew up in Massachusetts, we had the much larger versions at many busy highway intersections and on/off ramps (we called them a Rotary). Some are still there, but many have been removed (If you ever drove over the Bourne or Sagamore bridges back in the 70's, going to Cape Cod, you know what I am talking about)

 

[Marita40]

I recently took an AARP driving class (tedious, but it does give me 10% off my insurance). The two pet peeves of the group, much complained about, were round abouts and the stupid law where cars must stop for any pedestrian who wishes to cross the street even if it is not a marked crosswalk and even (super dangerously) on a 4 lane street.

 

[O2Bfree]

...and the stupid law where cars must stop for any pedestrian who wishes to cross the street even if it is not a marked crosswalk and even (super dangerously) on a 4 lane street.

Right, this is dangerous for pedestrians these days as drivers are so impatient. I've stopped for pedestrians and had some guy honk and blast around me, only to slam on the brakes upon finally seeing the person walking.

 

[Clone]

The grammar Nazi in me bristles at the misuse of few and less. No one knows anything about count and non-count nouns these days.

Good point, I agree we should have less of these. We still have farther to go when it comes to grammar usage.

See? In less than half an hour.

I could care less about this back and forth. All this bickering is literally taking days off my life, which will figuratively change my optimization of when to take my Social Security benefits, even though the trade-offs are actually neutral.

 

[RobbieB]

My truffle shaver mangled my lovely truffles so I tossed it it the trash and shaved them with my fillet knife.

 

[jazz4cash]

The grammar Nazi in me bristles at the misuse of few and less. No one knows anything about count and non-count nouns these days.

But where is the "fewer than" key on my keyboard?

 

[Silver]

But where is the "fewer than" key on my keyboard.

I believe when writing equations, only equation rules apply. We like to use all kinds of symbols in all kinds of circumstances....but strictly speaking....the "less than" symbol is an equation symbol.

Ain't English fun?

 

[Winemaker]

I tried to stop my local paper late Friday for one week. Circulation manager said my paper would stop on Tuesday because it "would go into computer" and Tuesday would be the earliest it could happen. What

 

[Koolau]

I tried to stop my local paper late Friday for one week. Circulation manager said my paper would stop on Tuesday because it "would go into computer" and Tuesday would be the earliest it could happen. What

We've found it difficult to stop our paper as well - so we just stopped starting it up again. If we occasionally need a paper, there are guys working their tails off (usually paper guys older than us) along main thoroughfares. It's more expensive, but it means less trash AND it means not dealing with the paper subscription service. YMMV

 

[gerntz]

Roundabouts have been appearing in my area, and they'd be fine if folks would review the rules on them. For example, I have yet to see anyone use their turn signal upon exiting. .

As I said in post #1600 to this thread, most people don't know what a turn signal is anymore. Net, they're not going to find it now for exiting a ra either.

 

[O2Bfree]

As I said in post #1600 to this thread, most people don't know what a turn signal is anymore. Net, they're not going to find it now for exiting a ra either.

Right, and when I encounter such a driver of a shiny new car, I'm always tempted to suggest they get their turn signal fixed while their car is still under warranty.

 

[John Galt III]

Hidden off-on buttons on electronics. A few days ago at my parents' house my Mom said her computer monitor would not come on. A one second fix ended up taking 3 hours (insert face palm here) multiple disconnects, unplugging, hook up monitor to another computer, etc, etc. There were 4 symbols on the bottom front of the monitor. Nothing happened when you pushed on them, though. Well, the monitor must be shot since pushing the on-off symbol does nothing. Searched the entire monitor for some other on-off switch. Nothing. Turned out there was an on off switch hidden UNDER (as in around the corner and below) the on-off symbol. You're supposed to know to reach UNDER the screen to turn it on/off. (facepalm). Mom's daughter-in-law had spent the night in the computer room and had apparently switched it off! Daughter-in-law was now merrily driving on, to a wedding, unaware of the misery she had inadvertently caused by turning off a computer monitor.

 

[folivier]

Don't you hate it when an app you use frequently decides to "update" itself and removes some of the most useful features?
Amazon video on Roku recently "updated" and now there is no progress bar on the episodes so you can't tell which one you last watched. The progress bar was a real useful feature when you binge out on different series for a day or so but don't come back for a few days. It's hard enough trying to remember whether it's on Hulu, Netflix, or Amazon!

 

[48Fire]

Yes, or when a website is "improved". Capital One is not very intuitive to navigate now

Sent from my XT1254 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[ElizabethT]

Folk on this board that quote the entire OP (as is OP #1) when replying. Why, oh why, oh why? Takes up so much room, and it's so redundant. The OP is the OP is the OP.

 

[Texas Proud]

Hidden off-on buttons on electronics. A few days ago at my parents' house my Mom said her computer monitor would not come on. A one second fix ended up taking 3 hours (insert face palm here) multiple disconnects, unplugging, hook up monitor to another computer, etc, etc. There were 4 symbols on the bottom front of the monitor. Nothing happened when you pushed on them, though. Well, the monitor must be shot since pushing the on-off symbol does nothing. Searched the entire monitor for some other on-off switch. Nothing. Turned out there was an on off switch hidden UNDER (as in around the corner and below) the on-off symbol. You're supposed to know to reach UNDER the screen to turn it on/off. (facepalm). Mom's daughter-in-law had spent the night in the computer room and had apparently switched it off! Daughter-in-law was now merrily driving on, to a wedding, unaware of the misery she had inadvertently caused by turning off a computer monitor.

LOL.... I bought a new monitor earlier this year when my old one crapped out... like you, I was looking for the 'on' button... I was pushing the symbol like you... but knew that there had to be SOMETHING there. and just ran my hand all over that location and it magically turned on...


I put some of this on Steve Jobs who though you did not need a power button!!! So when you have one, might as well hide it as best you can so it does not look like you have one....

 

[Walt34]

LOL.... I bought a new monitor earlier this year when my old one crapped out... like you, I was looking for the 'on' button... I was pushing the symbol like you... but knew that there had to be SOMETHING there. and just ran my hand all over that location and it magically turned on...

You're not the only one. I once returned a scanner because (I later found out) I was pressing a button that was not the on/off button. Why do these designers have to be so cutesy with hiding those? Just put the dang thing right on the front where the user can see it!

And go back to labeling it "On/Off" instead of that stupid 0/1 thing.

 

[John Galt III]

......

And go back to labeling it "On/Off" instead of that stupid 0/1 thing.

Yeah !!!

 

[EastWest Gal]

I hate roundabouts. The only roundabout I'd like if one had stoplights .

Don't visit Iceland--there are a lot of roundabouts. OTOH there's almost no one there...

 

[meierlde]

Yeah !!!

If you are making a device (as most electronics are that only differers from country to country in the cord that plugs into an electric socket using language of on off would require that you make different devices for different languages. (Since most electronics come with universal power supplies that work everywhere now)). This raises costs using 0/1 works everywhere in the world with just one device. 0/1 originated in Europe where making a different device for different languages would definitly raise costs so they went to 0/1 as an EU wide solution. In prinicpal if your building for north america you would need 3 language forms.
BTW here is one case where an old computer term applies: Read the manual (there is usually an expletive before the word manual also)

 

[6miths]

It's Christmas time so.... Gift Cards.

 

[38Chevy454]

In honor of the bad weather and the snow/ice conditions of this morning. If you can't drive reasonable speed, stay off the road! Don't go 10-20 mph with death grip on the steering wheel - if you are not confident driving in these conditions, stay home.

We get these people that go so slow on the road or highway, it causes people to go around passing them, which creates more potential for losing control. Going so slow is probably worse than the person going too fast. The too fast person usually just slides off the road by themselves, whereas the too slow person makes everyone in danger of sliding around.

 

[ERD50]

In honor of the bad weather and the snow/ice conditions of this morning. If you can't drive reasonable speed, stay off the road! Don't go 10-20 mph with death grip on the steering wheel - if you are not confident driving in these conditions, stay home.

We get these people that go so slow on the road or highway, it causes people to go around passing them, which creates more potential for losing control. Going so slow is probably worse than the person going too fast. ...

I couldn't disagree more. Just take your time in bad weather. Stopping distances are increased, there can be bad patches that are not seen. If someone seems to be going slow ahead of you, just relax.

The too fast person usually just slides off the road by themselves, whereas the too slow person makes everyone in danger of sliding around.

I fail to see the logic behind that. The 'too fast' person could just as easily slide into oncoming traffic, or spin out in the middle. And if he's off to the side of the road, a tow truck will be along, blocking everyone's access.

The 'too slow' person isn't making anyone do anything. You don't need to pass them if iit isn't safe, so don't.

I recall being frustrated one time that the guy ahead of me was going so slow. But when he turned off, I soon realized that without having his car guiding the way, it was really hard to tell exactly where the edges of the road were. I probably slowed down to less than his speed!

I'll turn it 180 on you - if you feel the need to drive faster than the people who share the road with you feel comfortable with, then you should stay off the road. Respect the other drivers.

-ERD50

 

[38Chevy454]

I never said I was driving faster than the normal speed most of traffic is flowing. You made that conclusion. I said "reasonable speed" which is what works best. Most traffic will get in line and proceed at a reasonable safe speed. This is what I do, it is slower for the conditions. The extra slow person that is scared does not keep up with the flow, which creates more safety problems.

I live at 7100 ft in the mountains, I get real winter. I have vehicles that can handle the bad conditions. I am the one having to deal with the people that should not be on the road. It's my pet peeve. You can disagree.