What is your pet peeve of the day? -- 2021

[Time2]

Feel your pain about traffic. Our home is/was in a somewhat rural area near our capital city. But there are 4 new subdivisions being developed near us that will double our density. And there are NO road improvements ongoing. Sure there are "plans". Add lanes to our 2 lane no shoulder 55mph road. Add roundabouts. But nothing has been done and I don't foresee anything done within the next 5 years. So we're putting our house for sale and planning to buy a condo in the city. We'll be closer to our sons and the roads are better and can handle more traffic.

We moved to our home 29 years ago, it is on a main road, but over 29 years the traffic has increased considerably. We live equal distance between two stop lights, about a 1/4 mile from each, often during peak times stopped cars are backed up to my house. If it wasn't for my wife's huge garden and fruit trees, it wouldn't take me much of a push to move.
The area I live is convenient, being close to shopping, restaurants, fast food, hardware stores, hospital, fire dept and the beach. If I move, it wouldn't be far.

 

[Gumby]

Sorry to hear about that. One of the benefits of living where I do is that we're all full up and have been for a long time. The last subdivision in town was built over 25 years ago, the last house on my street was built in 1914, and the town population is almost exactly the same as it was when we moved here in 1989.

 

[pacergal]

Ugh. bought some cheese at Trader Joes a few weeks ago.
Got it out to open and slice and both packages are moldy all around, and not the kind easily sliced off!
The white fuzzy stuff doesn't look bad, but the blue, green and pink spots tell me something different. Yuk.
Going back for a refund.

 

[jcretire77]

People who walk in our neighborhood and allow their dogs to run free. Pissed off a guy for yelling at his dog who had chased nesting ducks away. Yelled at him to put his dog on the leash and keep him off my property. First to admit that it was a stupid move on my part.

 

[ERD50]

Ugh. bought some cheese at Trader Joes a few weeks ago.
Got it out to open and slice and both packages are moldy all around, and not the kind easily sliced off!
The white fuzzy stuff doesn't look bad, but the blue, green and pink spots tell me something different. Yuk.
Going back for a refund.

Although I love TJ for some things, I stopped buying bread products and 'fresh' meat there. I bought bagels on a Friday afternoon for a Sunday brunch, and they were all moldy by then, black spots. I took them back, the manager said they are trying to avoid preservatives - I said, then I will avoid buying bread here - I should have added that if that's the case, they need to keep their stock fresh - it should last 2 1/2 days at home. I've since noticed black spots on the bread on the store shelf. It's already bad!

Same with meat - I bought something, had to take it back, he said something about it being 'vacuum packed', and it should last a while on the shelf. This was not vacuum packed, it just had the normal loose plastic wrap on it, plenty of air inside.

I do buy their raw pizza dough. Cheap, easy, and I've never had a bad one. We've bought quite a bit of cheese there, don't recall any problems. But mostly hard cheese (parm), or the shredded moz for pizza (use it up quick).

-ERD50

 

[Koolau]

The pandemic is officially over judging by crowds and traffic.

Are there still hold-outs (hold-overs) wearing masks? We still see quite a few. I think it's a bit cultural for us.

 

[Car-Guy]

Are there still hold-outs (hold-overs) wearing masks? We still see quite a few. I think it's a bit cultural for us.

And in parts of Asia, they were ahead of the curve. 10 to 15 years ago when I was traveling there a lot, I'd often see people on the streets, stores, transport systems, etc wearing a mask. Don't recall that in Europe but it was common place in the Asia/Pacific counties.

 

[tryan]

Argg!! Did a buy-2-get-2 on chips. Looked at the receipt when I got home. Paid FULL price for all 4!

Saved the receipt ... eventually was back in the store. Service desk not staffed. OK ... how much more time do I put into this? Live n'learn.

 

[O2Bfree]

Are there still hold-outs (hold-overs) wearing masks? We still see quite a few. I think it's a bit cultural for us.

I see them every day, walking along the street, usually young men wearing dark clothing with their hood pulled up and a backpack. Also some driving alone in their cars, and a few at the gym. Yesterday at the gym there was a woman wearing not only a mask but also nitrile gloves while washing her hands.

 

[steelyman]

I see them every day, walking along the street, usually young men wearing dark clothing with their hood pulled up and a backpack. Also some driving alone in their cars, and a few at the gym. Yesterday at the gym there was a woman wearing not only a mask but also nitrile gloves while washing her hands.

I took the masking opportunity to grow my first-ever goatee. I’d always been curious and had full beards and mustaches but never the Schnauzer look.

 

[braumeister]

I see them every day, walking along the street, usually young men wearing dark clothing with their hood pulled up and a backpack. Also some driving alone in their cars, and a few at the gym.

It's a tough question. We go to the big local hospital a lot, because of DW. Roughly once a week for the past year or so. It has always been mandatory to mask up inside the building, but they finally gave up this past Monday and made it optional.

Then I saw one of my docs this week and her office was still requiring them. I asked about it, and she said that although the feds had made it a matter for local decision, she still saw at least one COVID patient every week so it made sense to her to keep up the requirement.

Personally, it doesn't bother me to put one on for an hour or so, but I do feel sorry for the medical folks who have to wear one all day, every day.

 

[O2Bfree]

Personally, it doesn't bother me to put one on for an hour or so, but I do feel sorry for the medical folks who have to wear one all day, every day.

I wonder if medical folks who continue to wear masks are getting fewer colds than usual? Especially pediatric doctors!

 

[FIYes]

My pet peeve is medical bills. Last summer DH contracted Covid. We did the telehealth visit and the doctor told us to go to the emergency room. When I had Covid and did a telehealth visit, it was just a prescription called in for me. At the time I didn’t think DH was sick enough to warrant an emergency room visit, but I wasn’t about to risk his health…I know Covid can quickly become very bad for seniors.

Anyway, nine months later we get a bill for $125. Because it was so late I called both the hospital and our Medicare advantage plan to question this bill that suddenly appeared after nine months. After two hours on the phone, I was convinced that we owed at least $120 of the bill. I wasn’t willing to devote the time to pursuing the $5.

My peeve is not the bill, it is that it just appeared after nine months. I’m grateful that we have insurance and can afford to pay unexpected bills. I’m also grateful that we have few medical bills for our ages. I think more transparent, efficient medical bills would be an overall cost savings for our country. There are no other bills that I receive where I question, do I owe this or not?

 

[O2Bfree]

^^^ Speaking of medical bills, I just got a fat packet in the mail from Molina. For some reason, they resent me my statements from 2022—two slightly different statements for each billing—with each copy accompanied by three pages of the boilerplate about how to read your statement and how to get information in your language—32 pages in all!

 

[Koolau]

I see them every day, walking along the street, usually young men wearing dark clothing with their hood pulled up and a backpack. Also some driving alone in their cars, and a few at the gym. Yesterday at the gym there was a woman wearing not only a mask but also nitrile gloves while washing her hands.

Heh, heh, one shudders to think how she deals with birth control.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

And in parts of Asia, they were ahead of the curve. 10 to 15 years ago when I was traveling there a lot, I'd often see people on the streets, stores, transport systems, etc wearing a mask. Don't recall that in Europe but it was common place in the Asia/Pacific counties.

I saw that, too, when I was there for business ten years ago. My understanding was that people with colds wore them to avoid getting others sick.

 

[O2Bfree]

Heh, heh, one shudders to think how she deals with birth control.

With that getup, I don't think she has to worry about it.

 

[Aerides]

This is the pet peeve thread, not the "mask" thread - we all know how that goes.

Back to regular gripes, please.

 

[Venturer]

Back to auto parts ...

Noticed that Amazon is back to same day delivery around here for a lot of common items.


Conversely, I recently went to AutoZone for a free OBDIi read. Printed off the results and gave me no pressure. I felt so good about it, I went cruising for a panel puller. The clerk came by and said they have no good selection of that tool, and I'd be better off looking Amazon. LOL!!

I appreciated the experience so much I'll actually go back for my next battery.

As a former 25 year AZ'er and stock holder I thank you for every purchase. I had some great employees as well as some neer do wells,over the years but thankfully more of the former.

 

[Sojourner]

Sitting in the exam room at drs....hearing another patient yapping it up with Dr in the next room over for 15 minutes....

This happened to me recently, and I couldn't believe how easily I could hear exactly what they were discussing. It was mostly about cars and traffic, but I could also hear some very personal medical details. Conversation went on and on and on, lots of joking and casual chit-chat, interspersed with talk about the patient's condition, etc. The most irritating thing about it was that my appointment time was 1:30 and this was happening at 2:15!

 

[Koolau]

This happened to me recently, and I couldn't believe how easily I could hear exactly what they were discussing. It was mostly about cars and traffic, but I could also hear some very personal medical details. Conversation went on and on and on, lots of joking and casual chit-chat, interspersed with talk about the patient's condition, etc. The most irritating thing about it was that my appointment time was 1:30 and this was happening at 2:15!

Ahhhh. So the doc was right on time! My mainland doc was very careful to be certain his patients were put into an exam room within 15 minutes of their appointment time. It might be another hour until he came into the appointment room, but he considered that "on time."

 

[Texas Proud]

We moved to our home 29 years ago, it is on a main road, but over 29 years the traffic has increased considerably. We live equal distance between two stop lights, about a 1/4 mile from each, often during peak times stopped cars are backed up to my house. If it wasn't for my wife's huge garden and fruit trees, it wouldn't take me much of a push to move.
The area I live is convenient, being close to shopping, restaurants, fast food, hardware stores, hospital, fire dept and the beach. If I move, it wouldn't be far.

I have to give some brownie points to my oldest sister... 40 years ago when looking for a house I saw a really nice one on a 4 lane blvd that was close to the dead end of the street... my sister said they did not make that 4 lanes for nothing and eventually it will be connected.... moved on from that one...

 

[Koolau]

Revisiting my pet peeve on bike lanes. Please understand that I'm not anti-bike. I just don't see any safe way to have bikes and cars (and, yes, pedestrians) in conflict with each other. It counts TOO MUCH on people actually following (new) rules AND being able to see each other.

The other day, I had to deliver one final piece of paper to my CPA. On S. King St., they took an entire driving lane out to make a bike lane. They painted it nice and green and put up bumper barriers along the street (with plastic posts) to separate the cars from the bikes. So far, so good. The parking meters closest to the bike lane are still located by the sidewalk where they always were, so to feed the meter, one has to walk across the bike lane.

With that in mind, I had parked next to the bike lane, carefully looked both ways before crossing the bike lane and went to feed the meter. I don't know if if was jammed or full, but it wouldn't accept my coin. Frustrated, (but carefully looking both ways) I went back across the bike lane to the car to inform DW to let the police (or meter maid) know the issue while I ran into the building where my CPA hangs out.

Sure enough, THIS time, on the 3rd trip across the bike lane, I forgot to look both ways as I was 1) Not used to parking this way 2) There is rarely any bike traffic in the bike lane 3) I was frustrated 4) I was in a hurry lest a meter maid had me on her radar. (IOW - a perfect storm.) Sure enough, I stepped into the bike lane and the only biker I saw there in a 15 minute period locked up his brakes to avoid hitting me.

Okay, whose "fault" was it? I looked it up and, guess what, I did something stupid, but the biker is required to stop for pedestrians. So glad I didn't get hit and the biker wasn't hurt either. My takeaway: It's simply not possible to prevent accidents by "rules." Accidents must be engineered out - especially when years and years of experience are turned upside down by a new paradigm. (Example: Even with all the 100-year old technology of marked cross walks and traffic lights, we still kill 10 to 20 pedestrians per year in Honolulu each year.)

In researching my responsibility in this sordid affair, I learned that where bike lanes (such as on S. King) are added, bike fatalities go down, but bike accidents go up. Not sure what that means, but it's food for thought. YMMV

 

[braumeister]

Again today, like so many times before. Postperson scans bar code on package, which sends an automated email to the recipient (me) that it has been delivered to the mailbox.

There is nothing in the mailbox, of course, because the guy just wanted to knock off work early on a Friday. The package will show up eventually, probably Monday or Tuesday.

My peeve is that I can't even report it to the post office until three days have elapsed.

 

[Texas Proud]

Revisiting my pet peeve on bike lanes. Please understand that I'm not anti-bike. I just don't see any safe way to have bikes and cars (and, yes, pedestrians) in conflict with each other. It counts TOO MUCH on people actually following (new) rules AND being able to see each other.

The other day, I had to deliver one final piece of paper to my CPA. On S. King St., they took an entire driving lane out to make a bike lane. They painted it nice and green and put up bumper barriers along the street (with plastic posts) to separate the cars from the bikes. So far, so good. The parking meters closest to the bike lane are still located by the sidewalk where they always were, so to feed the meter, one has to walk across the bike lane.

With that in mind, I had parked next to the bike lane, carefully looked both ways before crossing the bike lane and went to feed the meter. I don't know if if was jammed or full, but it wouldn't accept my coin. Frustrated, (but carefully looking both ways) I went back across the bike lane to the car to inform DW to let the police (or meter maid) know the issue while I ran into the building where my CPA hangs out.

Sure enough, THIS time, on the 3rd trip across the bike lane, I forgot to look both ways as I was 1) Not used to parking this way 2) There is rarely any bike traffic in the bike lane 3) I was frustrated 4) I was in a hurry lest a meter maid had me on her radar. (IOW - a perfect storm.) Sure enough, I stepped into the bike lane and the only biker I saw there in a 15 minute period locked up his brakes to avoid hitting me.

Okay, whose "fault" was it? I looked it up and, guess what, I did something stupid, but the biker is required to stop for pedestrians. So glad I didn't get hit and the biker wasn't hurt either. My takeaway: It's simply not possible to prevent accidents by "rules." Accidents must be engineered out - especially when years and years of experience are turned upside down by a new paradigm. (Example: Even with all the 100-year old technology of marked cross walks and traffic lights, we still kill 10 to 20 pedestrians per year in Honolulu each year.)

In researching my responsibility in this sordid affair, I learned that where bike lanes (such as on S. King) are added, bike fatalities go down, but bike accidents go up. Not sure what that means, but it's food for thought. YMMV

Sounds to me that they should move the meters...



I also think it is bad because a pedestrian can cross anywhere along the path... there are no true crossings that can be enforced...


It is funny because I almost got hit the other day in Downtown Houston... there is a bike lane where they can go both ways on a one way driving street... but where I was there are separate lights for bikes and cars... the light was red for bikes and no cars... it was changing for the cars so I was about to get a white crosswalk signal so started stepping of the curb when a bike went screaming by me at high speed... I yelled at him since he ran a red light by 20 or more seconds...