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

[Chuckanut]

Life would be so much simpler if every 4th Monday was just a holiday, for no particular reason. We'd get 13 long weekends a year (14 once every 7 years) and wouldn't have to remember when they are. I wouldn't name them after any particular person or event, so no one is offended or left out.

That sounds rather dull. I like celebrating Christmas which is part of the culture I am grew up in. And I like celebrating Lunar New Year which my Asian friends enjoy. IMO, diversity is at its best when it’s shared.

 

[aja8888]

My pet peeve of the day? Why do we even have to DO taxes? The government knows what THEY think we should pay. They aren't going to change their minds (trust me, it just won't happen).

So why don't they just tell us, collect the money, and be done with it. Why do we also have to spend our time and effort (not to mention even more money for turbo-tax or a CPA for some of us) in order to exactly duplicate their computations?

If I weren't such a sweet natured person, I'd scream shrilly at the top of my lungs that it's all a total sham, designed to enrich those who are making money off the tax preparation industry, and take precious hours from everyone's lives every single year just because they can.

Think of all the jobs the complicated tax system created.

 

[Texas Proud]

Life would be so much simpler if every 4th Monday was just a holiday, for no particular reason. We'd get 13 long weekends a year (14 once every 7 years) and wouldn't have to remember when they are. I wouldn't name them after any particular person or event, so no one is offended or left out.

Must be thinking about the UK... I was surprised when working there when I was told a holiday was coming up... so I asked 'what is the holiday?'... I was told "Bank Holiday"... REALLY?



I would think there would be enough history to come up with an actual event to celebrate.....


LOL, reminds me of a calendar my wife had a few years back... it had a holiday listed for every day of the year... some were from other countries but still...

 

[Aerides]

I was told "Bank Holiday"... REALLY?
I would think there would be enough history to come up with an actual event to celebrate.....

Most of them are actual events, but just all referred to commonly as Bank Holidays. It's kinda like calling all of them federal holidays - but any that mean business is closed on a monday get called bank holidays.

 

[ERD50]

My pet peeve of the day? Why do we even have to DO taxes? The government knows what THEY think we should pay. They aren't going to change their minds (trust me, it just won't happen).

So why don't they just tell us, collect the money, and be done with it. Why do we also have to spend our time and effort (not to mention even more money for turbo-tax or a CPA for some of us) in order to exactly duplicate their computations?

If I weren't such a sweet natured person, I'd scream shrilly at the top of my lungs that it's all a total sham, designed to enrich those who are making money off the tax preparation industry, and take precious hours from everyone's lives every single year just because they can.

Yes, and especially for the many (probably majority) that have their taxes based on the same documents that the government receives copies of. And if I enter a number from one of those forms wrong, they will let me know.

So why don't they just do it themselves, and have me sign off to accept it?

It is a lot more than just Intuit.

The fundamental problem is politician's use of the tax code to control behavior and reward favored constituencies. This makes an extremely complex tax code inevitable. Getting the tax code back to the sole purpose of raising revenue is the solution, but that diminishes Washington's control so is unlikely to happen.

True, but as I said above - if your taxes are a product of the forms the government has copies of (W-2s, 10999s, etc), their computers should match my calculations. It's more involved if you itemize deductions, but with the current limits that must be a pretty low number? And the govt could still just do the math, and you decline their number and submit your itemized deductions. But everything else should match.


Their computers are already doing it, so they can catch us if we are wrong - so just do it and ask me to sign off!


edit/add: According to AARP, only ~ 10% itemize:
https://www.aarp.org/money/taxes/info-2023/above-the-line-deductions.html

-ERD50

 

[Andre1969]

"Presidents day" is not a thing (at least not officially). It is "Washington’s Birthday" (observed).

https://www.commerce.gov/hr/employees/leave/holidays

Washington’s Birthday 3rd Monday in February

-ERD50

That got me thinking...once upon a time, weren't both Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays federal holidays that were celebrated, on the actual day? Or, is that just a false memory in my fading mind? For some reason, as a kid, I seem to recall we got them both off. But again, that could just be a false memory.

I looked it up on Wikipedia, which said Lincoln's birthday was never celebrated on the federal level, but some states did. And apparently, Presidents Day was a thing starting in 1968, before I was born. But, as a kid I do remember it being called "Washington's Birthday."

 

[Dreamer]

My pet peeve of the day? Why do we even have to DO taxes? The government knows what THEY think we should pay. They aren't going to change their minds (trust me, it just won't happen).

So why don't they just tell us, collect the money, and be done with it. Why do we also have to spend our time and effort (not to mention even more money for turbo-tax or a CPA for some of us) in order to exactly duplicate their computations?

If I weren't such a sweet natured person, I'd scream shrilly at the top of my lungs that it's all a total sham, designed to enrich those who are making money off the tax preparation industry, and take precious hours from everyone's lives every single year just because they can.

+10,000. It is ridiculous for the majority of us, since they already know from the forms that they receive.

 

[Texas Proud]

Most of them are actual events, but just all referred to commonly as Bank Holidays. It's kinda like calling all of them federal holidays - but any that mean business is closed on a monday get called bank holidays.

No, no.... I tried to find out if it were a real holiday and could find nothing... nobody knew anything about a holiday and nothing on TV..


SOOO, decided to look it up now... and it says 'bank holiday'... really!!







https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays

 

[pacergal]

That got me thinking...once upon a time, weren't both Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays federal holidays that were celebrated, on the actual day? Or, is that just a false memory in my fading mind? For some reason, as a kid, I seem to recall we got them both off. But again, that could just be a false memory.

I looked it up on Wikipedia, which said Lincoln's birthday was never celebrated on the federal level, but some states did. And apparently, Presidents Day was a thing starting in 1968, before I was born. But, as a kid I do remember it being called "Washington's Birthday."

You remember correctly. When I was in grade school, we had both Presidents birthdays off on the actual date.
Plus there was a Valentines Day party at school, February was a fun month!

 

[ls99]

Got mail with big letters "REGISTRATION".
For fun of it opened envelope. Some sleazbag outfit called Vehicle Services Div. claims my late wife's 2012 CTS4's coverage expired.

Welll....... She has been dead for many years, the car's year is incorrect and they want $199.00. I sold that car a few years ago.
They have a long wait. She is unable to respond.


On the upside, the mailer's back side is blank, will use it to print printer test page when needed. And the envelope goes in the bin for fire starter papers. Then the page itself will go in the burn bin.

 

[Winemaker]

Got mail with big letters "REGISTRATION".
For fun of it opened envelope. Some sleazbag outfit called Vehicle Services Div. claims my late wife's 2012 CTS4's coverage expired.

Welll....... She has been dead for many years, the car's year is incorrect and they want $199.00. I sold that car a few years ago.
They have a long wait. She is unable to respond.


On the upside, the mailer's back side is blank, will use it to print printer test page when needed. And the envelope goes in the bin for fire starter papers. Then the page itself will go in the burn bin.

I send the junk back to them without my name and address back to them if they have a paid postage envelope enclosed.

 

[ls99]

I send the junk back to them without my name and address back to them if they have a paid postage envelope enclosed.

No return envelope with prepaid postage. Else they would have received a brick.

 

[athena53]

Two pet peeves from the same incident.

I realized I'd keyed in an amount $2,000 too low for my Fidelity credit card in my bank's Bill Pay- and of course it had to be this month when I charged the $23K balance on work done on my bathroom. Time was getting short so last Sunday I got online and set up a $2,000 payment from my Fidelity checking account to Elan Financial Services (done from the Elan site). I'd assumed it would be instantaneous. No- all day Sunday it still showed up as Pending on the Elan site. I chatted on-line with a rep on Monday- these transactions aren't processed on the weekends. It would go through Monday and I'd see it on Tuesday. They were right- but why does the computer take Sunday off? It makes no sense in the 21st century- it's not like they had to pay some clerical person time-and-a-half to write up a payment order.

Then they sent me one of those satisfaction surveys with one question- that then takes you to a page of 10 questions with a range of multiple choices.

Nope. I'll answer one question but not 10.

 

[TrvlBug]

Work-at-home customer service. The connection is usually crappy. However, today took the cake. We have a brand new BTD solar + battery system that is already having problems...we're on the second one. We called today because instead of one panel DOA, we now have 5 panels DOA. We could not get a tech out until end of next month and we wanted one sooner before the entire system crapped out. Anyway, to make a long story short, her 2 kids played the entire time and LOUDLY. Mommy did not once tell them to be quieter. What should have been a short call took forever as I was constantly asking her to repeat herself. Arghhhh.....

 

[aja8888]

Why TV manufacturers don't make their remote control with a Mute button that glows in low light? I keep hitting the wrong button when trying to mute commercials.

 

[Dreamer]

Why TV manufacturers don't make their remote control with a Mute button that glows in low light? I keep hitting the wrong button when trying to mute commercials.

That would be fantastic, because I sometimes hit the wrong button also.

 

[aja8888]

That would be fantastic, because I sometimes hit the wrong button also.

I'm going to look into finding paint that will do this.

 

[ls99]

Why TV manufacturers don't make their remote control with a Mute button that glows in low light? I keep hitting the wrong button when trying to mute commercials.

Superglue a pencil eraser on the button. It will be the tallest, easy to find by feel.
No charge.

 

[aja8888]

Superglue a pencil eraser on the button. It will be the tallest, easy to find by feel.
No charge.

Good idea! I have both!

 

[Aerides]

No, no.... I tried to find out if it were a real holiday and could find nothing... nobody knew anything about a holiday and nothing on TV..

SOOO, decided to look it up now... and it says 'bank holiday'... really!!
https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays

That might be the case today, and I'm sure most people living there under 50 or so don't know or care. But they were all rooted in something originally. For instance, the early May one was May Day (what, you've never danced around a Maypole?) And the late May was Whitsun, but that's probably changed as the UK is more secular now. At least, I remember those two from growing up there decades ago.

 

[aja8888]

fix

 

[Koolau]

Two pet peeves from the same incident.

I realized I'd keyed in an amount $2,000 too low for my Fidelity credit card in my bank's Bill Pay- and of course it had to be this month when I charged the $23K balance on work done on my bathroom. Time was getting short so last Sunday I got online and set up a $2,000 payment from my Fidelity checking account to Elan Financial Services (done from the Elan site). I'd assumed it would be instantaneous. No- all day Sunday it still showed up as Pending on the Elan site. I chatted on-line with a rep on Monday- these transactions aren't processed on the weekends. It would go through Monday and I'd see it on Tuesday. They were right- but why does the computer take Sunday off? It makes no sense in the 21st century- it's not like they had to pay some clerical person time-and-a-half to write up a payment order.

Then they sent me one of those satisfaction surveys with one question- that then takes you to a page of 10 questions with a range of multiple choices.

Nope. I'll answer one question but not 10.

10 questions gives you 9 more chances to tell them how badly you think they are doing. Of course, I doubt they actually care, but I suppose it impresses customers that they "ask" what you think.

 

[Koolau]

Why TV manufacturers don't make their remote control with a Mute button that glows in low light? I keep hitting the wrong button when trying to mute commercials.

Thank goodness Thomas Edison invented the light bulb or we'd be watching TV by candle light.

Seriously, our "clickers" (remotes that come with our cable service) last about a month. We have been able to score a total of 4 of them over the years and every quarter or so, we return 3 to the cable company and replace them with 3 new ones. The only good news: They come with their own AA batteries which means we never have to buy batteries for the lousy remotes.

Oh, and our clickers do light up whenever we touch any button (or even pick them up.) Muting in the dark is a breeze. I guess we take our little victories where we can find them when it comes to technology.

 

[folivier]

While we're talking about lit buttons my house looks like a Star Trek studio with all of the darn leds lit up. Red light here, blue light there, green one somewhere, yellow just because. And some of them flash! I like to sleep in the dark thank you. My office door is usually closed at night because of all of the led lights.
At least my wireless chargers led goes off after a few seconds.

 

[aja8888]

Thank goodness Thomas Edison invented the light bulb or we'd be watching TV by candle light.

Seriously, our "clickers" (remotes that come with our cable service) last about a month. We have been able to score a total of 4 of them over the years and every quarter or so, we return 3 to the cable company and replace them with 3 new ones. The only good news: They come with their own AA batteries which means we never have to buy batteries for the lousy remotes.

Oh, and our clickers do light up whenever we touch any button (or even pick them up.) Muting in the dark is a breeze. I guess we take our little victories where we can find them when it comes to technology.

I have no expensive "cable service", just a TV with internet streaming.
TV remotes are typically unlit