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

[Chuckanut]

DD and SIL use a clothespin to clip outgoing mail on the inside of their mailbox; did it for years. Then new mailman enters the scene, takes the clothespin, leaves the mail. DD and SIL complain at post office. SIL wires clothes pin to mailbox, still clipping mail inside mailbox. Mailman still steals clothespin, but with more concerted effort, still leaves outgoing mail. DD and SIL complain again to Post Office Management. A couple of Saturdays ago, SIL confronts mailman and asks why he's not doing his job of delivering and taking outgoing mail. Mailman says he can't, not the way he was trained. Frustrated SIL tells him to just do his f-ing job. Now, the mailman doesn't even deliver the mail, he feels threatened! Now, DD and SIL have to go to Post Office to pick up mail, where they complain about lack of mail service every time. PS, their neighbors don't get their outgoing mail picked up either. WTH

Let me get this straight. These people would rather clip their outgoing mail to the inside of of the mailbox with a clothe spin than actually send and receive their mail? Is there something about these clothes pins we don't know? Then one of them hurls profanity at the mailman thinking that will fix the problem. IMO, it's a poor choice of a hill to die on.

 

[Winemaker]

Let me get this straight. These people would rather clip their outgoing mail to the inside of of the mailbox with a clothe spin than actually send and receive their mail? Is there something about these clothes pins we don't know? Then one of them hurls profanity at the mailman thinking that will fix the problem. IMO, it's a poor choice of a hill to die on.

The mailman REFUSED TO PICK UP THE MAIL REGARDLESS and would take the clothespin. Regardless of being loose, clipped to the mail box with a clothes pin,or clipped with an attached clip, which is part of the carriers assigned duties/job description. The mail has been picked up /delivered this way for the past 15 years at their home. What part don't YOU understand?

After being called out on his performance, the snowflake now claims he's threaten by a mailbox, and won't even do his job. The other homeowners/neighbors are having the same problem but didn't complain.

 

[austin944]

I am told the USPS mailboxes are Federal property, even if you bought and installed the box. When I was a paperboy, we were told not to put newspapers in the mailbox. I guess the USPS is within their rights to remove anything they consider illegal/unwanted from the box.

New peeve: why do people walk in the middle of the residential street in my neighborhood, when there is a perfectly good sidewalk next to the street? I see this more often now with COVID, but saw it before COVID as well. Many times there is nobody else around, so it's not like they are social distancing.

 

[Aerides]

New peeve: why do people walk in the middle of the residential street in my neighborhood, when there is a perfectly good sidewalk next to the street? I see this more often now with COVID, but saw it before COVID as well. Many times there is nobody else around, so it's not like they are social distancing.

In my neighborhood that perfectly good sidewalk is often blocked by cars who don't realize it's a great imposition to those with strollers/walkers, etc. Gets so you have to step into the road or grassy swale every 10th house or so.

I walk in the street, but I hug the side and face oncoming traffic. That's how I run too, as sidewalk concrete will beat up your knees far quicker than street asphalt.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

My neighborhood's perfectly walkable sidewalks have such a camber to them that it hurts my hips and low back to walk on them with one hip higher than the other. But they look fine to those driving by.

 

[Winemaker]

I am told the USPS mailboxes are Federal property, even if you bought and installed the box. When I was a paperboy, we were told not to put newspapers in the mailbox. I guess the USPS is within their rights to remove anything they consider illegal/unwanted from the box

You may be correct; but I'm sure they still took the outgoing mail and delivered incoming. They currently refuse to do either of that.

 

[austin944]

You may be correct; but I'm sure they still took the outgoing mail and delivered incoming. They currently refuse to do either of that.

Huh, that's odd. I googled this story, where some publicity from an investigative news team got some results:

https://abc7news.com/society/heres-why-a-mailman-refused-to-deliver-to-sf-family/3121392/

These days I feel lucky that I get any mail at all. Many times I get misdelivered mail or things get never delivered. Wish I could opt out of the mail like Kramer did to Neuman.

 

[razztazz]

A death announcement with no cause of death. Recently a young Jeopardy champ unexpectedly died at age 25. If you think your person is so important that they need a national (on the news) death announcement then please give us the 5 W's. If no then don't announce his/her death at all. In other news something happened somewhere today or was it yesterday?

It's done when people want attention but the cause of death is embarrassing like a drug overdose, a "hold my beer and watch this" type of incident, or a David Carradine thing. He was brave and noble and gawd-a- fearin' or whatever attributes are stated or implied for public consumption, .... but we won't talk about the rest. It's not important anyway.

It drives me crazy because I always think the rest of us might benefit from knowing. Even if it's just a reminder to have the prostate checked or get off thine ahss and schedule that colonoscopy or maybe that persistent runny nose isn't just allergies this time....?

 

[Time2]

Being on hold with Vanguard for the last 1:11:14!
I hope I don't need to update in the morning.

It turned into a 1 hr and 48 minute call, 10 minutes of actual service.
Is Fidelity doing any better with their phone help?

 

[W2R]

You may be correct; but I'm sure they still took the outgoing mail and delivered incoming. They currently refuse to do either of that.

After Katrina, it took months for streets and sidewalks to be restored in the areas that flooded. But when they were, the mail service did not resume right away in those areas (even our unflooded area with very little damage did not get mail delivery resumed for 3+ months). When people complained, the USPS announced that they were not going to ever restore the previous door-to-door mail delivery for single family homes, but instead they were going to force those affected to pick up their mail at a communal mailbox a block or two away (like what many large apartment complexes have). People had been through so much, and for many this was the last straw. They raised the roof and when it became a national news story, the USPS magically changed their tune and restored mail service to what it had been. Because of all this, honestly I think the USPS is constantly looking for an excuse/reason to discontinue door to door service because it is so labor intensive.

As for outgoing mail, I have a mail slot so the clothespin method just isn't feasible. We drive by a post office every day on our way to lunch, though, so I drop my outgoing mail into the drive through mailboxes at that location.

 

[Chuckanut]

The mailman REFUSED TO PICK UP THE MAIL REGARDLESS and would take the clothespin. Regardless of being loose, clipped to the mail box with a clothes pin,or clipped with an attached clip, which is part of the carriers assigned duties/job description. The mail has been picked up /delivered this way for the past 15 years at their home. What part don't YOU understand?

After being called out on his performance, the snowflake now claims he's threaten by a mailbox, and won't even do his job. The other homeowners/neighbors are having the same problem but didn't complain.

Ah..... I see. That is weird behavior on the part of a postal carrier. I must be suffering from cabin fever and got hung up on the clothes pin thing. My understanding is the the USPS is supposed to make every reasonable effort to deliver the mail to the right person. They aren't doing that doing your relative's case.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

We had a housemounted small mailbox on a military base. We all clipped outgoing mail to the outside of it so the mailman could see we had outgoing (covered porch). I would even leave notes like "usps please take this package (arrow)" carrier and substitutrd totally comprehended this system

 

[CardsFan]

Precipitation predictions on Weather apps

6%, 17%, 32%. 84%. Really? It is a guess to start with!

We could get into a discussion on significant figures, but I would be happy if they just used a rounding calc to the closest 5% or 10%

 

[jollystomper]

A death announcement with no cause of death. Recently a young Jeopardy champ unexpectedly died at age 25. If you think your person is so important that they need a national (on the news) death announcement then please give us the 5 W's. If no then don't announce his/her death at all. In other news something happened somewhere today or was it yesterday?

It's done when people want attention but the cause of death is embarrassing like a drug overdose, a "hold my beer and watch this" type of incident, or a David Carradine thing. He was brave and noble and gawd-a- fearin' or whatever attributes are stated or implied for public consumption, .... but we won't talk about the rest. It's not important anyway.

It drives me crazy because I always think the rest of us might benefit from knowing. Even if it's just a reminder to have the prostate checked or get off thine ahss and schedule that colonoscopy or maybe that persistent runny nose isn't just allergies this time....?

Sometimes the cause of death may not be known for weeks, if it is not obvious at the time and furthers toxicology tests are needed.

I also believe that, no matter how important one is, if a family wants to keep the cause of death private, that should be their prerogative. There is little benefit from others knowing other than the gawking factor.

 

[Texas Proud]

I suppose this would annoy me too, but to put it in context, postal services in most other countries don’t pick up outgoing mail. This was a very surprising service to me when I moved here (many, many years ago). That said, it is what one has come to expect - not sure it is an official service offered by the postal service though, or just something they have been doing out of kindness. It probably does add some extra work (and maybe liability), so as they get squeezed more and more, they may be looking to cut services.
Personally, I have never trusted the system enough to leave important mail pieces in the mailbox. Especially when you set the flag, it sort of advertises potential loot to anyone out to steal your stuff. Used to be a bigger issue back when I routinely mailed checks for payments. I always mailed those by dropping them off at work or in a blue box.

Get this.... my sister lived in a slightly rural area south of Austin years ago... if you needed to mail a letter and did not have stamps you just left the letter in the mailbox with the correct amount of money on it and the mailman would put the stamps on for you and take it...

 

[Texas Proud]

In my neighborhood that perfectly good sidewalk is often blocked by cars who don't realize it's a great imposition to those with strollers/walkers, etc. Gets so you have to step into the road or grassy swale every 10th house or so.

I walk in the street, but I hug the side and face oncoming traffic. That's how I run too, as sidewalk concrete will beat up your knees far quicker than street asphalt.

Around here there are no sidewalks... but in the city blocking the sidewalk with a car is illegal... call the police and they will come out and ticket all cars...


After a few times they will stop as this is a legal matter and they cannot just ignore it...

 

[aja8888]

Our mail delivery service around here is "third world status". I guess that's to be expected these days. I have done all I could to eliminate the need for mailed bills, etc and try to do all payments, etc on the computer.

 

[Venturer]

Get this.... my sister lived in a slightly rural area south of Austin years ago... if you needed to mail a letter and did not have stamps you just left the letter in the mailbox with the correct amount of money on it and the mailman would put the stamps on for you and take it...

We have done the same thing for years. My DW would also at times leave a $5.00 in the box with note need stamps. Our mail-lady would leave a book of stamps along with the change in the box. This was back when a stamp was 25 or 30 cents ea. & a book was 10 stamps. FF to around 9 years ago when we moved to current location. DW left a $10. in box with note for stamps please. Mailman left note with stamps in sealed envelope that he was doing this today but could not do it again as it was against the rules. DW left him a note next day thanking him and told him she didn't know it was against rules. DW always used to leave a small container of cookies for the previous mail lady when she baked some so she ask our current one if that was against the rules here too. He said thanks but no thanks he is diabetic. So now his Christmas gift is a gift card to Lowes,Kroger, or Home Depot , no homemade cookies!

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I've had all bills on autopay for years but Anthem is my problem child peeve today. Schwab used to automagically send a payment via ACH transfer each month and all was well. Then a couple of years ago it mysteriously stopped showing as ACH and instead became a mailed paper check, automatically sent by the bank. Problem was, Anthem would sit on the check for well over a week until it cleared and I became antsy they would start calling it "late." So now I pay via the Anthem web site but I have to remember to go in once a month and initiate the payment. A recent newsletter told me I could set up autodraft but I couldn't find the link (they only said to go to anthem.com - very unhelpful) so I submitted a help request. Two weeks later the response came back that I had to fill out a paper form and mail it in. Given their history, I figure it would take another heroic act to get them to ever change or stop that in the future, so no thanks.

Another Anthem peeve is their paperless billing. If you opt for that all you get on the website is the amount due, and later "paid in full." No itemization. I have another peeve I won't go into but suffice to say I demand more detail to verify they're billing me correctly. I can get that but only if I opt for snail-mail billing.

 

[ERObjd]

The weavers who bob and weave in and out of traffic lanes constantly like they are in a NASCAR race and 99.99% of the time they gain maybe 1 car length at best and end up stopped at the next light like everyone else. Other than putting other drivers at risk they accomplish nothing. Often instant Karma when they end up in a lane right behind a semi at the light.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

It's done when people want attention but the cause of death is embarrassing like a drug overdose, a "hold my beer and watch this" type of incident, or a David Carradine thing.

This. Every single person I have known (or DW has known) that died under the age of 40 and there was no clue about the death (whether obit, FB, or otherwise) it's been an OD or suicide. I can think of 8x off the top of my head.

Sometimes the cause of death may not be known for weeks, if it is not obvious at the time and furthers toxicology tests are needed.

I also believe that, no matter how important one is, if a family wants to keep the cause of death private, that should be their prerogative. There is little benefit from others knowing other than the gawking factor.

Also true. One of the things that bothers me is where I live, if your house is deeded as a joint tenancy with right to survivorship, when you file the deed to remove the deceased, you also have to file a death certificate...which has all the details (well, at least what killed them). Same thing where we lived in Georgia. When my Mom died, my Dad had to also file the death certificate and it's a good thing she was dead because she was the most private person I have ever known and that the fact her cause of death is out there for all to see...oye. Oh, and I have always been a little bothered with the "occupation" field on the death cert. Kinda sad that your entire life (and death) revolves around an occupation. I understand it's for stats/etc but it still bugs me.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

My pet peeve with TD Ameritrade continues. They are still quoting hold times of an hour and a half. Ugh.

 

[euro]

My pet peeve with TD Ameritrade continues. They are still quoting hold times of an hour and a half. Ugh.

.... but your call is very important to them!

 

[Time2]

My pet peeve with TD Ameritrade continues. They are still quoting hold times of an hour and a half. Ugh.

You will have another peeve if you ever try to close your account and they charge you $99. I sure did!

 

[stepford]

This. Every single person I have known (or DW has known) that died under the age of 40 and there was no clue about the death (whether obit, FB, or otherwise) it's been an OD or suicide. I can think of 8x off the top of my head.

Interesting (albeit macabre) fodder for a separate thread here. The folks I knew who died young almost invariably died in accidents (car, motorcycle, aircraft, climbing), but these were usually reported. Of the ones that were kept quiet there were 2 suicides and 3-4 AIDS deaths (this being the '80s and early '90s when there was unfortunately still a significant stigma).