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

[Gumby]

I don't care if they turn around in my driveway, many people do. Because just as you get to my driveway, it looks as if the street is diving into the harbor. There is actually a steep hill and a sharp turn right next to the water, but if you haven't driven the road before, it looks like a dead end, so many people use my driveway to turn around.

 

[Aerides]

Same as them delivering to USPS boxes which is against the law...but they do it quite often around these parts.

Ok that bothers me, because the delivery info from amazon doesn't have an option for "in the mailbox" - because it's not legal, also then no photo of the delivery. So they pick something else... the first time this happened they picked "in a safe place".. I was Um where might THAT be? Never expected they would have put it in the mailbox.

The layout of our lot and house shape has confused amazon drivers more than once, and they go around the side of the house and don't see the front doorway/porch. They end up in the back yard, by the cabana bathroom door. I mean I know once they get there they must realize This Ain't It but they are on such a crazy clocking schedule.

 

[Octogirl]

my pet peeve of the day - Advise I did not ask for !
People who feel the need to advise me on something for which I have more experience and knowledge. UGH.

 

[braumeister]

The layout of our lot and house shape has confused amazon drivers more than once, and they go around the side of the house and don't see the front doorway/porch. They end up in the back yard, by the cabana bathroom door.

Common enough. We sometimes have packages left in front of the garage door, and DW ran over one once. Get in car, open garage door, package is below her line of vision, crunch.
It wouldn't happen to me because I drive straight into the garage, but she backs in so there's no front bumper camera to let her know.

The destroyed item was very low value so I just ordered another one, but I wonder what they would have said if I had made a claim.

 

[Philliefan33]

my pet peeve of the day - Advise I did not ask for !
People who feel the need to advise me on something for which I have more experience and knowledge. UGH.

If you are a woman and a man insists on enlightening you, it’s called “mansplaining”. I tend to get sarcastic when it happens to me.

 

[Chuckanut]

If you are a woman and a man insists on enlightening you, it’s called “mansplaining”. I tend to get sarcastic when it happens to me.

Never complain. Never explain. I was told that by a very notable woman.

 

[pacergal]

Why do Amazon delivery drivers think it's ok to use someone's driveway to turn around. Not the person who they delivered to just some random driveway. It's especially bad when it's snow covered. It is far more difficult to shovel snow when it is packed down by a large vehicle. They should stay off other people's property unless they are the ones who ordered a package. Do a Y turn or go around the block.

YES! for some reason, everyone used our driveway turn around. USPS, FedEx, UPS, any car driver. Not sure why, other than we are in the middle of the length of the street. They would not just use the front part of the drive to turn, they would come all the way down towards the garage and back up!
DH finally got a bright orange cone and put it about one foot inside. That has stopped pretty much everyone, I think they think we just had the cement poured

 

[REWahoo]

YES! for some reason, everyone used our driveway turn around. USPS, FedEx, UPS, any car driver. Not sure why, other than we are in the middle of the length of the street. They would not just use the front part of the drive to turn, they would come all the way down towards the garage and back up!
DH finally got a bright orange cone and put it about one foot inside. That has stopped pretty much everyone, I think they think we just had the cement poured

Nice solution, very civilized.

Far better than my experience one evening many years ago when I, along with my wife and young daughter, pulled into a residential driveway in an unfamiliar neighborhood to turn around. Traffic prevented me from backing out immediately, giving the homeowner time to run out his front door waving a pistol, and shove it into my face while he screamed obscenities.

He got the desired result. Never turned around in his driveway again.

 

[Marita40]

I seem to have a fair number of pet peeves lately. Here's today's. 8 days ago I received a big package. I opened it before realizing it wasn't for me, but did have my address on it. Never heard of the person's name to whom it was sent, and sleuthing on the internet couldn't locate the person. Inside the package are several nicely wrapped gifts from a toy store in another city. I called the store three times so far, wanting them to take responsibility and get the gift to its rightful owner, and still have received no response from them. I know I've done more than my duty, but if I sent this gift to a child and the store refused to get it to its rightful owner, I'd be livid. I have no idea what's going on with this store. As mentioned, it is in another city and I never heard of it before.

 

[RunningBum]

I seem to have a fair number of pet peeves lately. Here's today's. 8 days ago I received a big package. I opened it before realizing it wasn't for me, but did have my address on it. Never heard of the person's name to whom it was sent, and sleuthing on the internet couldn't locate the person. Inside the package are several nicely wrapped gifts from a toy store in another city. I called the store three times so far, wanting them to take responsibility and get the gift to its rightful owner, and still have received no response from them. I know I've done more than my duty, but if I sent this gift to a child and the store refused to get it to its rightful owner, I'd be livid. I have no idea what's going on with this store. As mentioned, it is in another city and I never heard of it before.

Most likely it's a scam of some kind. At Amazon this apparently is done a lot so that they can go on to review the product (5*, of course) with a "confirmed purchase".

Another possibility is that the buyer is using a stolen credit card, and hoped to get to the package on your porch before you did.

If I had sent this gift to a child I'd be livid, at myself, for not using the correct address. This is probably low priority for the store to fix, especially if they are understaffed. Maybe they are still investigating. Or maybe they don't want to pay return postage for something that is likely an intentional error.

 

[braumeister]

I have often read that anything delivered to you without you having ordered it is legally yours to do with what you like. So don't worry about it.

 

[Marita40]

Yes, at this point I do consider it mine. Due diligence is done. Now to find a toddler for the gifts...

 

[Aerides]

I seem to have a fair number of pet peeves lately. Here's today's. 8 days ago I received a big package. I opened it before realizing it wasn't for me, but did have my address on it. Never heard of the person's name to whom it was sent, and sleuthing on the internet couldn't locate the person. Inside the package are several nicely wrapped gifts from a toy store in another city. I called the store three times so far, wanting them to take responsibility and get the gift to its rightful owner, and still have received no response from them. I know I've done more than my duty, but if I sent this gift to a child and the store refused to get it to its rightful owner, I'd be livid. I have no idea what's going on with this store. As mentioned, it is in another city and I never heard of it before.

The store is going to have to wind up issuing you a return label. They can't tell you the intended name/address...or shouldn't, and should not burden you with doing anything other than sending it back to them on their dime, ideally with a UPS pick up or something. If it is the store's mistake, they might also just leave everything with you and resend the order to the right place, tell you to do whatever, donate, etc.

It's more likely than not that the buyer gave them this incorrect info, and thereby not the store's responsibility. As far as the transaction, you might well be the "rightful owner" per the buyer's request if the address is yours and the store didn't dream it up.

People get stuff wrong all the time. People enter the wrong zip, forget the apt#, or the entire town name, of their own home! And the wrong zip alone can mean a whole different town.

 

[Gumby]

There is another street name in our town that is quite similar to ours - say "Maple Street" and "Maple Point Avenue" -- and we sometimes get befuddled delivery drivers trying to find a house number that doesn't exist on our street. The house numbers are in order but not sequential anywhere in town, so mine might be #47 and the next door neighbor's is #59 and the guy after him is #65. And the driver is looking for #53, which may very well exist on the other street, but not here.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

There is another street name in our town that is quite similar to ours - say "Maple Street" and "Maple Point Avenue" -- and we sometimes get befuddled delivery drivers trying to find a house number that doesn't exist on our street. The house numbers are in order but not sequential anywhere in town, so mine might be #47 and the next door neighbor's is #59 and the guy after him is #65. And the driver is looking for #53, which may very well exist on the other street, but not here.

I don't understand USPS numbering. I have tried to figure it out, but cannot get a definitive answer/source. We live on a cul-de-sac and as you enter and go around (entering from the south and going in a counter-clock wise pattern) they are numbered as:

800
720
620
621
701
721

And don't get me started on the numbered streets (as in SW 50th). In our city, very often these numbered streets aren't connected in any way, shape, or form. You CANNOT "stay" on SW 50th for the entire length and sometimes, you have to drive a mile or more to "continue" on the road. As an example, the closest numbered street to us are also used by 11 additional unrelated and unconnected roads. You can only figure out which one by knowing the block numbers. I am glad I am not a delivery person or emergency responder.

 

[braumeister]

I've always enjoyed London, where a street name can change continuously from block to block, or even in the middle of a block. That's why they say that, for example, Sherlock Holmes lived "in" Baker Street, not "on" it as we would say.

 

[Marita40]

Ok, more (un)due diligence cause this stuff unnecessarily irks me. I called a 4th time, a different store in the same chain, and finally got a person to act. She did say that although no one bothered to get back to me after 9 days and 3 phone calls, they had been attempting to call the sender to get the correct address and he/she has never returned their call. So I finally got sent a return label and pick up scheduled. Saga ended, almost. On to the next pet peeve....

 

[travelover]

There is another street name in our town that is quite similar to ours - say "Maple Street" and "Maple Point Avenue" -- and we sometimes get befuddled delivery drivers trying to find a house number that doesn't exist on our street.........

I used to live on a street named "Alice". The street continued and was called "South Alice". The house numbers repeated on South Alice, so there was a house #314 on both Alice and South Alice, for example. Endless confusion.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I used to live on a street named "Alice". The street continued and was called "South Alice". The house numbers repeated on South Alice, so there a house #314 on both Alice and South Alice, for example. Endless confusion.

Try living in the Atlanta metroplex where I've lost count of the number of Peachtrees. Near my old neighborhood there was a North Peachtree Road and a Peachtree Road North. That was back when the mapmakers insisted on putting the cardinal direction after the name of the street, so the map showed North Peachtree Road as "Peachtree Rd. N." Or so I recall, I may have gotten that confused.

And I'm not sure why turning around in a driveway is such a big deal to some people, like the guy with the gun. I can see where large trucks would tear up a residential driveway over time, though.

 

[braumeister]

Other favorites of mine are Salt Lake City or Provo, Utah.
You might be directed to the corner of S 900 E and 1300 S.

Very disconcerting on first visit, but once you catch on to the system it's easy to see exactly where you are on the grid.

 

[RunningBum]

And I'm not sure why turning around in a driveway is such a big deal to some people, like the guy with the gun. I can see where large trucks would tear up a residential driveway over time, though.

I have an unpaved driveway, slightly downhill slope. It's a little bit soft, so if it's been raining, or it's a big truck pulling in, they are likely to leave some tire ruts in it. And some people spins their tires a bit in it, which makes the ruts deeper. So I have to go out and smooth the ruts back out before it rains again and they get worse.

I don't complain at all when a delivery or service truck calling on me uses the driveway even if they tear it up a bit, but I don't want other cars and trucks adding to it. My road isn't busy at all, but my driveway is one of the least steep and also wider than most so it's very inviting for them to use. I have narrowed it some so it doesn't look so good.

I considered paving it, but my lot slopes steeper after the garage (which sits in front) so I'd rather have as much land as possible able to absorb water rather than rush faster toward the house. I don't want to trade one problem for another.

Aside from that, it's always been distracting, paved drive or not, to hear a car pull into my driveway and go look to see who it is, and find that it's not anyone for me. Especially at night if headlights flash into my windows.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Try living in the Atlanta metroplex where I've lost count of the number of Peachtrees. Near my old neighborhood there was a North Peachtree Road and a Peachtree Road North. That was back when the mapmakers insisted on putting the cardinal direction after the name of the street, so the map showed North Peachtree Road as "Peachtree Rd. N." Or so I recall, I may have gotten that confused.

And don't forget the directionals that throw off people who don't understand. Peachtree NE, Peachtree SE, etc. Most of the ATL uses this scheme and is centered from the county seat. The history of the naming of streets there is pretty fascinating. Here is a document that is an interesting read...for those that might find this stuff interesting.

 

[Gumby]

I don't understand USPS numbering. I have tried to figure it out, but cannot get a definitive answer/source. We live on a cul-de-sac and as you enter and go around (entering from the south and going in a counter-clock wise pattern) they are numbered as:

800
720
620
621
701
721

And don't get me started on the numbered streets (as in SW 50th). In our city, very often these numbered streets aren't connected in any way, shape, or form. You CANNOT "stay" on SW 50th for the entire length and sometimes, you have to drive a mile or more to "continue" on the road. As an example, the closest numbered street to us are also used by 11 additional unrelated and unconnected roads. You can only figure out which one by knowing the block numbers. I am glad I am not a delivery person or emergency responder.

My understanding is that the numbers are keyed to places where a front door theoretically "could be". So, for example, if I am 47 and my neighbor is 59, that means that there theoretically could be 5 other doors between us (49, 51, 53, 55 and 57), but there are not because we have property in the way. Therefore, where the houses are spread apart, the numbers increase a greater amount from one house to the next. Where the houses are close together, the numbers increase by a smaller amount (although always in increasing odd number on one side of the street, even on the other). I have heard that Napoleon invented the scheme, but I do not know for certain.

 

[USGrant1962]

And don't forget the directionals that throw off people who don't understand. Peachtree NE, Peachtree SE, etc. Most of the ATL uses this scheme and is centered from the county seat. The history of the naming of streets there is pretty fascinating. Here is a document that is an interesting read...for those that might find this stuff interesting.

Yup. I learned about all the Atlanta "peaches" when DS2 attended GATech. DC has the same directional thing - four quadrants with same/similar street names and addresses. SE, SW, NE, NW.

 

[folivier]

In my DW's tiny hometown her childhood home the physical address and Post Office address are in different towns. So for mail you address her street number and the nearby town. For physical deliveries, UPS, etc. you need to use the actual town. Confusing? Yep! And to make matters more confusing there is a Post Office 2 streets over from the house. Try to make Amazon or others understand that.