The Grumpy Old Git thread.

[worms]

The "baristas" in Starbucks (etc) who always ask if you want space for milk, when you order a black coffee.

 

[Flyfisher]

Even back in the 1990's pump hoses were long enough to reach across almost any car

I've lost track of the number of times I've driven past two or three cars waiting to use one side of a pump when the other side is empty. I just drive in, pull the hose to the outside of the car and fill up as normal - often while getting dirty looks from those waiting to use the other side. Very strange.

 

[Flyfisher]

Shareholder parasites

Not sure I understand how being a shareholder equates to parasites, or am I the only one with a pension plan?

 

[JohnB]

Even back in the 1990's pump hoses were long enough to reach across almost any car

My last car was an Escort Estate. Although the hose would normally just reach across, for some reason if the nozzle wasn't put in straight the trip thingy in the pump that stops petrol flowing would quite often keep cutting off the fuel!

Now I've got a van, the filler is at the front, so I have to stop with the back blocking the pump behind, when the car driver wanting to use that one has to pull forward to get to his filler at the back! If I go to the right side of the pump I can at least pull forward a bit. It was even better when I was travelling and was towing a trailer, as I could block all the pumps . I get black looks from car drivers when I can't get out because the driver of the car in front is shopping, visiting the loo, doing their makeup etc, and there's a gap wide enough to squeeze past in a car, but not for me.

 

[robgil]

has this been mentioned before? those a**h**** who wait at the mouth of the entrance in a petrol station waiting for a free pump , expecting everyone behind to cueue behind them on the road.
i do like the look on their faces when i drive past them (however tight it may look between them and the bollards etc :shock: ) and pull up behind a car at the pumps, especially if its the next one to move.

 

[mollymoo]

Parents who converge at the primary school gates, blocking them completely, so the poor little kiddies have to try and squeeze past them to get to the more thoughtful parents who stand on the farthest side of the pavement, saying that, parents with the buggies are the worst offenders.

 

[philpjuk100]

Relating to property;



Shareholder parasites

/quote]

? john lewis employees,and soon postmen!

 

[Jill]

Right then, here goes.

The guy who served me in Costa at Doncaster Lakeside on Saturday - don't worry, a letter is on the way to your manager as I type.

When you are in a petrol staion at the second pump, (as the first car has already departed) and a d******d pulls in front of you and reverses so that they can fill up - why can't they wait behind you until you have finished. Instead you have to wait as they have parked so badly that you can't pull round them.

Using the "Pay at Pump" in a petrol station, and still having to go in to the kiosk as no receipt is given.

Being asked in Aldi if you are going to pay by cash or card when half of your shopping is still on the conveyor. What does it matter!!

People who stand so close to you when you are paying for your shopping, and won't wait whilst you are putting your receipts away, and your purse in the correct compartment of your handbag!

Pensioners who go shopping at a weekend.

People who stand chatting in the middle of an aisle.

Having to pay more for Dairy Free Food and shops stopping selling it, as it isn't a Top Seller. "Improoved Recipe Foods" that now have milk in them.

People who park their cars directly opposite my drive way.

Not receiving the free weekly newspaper, even though you've shown the paperboy where the letterbox is. It is in the front door where most peoples are, not round the back of the garage, past the piles of bricks and wood mountain!

Think that will do for now.

 

[robgil]

junk mail , supermarkets , soft crispy salad and the price of beer.

also this ''its hurt one person out of 60 million so it must be bad for the nation'' attitude our over protective government seems to have , i will be the judge of whether or not something is bad for me, not some suited and booted, dull, boring old grey faced , ageing fogey politician who hasn't lived one exciting or adventurous day in his/her entire boring, miserable existence.

 

[LadyArowana]

People who want to negotiate all the terms of a house rental agreement before they decide that their piano won't fit down the stairs to the basement or before they sell their house and are actually needing to rent anywhere at all.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

People who failed, twenty-plus years ago, to appreciate the very important point this sketch was making:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T2zUEiVQU4

 

[judrop]

As ever I am easily pleased I just whinge about all those people who moan on and on about all sorts of stuff! :wink:

 

[essexbearhunter]

People who mis-pronounce Renaissance as "renner-sansz" (normally trying to be mode-ish and different, in an American sort of way). These same people would, naturally , think you were a complete pillock if you went around saying "reb - irth" instead of "re-birth".

Note: This should not be confused with Wrennaissance - referring to the style of Classical architecture popularised by Sir Christopher Wren and continued well into the 20th century - which is etymologically correct.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/...ondon-diocesan-girls-friendly-society-hostel/

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol:

I find mispronunciations very amusing too, expecially from my Mum, who tends to spit out modern new-fangled words with ill-disguised contempt and utter disregard for how they should sound "cap -you -see- no" for "cappucino", for example. I can't let her loose on a continental menu, though she does make me howl with laughter and probably does it on purpose to be naughty.

 

[JoceAndChris]

People who failed, twenty-plus years ago, to appreciate the very important point this sketch was making:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T2zUEiVQU4

:lol: Great sketch.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7044550/Too-much-choice-leaving-us-bewildered-and-depressed.html

"Life is not long, and too much of it should not be spent in idle deliberation how it shall be spent" Samuel Johnson

 

[Flyfisher]

Pronunciation is just a matter of em-phasis, or should that be em-pha-sis. :wink:

As for the stress of choice, this was documented following some monkey experiments back in the 1950s. Monkey's were strapped into chairs and administered mild electric shocks a few seconds after a light came on. Some 'executive' monkeys could prevent the shocks if they pressed buttons within a short time-window after the light came on. 'Worker' monkeys could not stop the shocks and just had to endure them. The 'executive' monkeys died of stress-related conditions while the 'worker' monkeys all survived.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulcers_in_Executive_Monkeys

 

[LadyArowana]

As for the stress of choice, this was documented following some monkey experiments back in the 1950s. Monkey's were strapped into chairs and administered mild electric shocks a few seconds after a light came on. Some 'executive' monkeys could prevent the shocks if they pressed buttons within a short time-window after the light came on. 'Worker' monkeys could not stop the shocks and just had to endure them. The 'executive' monkeys died of stress-related conditions while the 'worker' monkeys all survived.

I can't say I ever find it stressful having a lot of choice. A matter of applying proper filtering parameters. Successively weeding out the items that are unacceptable usually narrows the field. There is also the fact that you can learn from mistakes, which is why I don't need to consider buying anything to wear that is a particular shade of acidic yellow.

 

[Flyfisher]

Ah, but there's mental stress and physiological stress . . . .

 

[Ushy M]

Teenagers (and others) who insist on pronouncing "book" as "buhk". As if the lifting at the end of a sentence and overuse of "like" wasn't bad enough.

The general standard of spelling in even the so-called quality press. Recent examples include "prize" when they meant "prise" and "pour" when they meant "pore". This must be because we are now into a generation of journalists who were taught to read and write using phonetics, as the problems are almost always with homophones. Perhaps it wouldn't matter so much if they hadn't gone into a career whose whole purpose is to write and communicate effectively.

People who say "mute point" when they mean "moot point".

Calling the film music from Harry Potter or Lord of the RIngs "classical music".............. etc. etc. etc.

I find that as I approach a birthday with a nought on the end, these things irritate more and more.

 

[AMc]

The general standard of spelling in even the so-called quality press. Recent examples include "prize" when they meant "prise" and "pour" when they meant "pore". This must be because we are now into a generation of journalists who were taught to read and write using phonetics, as the problems are almost always with homophones. Perhaps it wouldn't matter so much if they hadn't gone into a career whose whole purpose is to write and communicate effectively.

I think that has more to do with auto correction and spell(ing) checking than phonetics.

I also find the auto complete on my iPhone to be a blessing and a curse - it often decodes my fumbled attempts at typing very well but once in a while it replaces a perfectly good word with something completely other and I've sometimes hit "Send" before I've seen it!
History of the Predictive Text Swearing