Ok...so I've had a pissy day. I saw things today that fuck me off. Here is my top five.
1. People who hack up the backs of their throats and spit in the street. ARSEHOLES!!
2. People who stop at the top of the escalator and don't move away (causing you to get stuck behind a mass pile up of old people with trolleys) GITS!
3. Motorists (who deserve their own chart) who drive down the outside lane when there are miles of signs indicating lane closed. This is queue jumping and damn rude behaviour! SHITS!
4. People who stop in the middle of the pavement and chat away, oblivious to the fact that you have had to stop as well and can't get past - BASTARDS!!
5. Anybody who shouts to their friends and family in public places, invading the aural space and privacy of all around them. WANKERS!!
....oh and yes.....I am very anally retentive.
Last edited by Jackson Doofster on Sat Oct 04, 2003 1:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
"But they can't hold a candle to the reciprical war crimes which have plagued our policy of foriegn affairs."
Doof - I keep seeing trailers on TV for a programme called 'Grumpy Old Men' which features people like Bob Gelfof, John Peel and Rory McGrath ranting. It's on 10/10/2003 (not sure what side). You may wish to watch it and take notes .
Ive had a pissy day also so heres my rant.....(in no particular order)
People who drop litter or toss it out of the car window
People who bellow at and slap their kids in public then drag them along screaming
People who eat with their mouths open or speak while its full
Drunks who are loud and think they are funny
Old people who spend all their time moaning about how rude the young of today are then are equally as rude but think its acceptable just because they are old!
People that smell...armpits, breath, arse, whatever...it's bad. Should you tell them if your their friend..yes. Do you? No.
People talking too loud in the street...as if you care what they have to say.
People that say f**k all when they're in a conversation group. Especially when you're meeting new people...this is pissing me off today 'cos people that are sposed to be doing research with me make no sodding effort, just sit there making uncomfortable silences. GAAA!!!
1. intense smells... I ride the subway every day, so it's immediately noticeable if someone hasn't used deoderant or has used too much perfume.
2. people who spit.. especially when crossing a busy street. What the hell? I'm glad I haven't been spit ON yet, but I can see it happening one day.
3. smokers... not to offend anyone on this list, but if I had a quarter for everytime someone blows smoke into my face while I'm walking down the street, I'd be a very rich man.
4. people who talk loudly on their mobile phones in public places. Do I really need to hear about your crap?
5. people who don't allow the people they are talking to to participate in the conversation. Whether I'm involved or not, I don't care, it's annoying hearing one person carry a whole conversation.
1. People talking on cell phones while driving.
2. Space invaders on airplanes - your stuck in the middle seat and their elbows are planted on the armrests.
3. People in stores that answer the phone while serving you, not putting the person on hold - but rather helping them instead of the person standing in front of them.
4. Fundraisers outside the Supermarket. Tonight it was the Cub Scouts - snotty nosed bastards.
5. People who can't park their cars properly in the outlined space. Don't get me started on the twits that park their cars on the diagonal, intentionally taking up two spaces.
After a day on the M11, M25 etc., here is my motoring only list:
1. People who don't indicate when they should. ('Am I a mindreader or something?')
2. Signpost posters who follow up a much needed sign to somewhere with absolutely nothing at the next junction, fork in the road, etc. ('So now we have to guess?')
3. People who think the nice, safe space you've left between you and the car in front was intended for them to move into. ('Don't they know anything about minimum stoppage distances?')
4. People who charge up behind you and sit on your bumper as if you don't know how to drive and even though you are already exceeding the speed limit, your car is pile of junk and there is a fairly dense line of cars up ahead of you. ('Shall I just slam my brakes on now and put them out of their misery, and possibly me out of mine?')
5. Drivers whose every moment at the wheel is based on selfishness, e.g. seeing an orange light as a reason to accelerate, not break, with the resulting increase in people driving through reds, never letting anyone else out, always trying to get in front of everyone else. ('Did you learn to drive at the Thatcher School of Motoring?')
I could go on... God it's depressing out there. Thank God I can cycle to work every day (though I would need another thread to discuss the attitude of the average moron driver to cyclists). Sadly, morons beat non-morons in the broad scheme of things, that's where humankind has slipped up.
1. People who make lists about things they hate, when some of those things implicate me (I'm horrible in social situations, and I don't talk a whole lot).
2. Kids from CHAD (something-something Art and Design) who think they're absolutely brilliant, and who get stoned and talk pseudo-philosophic bullshit, and the teachers they idolize (who in turn then completely put down my friend for NO GOOD REASON other than the fact that he thinks he's sooooo much smarter than her). grrrr.
3. People who get pissed off about stupid things.
if we can rock together, why can't we walk together?
3. People who think the nice, safe space you've left between you and the car in front was intended for them to move into. ('Don't they know anything about minimum stoppage distances?')
Well, now I know why people from elsewhere complain about L.A. drivers!
I'm guilty of at least half of these at one time or another, but I swear, most of these are just standard driving behavior out here and the last one is probably considered good driving.
The rules really are a bit different out here on driving and, I hate to say it, half the time when I'm behind someone who's slowing down traffic, it's an out-of-state license plate. I guess Angelenos are to driving what New Yorkers are to pedestrian interactions. I'm sure if I were driving elsewhere, I'd be perceived as a raging a-hole.
Actual tailgaiting while in motion is never cool, however,
hey pal, me too. boston drivers and all. we're pretty ruthless.
however, i try to be decent when i'm out of the area, particularly down south. though, i do weave then. cause GOSH, those folks are SLOW! and look at all the room they're leaving!!!
also, having spent some time in indonesia, much of it in a car, i now cut things MUCH closer than i used to. amazing. hey, i've got room to pass! three cars really DO fit here.
i try to not break traffic laws though. most of the time.
... name the stars and constellations,
count the cars and watch the seasons....
My years in Madrid taught me that 'when in Madrid, drive like the Madrileños do', so I would both impress and horrify friends by the lengths I would go to. When I came back to England after my first year there, I couldn't believe how absurdly polite and genteel and downright English it all seemed ('Look, they're actually stopping to let people across the zebra crossing!'), but then I realised how civilised this all felt, and with the gradual progress towards domesticity and middle-aged thinking, agreed that actually going to such extremes as LETTING OTHER CARS OUT and the like, as my dad has always done, was a pretty cool way to behave. Sad thing is, the roads in this country get more and more clogged, road rage became commonplace in the 90s, everyone is more desperate to use their cars more often and get everywhere quicker, and with it comes the carnival of grotesque selfishness we now see, getting worse by the year. Nowhere is there more need for the glorious dictum 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you', and so I drive around silly blocked-up Cambridge letting people in from the adjoining roads, relishing the total shock on their faces that someone could do this, and the palpable anger from the arseholes behind me that I could slow their trip down by a further 0.3 seconds. One day one of these people will take to me with a crow bar - you'll know it when I cease to post - but, as I was told by a passenger today, I was spreading so much good karma around, maybe something positive will come of it.
I should also say that, when it comes to pedestrians, obviously courtesy (i.e., not killing people) is essential, and even for the most part practiced by yours truly.
For the sake of future visitors, it's important to know that, while California has some of the strictest driving rules in the country re: pedestrians, it is also essential for pedestrians in Southern California to follow the traffic rules strictly.
What happens out here is that because traffic is so tight, when people go, they go! Lights are like gods out here, for both drivers and for pedestrians with double-digit and above IQs.
Be especially careful when cars are turning right on your cross walk. (Remember our "turning right on red" rule has its disadvantages when idiots are behind the wheel. Wish I had $10 for every time some idiot almost killed me this way.)
Living on Hollywood Blvd., I've seen foreign and out of state pedestrians cross on a red light on Hollywood Blvd. and La Brea. This is like sticking your finger into a fan.
Northern California is a different story, and practically a different country. In Berkeley, pedestrians cross at will. (And the normative speed limit is 10 mph slower!)
As a motorcycle rider, my favourite is when they approach fast from side streets, only braking at the last nanosecond, and maybe hanging their car about a metre over the stop line.
Now that I've thought of that, I also hate when drunk drivers run me over and then jump out of their car and yell at me because I was biking in the wrong direction!
Watch out also for cars going in your direction but cutting in front of you to make a right-angled turn... I've been wiped out like that on a busy city street. They don't think to look for cyclists by the edge of the road, or they assume you'll keep out their way.
I know a young lady, a barmaid, who is cute and freindly and attentive to everyone. The problem is, she's very plangent, especially when she's had a few beers, which is almost always. She's known for it, and warnings are always sent forth before her arrival. Many people will leave. I can only take small periods of her presence before having to depart in search of sanity. Her boyfriend often says to her something that good old Descartes was fond of saying. She never responds.
But what really pisses me off is when people whisper. As an old deaf bastard, the most common word out of my mouth is "What?".
1. People who smack their lips when they eat. Blah blah trivialcakes, it drives me batshit.
2. People who dump their sordid life history on you five minutes after introducing themselves.
3. Cicadas.
4. A suitcase on wheels being dragged across linoleum.
5. Salespeople who try to be your buddy. I don't want to chat, I want a magazine.
Edited cause I can't spell, OMG, which also irritates me.
1. People talking on cell phones in public as if they were tin cans tied together with string. I usually help these people in their converstaions, as they obviously want it.
2. Stupidity....sorry to all the stupid folks out there....most of them won't be reading this anyway...I guess this also covers the intellectually lazy.
3. Personal Irresponsibility...Had to capitalize it. Societal problem in the US at the very least. Fall down cause you didn't watch where you walked? Sue. Bad date? Sue. Bad marriage? Sue. Leak in your roof? Sue. Puppy sad? Sue. Nothing is anyone's fault anymore, except someone else's.
4. Booger picking in public. Yes, we can see you.
5. Getting in front of me and driving slower than me. Get the f over! Fast lane = fast cars....duh?!! Wait, should go under stupid category.....I take personal responsibility for blowing that!!
1. Smokers... a strange breed who consider the packet the smokes come in to be litter and appropriately place it in a bin, yet they have no qualms about littering the ground with their butts. Check the litter in your street one day and try to tell me that cigarette butts don't top the list.
2. Mobile Phone Users... not all, but specifically those who insist on baring their souls to all and sundry on public transport (I believe one country's train system now has carriages solely for mobile phone users) and those who insist on using their handheld whilst driving their car. One asshole managed to total my car by driving through a stop sign while having a nice chat on his phone.
3. Drivers who apparently don't know where the indicator switch is located.
4. People who insist on placing their bag on the seat next to them on trains or buses during peak hour.
5. People who insist on placing their ass on the seat closest to the aisle on trains or buses meaning you have to climb over to them to get to a vacant seat... and then it turns out you have to get off before them!
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