Random peeves

[Steve Jung]

Sadly, there is a cause & effect thing, as I'm sure people speeding up to block people who want to change lanes is exactly why people stopped signaling when changing lanes to begin with.

Today, someone in the lane to my left wanted to get into my lane. He signaled and then started slowing down to about 10 mph below the limit. I tapped my brakes in order to try to let him in. He kept slowing down, probably because he wanted to use the upcoming exit. He had enough space, but never got into the space I left him. So, to avoid coming to a complete stop because the guy couldn't switch lanes, I sped up to the limit and passed him. How long do other people give drivers who want to change lanes?

 

[Dire_Pug]

I drive a 20,000 pound armored vehicle around our downtown all day.

I just don't get how people can continually zip around me, get in front of me and hit their brakes. If we hit you, it's going to ruin a lot more than your day.

"Are you brain damaged??? Well you will be if this truck hits you!"


I also can't understand these complete fart-brains who walk in front of me while I'm carrying large amounts of money and a gun, and then expect me to just stop and mill about in a crowd because they're BRAIN DAMAGED MORONS!

The ones who yell at me when I push past them (while saying "excuse me") are even better. I have a gun. I'm carrying someone elses money. I don't stand around in crowds, folks.


My favorite was the potato chip delivery guy who yelled at me for parking in a handicap spot in front of City Hall. I patted my gun and said "When they let me carry a gun into a court house, they let me park wherever I want".


Or yesterday. 90 degrees and sunny. Big metal box truck, sitting on top of a big diesel that runs all day long (yeah, it gets hot). Snippy little bleep tells me to shut off my engine because the fumes bothered her as she walked past.

Yeah. You sit in that box without any A/C. Just hold this steak while you do it, please.

Chimera, I can certainly sympathize with you there. I worked as an armored car driver and guard for seven years. The whole zipping around the truck always amazed me. Considering the smallest of our vehicles weighed in at 12,000 pounds empty means that it takes a huge distance to come to a complete stop. God forbid if we had one of our bigger trucks loaded down with coin. Imagine a box filled with $500 of quarters. It would probably weigh close to 20 pounds right? Now imagine 100 boxes loaded on a wood pallet and now imagine four of those pallets in the back of one of those trucks. We're talking four extra tons of cargo which just adds to the problem of the long stopping distance of a big truck. Without fail someone would zoom from around my truck and then cut me off to take a right turn in front of me while drastically dropping their speed. Those people probably never realized how close to serious injury or death they came pulling that little stunt.

As far as the whole armored car in the hot sun thing goes all I can say is: ugh! Remember to add in the bulletproof vest (which makes for a nice layer of insulation) to that. I almost gave myself a nice case of heatstroke one summer when the AC konked out on me. Fun times.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

When will the Illuminati realize the world will be much safer if they'd just start letting us use the Inertia Fields (developed at Area 51B) to help the maneuverability & stopping distances of things like trains, semis, and armored cars?

Darn Illuminati!

 

[Captain Howdy]

In a related note, I also hate that my friend Julian refuses to accept "I've got work at 8 in the morning" as a valid reason for me to stop playing Magic when it's nearly midnight. In particular, I think his favorite phrase in the world is "sleep is for the weak."

I HATE when people say that to me. Usually it's this one friend of mine. Did you ever notice that the people who usually use that little phrase are the ones that don't have to get up for work/school and sleep till 11am every day?

Most effective way of stopping this: call your friend when you get up the next day, and wake him up. Even better, if you live close to him, go to his house and wake him up. I did this once, and it was funny to see how 'weak' he was at 6:30am.

 

[Mycanid]

To quote an old saying ...

Q: How much sleep does someone need?

A: Five minutes more than they get.

 

[Chimera]

Ooh, ooh! People who realize they have no cash, and want to put a 50 cent sale on a credit card.

Maybe it's just me, but before I go somewhere to spend money, I check to see how much money I actually have.

Whee! I like this thread.

Today at a convenience store while I'm working:

Woman ahead of me trying to buy a bottle of milk. They ring it up. She digs out purse AFTER the clerk rings it up. Digs around. Doesn't have that much. Walks away to put it back and get something else, leaving me and clerk looking at each other. Comes back with smaller bottle. Clerk rings it up. Woman slowly picks through her change, coming up about 10 cents short. Meanwhile, I'm boring holes in her skull with looks of death.

She starts to take it back, takes one look at me standing there looking seriously pissed off....and tells the clerk to ring me up while she figures things out.

 

[Chimera]

Most effective way of stopping this: call your friend when you get up the next day, and wake him up. Even better, if you live close to him, go to his house and wake him up. I did this once, and it was funny to see how 'weak' he was at 6:30am.

A great solution that only works if your friend is not one of those people who exist on very few hours of sleep. (Hint: Never go camping with those types!)

But yeah, I've used the same solution on noisy schedule-challenged neighbors who think that the entire world should still be up partying at 1am on Tuesday morning, or up and out mowing their lawns at 6am on Saturday. Just give 'em a taste of their own medicine when you know they'll be sleeping. If you can do it without violating the noise ordinances, so much the better!

 

[ssampier]

Today at a convenience store while I'm working:

Woman ahead of me trying to buy a bottle of milk. They ring it up. She digs out purse AFTER the clerk rings it up. Digs around. Doesn't have that much. Walks away to put it back and get something else, leaving me and clerk looking at each other. Comes back with smaller bottle. Clerk rings it up. Woman slowly picks through her change, coming up about 10 cents short. Meanwhile, I'm boring holes in her skull with looks of death.

She starts to take it back, takes one look at me standing there looking seriously pissed off....and tells the clerk to ring me up while she figures things out.

Yikes. I've acted like an idiot once and did something like that. Instead of making the person behind me wait, I said I'd be back, left the item there, and came back 5 minutes later (I visited the ATM).

 

[sniffles]

New random peeve:

What's really bugging me today is that my coworker across the aisle has on a shirt that's obviously from the '80s and it's full of holes. But there's no tactful way for me to say, "Dude, it's time for that shirt to go in the garbage." Because he's a coworker, not a friend.

Makes me wonder what people think when they get dressed in the morning. He has to go to court today to testify against the guy who stole his identity. If I were going to court I'd dress up a bit. I guess the folks in the courthouse are lucky he's not wearing a pair of pants with cigarette burns - that's what I usually get to see.

Of course, someone else could turn this back on me and ask why my skirt is so wrinkled.

 

[Mycanid]

Ma'am, I got news for you. I NEVER walked up to a single woman and asked her why her skirt was wrinkled.

Now what other ladies do is another issue.... Can't speak for them on this.

Later edit: I meant by "single woman" any woman, not an unmarried woman, btw....