Things that annoy

Looks like you've come up trumps then, vometia.

I daresay they let you do it because you're so valuable to them, clever girl.

I think an even bigger problem than not wanting to live there is not being able to afford it, or as is often the case, requiring two incomes from different direction and equally often the kids' school in a third.

Then there's the notorious office relocation game, as large companies inevitably have too many managers with too little to do, so they play "let's reorganise the peons!" constantly.  I remember a bunch of co-workers who eventually relocated typically sixty miles after much grumbling (the company offset a small proportion of the expense) and once they'd moved away from friends, family and schools the employer promptly closed the office they'd moved to and told them to either go back to where they came from (entirely at their own expense this time, IIRC) or work in London.  That's when the working-from-home thing finally happened: I actually did quite well out of it as I lived pretty much equidistant between the three sites but decided I'd be happier sacrificing my spare bedroom anyway.

I just hate travelling altogether though.  Public transport is prohibitively expensive, crowded, dirty and unreliable and I can't really deal with being around other people, I find driving to be very stressful (and the roads are so often totally congested anyway), I can't ride a bike and walking only gets you so far.

So my annoying thing for today:  Why is it that the bus is always late if I am early.  But if I am just half a minute late the bus is on time and I miss it!

The usual reason given is: Traffic.

I suppose this is why many people prefer to drive themselves, I mean, at least you can start out when you choose and not rely on waiting for someone else.

NAS22687 said:

Re unnecessary use of cars: my biggest gripe is the enforced commute.  Why do I need to go to the office when there's no actual need for me to be there?  I've successfully done my job from home for extended periods, I'm happier and more productive and it saves employers money.  But if I have to spend an hour or more getting there, I'm knackered and stressed before the day has even started and just another unnecessary car on the road.

Something else about ther unnecessary commute.  I travel 12 miles to work (public transport), while people from the town I work in are travelling 12 miles the other way to do a similar job.  And there are people from the same organisations doing the same thing.

The war had a slogan: Is your journey really necessary?  We get people working in one place, living in another who say 'well I like working in that place but I don't want to live there'.  So an hour each way, twice a day, ten hours a week absolutely wasted on unproductive travel time, this equates to twenty days per year.  And all that time getting frustrated.  Which leads to even more unproductivity as the first few minutes are 'recovery time'.  O to have a job ten mnutes walk away, when I can take in the sweet smell of the dawn air, be a lot healthier and not have the worry and anxiety of being held up or the bus doesn't turn up.

So my annoying thing for today:  Why is it that the bus is always late if I am early.  But if I am just half a minute late the bus is on time and I miss it!

lostmyway said:

Well, they can't bully you when you're at home can they?

Yes, there is that.  I'm reminded of the manager who was a big believer in "presenteeism" amongst his staff but he himself would regularly slope off home for most of the afternoon ("I'm just stepping outside to take this very confidential phone call", as he'd regularly announce early afternoon and then we'd see him driving off and not coming back for hours.  Coincidentally, he lived about 2 minutes away, unlike the rest of us).  Of course that had a similar effect so installed a camera in the office so he could continue to spy on us when he was away skiving.  He was the same one who insisted someone was given a written warning for expressing an inoffensive opinion about something that might be improved, ignoring HR's advice that it was an incredibly bad idea to do so.

I've worked for some lovely people over the years.

Yep, I agree with that because so much of it comes across as phoney and playing to the gallery. The thing is, it's better to speak your mind because all PC does is hide people's real feelings and it drives it underground. I'm not advocating, of course, that people should make remarks that are hateful and liable to cause violence, but we are all entitled to express our opinion as we (still) live in a democracy.

A current case in point. It's just been reported on the news that some advertising executive has been suspended because he said he thought women don't show enough ambition. Crazy.

It does seem to have a "suppress rather than educate" element to it much of the time, and is more likely to prolong and probably worsen problems: communication of ideas is vital to people's understanding and tolerance so preventing that is probably not very sensible.

Martian Tom said:

[quote][/quote]

Oh blimey Tom I've just realized we sound like those blokes in that Monty Python sketch where they were trying to outdo one another with 'when I were a lad' stories!

My God, has it come to this?

You lived in a hole in the ground?  Luxury!

Hilarious!

NAS22687 said:

Re unnecessary use of cars: my biggest gripe is the enforced commute.  Why do I need to go to the office when there's no actual need for me to be there?  

Well, they can't bully you when you're at home can they?

 Even when they are supposedly being respectful, they only pay lip-service to the idea and so often come across as condescending and patronising.  I'm all for acceptance, respect and politeness, but I like the genuine article, not somebody pretending just for their own embiggenment.

Yep, I agree with that because so much of it comes across as phoney and playing to the gallery. The thing is, it's better to speak your mind because all PC does is hide people's real feelings and it drives it underground. I'm not advocating, of course, that people should make remarks that are hateful and liable to cause violence, but we are all entitled to express our opinion as we (still) live in a democracy.

A current case in point. It's just been reported on the news that some advertising executive has been suspended because he said he thought women don't show enough ambition. Crazy.

Re unnecessary use of cars: my biggest gripe is the enforced commute.  Why do I need to go to the office when there's no actual need for me to be there?  I've successfully done my job from home for extended periods, I'm happier and more productive and it saves employers money.  But if I have to spend an hour or more getting there, I'm knackered and stressed before the day has even started and just another unnecessary car on the road.

Sad thing is, it's something that's been successfully tried for decades (I did it for a few years in the mid '90s and it wasn't new then) but it seems that shoulder-surfing managers can't trust their minions.

Re political correctness, I think the problem there isn't people wanting to be disrespectful, it's that so many of the biggest proponents of PC are themselves so disrespectful to others when they can get away with it (try listening to some of the self-style diversity champions talking about Northerners, for instance).  Even when they are supposedly being respectful, they only pay lip-service to the idea and so often come across as condescending and patronising.  I'm all for acceptance, respect and politeness, but I like the genuine article, not somebody pretending just for their own embiggenment.

Oh blimey Tom I've just realized we sound like those blokes in that Monty Python sketch where they were trying to outdo one another with 'when I were a lad' stories!

My God, has it come to this?

Yes, times change Tom and I can understand it to some extent but I think we increasingly live in a 'Nanny State' where we want to do the best for people but baulk at the thought of them having to face any difficulties in life.

The trouble is, if someone has it too easy they don't develop the character to deal with stuff later on in life that is liable to challenge them and the saying 'a little suffering is good for the soul' is true because it is through suffering that we become stronger.

Tom, why did you use the Australian Question Intonation in mentioning the Australian Question Intonation? (Joking).

Seriously though.

I wonder whether it came from Australian women making what should be statements into questions because they have historically been so discriminated against by Australian men they never felt assertive enough to make independent statements, instead, putting them into the form of a question as though to check with others first that their opinions were ok. I don't know, just an idea.

The phone thing is shocking though and very dangerous and I think the cops should throw the book at anyone caught using a mobile phone while in charge of driving a moving car. It can cause death and injury to themselves and others and there's no excuse whatsoever. People managed to drive well enough in the past without all these modern distractions.

Another couple:

Beautiful places destroyed by tourism.  Can't really think what the solution to this is, but many places that are attractive are destroyed by tourists.  Tacky souvenir shops, people wandering aimlessly about, cafes, parking all over the place. And finding ways to charge excessive prices.  Most visitors appear not to know what made the place attractive in the first place.

Which leads me to

Unnecessary use of cars.  Don't get me wrong, a car is a useful form of transport.  But to use it to drop kids off at school a couple of hundred yards away - really!  It always amazes me how much quieter the roads are even at six o'clock in the morning when the kids aren't at school.  I live opposite a school and between 8 and 9 in the morning and 3 and 4 in the afternoon the road is impassable to residents. (or perhaps I should say impossible)

More to follow!

I'm all for being respectful to people Tom, but sometimes it goes to silly extremes.

Nowadays it seems to me that there are people who are looking for any hint of insult or disrespect, even when something is said purely out of a sense of fun or in giving a legitimate opinion. I think it's got to the stage where any innocent remark can be interpreted as being racist, sexist, homophobic, etc. and I think there are some people who are looking to be insulted all the time.

For example, when Wimbledon was on one of the commentators made a remark about an attractive young women in the audience to the effect that he wouldn't mind being examined by her in the dentist's chair. To me, this was an innocent remark that men have been making for time immemorial that simply reflects the differences between the sexes and was a way of paying a compliment, rather than being sexist.

However, once Twitter got going it was portrayed as a 'sexist' reference and the poor bloke who made it was made to feel like a social pariah.

It's got to the stage now where the freedom to express yourself has been seriously eroded due to the 'thought police' that seems to pervade our society and it just sours life and inhibits sponteneity. 

P.S. Trainspotter, so true about the daft people who don't plan ahead and behave efficiently at the tills, it makes me so cross. Such a releif to read all these things & nod along, not feeling weird & over-sensitive for once.

Drivers who leave their engines running pointlessly for ages, who park where they know they shouldn't (especially loading bays, disabled bays), indicate AFTER turning, motorcyclists with ludicrously loud engines, pointless police sirens.

People who, in a virtually empty shop, want to look at the exact same thing you're looking at and can't wait a few minutes.

People who don't neuter their cats or put bells on them to stop them savaging helpless wildlife.

People who think pointing is a usefull way to convey location.

People who phrase instructions as questions.

People who call me down stairs from what I was doing, only to be told its already dealt with. If it was that quick, why bother me at all.

Phone scams.

Travelling salesmen or women.

Constant adverts.

Political correctness.

Rubbish on TV.

Inconsiderate cyclists.

Noisy neighbours.

Dogs mess in the street.