Things people do that piss you off

[Sarahbelle]

In Korea, the concepts of "waiting" and "standing in line" are unheard of. This angers me. I think these issues will one day cause me to be arrested.

The other day, I was standing in a line at the coffee shop; there were two women in fron of me, and one more behind me. So this older dude (probably around 55 or so) walks right up to the counter and orders a coffee for himself. And what does the counter staff do? Tell him that there are four other people standing in line, and that he'll have to wait? No, they SERVE HIM!! This happens ALL THE TIME in any imaginable location - coffee shops, subways, restaurants, public washrooms - basically anyplace where you might possibly have to stand in line. And although the culprits are usually older men, they aren't exclusively so. It could be anyone. And while I understand the whole concept of elder respect over here, this guy wasn't an old man by any stretch of the imagination.

Just as bad is the subway. While most people will stand nicely in two different lines on either side of the door and wait for everyone else to exit before they attempt to enter the subway car, there will always be a few people who will ignore the lines and then stand right in the middle of the doorway and try to push their way on to the subway before anyone else has had the opportunity to get off. This drives me crazy. Not only are they too rude to wait in the line with everyone else, they're too rude to wait for you to get off - which of course, would only make it easier for them to get on! At 6'3" and 190 lbs, in Korea I'm considered a giant. So I make myself as big as possible, fold my arms across my chest and literally bulldoze these assholes all the way back - my record so far is pushing three people (at once) back about ten feet - by which point it was almost impossible for them to get back onto the train before the doors closed. Assclowns.

PS I missed this!! but OH MY GOD yes that used to drive me nuts..

[Douglas]

1. Disrespect/abuse of animals - someone in our neighbourhood leaves their dog out for much too long on cold nights. That poor dog barks and howls endlessly...his/her paws must be frozen. I was getting my boots and coat on one night in prep for driving around to find the house, when they finally let him inside. stupid fuckwads.

2. Serious info via email. My aunt seems to think that sending emails to inform the family of illnesses, accidents, deaths, etc. are A-OK! When I hit Send/Receive and I see one come in from her, I wince.

[Douglas]

oh...and one more thing...."Shitty Poopers"

When you have to pooh, why pick the middle of 3 stalls to drop your load? First of all, I can't understand why you would risk someone having to be 3 feet away from you whilst shitting. But if that doesn't bother you, at least think of the person that only needs to pee....for the love of god! You're shit stinks. And the last thing I need while pinching my nose and wiping tears from my eyes is to feel close to you...close enough to hear the squish. And if you grunt, I respond with "uh!"

[hamilton]

How about using "of" instead of the "'ve" contacted form? I've seen people write "I could of done that" instead of "I could've done that" (the contracted form of "I could have done that", with the "'" taking the place of bits of "have" that were left out), and it mystifies me, because you end up with a completely nonsensical sentence.

Amen!!! This drives me completely bonkers!

[hamilton]

"utilize"- why not just "use"?

Technically, there is a difference, although no one knows and everyone uses these words interchangeably.

"Use" is when you use something for the purpose for which it was intended - "I used a hammer to put a nail on the wall."

"Utilize" is when you successfully use something for a purpose other than that for which it was intended - "I used a hammer to pulverize Booche's testicles in order to prevent him from spreading his demon-spawn across the Earth."

[Davey Boy 2.0]

"Use" is when you use something for the purpose for which it was intended - "I used a hammer to put a nail on the wall."

"Utilize" is when you successfully use something for a purpose other than that for which it was intended - "I used a hammer to pulverize Booche's testicles in order to prevent him from spreading his demon-spawn across the Earth."

So should that read, "I used a hammer to pulverize Booche's testicles in order to prevent him from utilizing his wookie-spawn across the Earth." ?

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Intention is everything .

I always throw this piece from George Orwell, Politics and the English Language ; how many of them actually read it is another question, but I point them to the last page, where he's got his shortlist of rules to keep in mind:

(i) Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

(ii) Never us a long word where a short one will do.

(iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

(iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active.

(v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

(vi) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

How barbarous the smashing of Booche's coinpurse is may, though, be a topic for another thread.

[StoneMtn]

People have a weird tendency to want to use longer words for no reason. I am constantly correcting junior lawyers' writing to change words from "myself" to "me" or from "the female" to "woman". (If you've ever had occasion to read police reports, there are unbelievable examples of this to the point that I usually burst out laughing by the end of reading one.)

[Jaimoe]

those are the rules of the road.

yeah i know. i still tip' date=' and i think i tip well, but i can't wait for the day when i don't have to. [/quote']

If that ever happens, get ready for $10 pints and $15 glasses of wine. For example, look at Great Britain.

Also, bar/restaurant owners actually often pay their servers under minimum wage in North America, so all the power to said servers/bartenders with accumulating tips. My wife, who is a bartender/server, has been sick all week and thus hasn't made a nickel and doesn't get sick pay. And like all servers, she doesn't have a medical plan of her own (I do, so she's covered).

[phishtaper]

1. Disrespect/abuse of animals - someone in our neighbourhood leaves their dog out for much too long on cold nights. That poor dog barks and howls endlessly...his/her paws must be frozen. I was getting my boots and coat on one night in prep for driving around to find the house, when they finally let him inside. stupid fuckwads.

we have neighbours like this too. it baffles me why they have dogs at all. they never walk them. they leave their back patio doors open and their two little yappy dogs are free to wander in and out, barking at every kid, dog, squirrel and rabbit that wanders by. the people even go away overnight too. (god knows what their heating and carpet cleaning bills are.) i finally had enough one morning back in the summer and I called them at 6am after 15 min of neighbourhood-waking barking. rather than apologizing she started in on me about the chickens in my yard. needless to say, I dont have any chickens, she had me confused with another neighbour who had obviously had words with her previously.

if you want a kleenex box, buy a kleenex box not two yappy dogs. stupid fuckwads, indeed. poor dogs.

[ollie]

If that ever happens, get ready for $10 pints and $15 glasses of wine. For example, look at Great Britain.

Have you been to Great Britain? Because those numbers look high based on my experience. Maybe in London.

For a cheap, no tipping pint in Ottawa, go to the RichTree marketplace restaurant in the Rideau Centre... $4.50 for a pint of Stella... and there's no way to tip even if you want to.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

see you there at noon, ollie

[slavetothegroove]

Also, bar/restaurant owners actually often pay their servers under minimum wage in North America, so all the power to said servers/bartenders with accumulating tips. My wife, who is a bartender/server, has been sick all week and thus hasn't made a nickel and doesn't get sick pay. And like all servers, she doesn't have a medical plan of her own (I do, so she's covered).

Kudos to that. My first job ever was as a server and I did it for about 5 years. Certainly didn't make the best wages but tips are what I lived off of. Slow night in the restaurant, means pretty much a weaker pay. Tis true, no coverage on anything, no pay when your sick, and you have to be there a damn long time before they give you a raise. The perks to the job though are that on a good night you can make double or triple your salary and be smooth sailing. It's tough because it's give or take every day you go to work.

It's your choice whether you want to tip, but please consider, a lot of those servers serving you have to make a living off of what you give them.

Cheers

Steph

[ollie]

"No sicks days" and "no benefits" is not the sole domain of servers. It's actually pretty common in a lot of industries.

[Jaimoe]

If that ever happens' date=' get ready for $10 pints and $15 glasses of wine. For example, look at Great Britain.[/quote']

Have you been to Great Britain? Because those numbers look high based on my experience. Maybe in London.

Factor in the exchange rate and it's pretty accurate. I can say that beers cafes in France are pretty expensive compared to here.

[slavetothegroove]

Yep, your right. And you know it really makes me think. I don't make tips at the job I'm at now, I make more in wages than I did as a server, but still find it harder money wise to survive now than I did when I was a server. Having money in your pocket at the end of each night is damn luxury I have to say. Living from paycheck to paycheck was certainly an adjustment for me, and well it does teach me a thing or two about budgeting and saving....

As long as I can make a living and afford to keep going to the amount of shows I'm able to now, I'm a happy little bee. I'll take what I can get....

Life is good.

[AD]

Also, bar/restaurant owners actually often pay their servers under minimum wage in North America,

i beleive i pointed this out in my first post about the topic. I was solely talking about the consumer side of the bar, where I pay a little bonus to someone who does a menial task.

On a related topic, without getting too personal, does your wife declare her tip income? in your experience do many people in the service industry report it?

i grew up in the service industry (stratford ontario, home of many good restaurants,) and not one person I know declares their tips. sure it'll come back to bite them in the ass, but when they bring home over a hundred bucks, tax free every night, in addition to a regular wage.... it just doesn't seem right.

and that really grinds my gears.

plus more bars and bartenders should serve kilkenny.

[Jaimoe]

"No sicks days" and "no benefits" is not the sole domain of servers. It's actually pretty common in a lot of industries.

I know that. I was talking about the lack of server benefits. I can see you have a beef with tipping.

[phishtaper]

Restaurant backs off, staff keep 20¢ raise

"A popular Toronto restaurant has backed down after trying to claw back most of the extra 20 cents an hour it has to pay its minimum-wage waiters.

Joe Badali's, on Front St. at University Ave., told servers it would start charging them $2 a shift to cover the costs of washing their aprons and providing notepads and cash envelopes." ...

some more fuel for the fire

[Jaimoe]

Also' date=' bar/restaurant owners actually often pay their servers under minimum wage in North America, [/quote']

i beleive i pointed this out in my first post about the topic. I was solely talking about the consumer side of the bar, where I pay a little bonus to someone who does a menial task.

On a related topic, without getting too personal, does your wife declare her tip income? in your experience do many people in the service industry report it?

i grew up in the service industry (stratford ontario, home of many good restaurants,) and not one person I know declares their tips. sure it'll come back to bite them in the ass, but when they bring home over a hundred bucks, tax free every night, in addition to a regular wage.... it just doesn't seem right.

and that really grinds my gears.

plus more bars and bartenders should serve kilkenny.

Don't let it grind your gears. Urban sprawl and global warming piss me off a lot more than tipping. My wife does not declare her tips but her bank, my bank and the government seem to understand this.

[Jaimoe]

Oh yeah, my wife has to pay the bill for any walk-outs (aka dine-and-dash). She's also been assaulted on the job by a patron and has to deal and be civil to idiots on an hourly basis. She could also get fired without notice or reason.

[bradm]

Oh yeah, my wife has to pay the bill for any walk-outs (aka dine-and-dash).

I've never worked as a server, but I think this is one of the more abhorrent things people can do. If you're hungry and don't have any (or enough) money, go to the food bank, or shoplift from a huge grocery chain, which would at least be less personal and fraudulent.

Aloha,

Brad

[Esau.]

Things people do that piss you off

Shit talk, make threats etc, then when confronted have nothing to say.

[StoneMtn]

Jaimoe:

I would be very surprised if the CRA "understands" that your wife doesn't declare her tips. Generally, people declare about 10%, but it has long been on the agenda of the CRA to one day go after these people for the 90% that amounts to tax fraud. (Please correct me if I'm wrong, and the CRA has told your wife not to worry about it.)

I would also be very surprised if she is employed in some way that allows her employer to fire her without notice or reason. I believe that would violate the Employment Standards Act, and is actionable.

I am not saying any of this to challenge you or demean your comments. If I am wrong, please feel free to explain why, but I think I am right.

[AD]

Oh yeah, my wife has to pay the bill for any walk-outs (aka dine-and-dash). She's also been assaulted on the job by a patron and has to deal and be civil to idiots on an hourly basis. She could also get fired without notice or reason.

Yeah, all that definitely does suck. it could be worse though.

I have to be civil to idiots at my work as well!!

still, paying a bonus to someone for handing me a bottle of beer. ridiculous in my book.

annnnnnnnnnd i'm spent on this topic. carry on.