Things That Annoy You!

[Rath Darkblade]

You want to hear about ridiculous car accidents? Go to Houston. The drivers aren't particularly insane EXCEPT when it comes to the MetroRail. In Houston, there a rail system that traverses Main Street and other areas through downtown.

That sounds good, but... it's been the cause of more vehicular accidents in the last few years than Houston has had in decades. The reason? The MetroRail is completely SILENT and there are NO visible warning signs.

I don't know what idiot designed that thing, but it's a menace. It's made worse by the fact that in order to turn left (which is sometimes necessary) you'll have to cross the rail tracks.

Wow, that sounds terrifying. Every Tuesday, on my way to rehearsals, I have to stop for the trains when the boom gates lower, lights flash, and sirens sound. I remember thinking "Yes, yes, all right, get on with it then" and it takes me 10 minutes to drive 200 metres. Grrrrr. But at least I don't have to deal with that sort of crap.

Another thing that annoys me? I'm sitting down to dinner last night, and I'm just enjoying my home-made rice and chicken korma when suddenly the phone rings. Well now who could that be?

The person says "Hello, can I speak to the owner of the phone?"

That immediately makes me suspicious. I don't know this guy, he doesn't say who he is or where he's calling from. I ask "Pardon me, who is this?"

He says, "My name is Mr X and I'm calling from Vodafone and have you ever..."

I cut him off mid-sentence. "No I have not. I have a perfectly good phone and I don't need another one. Goodbye!" *click*

ARRGGGGHHHHH. Why the HELL did I pay for a silent number if it doesn't even WORK??! *mad*

[DeadPoolX]

You want to hear about ridiculous car accidents? Go to Houston. The drivers aren't particularly insane EXCEPT when it comes to the MetroRail. In Houston, there a rail system that traverses Main Street and other areas through downtown.

That sounds good, but... it's been the cause of more vehicular accidents in the last few years than Houston has had in decades. The reason? The MetroRail is completely SILENT and there are NO visible warning signs.

I don't know what idiot designed that thing, but it's a menace. It's made worse by the fact that in order to turn left (which is sometimes necessary) you'll have to cross the rail tracks.

Wow, that sounds terrifying. Every Tuesday, on my way to rehearsals, I have to stop for the trains when the boom gates lower, lights flash, and sirens sound. I remember thinking "Yes, yes, all right, get on with it then" and it takes me 10 minutes to drive 200 metres. Grrrrr. But at least I don't have to deal with that sort of crap.

Another thing that annoys me? I'm sitting down to dinner last night, and I'm just enjoying my home-made rice and chicken korma when suddenly the phone rings. Well now who could that be?

The person says "Hello, can I speak to the owner of the phone?"

That immediately makes me suspicious. I don't know this guy, he doesn't say who he is or where he's calling from. I ask "Pardon me, who is this?"

He says, "My name is Mr X and I'm calling from Vodafone and have you ever..."

I cut him off mid-sentence. "No I have not. I have a perfectly good phone and I don't need another one. Goodbye!" *click*

ARRGGGGHHHHH. Why the HELL did I pay for a silent number if it doesn't even WORK??! *mad*

Some organizations can legally give out your information. Magazines, newspapers, credit cards, etc. When releasing your info, that gives telemarketers your number and they can they call (and subsequently, harass you).

I think the main benefit to an unlisted number is so you don't receive calls from lazy telemarketers and morons making prank calls. Having an unlisted number doesn't mean as much today as it used to, anyway. Very few individuals use the White/Yellow Pages anymore and almost entirely rely on the Internet now. There ARE ways to find out someone's info -- including their phone number -- through online means. Usually it costs, but some websites like ZabaSearch in the U.S. allow such lookups for free.

Maia and I have a somewhat different, but related problem. We don't usually get calls from telemarketers, but from ordinary people thinking our phone number is someone else's number. That and a lot of fax lines apparently call our phone, too. Sometimes we get calls from states such as Michigan or Ohio (and they usually hang up right away or leave a blank message on our voice mail). We don't know anyone from those states, so we have no idea why they're calling.

[DeadPoolX]

You know what truly pisses me off? Misunderstandings about copyright law. It's truly amazing how many people have absolutely no clue.

The most common myth is that if "you don't charge for it, you're safe." That's completely wrong. If you make a game or a book or whatever and use copyrighted material, you can legally be sued.

Another common mistake is that if "someone hasn't made use of a copyright in a long time" it's fair use. If that were true, the Sierra games would be up for grabs. As we all know, that's simply not the case. Whether or not the copyright holder makes use of their intellectual property is meaningless. They still own it and therefore, can dictate who uses it and when.

I also like it when people claim it's "free advertising." The IP owner will decide if and when they want advertising.

[therogue]

Not so much a case of annoyance but a case of practically fire breathing rage. Lately the neo nazi's are rearing their ignorant heads again.

Neo-Nazi party tells black CDU member to 'go home'
http://www.thelocal.de/politics/20090813-21227.html :RAGE:

The use of Nazi slogans is not illegal if they are translated into other languages besides German, a federal court in Karlsruhe ruled on Thursday
http://www.thelocal.de/national/20090813-21231.html

Ignorant racist bullshit is still the same in whatever language you say it.

[Tawmis]

Not so much a case of annoyance but a case of practically fire breathing rage. Lately the neo nazi's are rearing their ignorant heads again.

Neo-Nazi party tells black CDU member to 'go home'
http://www.thelocal.de/politics/20090813-21227.html :RAGE:

The use of Nazi slogans is not illegal if they are translated into other languages besides German, a federal court in Karlsruhe ruled on Thursday
http://www.thelocal.de/national/20090813-21231.html

Ignorant racist bullshit is still the same in whatever language you say it.

That is pretty amazing... I agree... in any language, it still says the same thing, just because the general public may not be able to understand it doesn't mean it's not still broadcasting the message.

[DeadPoolX]

It's very annoying when people confuse the terms "ignorant" and "stupid." Those words mean two very different things, but it seems a lot of individuals can't tell the difference.

I know someone who recently called me ignorant. I wanted to ask: "Ignorant of what?"

[Jules]

Bringing back an old thread…

Something that just happened this morning at work:

I cannot stand when I start talking about something and other people jump in and totally take over the conversation. When you try to jump back in and finish the rest of the story, you’re totally ignored and cannot get a word in edgewise. By the time the topic is over, it’s futile to finish the rest of the story because by then, it’s irrelevant!

This is one of the reasons (other than surfing the net) why I eat lunch at my desk instead of the lunchroom because it’s like a contest who can tell the funniest joke or the most entertaining story.

On the same vein, have you ever noticed how some people interrupt and repeat the first part of their sentence louder and louder until you stop in mid sentence so they can get the ants out of their pants and say what they have to say (because it’s obviously SO much more important than your story since they interrupted in the first place)?

Example:
YOU: "And then I told him to go pound sand because he was getting on my nerves! After that, I..." [your annoying friend interrupts] FRIEND: "I had, [louder] I had, I had [you stop in mid sentence] I had a friend once who did the same thing! He blah blah blah blah..." [you sit and watch your friend talk as if they have no clue they just interrupted you].

[BBP]

Oh YES!! Sounds like attention deficit disorder... A college acquaintance of mine has that, talks waaay too much, attempts to be the smart guy... My most shining moment of my college career was when I had a talk about the harmonica. I explained the tones on the Richter model. He felt the need to loudly correct me, but as he corrected me wrong, I could immediately embarrass him in front of the class.
(Of course, he doesn't need any help from me.)

Other things that annoy me:
-That painting in the dining room in Gabriel Knight 3 I still haven't identified.
-Annoying high beeps
-People with shrill voices
-Bad singing
-The sound of people walking around on high heels
-People eating behind the computer so all the crumbs get stuck in the keyboard
-When something causes me to get motion sick while I'm not moving. Like 3D computer games or that screensaver where "you" move through a maze.
-When I post a drawing on a forum and it gets no reaction whatsoever.

[DeadPoolX]

Here are two things I hate:

1. People who stand in my way at the grocery store. Superstore is particularly bad for this. Maia knows I get increasingly agitated the longer we stay there and because that we try to make it a very quick shopping trip.

2. People who walk in front or directly at me at the mall. For some reason or another, they expect me to move out of the way for them. Why? I often do move, but who says they can't move for me? I know this isn't a conscious effort on their part, but it's still very annoying.

[Rath Darkblade]

The thing that annoys me right now? My boss around the end-of-financial-year time (which is right now!!!) *tears hair out* , and the incompetent mob running our public transport.

Why? Here's why: for the past 3 days, my boss has been making everyone's life a misery because the end of financial year is coming up and she wanted everything to be perfect for the auditor. She's been shouting at everyone over the least little thing. Because I'm the accounts person who works the most days per week, she's been shouting at me the most. It's not like her, and it's not very helpful. Thankfully the new financial year is starting and there won't be so much shouting! Hurray!

As for Metro, the people who run public transport here... bleh. Where do I start? Last week, after work, I had to pick up a book I reserved from the library. I get to the suburb with 25 minutes before the library shuts and wait for a tram - which never comes - so I walk to the library instead and get there in 5 minutes. I then wait for my tram home - which comes 35 minutes later - so all in all, it takes me an hour-and-a-half to make what should be an hour's journey.

Or how about today? I leave work and run to catch the tram to the city, which leaves without me. The next one comes 5 minutes later... I run down to the platform to catch the train out of the city, which - you guessed it - leaves without me. The next one comes 3 minutes later. So far, pretty normal (though rather bad luck). But then, I try to catch my connection to go home - and my train home is canceled, the next one is also canceled, and the one after that (to add insult to injury) is 5 minutes late, and is so full I could barely get in. So all in all, it takes me nearly two hours to get home instead of one hour.

Today didn't seem to be the day for public transport users in Melbourne. One train got stuck in the tunnel that connects the city with the suburbs - people had to get out and walk through the tunnel, a journey of 1.6km in near darkness. One person had to be treated for claustrophobia. On another line, a tram suffered a catastrophic loss of power - while it was crossing the railway lines of a train station. *sigh!* So not only was the tram out of commission, but no trains on that line could run to the city or from the city. The unfortunate passengers on that tram had no choice but to walk it to the next station, a journey of about 3km.

And they wonder why Metro is unpopular...

[DeadPoolX]

Why do some gamers care if people cheat in single player games? All over the Internet (particularly on message boards) there are people who will viciously insult anyone who uses cheats.

I can understand this animosity when playing online games, but single player? Who cares what someone else does? It doesn't affect you.

I suppose I'm bringing this up now because I saw Street Fighter 4 on Steam for $9.99 (it's part of their summer sale) and I decided to check out the forums for it. I wanted to know if I could set macros for certain moves since I don't have an official Microsoft gamepad and very few GFWL titles will let any non-Microsoft controller work.

I was far from the only person who wanted to use macros in single player. I'm sure there are some people who use it in multiplayer, but I had no interest in that and neither did most of the people asking about macros.

That didn't seem to matter. Whoever asked about macros was flamed. Aside from all the "you suck" and "you're a loser" comments, people would say stuff like: "You need to spend lots of time training every day in order to get good at this game."

I fully realize games often have a learning curve, but to expect someone to schedule time every day to play a game just so they could play decently? That seems like asking too much.

Games are meant to be fun and entertain the player. If a game requires hours upon hours of grueling training, then that game changes from fun to work. So if someone has fun playing a game while using macros (or some form of cheats) in a single player game, why berate them? They're enjoying their free time without harming anyone else.

[Jules]

OMG Rath! And I should feel ashamed complaining about my commute to work! That’s too many hours in the day wasted on getting from Point A to Point B.

I’m surprised they didn’t keep the people on the tram until it was fixed. They’ve kept people on planes for hours on end because of mysterious ‘difficulties’.

What about getting a car? Does your work have a parking lot?

[BBP]

Aw yes DPX! That's very bugging! I have that problem with walkthroughs and adventure games. (or what pissed me off worse: someone calling himself HalfBlindGamer in Youtube calling all Dutchmen "stoopid" because Philips CD-i cut the can puzzle out of CD-i 7th Guest... how many non-native English speakers will have heard of "tryst"?) There is often a point in a game that I, for lack of language skills or coordination issues or motion sickness etc just can't pass. Why not use a hint? And why does that make me a stupid brainless lazy son-of-a-b* who kills the game he's playing?
(Another thing that pisses me off is when forum/messageboard/etc users automatically assume you're male. Or that, when you tell them you're not, they'll assume that "that's what makes you stupid".)

Rath: Not sure about how your road-to-work is built up, but is using a bicycle possible?
Public transport is getting ever more annoying, and expensive around here. A few years ago it brought me to the point that, though I could use the bus for free, I preferred to walk home 45 minutes over taking the bus.
And I'll never forget the day the 50 minute ride from Utrecht to Eindhoven took me five hours... on my birthday no less.

[Rath Darkblade]

OMG Rath! And I should feel ashamed complaining about my commute to work! That’s too many hours in the day wasted on getting from Point A to Point B.

What about getting a car? Does your work have a parking lot?

I already have a car, but I prefer not to drive to work because there's hardly anywhere to park around work. Public transport is generally pretty good if you don't catch it during the rush hours.

I do have to say, that sort of thing happening on my line is really an anomaly. Trains are usually no more than about 5-6 minutes late. However, when they do cancel (particularly in winter), it's extremely annoying.

Rath: Not sure about how your road-to-work is built up, but is using a bicycle possible?

Unfortunately, no. I could never bring a bike on board a rush-hour train, nor could I ride to work - the distance is just too great (about 30km each way), and I do have to wear a suit... so... blech.

[BBP]

Aw that's too far, on a racing bicycle it would take an hour. Sounds like leaving early is the only option. (Means you can catch up on your reading).

Or one of those folding bicycles. But they do tend to look silly. And they break down easily.