Category — annoyance

SSIA

So, about three times in the last couple of months, the following has happened:

We’re at a pub. It is 15 minutes before closing time, say 1:45. The joint closes at 2. The bartenders yell “finish up” we close in 15 minutes! Fine. I’ve got half of a beer so I make sure to start finishing up and make sure that we’re all paid up. Then a bouncer or the owner starts yelling and getting belligerent trying to shoo you out the door. I say, “I am just finishing up”. It’s 1:50 at the latest. They start almost threatening us. I am not at all drunk or belligerent myself, I just want to happily wrap up before we depart at 2. They insist we leave at 1:50. I’m finishing my beer and there are two more songs of mine to play on the jukebox! And they force us out the door!

Not cool. Two Chicago bars are on my blacklist because of this. Not that they care too much since I am not a huge nightlife fella, but man, talk about bad customer service. I’ve seen people not be able to pay up because some jerk bouncer is forcing them out at 1:50. It cannot be appreciated by the wait staff if they don’t get paid.

Now, I’ve been lucky enough never have had to work at a bar or restaurant (and certainly not at closing time), but I can certainly appreciate the desire for the staff to get home after a hard night working. But can’t they just gently remind us that they close at 2, say at 1:45, 1:50, and 1:55. They can start getting mean and kick me out at 2:00:00 am. But not at 1:59:59am and certainly not at 1:50:00am. Let me finish my beer!

Just because I am a “computer guy” at work, I don’t necessarily know how to make your exact model of printer print. I don’t necessarily know how to set up your exact model of wireless router. And I definitely cannot make your grandma’s PC running Windows ME run much faster (at least I don’t want to).

I am a software guy. I am not an expert in hardware, and even if I was, I would probably not know about your consumer goods that you bought at Best Buy.

Don’t get me wrong, being a geek, a fairly logical guy and a good trouble-shooter, I probably have a better chance of figuring out your problem than 85% of the population. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind helping out immediate family and friends when trouble comes knocking for them. But I am not willing to help a human resources co-worker’s uncle’s friend’s sister’s boyfriend figure out how to network his printer.

• Person I Barely Know: “Hey, you’re a ‘Computer Guy‘, right?”
• Me: “I … guess … so”
• Person I Barely Know: “Hey, I just got a new computer and I need to transfer all of my tunes and nudie pictures from my old HP Pavillion to my new Sony Vaio that I got at Wal-Mart, can you help me?”
• Me: “Ughh”

Man, I do not like bathroom attendants. It is really weird to be at a sweaty rock concert at the Park West or House of Blues and have some guy in a tux offering you cologne and mints and towels in the bathroom. Please, man, you’re giving me the creeps.

Dear Mr. Bathroom Attendant Guy,

Please don’t make me feel guilty for not tipping you just because you handed me a paper towel off of a stack that was easily within my reach. You make want to skip washing my hands after going to the bathroom, just so that can I avoid you. Please, find a different job and encourage your current employer not to re-fill your position.

Sincerely and thank you,
Rob

This post was brought to you by:

• Twilight Zone: The Complete Definitive Collection
• Alfred Hitchcock - The Masterpiece Collection
• Ken Burns - American Lives

Have you ever been shopping for records (or CDs) where the discs are filed alphabetically from back to front? That is just wrong. Makes me a little dizzy. When flipping through records from front to back, Talking Heads should come before U2; Flaming Lips should come before Guns N’ Roses; Prince should come before Queen. The picture on the right is the correct way to do it!

I guess that if you were looking at the same records by looking at their spines in bookshelf fashion, the records would have to be reversed. Maybe that is why some places file them in this backwards way. They organize them in the back room in bookshelf fashion and then bring them out to the store floor.

While I’m on the subject, here’s one more pet peeve; record store filing folks should know enough about music artists to be able to distinguish a band name from a person’s name. This one place that I go always has Jethro Tull records filed in the T’s. It’s a band, not a person. There’s no Jethro dude, dude!

“By the way, which one’s Pink?”

Why do the movies studios HAVE to force us to watch previews on DVD’s that we bought? Man is that rude. I rented “The Departed” over the weekend and I think that there are six previews that are shoved down your throat before you can watch the movie. Damn rude Hollywood bastards!

Okay, let’s compromise Mr. Big Studio man. I’ll keep renting and/or buying DVDs, but you can put a maximum of TWO previews that you force me to watch. I bet you’re scared now Mr. Hollywood!

Why do so many CD’s omit the artist and album name from the actual CD? Couldn’t they at least put it in small print somewhere? When you’ve got a pile of CD’s out of their cases, how are you supposed to know what is what? An example of this is Beck’s Sea Change. Do they think they’re too cool and artsy for labels?

I guess we’ve got bigger issues to worry about. That’s why this is Rob’s minor annoyance of the week!

Today’s Pet Peeve of the Day: People who rush into elevators without waiting to see if anyone is getting out. The End.

In a corporate presentation this week, I was reminded of a pet peeve of mine - slowly opening soda cans in order to try to make less noise while in lectures, meetings or presentations.

While I know the perpetrators have the best of intentions, namely to avoid distraction and noise during the talk, the “slow open” makes more noise for a longer amount of time and draws attention to the “slow opener”. In my opinion, the proper thing to do is to just open the thing fast; it will make a slightly loud, but very quick noise; and then it is over and the beverage is ready to be enjoyed. It’s like taking off a Band-Aid; don’t slowly peel it off - that hurts, just rip the damn thing off!

So please, do the honorable thing, just open it! Or better yet, bring coffee or tea or a beverage that doesn’t have to be opened. Maybe a juice box !