What little things drive you completely up the wall....?

[kherbert05]

When we were in San Angelo our number was very similar to a Real Estate Office and a dentist.


The dentist had cards printed that had the right number but because of the font was easy to misread as our number. We tried to tell them repeatedly and were told tough luck. One day a distraught Mother called her child had knocked out an adult tooth. She would not listen to Mom, so I took the phone from her and gave her basic first aide info. Once she calmed down, I told her this wasn't the dentist office and gave her the correct number.


Dad ran into the dentist and told him he had a major complaint. He told him about the cards with the hard to read number. How we were fielding multiple calls from his office daily, and about the hysterical mother. We found out later his office people  got an earful from him, he pulled the bad stationary and got new cards. The calls pretty much stopped.


Real Estate
We were one digit different. Usually giving the correct number solved the problem.


One day Mom called me at work and ordered me to get off the internet. (We later realized mom had had some mini strokes). I used my laptop with my dial up at the museum (ISP knew and was fine with it) Mom insisted that I was somehow tying up her line because it made that same noise every time someone called.


I told my boss what was going on, since it was slow he said go check on mom. When I got there I realized it was a fax machine calling. I called the realtor and told them what was happening, so if someone was expecting a fax they should contact that person. They said they would post a number by the fax machine.


Then I called the phone company (this is between fax calls). They told me I could knock the fax machine off auto call by dialing #9876543210. I did that and got an irate phone call from the Realtor that was faxing. He was going to sue my $*#(*#$U&% off if his clients lost the house they were trying to bid on. He had been faxing all day and I broke his fax.


I told him I would testify against him for his clients because he had dialing a private home for several hours. CLICK. The Realtor with a similar number called and apologized to my Mom, even though it was totally the other guy's fault. Seriously who faxes something for HOURS without checking the number or calling to confirm the number.

[Piratelvr1121]

I've also had people calling my cell # trying to reach a guy and first it was one company from an 800 # who kept calling until I finally said "LOOK! He's not at this number anymore, I was given this number when I signed up with my service, I have no idea who this guy is, please take this number off your list of contacts for him!"

I got no more calls.  Then I started getting calls from a # listed as unavailable at least 2 times a day. I finally got sick of it and answered it one day (I usually avoid calls from "unavailable" numbers) and the guy was very nice and said he'd take our number off and I haven't gotten a call since.

[PeterM]

Change your voicemail message to "If you are trying to reach CellPhone Provider, you have reached a wrong number.  Their number is _____.  If you want to talk to Bansidhe, please leave a message."

This will not work. Unless cellphone customers are smarter than newspaper subscribers, who responded to such a message on my friend's phone by repeatedly leaving messages to the effect of, "Uh, is this the Boston Globe? I want to cancel my subscription?"

[Catananche]

The local tennis club had put an ad in the paper with my parents phone number on it. Their number was almost the same as my parents number and they made a mistake. People tried to book tennis courts All.Day.Long. It was very annoying and my dad contacted the tennis club to tell them about it. They told him that it was too bad, but the ad was going to run for another three weeks and they weren't going to pay for changing the ad. My dad asked them again to reconsider that because it was really bothersome for us to field those calls and redirect all those people to them. They laughed and hung up on my dad.
My dad started telling everyone that they could have the court they wanted, at their preferred time and for as long as they wanted.

The ad was changed in the next issue of the paper. I suspect the resulting chaos was too much to handle.

The thing that drives me up the wall: my kids inability to replace something they finished. I hate finding empty loo rolls, empty toothpaste tubes, empty cereal boxes etc. Bonus points if they leave just enough cereal in the box that they can claim it's not empty, but it's not enough to even fill the bottom on a small coffee cup. They just can't be bothered, I guess.

[Martienne]

The thing that drives me up the wall: my kids inability to replace something they finished. I hate finding empty loo rolls, empty toothpaste tubes, empty cereal boxes etc. Bonus points if they leave just enough cereal in the box that they can claim it's not empty, but it's not enough to even fill the bottom on a small coffee cup. They just can't be bothered, I guess.

Grr, I know just what you mean. Mine seem unable to work a screw-on top, too. They'll just set the lid on top of the peanut butter or whatever and when the next person goes to pick the jar up they get a lid in their hand. Usually the jar sticks inside the lid just long enough to fall on the floor. So aggravating.

[alkira6]

The thing that drives me up the wall: my kids inability to replace something they finished. I hate finding empty loo rolls, empty toothpaste tubes, empty cereal boxes etc. Bonus points if they leave just enough cereal in the box that they can claim it's not empty, but it's not enough to even fill the bottom on a small coffee cup. They just can't be bothered, I guess.

Grr, I know just what you mean. Mine seem unable to work a screw-on top, too. They'll just set the lid on top of the peanut butter or whatever and when the next person goes to pick the jar up they get a lid in their hand. Usually the jar sticks inside the lid just long enough to fall on the floor. So aggravating.

  It's just me and my husband, but I finally got tired of him doing stuff like this and fixed his little red wagon but good.  The guest bathroom was declared his - no tp, not my problem, no toothpaste, not my issue. He learned.  We eat different cereals, so I just started checking the cabinet to see if there was a box on the shelf.  Box on the shelf = no new cereal being bought.  He learned.  Lather, rinse, repeat for other problems. He learned.

[siamesecat2965]

Change your voicemail message to "If you are trying to reach CellPhone Provider, you have reached a wrong number.  Their number is _____.  If you want to talk to Bansidhe, please leave a message."

This will not work. Unless cellphone customers are smarter than newspaper subscribers, who responded to such a message on my friend's phone by repeatedly leaving messages to the effect of, "Uh, is this the Boston Globe? I want to cancel my subscription?"

and in my case, i did this, but the calls were automated, so while it may have deterred live callers for this other person, if its automated, it won't.  they just leave a mesasge.  which garbles her name so badly I can't make out the last name. 

[siamesecat2965]

The thing that drives me up the wall: my kids inability to replace something they finished. I hate finding empty loo rolls, empty toothpaste tubes, empty cereal boxes etc. Bonus points if they leave just enough cereal in the box that they can claim it's not empty, but it's not enough to even fill the bottom on a small coffee cup. They just can't be bothered, I guess.

Grr, I know just what you mean. Mine seem unable to work a screw-on top, too. They'll just set the lid on top of the peanut butter or whatever and when the next person goes to pick the jar up they get a lid in their hand. Usually the jar sticks inside the lid just long enough to fall on the floor. So aggravating.

  It's just me and my husband, but I finally got tired of him doing stuff like this and fixed his little red wagon but good.  The guest bathroom was declared his - no tp, not my problem, no toothpaste, not my issue. He learned.  We eat different cereals, so I just started checking the cabinet to see if there was a box on the shelf.  Box on the shelf = no new cereal being bought.  He learned.  Lather, rinse, repeat for other problems. He learned.

My friend did this with her ex DH, when they were newly married. She told him, I iwll do the laundry, but YOU have to make sure its in the hamper.  No exceptions. well, he seemed to think on the floor next to the hamper was good enough, and soon found out, when he ran out of clean socks and undies, that it was not! He then began to put it all in the hamper, and everyone was happy.

[Piratelvr1121]

The thing that drives me up the wall: my kids inability to replace something they finished. I hate finding empty loo rolls, empty toothpaste tubes, empty cereal boxes etc. Bonus points if they leave just enough cereal in the box that they can claim it's not empty, but it's not enough to even fill the bottom on a small coffee cup. They just can't be bothered, I guess.

Grr, I know just what you mean. Mine seem unable to work a screw-on top, too. They'll just set the lid on top of the peanut butter or whatever and when the next person goes to pick the jar up they get a lid in their hand. Usually the jar sticks inside the lid just long enough to fall on the floor. So aggravating.

We must all have the same kids.  Mine drive me bananas because they will leave an empty box in the pantry of either their cereal or their school snacks.  And my middle child will use all but the last cube in the tray so that he doesn't have to refill it.  GRRRR.

[Irishkitty]

The local tennis club had put an ad in the paper with my parents phone number on it. Their number was almost the same as my parents number and they made a mistake. People tried to book tennis courts All.Day.Long. It was very annoying and my dad contacted the tennis club to tell them about it. They told him that it was too bad, but the ad was going to run for another three weeks and they weren't going to pay for changing the ad. My dad asked them again to reconsider that because it was really bothersome for us to field those calls and redirect all those people to them. They laughed and hung up on my dad.
My dad started telling everyone that they could have the court they wanted, at their preferred time and for as long as they wanted.

The ad was changed in the next issue of the paper. I suspect the resulting chaos was too much to handle.

Sounds like what my Dad would have done in the same circumstances. Good for him! I mean, seriously, how were they going to gain a return from advertising if they didn't have the correct details?

[2littlemonkeys]

I guess none of those kids has been bitten by a goose. That hurts, and there's a reason for the term goosing - they tend to go for the groin. It leaves a lasting impression, and I'm not just talking about the huge purple bruise it leaves.

THIS!  When I was a kid, we kept geese and one day, one of the kids I hung out with decided to chase them.  We told him to knock it off but he wouldn't.  One of them got sick of his abuse and let him have it.  The contact was in the upper thigh and he never did that again.  And fortunately, his mom told him he had it coming, what on Earth did he think was going to happen?

[GreenEyedHawk]

I guess none of those kids has been bitten by a goose. That hurts, and there's a reason for the term goosing - they tend to go for the groin. It leaves a lasting impression, and I'm not just talking about the huge purple bruise it leaves.

THIS!  When I was a kid, we kept geese and one day, one of the kids I hung out with decided to chase them.  We told him to knock it off but he wouldn't.  One of them got sick of his abuse and let him have it.  The contact was in the upper thigh and he never did that again.  And fortunately, his mom told him he had it coming, what on Earth did he think was going to happen?

When I was in Stirling, I saw a kid get attacked by a swan.  I think  swans may be the only birds on earth meaner than geese.  The kid started out throwing pieces of bread for the swan, which was fine.  Then eh was throwing whole pieces of bread to it.  Then he was throwing whole pieces of b read AT it.  Then he threw rocks at it, and by then the swan had had enough of this kid's shenanigans and went after him, gronking and flapping six ways from Sunday.  I felt sort of bad for the kid, but in a way not at all. 

[Venus193]

I hope he learned his lesson.

I hate when a internet message board discussions turn nasty and people hurl insults at each other.  It's been happening with alarming frequency lately on some movie and TV boards I'm active on and I am losing my enjoyment for them.

[Pinky830]

The local tennis club had put an ad in the paper with my parents phone number on it. Their number was almost the same as my parents number and they made a mistake. People tried to book tennis courts All.Day.Long. It was very annoying and my dad contacted the tennis club to tell them about it. They told him that it was too bad, but the ad was going to run for another three weeks and they weren't going to pay for changing the ad. My dad asked them again to reconsider that because it was really bothersome for us to field those calls and redirect all those people to them. They laughed and hung up on my dad.
My dad started telling everyone that they could have the court they wanted, at their preferred time and for as long as they wanted.

The ad was changed in the next issue of the paper. I suspect the resulting chaos was too much to handle.

Sounds like what my Dad would have done in the same circumstances. Good for him! I mean, seriously, how were they going to gain a return from advertising if they didn't have the correct details?

There was a famous incident like this involving Mike Royko, the newspaper columnist. Of all people. AT&T's 800 customer service number was the same as Royko's office number, if you dialed the Chicago area code instead of 1-800. He got so many calls for AT&T he called them and asked them to change it. They wouldn't do it. He said he'd had the number first. Still wouldn't do it.

He wrote a column about it, and let everyone know that he had taken to answering these calls as if he was AT&T. He was hilarously, over-the-top obnoxious to his callers. AT&T still wouldn't change the number, but they took out a full-page ad in the Chicago newspaper reminding people to use 1-800, "and please, don't call Mr. Royko."

[Elfmama]

When a restaurant advertises "fresh-brewed tea" and it's nothing of the sort.   
"Fresh-brewed" does not mean "mixed the instant tea with water just this morning."