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

[Bexx27]

I can't help with the washer, but.....

I've never met a modern refrigerator with a full width door that you can't reverse the opening side.  Since it is brand new, the guys who installed it should have done it.  Since they didn't, if you look at the top and bottom edges, there should be a place for the hinges on the opposite side from where they are now.  If there is, probably with little plastic plugs in them, then all it should take are some tools and a little patience.  We did our old fridge when we moved it up to our cabin.  It took a phillips screwdriver and about 15 minutes.  Good luck!

Thank you! I will have to nag DH to try that!

[PeterM]

I can't help with the washer, but.....

I've never met a modern refrigerator with a full width door that you can't reverse the opening side.  Since it is brand new, the guys who installed it should have done it.  Since they didn't, if you look at the top and bottom edges, there should be a place for the hinges on the opposite side from where they are now.  If there is, probably with little plastic plugs in them, then all it should take are some tools and a little patience.  We did our old fridge when we moved it up to our cabin.  It took a phillips screwdriver and about 15 minutes.  Good luck!

My thought, too. My family's fridge always opened in a way that we were used to but that annoyed the snot out of my uncle, who only visits infrequently. One time during a big family gathering my mother and I went to the store and when we got back discovered that my uncle had talked my father into reversing the door. There was much beer involved in the gathering, and even more involved in the "fixing" of the door, so it took more than fifteen minutes, but it was easy enough. Though it was a bit disconcerting to come home to find the door off the fridge, food stacked everywhere and two drunk brothers working furiously to solve something that wasn't actually a problem.

[2littlemonkeys]

People who whine they are broke and really need extra money, but then refuse/make excuses not to work voluntary extra shifts or overtime.

This also applies to people who whine they don't have food or gas money, but just spent big bucks on fancy new gaming system/$300 shoes/super vacation and any other luxury item to be thought of.

I had a friend like that.  She would complain about how expensive things were and would always leave an embarrassingly small tip (I would throw in extra).  After a few times of her going out and complaining about not having much money, I was surprised to hear her mention something about her weekly manicure and how she and her DH like to go to the casino (and always seem to lose several hundred dollars when they go). 

I also hate putting the fitted sheets on DD's crib.  It is at the lowest setting now and because of safety issues the mattress is fitted very close to the edge of the crib.  It seems to pop off several times when I pull it to the other side and I always pinch my fingers.  It's even worse when DH isn't around to distract DD because she is in the room crying because I am not paying attention to her and getting in the way.

I still have a few pages to go, so please forgive me if this has been mentioned.  Since those mattresses are so light, I wound up just taking the whole thing out of the crib, putting sheets on it and then sliding it back in.  I also put a few layers on it (WP mattress pad, sheet, WP mattress pad, sheet) so if there was a leak or someone got sick, I wasn't wrestling with the thing in the middle of the night. 

[Snooks]

Also, what kind of crappy refrigerator only lasts 7 years? My parents' bottom of the line refrigerator from when they moved into their house 25 years ago still works perfectly.

On top of that, our smoke detector decided to join the party and start chirping - in the middle of the night, of course. Replacing the battery didn't help and the smoke detector is obviously old and falling apart (there's even a little sticker inside that says to replace it by 2012), so we'll have to get a new one of those, too, and figure out how to install the thing.

Why must all my things fall apart at once???

Our oven element dies once a year.  I hate that oven.

[Harriet Jones]

We always have some sort of house "emergency" right before someone visits for an overnight stay, usually involving plumbing repairs or purchasing a new appliance.

[Pippen]

People tippy tappying away on their phone and laughing like you want them to ask what is so amusing and when you do they say 'oh nothing' and if you don't ask them because you really have no interest in the content of their personal text messages they get all huffy. What is with that?

[bansidhe]

close it again to walk back around to the counter on the right (because our kitchen is So we still have no washer and will have to buy one that's the same as the old model, which we didn't want to do because what kind of crappy washer only lasts 7 years?

Mine made it five years - and the last three were highly annoying. Toward the end, I threatened several times to load the thing into the car, drive it to the top of Mt. Lemon, and throw it off. We replaced it just a few weeks ago. Never buying that brand again!

People tippy tappying away on their phone and laughing like you want them to ask what is so amusing and when you do they say 'oh nothing' and if you don't ask them because you really have no interest in the content of their personal text messages they get all huffy. What is with that?

I had a co-worker who would pull something like that, minus the phone tapping. At least once day, while everyone was quietly working, she would either:
- start laughing loudly, in a very obvious "Someone ask me what's so funny!" way and keep at it until someone asked her, or
- loudly and dramatically draw in her breath in a gasp, again waiting for someone to ask her what was wrong.

All in all she was a good person and a good worker, but that one habit was so manipulative and annoying.

[Kendo_Bunny]

The phrase "That looks like it hurts". How are you supposed to respond to that?

I just got a wisdom tooth out today, so half my face is swollen, and there's a little coating of blood in the corner of my mouth. Add that to the fact that I can barely open my mouth, and "That looks like it hurts". No, it doesn't at all! I would look this way all the time if I could just figure out how!

Perhaps pain is making me snarky.

[BabyMama]

I've been working on a project at work with a coworker. Coworker is inexperienced, but won't take the time to do things correctly, so I'm having to step in and take things over, which I know is not going to go well. One of the main irritants for me is that Coworker keeps telling me she has no time for this project--that she volunteered for.

I have a really, really hard time saying, "Yes, I can see how it would be hard to find time when you're not working a full 40 hours a week (her choice), eat lunch and take two walks with your friends every day, and go on frequent afternoon breaks that involve driving to the coffee shop." But I don't, because we're generally civil and friendlike, and it wouldn't do any good anyhow.

Today most of the office went to lunch to celebrate another coworker's milestone. I had been looking forward to it all week, but had way too much to do in re: to the project with Coworker, so ate at my desk while working to meet deadlines. The lunch gathering lasted an hour and 45 minutes. If I hear, "I don't have time" tomorrow, I may flip out...

[TootsNYC]

Speaking of Christmas, how about when you think you're so smart and organized by buying your Christmas cards for the next year right after Christmas, only to go looking for them in November, and they're as gone as the crew of the Mary Celeste? 

Guihong, do this: Create an Excel spreadsheet labeled "Christmas 20__" or whatever title makes sense to you. The first column would be titled "Item," the second "Type," (meaning gift for someone, gift material like paper or cards,  and the third "Location." You can also add date, price, or any other information you need. Then when you bring home cards or wrap you pick up immediately after the holiday make a note. And use it for where you put your decorating stuff too. It would read like this:

ITEM                          TYPE                      RECIPIENT                   LOCATION
Tree lights                  White                     N/A                              Garage closet #4, box with blue tape
Cards                         Greetings                N/A                              Hall closet in bottom box
Baseball bat                Gift                        Jennifer                        Guest bedroom on top shelf

If you are sufficiently organized this will not only make things easier but give you an extra incentive to put everything in a specific location after you are done with it. Good luck!             

that's too complicated!

Just buy your 2013 calendar in November, and then write all this stuff in the space at the top of the December calendar (OK, maybe not "baseball bat," in case Jennifer looks at the calendar)

Or, even better, put the cards in w/ "the Christmas stuff."

[ladyknight1]

We always have some sort of house "emergency" right before someone visits for an overnight stay, usually involving plumbing repairs or purchasing a new appliance.

DH always has a health or fitness emergency when there is a vacation near. This has happened for 18 years!

[Diane AKA Traska]

Not strictly a "little" thing, but... hearing gunfire.  Receding into the distance.  On a Friday morning.

We *really* need to get out of here...

[kitelady1870]

Not strictly a "little" thing, but... hearing gunfire.  Receding into the distance.  On a Friday morning.

We *really* need to get out of here...

I'd help you pack but you're a bit away from me I think.

My thing is having my complex's maintenance crew outside of my bedroom window at 8 am on the one day a week I can sleep in.

[Diane AKA Traska]

Not strictly a "little" thing, but... hearing gunfire.  Receding into the distance.  On a Friday morning.

We *really* need to get out of here...

I'd help you pack but you're a bit away from me I think.

My thing is having my complex's maintenance crew outside of my bedroom window at 8 am on the one day a week I can sleep in.

Ooh, yeah.  We had jackhammers yesterday, but thankfully they started at 9.

[ladyknight1]

Not strictly a "little" thing, but... hearing gunfire.  Receding into the distance.  On a Friday morning.

We *really* need to get out of here...

When we go volunteer at the Scout camp near us, we hear gunshots at night in the national forest a few miles away. When it isn't hunting season, and all of the camp property is posted "no hunting, no fishing, no trespassing". I agree that it is scary.