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

[elephantschild]

Sigh. My parents. I love them, but this drives me bonkers.

They waffle. We'll call them up and ask them something: "Do you want to do this with us on X day?" "Can you watch the boys on Y day?" "You mentioned getting this for DS for Christmas. We found a neat one for a good price. Do you want us to get it for you?"

The last one happened this weekend. My parents had mentioned getting DS1 a certain item for Christmas. (The boy is just very difficult to buy for ... ) We had had the same thought, but bowed out so my parents could do so. Then they changed their minds and were going to do something else. At this point we had mostly finished our shopping (especially "main" items), so we figured he just wouldn't get it. That's OK. An idea for next time.

Then DH and I were shopping this weekend and saw the item. On clearance. For a fantastic price. And it was a particular variety that we hadn't known existed, that DS would particularly love. I called my mom and asked, just to be positive, if they were sure they didn't want to get it for him. (We would have picked it up and we would have paid them back.)

Mom: "Oh. I don't know. We're thinking 'this' and 'this.' And maybe 'this.' " (hems and haws and does not seem very interested)

So I say, well, no worries, and end the call. Then we find an additional present for DS2, something that again we didn't know existed, and really want to get it for him. This evens things up for the boys. We decide that, hey, Santa will be generous this year.   (We do not go overboard with presents. The boys get 2-3 and stockings. This makes it 4. Huzzah.)

I'm talking to Mom later and tell her we got DS2 something extra too, so it nicely evens up. And she's disappointed. "Oh. I thought we were going to give that to him."

   Uh, you waffled until we just found a way to do it ourselves. You never once said, "Yes" even conditionally ... or things would have been different. I'm not a mind-reader.

It happens with other things too. They'll waffle on plans, so we'll make other plans. And then discover they made arrangements to do it after all.     And are upset/disappointed that we're now doing something else. "But you asked us to do X ..." 

I love them. But ... ugh.

[ladyknight1]

People who use the word "flu" to describe any illness. I just got back from the ER, being rehydrated after a severe bout of gastroenteritis. The nurse kept talking about me having the flu. Um, no, the flu is a viral respiratory illness; what I have is definitely not that!

This! I am constantly hearing about some magical "stomach flu". This illness spreads among groups very quickly and has nothing to do with the respiratory system! My mom blames any digestive or intestinal discomfort on the "stomach flu". She has stopped talking to me about it, because I automatically correct her and remind her it might be a GI bug, not the flu.

[Hollanda]

We don't say stomach flu here in the UK. It would drive me mad too!

[laud_shy_girl]

We don't say stomach flu here in the UK. It would drive me mad too!

I'm in the UK and I am familiar with "Stomach Flu" as a term for GI.

I POD the random use of Flu for everything. When people say they have the flu and what they have is a cold.
No, if your nose is running and you have a bit of a ticklish throat and that is all, that is not flu.

People who get headaches and call them Migraines also drive me Bat poo. I get migraines.
You have a head ache and from the way you describe it not even a bad one. 

[ladyknight1]

Migraines too. I get them, and have since I was ten years old. My son is starting to get them, and people who have never had a vision-altering, sound-amplifying, dizzying, crippling migraine can't relate. It drives me up the wall when people belittle how others feel about whatever troubles them.

[mmswm]

Two piece toilets.  They suck.  Besides the fact that toilet bolts are almost always rusted so they must be cut off, there's NO ROOM under the bowl to get a wrench in comfortably.  Also, the fact that I'm about as far away as you can get (and still be in the continuous US) from my father, who owns ever tool known to man, so I couldn't just borrow a nifty tool that would have made the job easier, made me very grumpy, because I KNOW there's tools that I don't own that would have made my life a lot less aggravating.  Have you ever tried to cut through a bolt with a hack saw blade?  It's not fun.  An angle grinder would have been much better.  Also, my dad has these neat ratcheting combination wrenches that are bent at a 45 degree angle that I don't have, and it would have been far easier to get the new nuts tightened back on.

In good news, the toilet no longer leaks (the gasket between the tank and the bowl went bad, in case you're wondering.)

[hobish]

People who are always early. Especially people who are always early and then trot out that old, "People who are late think their time is more important." Um, yeah, well, if you are showing up at my house a half hour earlier than you should be what in holy heck do you think you are conveying, smartypants??  It's certainly not that my time is important, is it? No. It is not. Shut up. And go away for 30 minutes. And if you dare say, "On time is late" we may not be able to stay friends ... because i will have killed you and buried you in the front yard.

On the trite phrases, "People who curse have no imagination." Um, no. People who say that have no imagination. #$@% off. 

[ladyknight1]

I have to admit that I don't care for cursing, and don't allow it around my son. Unfortunately, my MIL curses nearly constantly and thinks she is amusing when she does it. In her case, it is her first response to any new situation. I wouldn't say anything to a stranger cursing in public, I would just excuse myself.

[nuit93]

People who are always early. Especially people who are always early and then trot out that old, "People who are late think their time is more important." Um, yeah, well, if you are showing up at my house a half hour earlier than you should be what in holy heck do you think you are conveying, smartypants??  It's certainly not that my time is important, is it? No. It is not. Shut up. And go away for 30 minutes. And if you dare say, "On time is late" we may not be able to stay friends ... because i will have killed you and buried you in the front yard.

On the trite phrases, "People who curse have no imagination." Um, no. People who say that have no imagination. #$@% off. 

While there are situations where showing up early is a positive thing, socializing is not necessarily one of them.  If I'm going to someone's house, I don't want to be standing around while they finish cleaning house or whatever they're doing.  Since I pretty much am always early I usually sit in my car and read until it's time to actually be wherever I'm supposed to be.

[Diane AKA Traska]

On the trite phrases, "People who curse have no imagination." Um, no. People who say that have no imagination. #$@% off. 

George Carlin was a foul mouthed SOB, and he was also one of the cleverest people I've ever heard of.  I would dare anyone to say that he had an underutilized vocabulary.

[Venus193]

True, but I always had to tune out the scatology because it so clashed with his brilliant social commentary.

[Elfmama]

Migraines too. I get them, and have since I was ten years old. My son is starting to get them, and people who have never had a vision-altering, sound-amplifying, dizzying, crippling migraine can't relate. It drives me up the wall when people belittle how others feel about whatever troubles them.

+11 million.  "Well, when *I* get a headache, I just take a couple of aspirin and get on with my day.  Why do *you* have to go lie down in a dark room?" That was MIL's favorite line, as if I was pretending to feel sledgehammers on my skull and someone squeezing my eyes in a vise. 

[ladyknight1]

Migraines too. I get them, and have since I was ten years old. My son is starting to get them, and people who have never had a vision-altering, sound-amplifying, dizzying, crippling migraine can't relate. It drives me up the wall when people belittle how others feel about whatever troubles them.

+11 million.  "Well, when *I* get a headache, I just take a couple of aspirin and get on with my day.  Why do *you* have to go lie down in a dark room?" That was MIL's favorite line, as if I was pretending to feel sledgehammers on my skull and someone squeezing my eyes in a vise. 

My sister has them even worse than I do. My MIL has a very bad habit of making it sound like everyone is a hypochondriac, and her sister ends up at the ER because of her migraines. Very unfair to others.

[Elfmama]

Y

Migraines too. I get them, and have since I was ten years old. My son is starting to get them, and people who have never had a vision-altering, sound-amplifying, dizzying, crippling migraine can't relate. It drives me up the wall when people belittle how others feel about whatever troubles them.

+11 million.  "Well, when *I* get a headache, I just take a couple of aspirin and get on with my day.  Why do *you* have to go lie down in a dark room?" That was MIL's favorite line, as if I was pretending to feel sledgehammers on my skull and someone squeezing my eyes in a vise. 

My sister has them even worse than I do. My MIL has a very bad habit of making it sound like everyone is a hypochondriac, and her sister ends up at the ER because of her migraines. Very unfair to others.

I've been to the ER/doctor's office for mine a time or two.  Demerol in the old days, sumatriptan injections now.  Sumatriptan...now there's a cure that is ALMOST worse than the illness!  It replaces Sledgehammer Guy with Belt-sander Guy.  Last time was in April, and I had to insist on injection, not pills.  I was already in the hospital after a car accident. (Nothing broken or really injured, just mystery chest pains.) And like many migraineurs, I KNOW when one is developing, and I know that sumatriptan pills need to be taken at the very beginning to be effective. Some bean counter decided that pills administered 2 hours later would be sufficient.  Not a snowball's chance in the Hot Place!  After another 2 or 3 pain-filled hours, they finally agreed to give me the injection.  I'm afraid that I was "that patient".  First the nurse tried to give me another pill.  "NO.  NO PILLS. SHOT."  About the only coherent words I could get out.  DH was there by that time to explain and do some butt-chewing, because there was no excuse for the delay.  Not a little thing at all!

[Redsoil]

People who are always early. Especially people who are always early and then trot out that old, "People who are late think their time is more important." Um, yeah, well, if you are showing up at my house a half hour earlier than you should be what in holy heck do you think you are conveying, smartypants??  It's certainly not that my time is important, is it? No. It is not. Shut up. And go away for 30 minutes. And if you dare say, "On time is late" we may not be able to stay friends ... because i will have killed you and buried you in the front yard.

On the trite phrases, "People who curse have no imagination." Um, no. People who say that have no imagination. #$@% off. 

I think I love you, Hobish!  (Wanna come and talk to some of our patients?  Half hour early, hour early, IN THE LUNCH BREAK early by half an hour...  and then "Oh, but I don't mind, I'll just relax here.  Unless you can get me in early???  *Hopeful grin*  And then they don't relax, they talk my ear off when I'm trying to get work done, or trying to have lunch*.)

*Yes, we have started locking the door.  Results have been mixed.