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

[Venus193]

How about this:  At 2 this afternoon I saw a guy on 7th Avenue in a nylon windbreaker, shorts, and bare legs.  I wonder if he was the same fool I saw running in sweats and a hoodie on Astor Place during the heat wave of 2006.

[Julia Mercer]

The trouble is, if I am not angry but someone says "don't be angry", that in itself makes me angry!  Then I can't win, because as far as they are concerned they are right.

YES! This drives me insane. "chill out" applies as well.

"Now, don't get mad, but..." was one of Mom's *favorite* buttons.

My moms was "simmer down" with the hiss on the letter s. What did I look like, a fry pan on the stove or something, lol!

[Adelaide]

Now that I live up north my relatives are freaking out about all of the 5" of snow on the ground. They keep calling me and saying "Oh, that's unfortunate, you must be hunkered down, don't get out and try to drive." 

I know they've heard of snowplows and salting the roads before. I guess they just assume everything in the north has to stop when snow hits the ground?

[stitchygreyanonymouse]

Now that I live up north my relatives are freaking out about all of the 5" of snow on the ground. They keep calling me and saying "Oh, that's unfortunate, you must be hunkered down, don't get out and try to drive." 

I know they've heard of snowplows and salting the roads before. I guess they just assume everything in the north has to stop when snow hits the ground?

Mine do that too. Not that I like driving in snow, but it has to be pretty bad before our plows and salt trucks can’t keep the main roads clean.

ETA: I still find it amazing how much snow it takes to close down schools here. Back home in KC, it seems an inch will get you a snow day sometimes. Less in the Lake of the Ozarks area where my sisters went to school. Here, that’s just an annoyance / fun thing to play in while waiting for the bus.

[mmswm]

Now that I live up north my relatives are freaking out about all of the 5" of snow on the ground. They keep calling me and saying "Oh, that's unfortunate, you must be hunkered down, don't get out and try to drive." 

I know they've heard of snowplows and salting the roads before. I guess they just assume everything in the north has to stop when snow hits the ground?

Mine do that too. Not that I like driving in snow, but it has to be pretty bad before our plows and salt trucks can’t keep the main roads clean.

ETA: I still find it amazing how much snow it takes to close down schools here. Back home in KC, it seems an inch will get you a snow day sometimes. Less in the Lake of the Ozarks area where my sisters went to school. Here, that’s just an annoyance / fun thing to play in while waiting for the bus.

Mine did the same thing during the years I lived in North Dakota.  They were horrified the first year after I posted pictures of my children getting on the school bus with a substantial amount of snow on the ground and  more coming down...quickly.  Fargo, however, has some of the best road crews on the planet.  They are really one of the best, most dedicated group of people I've ever met, and that includes most of the cops and firefighters I know.  During one blizzard (the second one in as many days) these guys were out plowing the street in front of my complex in 60mph winds, every half hour because that street had a curve on it and the road kept getting clogged with snow.  The driver and two auxiliary people stayed out there all night directing traffic and plowing the road so everybody who lived down that road could get home. About midnight, I walked out with coffee and cookies for them to thank them for their hard work. I've never seen Fargo shut down, and the only time I remember them delaying school was because of the temperature.  They had to wait for it to get warm enough for the buses to start.

[Cami]

How about this:  At 2 this afternoon I saw a guy on 7th Avenue in a nylon windbreaker, shorts, and bare legs.  I wonder if he was the same fool I saw running in sweats and a hoodie on Astor Place during the heat wave of 2006.

Last summer we were having a ridiculous heat wave here -- over 100 degrees and 90+% humidity. You couldn't turn on any media without warnings about heat stroke, heat exhaustion, etc. Every single day at lunch time -- i.e. middle of day, super duper hot -- I'd go home for lunch and see Ms. Ponytail out there jogging. Ffwd 6 months and we have a blizzard that overwhelmed the snow crews and the next day, the roads are still a mess and people are told to stay home except for emergencies. We had to go out to get some medicine at night and lo and behold, who do I see jogging down the road? The ICY, snow-covered roads? At night? Wearing black? And nothing reflective? Yes, Ms. Ponytail.  I sincerely wonder why she's still alive.

[Emmy]

Another thing. When people try to talk you into something and don't take "we can't afford it" for an answer. It's like to them "can't afford it" means "I'm too cheap to splurge".  The same couple, the CG buddy and his wife, go to Disney World so often that they purchased some sort of membership or something which means they get great deals and apparently even own a square foot of the whole park or something, I don't remember.  She said "Oh you and your DH should get it!"

I told her "Well it sounds nice but we can't afford it."  "But it's a great deal! You get this and this and this!" I gently said "Hon, do you remember my husband lost his job earlier this year and just started a new one? Now is not the time for us to be buying theme park memberships when it's going to be a challenge to afford Christmas presents." She dropped it.

I think trying to talk anybody into buying anything after they say 'no' would drive me crazy.  I don't feel I should have to explain why I choose not to buy something.  Even if I can technically afford something, it doesn't mean I am 'cheap' if I choose not to spend money on an item I don't particularly wish to purchase.

Oh I agree!  There are many things people I know spend money on, that I could care less about. And there are things I'm ok on splurging on, once in a while, that others have no use for. For example, I had a former CW try and convince me every day to get an iphone. Nope, sorry, not going to happen. Its not the cost of the phone, but the service! I barely use my phone, really have it more for emergencies, etc. and the fact I drive alone 8 hours to my mom's. So I have a nice prepaid smart phone I pay $25a month for, where the same service with a big carrier, would cost me about $100.

I also am cheap about cars. mine is 11 years old, but still chugging away. I plan on dirving it into the ground, but my limit for a new one is 20K or under. Yet I still have people saying "how about this one or that one" when it comes up in conversation. Nope, sorry, while i have no issue with others paying a lot more for something nicier and fancier than what I'm willing to get, I just can't bring myself to do it.

This happened again.  I went maternity shopping with some of my female in-laws.  I saw a dress I really liked, but the only one we could find was size XL and I am a size M.  They convinced me to try it on, and as expected it was way too big.  It was a sleeveless dress and the area under the arms had a huge gap.  I showed it to them told them it was way too big and I did not wish to purchase it and they starting arguing that it looked great and I could just keep my arms by my side.    So basically, they thought I should just buy the dress and not move or lift my arms in it.  I didn't buy that dress.

[twiggy]

Now that I live up north my relatives are freaking out about all of the 5" of snow on the ground. They keep calling me and saying "Oh, that's unfortunate, you must be hunkered down, don't get out and try to drive." 

I know they've heard of snowplows and salting the roads before. I guess they just assume everything in the north has to stop when snow hits the ground?

Mine do that too. Not that I like driving in snow, but it has to be pretty bad before our plows and salt trucks can’t keep the main roads clean.

ETA: I still find it amazing how much snow it takes to close down schools here. Back home in KC, it seems an inch will get you a snow day sometimes. Less in the Lake of the Ozarks area where my sisters went to school. Here, that’s just an annoyance / fun thing to play in while waiting for the bus.

Mine did the same thing during the years I lived in North Dakota.  They were horrified the first year after I posted pictures of my children getting on the school bus with a substantial amount of snow on the ground and  more coming down...quickly.  Fargo, however, has some of the best road crews on the planet.  They are really one of the best, most dedicated group of people I've ever met, and that includes most of the cops and firefighters I know.  During one blizzard (the second one in as many days) these guys were out plowing the street in front of my complex in 60mph winds, every half hour because that street had a curve on it and the road kept getting clogged with snow.  The driver and two auxiliary people stayed out there all night directing traffic and plowing the road so everybody who lived down that road could get home. About midnight, I walked out with coffee and cookies for them to thank them for their hard work. I've never seen Fargo shut down, and the only time I remember them delaying school was because of the temperature.  They had to wait for it to get warm enough for the buses to start.

I'm on the other side of that. I live in a desert. We don't get much rain, and I've never seen it snow here. I actually have a tomato plant in my front yard that has made it through this winter. Over the Christmas break, I wanted to take the kids on a day trip to the mountains to visit a deer farm. It's a petting zoo where they have tame deer that you can feed, reindeer, llamas, etc. I had been looking forward to the trip, but the night before we were supposed to go, the forecast said there was a 40% chance of snow. Since we're not used to driving in the snow, or on icy roads, and our kids don't have heavy, snowy weather coats, (they do have big, thick jackets, but not waterproof, so no good for snow) DH and I decided not to go. This came up in conversation with MIL and SIL who could not believe that we would call off our trip for a measly 40% chance of snow. They went to the zoo with 3 inches of snow on the ground, etc. The difference is that they get a lot of snow, every single year. They have appropriate snow clothing, and experience driving in snowy/icy conditions.

[Piratelvr1121]

About a week ago I got a smartphone and installed the pinterest app, which a friend suggested would be great for pulling up recipes at the store so I could get the ingredients.

That would be great but for some reason, most stores around here only have a half decent signal at the front of the building which is convenient if the area where the ingredients are is further back. I couldn't pull a recipe up and came home without what I needed.

[Emmy]

Some friends and I were planning a girls' night out.  Everyone in the group is busy with jobs, kids, ect.  So we planned a date, one person M asked to have it changed because she couldn't make the original date.  Fine, so we have a new date, things were set up a few weeks in advance.  Now the date arrived and several people can't make it including M who requested that particular date.  Now there are suggestions of completely changing the time and the day, which of course will make it less convenient or impossible for me.

[Elfmama]

Some friends and I were planning a girls' night out.  Everyone in the group is busy with jobs, kids, ect.  So we planned a date, one person M asked to have it changed because she couldn't make the original date.  Fine, so we have a new date, things were set up a few weeks in advance.  Now the date arrived and several people can't make it including M who requested that particular date.  Now there are suggestions of completely changing the time and the day, which of course will make it less convenient or impossible for me.

If you're working with a large group, you just can't please everyone every time. Set the date that the most people can make, and don't cater to people like M who want to change it every time.  If it was really important to M and she  knew about it for weeks, she wouldn't have chosen to do something else that day. (She gets a pass if the "something else" was the flu or unexpected workload or some other unforeseen reason.)

[Cami]

Some friends and I were planning a girls' night out.  Everyone in the group is busy with jobs, kids, ect.  So we planned a date, one person M asked to have it changed because she couldn't make the original date.  Fine, so we have a new date, things were set up a few weeks in advance.  Now the date arrived and several people can't make it including M who requested that particular date.  Now there are suggestions of completely changing the time and the day, which of course will make it less convenient or impossible for me.

One lesson I've learned is that Every. Single. Time someone requests a date change, that person will never show up on the new date. So I've stopped changing dates once they're set. My attitude now is  that it's your choice to make the date or not.

[Luci45]

People who constantly complain about the weather bug me to no end.

We were vacationing in Texas and it was at least warmer than here even if it was gloomy. So we put  on appropriate jackets and happy faces to have once in a life-time tour. We were fine trying to enjoy the precious moments and all the other people on the tour did was complain. It wasn't ideal, but it was better than home and look where we were! Wow! (The Alamo! The Space Center! and lots of great stuff in between!)

Also, in July it is hot and muggy and generally icky. That's the way it has been for centuries here. Expect it and just keep quiet and maybe we can get our minds on other things. In January, expect cold and maybe snow. Take precautions and live life. Or at least hush up and let me deal and enjoy my life.

Using the term "ridiculous" when talking about the weather is weird, too. No one is controlling it (except God, in my belief system), so how can it be ridiculous. Weird, unusual, extreme, unpleasant -- OK, but not ridiculous.

I guess I had better get used to this, but I think it may be too late, so up the wall I go.

[Julian]

Re the weather, the local saying is 'if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes'.  Yes - it truly is that variable! 

Tasmania is way down south of Australia.  There's nothing between us and Antarctica.  If the prevailing weather pattern changes we can go from roasting in high 30s C one day to 15C and rainy the next.  We had snow on the higher peaks in early December (summer).  The changes can happen during the course of an afternoon too. 

I never go anywhere without a jacket, gloves, beany and scarf in the car.  Even if it's sunny and hot out.

And yes, we all grumble about the weather!

[Lady Snowdon]

Hypermilers drive me absolutely batty.  Especially if I'm coming up behind them.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy-efficient_driving