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

[Piratelvr1121]

Piratelvr, have you considered placing large, tire damaging rocks along your property line? I had a neighbor that was similar to your neighbor and the large rocks did the trick.

That is a fine idea, and I may just try that. 

Since our kitchen window lines up with the back of their house, one evening I saw their grill was right outside their back door and had flames leaping off it in that "let's see what happens when we add half a bottle of kerosene on it!!" kind of way.  I kept waiting for their house to catch fire. Not wanting it too, but expecting it to but it never did.   Isn't there some safety rule that your grill should be a good distance from the house? Like, 10 ft?

[siamesecat2965]

Piratelvr, have you considered placing large, tire damaging rocks along your property line? I had a neighbor that was similar to your neighbor and the large rocks did the trick.

That is a fine idea, and I may just try that. 

Since our kitchen window lines up with the back of their house, one evening I saw their grill was right outside their back door and had flames leaping off it in that "let's see what happens when we add half a bottle of kerosene on it!!" kind of way.  I kept waiting for their house to catch fire. Not wanting it too, but expecting it to but it never did.   Isn't there some safety rule that your grill should be a good distance from the house? Like, 10 ft?

The rule of common sense perhaps?

My friend had a similar issue in her old townhouse; she had a driveway, which she parked in, and then some sort of apron, along the front, parallel to the sidewalk, which was on her property, where an additional car could park. However, she had neighbors who had a number of cars, which wouldn't fit in their own driveway, and rather than simply park on the street, where there was ample room, and they could, they'd park on her apron. Which irked her to no end, and the one time she politely asked them to move, they were not.

She finally solved the problem by getting a couple of these, http://www.kmart.com/black-17-gal-tub-w/p-011W004879178001P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1 and filing them with dirt and some flowers, and placing them smack in the middle of the apron.

[rose red]

Has this happened to anybody else?  There are certain telephone numbers that make the Caller ID function on our home landline telephone disappear.  For example, I see the telephone number (one of which is my sister's work phone), answer, talk, hang up.  After that, Caller ID stops working until I call the phone company.  It's so weird and annoying.

[Ms_Cellany]

Ice cream trucks.

Ice.  Cream.  Trucks.

The noise, the heat, the kids screaming for ice cream, the warbly off-tone "music" that seems to invariably be a Christmas carol for some silly reason.  That they always always ALWAYS idle RIGHT outside and leave the "music" going full tilt for ten minutes while the kid decides if he wants a vanilla cone with chocolate sprinkles or a chocolate cone or maybe a sundae and I'm inside with the music cutting through my head like a diamond drill bit and they won't shut it off they never shut it off why won't they shut it off and they finally move on and THE MUSIC IS IN MY HEAD NOW.

So, ice cream trucks.

There's one that comes to my complex that plays "La Cucuracha" which I think is hysterical. The last thing you want in your ice cream truck is cockroaches!

"La Cucaracha" has many variations, but the most common modern version is about marijuana.  Pretty appropriate for ice cream!

[Shalamar]

Piratelvr, that "finally made it look decent" comment reminds me of my MIL's comment when we told her we'd bought some new crockery.  "It's about time."       For the record, our old crockery was perfectly nice CorelleWare.

[Piratelvr1121]

Piratelvr, that "finally made it look decent" comment reminds me of my MIL's comment when we told her we'd bought some new crockery.  "It's about time."       For the record, our old crockery was perfectly nice CorelleWare.

You know what kills me is the guy's own yard isn't anything to write home about.   Not that his comment would be any better if he were an expert landscaper or something.  It's simply a small square of grass, with most of it fenced off from the rest where they have bonfires.

[Venus193]

Not having a tracking # for something I sent.  I've gotten so used to knowing when something's going to get to where I meant it to go.   But it means going up to the post office, which I don't really feel like doing with a toddler.  So when I sent a friend a surprise care package (little one in a manilla padded envelope) I just slapped 3 stamps on it (calculated the price based on the weight), addressed it and popped it into the mail on Monday. 

She's in Iowa, eastern part of it, and I would guess if it's going with the regular mail it might get there in two days, and she usually gets her mail while on lunch break which is now but I haven't heard anything and don't even know if maybe it will get there tomorrow.

Note to self, suck it up and go to the post office to get a tracking # even for the smallest package.

I'm active on a forum where we frequently send stuff to each other.  I get tracking numbers for everything.

[AuntieA]

Aha! My thanks to everyone who led me to the correct solution of that equation. I've been too long away from algebra classes, it appears. Now I can stop gritting my teeth when I see that ad.

[CrochetFanatic]

Piratelvr, that "finally made it look decent" comment reminds me of my MIL's comment when we told her we'd bought some new crockery.  "It's about time."       For the record, our old crockery was perfectly nice CorelleWare.

You know what kills me is the guy's own yard isn't anything to write home about.   Not that his comment would be any better if he were an expert landscaper or something.  It's simply a small square of grass, with most of it fenced off from the rest where they have bonfires.

Once or twice, when people have had a history of giving "compliments" like that, I would tilt my head as if confused and ask stiffly, "What's that supposed to mean?" and watch them backpedal.

[Elfmama]

Piratelvr, have you considered placing large, tire damaging rocks along your property line? I had a neighbor that was similar to your neighbor and the large rocks did the trick.

That is a fine idea, and I may just try that. 

We no longer have the corner of our yard chewed up with tire tracks since installing the large rock right there.  About a foot high, and roughly 2 1/2 feet diameter.  Spraypainted white, so there's no excuse for "I didn't see it!"  I'm not aware that it's chewed up any undercarriages, but the potential is there.

[Adelaide]

-I hate the beginning stages of talking to someone. I'm not a stressed, neurotic person when I'm with someone or I know that they like me, but trying to dance around it is AWFUL. My friends are ready to choke me because I've been agonizing over every little word in my text messages.

-I overheard the most awkward conversation today. A girl I know mentioned something about going to med school to the group of women we were in, and a lady started talking about how she worked at a nearby hospital. The girl said that was great, and then the woman went on and on about how she always wanted to go to med school but couldn't afford it so she had to settle for her current job. It made the conversation very awkward.

[Piratelvr1121]

When online recipes don't tell you what temperature to preheat your oven to.  I'm going to guess it's 350 and if not, well oh well.

[siamesecat2965]

Another from my boss. When I make a simply typo, rather than coming over to my desk, asking me to open a document, and then saying well, it says this number, but YOU said that one, which one is correct? (i would say the original source, not what I sent you, but then again, what do I know?)  how about you simply a. fix it or b. ask me to double-check.

But no, he's got to come over and make sure he points out that I was wrong. Yet he could have fixed it in less time than it took to do that. I will say, I did tell him, ok, yes, it was a simply typo, my bad, and as I admitted it was me, he had nothing further to say. HA

[mmswm]

People who think it's okay to ask about people's medical conditions.  Youngest DS is having a bad day today, and is using his wheelchair instead of his cane or walker.  I had several errands to run and he had to come with me. Now, this child is a cute kid.  He's the reason why I'm "cute-proof".  Everybody comments about how cute he is.  If that's where they stopped, then that would be fine.  Unfortunately, about half the people I had to talk to today didn't stop there.  Their next question was "what's wrong with him?"

REALLY?? Were you raised in a barn?  I am under no obligation to discuss my child's medical history with you.  Well, most of the time.  One of the errands was the Social Security administration, and "what's wrong with him" was the entire point of that visit, so that office gets a pass, but everybody else can go jump off a bridge.  Grump.

[Diane AKA Traska]

Unfortunately, about half the people I had to talk to today didn't stop there.  Their next question was "what's wrong with him?"

Snarky says: "He's a carrier for a horrible condition... everyone who comes into contact with him loses function of their cerebral-to-vocal filtration!"