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

[kherbert05]

I can't decide who I'm more annoyed with; FIL for being a total pain about meals or MIL for going along with it.  Last night, I was trying to make stir fry while she was trying to thaw and fry him off a steak.  We do not have a huge Viking stove, people...

I vote for both of them. Tell MIL that if she won't plan ahead due to FIL being a pain in the tuchus, she is to leave what you did plan alone and thaw her own after he makes up his mind. She doesn't get to short your meal due to his whims. Tell her that.

POD except since it is your MIL your DH needs to tell his parents this Plus they either cook before X or after Y the time between x and Y is the time you get home and cook.

[Tea Drinker]

I'm pretty exacting when it comes to amounts, bills, and totals. A lot of my friends aren't. When we go to a restaurant, I always order water and there are various other reasons my bill's significantly lower than theirs. So when the time comes and I have the waitress print out separate checks. Most people are like "Oh, we could have just split it down the middle!" No, I'm not paying three or four extra dollars every time I go out with you.  Or when I owe someone something like $1.75 because they bought me coffee and they're like "I hate change. Can you just give me $2?" Usually something like "If you hate change so much I can just give you $1" shuts them up. Is it nickel-and-dimeing people to death? Maybe. But now I have a jar with about $75 worth of nickels and dimes at home.

I will calculate things pretty precisely--so a credit card tip might be for $5.45 rather than a round number of dollars--but there are also people with whom I then average the bill, on the theory that it will even out over time. (This includes someone with whom I have been doing this since the 1980s.) But I agree that if someone says they "hate change," it's for them to round in my favor, not the other way around. I was, however, amused recently to see a post from someone who was told his bill was 2.55, and said 2.56 would have been cooler. The shopkeeper let him pay the extra penny, and everyone was happy. Silly, but silliness in the direction of "let me give you a tiny bit extra, because I like certain numbers," not an attempt to get a discount.

[MrTango]

POD except since it is your MIL your DH needs to tell his parents this Plus they either cook before X or after Y the time between x and Y is the time you get home and cook.

This idea actually drives me nuts.  If I have a problem with something my FIL or MIL are doing, I'm going to tell them myself rather than foist that off on LadyTango.  If LadyTango has a problem with something a member of my family is doing, she can tell them herself.  We're both adults and neither of us need the other's permission to speak up about a problem.

What I actually came here to post:

I tried to open the Music app on my phone (it's the Samsung app that came with the phone), and it wouldn't let me use the music app because there was an update available for the Samsung Books app, which I don't even use.  In order to use the Music app, I actually had to download and install the update for the other app.

I guess it's time to find a new mp3 app.

[Yvaine]

- Overcrowded, smelly buses especially in summer. Don't people know how to wash any more? The smell of BO on some of the buses is just heinous.  It makes me want to hand out soap and a flannel to folk and say "Look, you need to bath." I am not a clean freak, but I do shower every day when it's warm weather.

I've experienced this too. I figure a lot of them are probably homeless, though.  It does make me wish for a pomander to sniff at.

[jaxsue]

My dad, yesterday:

"I'm trying to remember the lyrics to a song I used to like.  It was called Twenty Tiny Fingers, Twenty Tiny Toes.  It's driving me nuts that I can't remember!"

My dad has a computer.  Somehow, the idea of using the Net to find out this information never occurs to him ...

I think this is generational. In my experience (generally speaking, of course), younger people tend to think "Oh, I need to know something, I'll just Google" while that may not be the first instinct for older folks.

I'm 53, which may be categorized as "older." but the first thing I do when I need info on a song, book, etc., is look up info on the internet. I didn't grow up with computers, but I have fully embraced the technology age!

[Black Delphinium]

I guess it's time to find a new mp3 app.

I like Google's Play Music.

[MrTango]

I guess it's time to find a new mp3 app.

I like Google's Play Music.

Thanks.  I'll check that one out.

I'm also put out by apps that require permissions that are clearly not within the scope of their function.  For example, I saw one mp3 app that required access to my calendar.  There's no legitimate reason why an mp3 player needs that information.

[2littlemonkeys]

I can't decide who I'm more annoyed with; FIL for being a total pain about meals or MIL for going along with it.  Last night, I was trying to make stir fry while she was trying to thaw and fry him off a steak.  We do not have a huge Viking stove, people...

I vote for both of them. Tell MIL that if she won't plan ahead due to FIL being a pain in the tuchus, she is to leave what you did plan alone and thaw her own after he makes up his mind. She doesn't get to short your meal due to his whims. Tell her that.

POD except since it is your MIL your DH needs to tell his parents this Plus they either cook before X or after Y the time between x and Y is the time you get home and cook.

She knows it annoys me.  And he won't decide what he wants to eat until he's ready to decide what he wants to eat.  And when he wants to eat is right now, so waiting a few minutes for me to finish isn't acceptable to him.  (He's in ill health and has had several minor strokes so he gets a lot of leniency for behavior, even though he's always been like this.)  I'd wait to finish my meal (and have when I can) so we're not bumping into each other but oftentimes, I have already crossed the point of no return.

As for the food, one of the agreements of our living arrangements is they buy the food.*  So me saying "paws off!" for something she bought seems wrong.  I feel like my only option right now is to suck it up, buttercup.  My DH is his dad's caregiver and under a lot of stress over his dad's health.  I don't want to bug him over something so petty.  I suppose the silver lining is that if I make more in anticipation of her needing it and it gets wasted, it's on her dime.  I just hate doing that.

*DH and I pay the mortgage and most of the utilities, they pay for groceries, light and heat since they're home all day and need high temperatures to be comfortable in the winter and high AC to be comfortable in the summer.

[Mental Magpie]

Why are people arguing with me over something that annoyed me, anyway?  Just because I didn't do it how you would doesn't make me wrong

I think because you are complaining about the responses before the RSVP deadline which seems rude. Deadlines are deadlines for a reason, if you need an answer earlier, set an earlier deadline.

I was annoyed because people were waiting until the last minute so that I would have a lot of work to do at once.  I think that isn't rude at all.

[kckgirl]

I can't decide who I'm more annoyed with; FIL for being a total pain about meals or MIL for going along with it.  Last night, I was trying to make stir fry while she was trying to thaw and fry him off a steak.  We do not have a huge Viking stove, people...

I vote for both of them. Tell MIL that if she won't plan ahead due to FIL being a pain in the tuchus, she is to leave what you did plan alone and thaw her own after he makes up his mind. She doesn't get to short your meal due to his whims. Tell her that.

POD except since it is your MIL your DH needs to tell his parents this Plus they either cook before X or after Y the time between x and Y is the time you get home and cook.

As for the food, one of the agreements of our living arrangements is they buy the food.*  So me saying "paws off!" for something she bought seems wrong.  <snip>  I suppose the silver lining is that if I make more in anticipation of her needing it and it gets wasted, it's on her dime.  I just hate doing that.

If that's the way they want to live, I'd go ahead and make enough for everybody. They can eat the leftovers for lunch the next day. If they throw them out, it's their money going to the trash, not yours. Their decision. Their choice.

[perpetua]

Why are people arguing with me over something that annoyed me, anyway?  Just because I didn't do it how you would doesn't make me wrong

I think because you are complaining about the responses before the RSVP deadline which seems rude. Deadlines are deadlines for a reason, if you need an answer earlier, set an earlier deadline.

I was annoyed because people were waiting until the last minute so that I would have a lot of work to do at once.  I think that isn't rude at all.

While I don't think you can *actually* complain until the RSVP deadline has passed, I'm kinda with you, MM. If - for example - you get an invitation to a wedding and the deadline is the 25th and you (general) know on the 10th that there's nothing in the diary for the date of the wedding, then you already know on the 10th that you're free. So why aren't you putting the event in your diary then and RSVPing yes if you want to go? To do otherwise smacks of waiting for a better offer to come along and fill the date with something else. I don't see the need to wait until the last minute either. If you're free, you're free.

[Mental Magpie]

Why are people arguing with me over something that annoyed me, anyway?  Just because I didn't do it how you would doesn't make me wrong

I think because you are complaining about the responses before the RSVP deadline which seems rude. Deadlines are deadlines for a reason, if you need an answer earlier, set an earlier deadline.

I was annoyed because people were waiting until the last minute so that I would have a lot of work to do at once.  I think that isn't rude at all.

While I don't think you can *actually* complain until the RSVP deadline has passed, I'm kinda with you, MM. If - for example - you get an invitation to a wedding and the deadline is the 25th and you (general) know on the 10th that there's nothing in the diary for the date of the wedding, then you already know on the 10th that you're free. So why aren't you putting the event in your diary then and RSVPing yes if you want to go? To do otherwise smacks of waiting for a better offer to come along and fill the date with something else. I don't see the need to wait until the last minute either. If you're free, you're free.

I understand with some people in my former line of work about having to get their leave request approved and waiting for that to come back, and I also understand some other extenuating circumstances, but almost everyone knew about the wedding long before we sent out the invitations, so I'm with you on what you said above: if you're free, you're free.  You also have to take into consideration that many of these people have planned weddings themselves and know about having to making a seating chart and letting the caterer know the final count, so at the least, it's inconsiderate to wait until the very last minute unless you have a very good reason.

Then there are the people who didn't RSVP at all who are just plain rude in my mind.

[Luci]

My dad, yesterday:

"I'm trying to remember the lyrics to a song I used to like.  It was called Twenty Tiny Fingers, Twenty Tiny Toes.  It's driving me nuts that I can't remember!"

My dad has a computer.  Somehow, the idea of using the Net to find out this information never occurs to him ...

I think this is generational. In my experience (generally speaking, of course), younger people tend to think "Oh, I need to know something, I'll just Google" while that may not be the first instinct for older folks.

Something else drives me up a wall, and I guess makes me an exception to your thoughts here.

When we got our first computer in the 90s, I got in the habit of looking up addresses and phone numbers and reverse phone numbers on the internet for free - it was really handy when questioning phone charges on our bill, back when we didn't have free long distance. Now, all the sites I look at charge; I'm actually thinking of getting a subscription. At the time, we were told the local phone directory and long distance information would be obsolete. Well, I'm back to that, although I still use the Yellow Pages sometimes. (If you know a free white pages, please let me know!)

My go-to for things like songs and movies and history is the internet. Now that I have a smart phone I research information several times an hour when we are traveling. I look up historic stuff about the area we are in most often and sometimes city maps, and of course we use the GPS regularly.

[ladyknight1]

I hate waiting.

[Mel the Redcap]

My next-door-neighbour and his 'side business' of fixing / tuning up cars. This is a residential suburb, not an industrial zone, so when he's got a particularly recalcitrant one to fix and spends hours on end in his driveway, revving it, making it backfire, and filling the air with exhaust smoke that I can smell in my study with the windows closed, it's... deeply annoying. I cannot adequately express how it makes me feel without using words that the forum will autocorrect to something more polite.

Not to mention that I'm currently sick and sore and grumpy, so my tolerance for this is wayyyyy down from normal, and he was still at it at 8pm last night while I was trying to nap.