The Vent and Rant Thread

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

I'm beginning to fantasize about putting a sprinkler in the bushes between our houses .... one of those wide perforated bars that waves back & forth ....

I like it!

[WT Sharpe]

I'd be willing to bet that pooh has the sprinkler on for a good five minutes before she even realizes she's getting soaked.

[Barcey]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Our local Food Lion has double wide "rocket ship" carts ....

My rant - my next door neighbor has obviously decided to spend daily 'quality time' outdoors with her young daughter. Problem? She's on her cell phone the entire time - talking & shrieking with laughter so loudly we can't sit on our deck and hear each other speak. Last night even her husband shouted out the front door "What are you doing out there?" - unfortunately she kept right on yakking. Her kid must really be benefitting from these one-on-one sessions with mom.

I'm beginning to fantasize about putting a sprinkler in the bushes between our houses .... one of those wide perforated bars that waves back & forth ....

Sounds like you need a couple of these.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/p...?cat=2&p=44958

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Our local Food Lion has double wide "rocket ship" carts ....

My rant - my next door neighbor has obviously decided to spend daily 'quality time' outdoors with her young daughter. Problem? She's on her cell phone the entire time - talking & shrieking with laughter so loudly we can't sit on our deck and hear each other speak. Last night even her husband shouted out the front door "What are you doing out there?" - unfortunately she kept right on yakking. Her kid must really be benefitting from these one-on-one sessions with mom.

I'm beginning to fantasize about putting a sprinkler in the bushes between our houses .... one of those wide perforated bars that waves back & forth ....

I think you should start replying, or, better yet, ask her questions about the content of her call. e.g., "OMG, really? Is she any better? Did she dump him? Is she going out with Claude?"

I would bet you a fair chunk of change that her phone behavior would cease abruptly. Nobody wants to be eavesdropped upon, even when it's their own fault.

Of course, if you're politer than I, you could just clear your throat rather loudly and ask "Ahem, you do know that we can hear every single word you're saying, right? I thought you should know, as I am quite certain you'd like your quality time with your daughter to be private."

I imagine either solution would work. I frequently interrupt yakkers in grocery stores and other inappropriate places with comments along those lines, primarily the former. If people persist in putting their conversations and personal business out at the top of their lungs, they shouldn't expect the usual human courtesies--as they have certainly forgotten them on behalf of those around them. I started this when I'd listened to--from many aisles away--an entire divorce saga of somebody's friend, for over 30 minutes. When I finally bumped into the offender, I instantly launched into a list of the best divorce attorneys in town, along with my (ahem, unrestrained) opinion of the story, in minute detail. The look on her face...ye gods, I wish I was capable with that damn camera in my phone. It was like the commercials: priceless.

ALTHOUGH, I'm pretty cheery about the sprinkler idea, too. Can you turn it on AFTER you start rolling video from your phone, please????? I'm pretty sure we'd all have a good laugh....

Hitch

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by Barcey

Sounds like you need a couple of these.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/p...?cat=2&p=44958

Hmmmm .... are these voice activated too?

[WT Sharpe]

Not that I want to give anyone any ideas, but...

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Not that I want to give anyone any ideas, but...

If someone did that to me, I'd step on his kneecap... accidentally, of course.

Question: Why can two people have a conversation in public and no one takes notice (unless, of course, it's overly loud, which is a different story,) but when one person and a cell phone have a conversation so many people get up in arms? Two people on a bus talking to each other is fine, but one person and a phone makes people angry. Ever think of the psychopathology behind the reason?


Stitchawl

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

If someone did that to me, I'd step on his kneecap... accidentally, of course.

Question: Why can two people have a conversation in public and no one takes notice (unless, of course, it's overly loud, which is a different story,) but when one person and a cell phone have a conversation so many people get up in arms? Two people on a bus talking to each other is fine, but one person and a phone makes people angry.

The guy phone-crashing in the video is just being an obnoxious twerp - the people on the phones there are outdoors and obviously not bothering anyone else. Unfortunately, there are however still a few people who, even in confined spaces, will talk five times as loud on their phone as they would to someone next to them. Even with 21st-century cellphone technology which makes that completely unnecessary. Those people could do with quieting down, or better making use of SMS which doesn't subject everyone within coo-ee to the details of their lives.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Question: Why can two people have a conversation in public and no one takes notice (unless, of course, it's overly loud, which is a different story,) but when one person and a cell phone have a conversation so many people get up in arms? Two people on a bus talking to each other is fine, but one person and a phone makes people angry. Ever think of the psychopathology behind the reason?

Stitchawl

Because, for whatever reason, most people on cellphones are speaking quite loudly. I don't know what it is, and I'm quite sure I do it, too; but people are much, much louder on phones than they are when speaking to someone sitting next to them or across the table.

I have, actually, thought about the psychology behind this. (Psychopathology is the diagnosis and treatment of mental DISORDERS, or the study of ABNORMAL behavior.) Let's face it, for years, in the early days, the folks who carried cellphones either were quite important, or wanted to feel quite important. There's still something about it that screams "Look at me! Look how important I am! Look how I can't be away from my business for even ONE SECOND!"

I think that this irks people; self-important jerks advertising their own importance by making sure that they have the latest, greatest phone and conduct their business loudly--so everyone can not only see how important they are, but HEAR it, as well. The flip side are people who just have to conduct every aspect of their personal life in public, which is, rather than self-important, utterly self-absorbed ("I'll just have this conversation about how much gunk my doctor found during my colonoscopy with my BFF while I'm shopping at Lowes'").

On top of that, people yakking on the phone are sucking up the silence. Used to be able to go to a public garden, or park, and, depending on the time of day, have somewhere peaceful to sit. Now? Not so much. There's always SOMEONE, yakking away, sucking up all the peace. Utterly absorbed in their "OMG! OMG, really? No, I was too busy to watch last night, I was on Facebook!," conversation.

I think what's happened is that we have a cross-over; older people spent most of their lives having completely "private" phone conversations, at HOME, and even at work, in their offices and cubbies, whatever. Then cellphones happened, and now they still treat phone conversations as private, even when they are having them in public. It's like an expectation that The Cone Of Silence descends about them as soon as they dial. But all of us here have likely heard entire phone conversations, in gruesome detail, in which we had not the slightest interest. Younger people, on the other hand, have grown up with the same expectation of privacy that a gerbil in a cage with 50 other gerbils has, down at the petshop: none. Both conditions are contributing to the levels of inconsiderate behavior and noise.

That's my $.02 on it. FWIW. I know I'm not alone in this--everyone seems to react badly to Lone Phone-men sucking up the air, (unless they are the ones on the phone, of course), so whatever causes it, whatever it means, it's part of the Zeitgeist--young, old or in-between.

Hitch

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by meeera

The guy phone-crashing in the video is just being an obnoxious twerp - the people on the phones there are outdoors and obviously not bothering anyone else.

Absolutely! It's like the person who goes around fanning the air and complaining when they see someone smoking a cigarette 20ft away.

Unfortunately, there are however still a few people who, even in confined spaces, will talk five times as loud on their phone as they would to someone next to them.

Yes, that's true. It's often easy enough to move away from the noise.

Originally Posted by Hitch

I have, actually, thought about the psychology behind this. (Psychopathology is the diagnosis and treatment of mental DISORDERS, or the study of ABNORMAL behavior.)

Yes... That's why I used the term 'psychopathology.' I think getting upset that someone is speaking on the phone extremely abnormal. But then, in these High-Stress times, some people will always find something to get upset about, so perhaps you're correct... maybe it has become 'normal.'

everyone seems to react badly to Lone Phone-men sucking up the air

No, not everyone. Many of us just ignore it. It makes life so much more peaceful.


Stitchawl

[covingtoncat73]

Heh. As to the phones, that is true. I don't know why it upsets people so much. I find that people who are yaking it up with each other can be much noisier. Most people, at least in North American and Western Europe, no doubt have cell phones. I don't have a landline and haven't for years. Now, if a person I am eating a meal with decides to take a call and talk on the phone at length or if someone is on the cell phone in the library or at a theater, that is another matter...

Things are pretty stressful right now with the newish job, the impending move, the impending niece, discord between my two best friends, family stuff, etc. However, the good news is that Mom already has a tenant for the townhouse! Even better news is that my brother has a contract on one of the two little rental houses he has in another parish/county on the Northshore. I am so glad. He has lost money on those things because, while property in New Orleans has more than bounced back from 2008, property on the Northshore has not. Kind of surprised me because they are in a cuteish, little college town where someone who wasn't employed at the local, public 4-year and didn't mind commuting, could commute to either New Orleans or Baton Rouge. I so hope this will free up enough money for him that he can put a down payment on a house for his family and get out of their awful rental ($1400 a month, gunfire every night). They could get something in the neighborhood I am moving into and pay so much less a month in a mortgage.

[Stitchawl]

Anti-Rant Mode: On

Last year I went though several weeks of Living Hell trying to pull together all the proper papers from Japanese sources required for my one-year Thai retirement visa, running from this agency to that, getting papers signed and counter-signed, notarized and officiated before I could hand them in to Thai Immigration at the Embassy. Well, it's that time again. One year has passed. Yesterday it took me an hour to get all the paperwork from Thai sources, another 30 minutes signing my name to multiple papers at the Visa Assist office... finished. I don't even have to go to the Immigration Office myself. The Visa Assist people do all the 'contact' work for me (for a fee.) In 2-3 days I'll go back to their office and pick up my passport with the new One-year Thai retirement visa stamped inside.

So fast... so smooth... even with the Kingdom being locked down under Martial Law, the differences between the bureaucracy of Japan and Thailand is astounding!


Stitchawl

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Anti-Rant Mode: On...

You cannot anti-rant here. If you are pleased with life, keep it to yourself. This thread is for grumblers and malcontents. No one wants to hear about things that make you happy.

[Hitch]

^+1

Hitch

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

You cannot anti-rant here. If you are pleased with life, keep it to yourself. This thread is for grumblers and malcontents. No one wants to hear about things that make you happy.

Mea Culpa, mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa....

I promise to try to be more unhappy in the future. But... it's just sooo damn hard!



Stitchawl