The Vent and Rant Thread

[DiapDealer]

As you're handing me my drink, please, please please reconsider saying "And here's your drink."

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

As you're handing me my drink, please, please please reconsider saying "And here's your drink."

Why? Should I say, "and here's your moustache?"

(It is a bit obvious...)

Hitch

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Hitch

(It is a bit obvious...)

Hitch

Yep. A bit like saying, "and here's your punch in the face."

"Oh. Is that what a punch in the face is?"

[BetterRed]

Annoyance - people who block up the aisles in supermarkets while scanning items or shelf labels with their gadgets to compare prices, count calories, check ingredients, whatever... so as to prevent me from getting at the things I want - like a punnet of raspberries or a jar of anchovies in olive oil.

[wodin]

Then there are the folks who insist on stopping at the top/bottom of an escalator or in a doorway to talk to aunty Bessie or cousin Jimmy-Bob.

[Hemmi]

The people that are chatting in the middle of the store aisles annoy me. Go sit in the cafe part if you want to chat with your friends and get out of my way so I can shop.

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

Unfortunately it isn't an unfamiliar sound. Living in the city center, in between 3 restaurants and a café in old buildings that are all interconnected.

But thank you for the suggestion. I'll see if I can find such an app for my iPod and see if that works.

I lived in Boston for a few months and found a fan eliminated a lot of sounds.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Tarana

I lived in Boston for a few months and found a fan eliminated a lot of sounds.

We use a fan in our bedroom 9 months out of the year.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Tarana

I lived in Boston for a few months and found a fan eliminated a lot of sounds.

The app worked for the rustling sounds, but at some point it sounded like the mice had found some wooden building blocks and were moving those around the bedroom ceiling. The app didn't work for that, so I put in my earplugs, which did work.

I think the app will work great at home on Friday and Saturday night. One of the restaurants turns up the music on those nights, not to a disturbing level but I can still hear it and my mind fixates on the noise, making it harder to fall asleep. I think the app will work great to block out those sounds.

[DiapDealer]

When your half of the road is dotted with parked cars and mine is not, it is YOU who must yield to oncoming traffic.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

As you're handing me my drink, please, please please reconsider saying "And here's your drink."

On the other hand, I'd be rude to just put the drink down and not saying anything. At least, I've had this happen some time ago. Ordered a cup of coffee somewhere, and the waitress just plopped it onto the table in passing, without saying anything. That just seems rude and disinterested.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Hemmi

The people that are chatting in the middle of the store aisles annoy me. Go sit in the cafe part if you want to chat with your friends and get out of my way so I can shop.

Oh yeah.

Half the time I'm trying to get around bunches of old people in the supermarket, who are talking/gossipping about other old people and what they did 20 or 30 or 40 years ago.

So yes, while you might have the entire day to get some groceries, I don't, so please get out of the way and go sit in the lunchroom part of the supermarket.

[Bilbo1967]

Don't get me started on supermarkets.

People that seem to think that it's perfectly OK to park their trolley sideways across the aisle while they peruse the shelves drive me mad. I used to politely say, "Excuse me", nowadays, I just nudge their trolley aside with mine.

The people who don't seem to appreciate that I may want to buy a loaf of bread that they haven't picked up and squeezed at the bakery deserve their own circle of hell (same goes for fruit and veg).

People who use the self-service check outs and then expect the staff there to help them with every item (hint; if you're not capable of serving yourself, self-service isn't for you).

People who are shocked when asked to pay and only then start scrabbling through their purse for their money/card.

I love shopping

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

On the other hand, I'd be rude to just put the drink down and not saying anything. At least, I've had this happen some time ago. Ordered a cup of coffee somewhere, and the waitress just plopped it onto the table in passing, without saying anything. That just seems rude and disinterested.

That just seems like common-sense to me. Nothing needs to be said. Talking just to disrupt silence is pointless in any environment. In this case, it was a drive-through. So as a sighted-person in the driver's seat of an automobile at a drive-through window, I can think of nothing more pointless than nervous-talky telling me you're handing me my drink at the same time you're handing me my drink. If you must say anything at all, say, "there you go," or maybe, "I'll be right back with the rest of your order." Basically anything non-stupid would be fine.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

That just seems like common-sense to me. Nothing needs to be said. Talking just to disrupt silence is pointless in any environment.

Normally, I'd fully agree with this. Too many people just talk to not have any silence. (I actually believe many people around me are adverse to silence to the point of being afraid of it or something.)

However, my parents did teach me that it is polite to say something like "Alsjeblieft" / "Smakelijk" ("Here you go" / "Enjoy your ...") when you hand something to someone, and to say "Thanks" whenever something is handed to you.

AFAIK, this is normal in the Netherlands, as most people do both of these things, and it feels rude/disinterested when omitted.