The Vent and Rant Thread

[orlok]

Originally Posted by issybird

I can't help thinking three things:

• That saying, "Would you mind if I reached past you for a moment ?" or some such variation, putting the onus on the speaker and not the other person, would get better results.
• That compassion for all types of infirmity is always a good thing.
• That applying negative characteristics to any demographic group is always unfortunate unless there's direct causality. There are always exceptions; groups rarely act in lockstep and those outside the group can exhibit the same characteristic.

Well said. A little tolerance costs nothing.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by orlok

Well said. A little tolerance costs nothing.

Well, it technically CAN cost some time. But your point is taken.

[Greg Anos]

Or ask if you could help. I needed to buy a spice in a grocery store and a person in a motorized chair was stopped in front of what I wanted to buy, slowly looking for what the person wanted.

I asked if I could reach for something for the person. The answer was yes, and I quickly got exactly what the person was looking for. I got a big smile and the person moved along.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Or ask if you could help. I needed to buy a spice in a grocery store and a person in a motorized chair was stopped in front of what I wanted to buy, slowly looking for what the person wanted.

I asked if I could reach for something for the person. The answer was yes, and I quickly got exactly what the person was looking for. I got a big smile and the person moved along.

This always works. It appears that manners are not being taught anymore.

Oh and I am old enough and grumpy enough that if some punk kid asked me in a rude manner to move a few steps, I would move in front of whatever he was trying to get until he learned some manners. If he wasn't rude but just not polite, I would ask him for the magic word.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Hitch

My baby sis runs into this all the time; she swims at the Y near her (rather than her own pool. Do I understand this? No). Anyway, she constantly has "gabbers" and "floaters" getting in the way. She swam competitively during her school years, and now she's using it to get back into shape. She gets couples, that will take up TWO lanes, gabbing to each other, even. AH-mazing. (Good thing it's not me, I'd probably lose patience and swim 'em down, lol.)

Hitch

I'm reminded of why I have an Endless Pool. Seriously, best money we ever spent!

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Or ask if you could help. I needed to buy a spice in a grocery store and a person in a motorized chair was stopped in front of what I wanted to buy, slowly looking for what the person wanted.

I asked if I could reach for something for the person. The answer was yes, and I quickly got exactly what the person was looking for. I got a big smile and the person moved along.

My wife is wheelchair bound, and always appreciates someone helping her get something off the top supermarket shelf, to the point of mentioning to me later, "That very nice man/woman helped me get the ..."

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by wodin

My wife is wheelchair bound, and always appreciates someone helping her get something off the top supermarket shelf, to the point of mentioning to me later, "That very nice man/woman helped me get the ..."

I'm tall-ish, just under 5'9", so I always offer to help people who aren't as tall, or who look as though they are having issues reaching something--whether they are height-challenged or challenged in some other way. The reason matters not--if I can reach it, and they can't or have trouble doing so, why NOT help them? Ye gods, it only takes a moment.

Hitch

[Cinisajoy]

Rant: Apparently people in west Texas don't know what their stores sell. They must be told by Canadians and East coast people. How the heck do they know how we cook? All stores carry different things. This can vary by region or even the neighborhood.

I have also learned that you shouldn't take time to read labels or shop together or take more than a microsecond to grab what you need because someone else might need their pepper that exact second or their world will end.
I don't understand why how others shop bothers you.
If friends want to shop together more power to them, if coworkers want to shop together cool, if a couple wants to have a grocery store date more power to them, if a person wants to get in and out quickly more power to them.
To that person just say excuse me and the group will more than likely either grab what you need or move for you. If the person is rude, then the person can just wait.
Oh and just for your information, the only time I have been hit by a basket, it was a single well dressed woman that was intently focused on her list and not paying attention to where she was going.
No offense intended but some posts here imply a "I am in a hurry so my right to shop trumps another's right to take their time."
What business is it of yours how others shop?

This last part I do not understand.
Are some of you saying that you are so busy that you only have 10 minutes a week to shop?
Then I have a very stupid question.
You are too busy to take the time to buy groceries, yet you have time to spend complaining about other shoppers online. How is this possible?

[DiapDealer]

You're taking this way too personally/seriously. Let people vent and get it out of their system. That's what the thread's for. If you really want to vent about other venters ... fair enough; that's fine. Have at it. But you're not going to make me feel the least little bit bad about my vents/rants. They're cathartic. I couldn't care any less if others find my rants petty. They're not really FOR anyone else. *shrug*

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Rant: Apparently people in west Texas don't know what their stores sell. They must be told by Canadians and East coast people. How the heck do they know how we cook? All stores carry different things. This can vary by region or even the neighborhood.

What? Unclear on what you're saying?

I have also learned that you shouldn't take time to read labels or shop together or take more than a microsecond to grab what you need because someone else might need their pepper that exact second or their world will end.
I don't understand why how others shop bothers you.

Cin: I'm pretty sure that NOBODY cares how other people shop, as long as those other folks aren't getting in the way of, or impinging on, their own ability to shop. Do I care if some woman has 6 brats? No, other than the anthill is getting crowded, of course. I only care if a) her kid is screaming his lungs out for 20 minutes, or b) her 7-y.o. is slamming into the back of my body with his cart. Neither of these are UNCOMMON happenings, you know. Almost worse is the frustrated/hot/tired mum, screaming at them to stop their "bad" behavior, or asking for cookies, etc. I mean, we all have to survive the grocery, right? Well...it would be easiest if EVERYONE, regardless of status, or gender, or whatever, tried to be remotely considerate of those around them. The "pack" shoppers have a tendency to block the aisle and look at you like you're an ***Hole if you ask them to move out of the way. And so on and so forth.

If friends want to shop together more power to them, if coworkers want to shop together cool, if a couple wants to have a grocery store date more power to them, if a person wants to get in and out quickly more power to them.
To that person just say excuse me and the group will more than likely either grab what you need or move for you. If the person is rude, then the person can just wait.

Obviously, people on this thread are relating instances in which the persons of whom you speak WEREN'T obliging, right? Otherwise, why would anyone get their knickers in a twist? YES, I'm constantly annoyed at being barraged by kids in the grocery, who are running/falling/slamming into me with a cart or screaming. I have enough going on without adding noise pollution to my day, right?

Oh and just for your information, the only time I have been hit by a basket, it was a single well dressed woman that was intently focused on her list and not paying attention to where she was going.

Well, maybe it's more prevalent here, where we have a portion of the population that tend to have very large families with lots of "Irish Twins" and young women with TONS of babies.

No offense intended but some posts here imply a "I am in a hurry so my right to shop trumps another's right to take their time."
What business is it of yours how others shop?

As I think we all said: it's only our business if and when they make the experiences of everyone around them miserable. Why wouldn't we all object to that? Sure, everybody has their burden, but...as an example, I don't take my smartphone into the store, and get on the horn with my crew, at the top of my lungs, carrying on about Client this or provider that, and yelling, right? If I did that, and you had to listen to the whole ****amn conversation, you'd V&R, right? Well, for many of us, it's no different than listening to an ongoing dialogue between a harried mom and her 5 kids at the top of THEIR lungs, either.

This last part I do not understand.
Are some of you saying that you are so busy that you only have 10 minutes a week to shop?
Then I have a very stupid question.
You are too busy to take the time to buy groceries, yet you have time to spend complaining about other shoppers online. How is this possible?

Oh, please. You know quite well that many of us on this thread are replying via smartphone, tablet or the office. We can no more leap into the Transporter and have Scotty send us to the grocery for the few minutes it takes to post a reply here than we can walk on the surface of Mars sans protection. For me, just to drive to the nearest grocery is 30 minutes, each way. That doesn't count the time shopping. If I do the QUICK (ha!) pickup option, it's a 90-mile round trip. NINETY miles. Cr*p, Cin, I can't make it to my own d*mn mailbox in the time it takes me to post this, and this is a longish post. Never mind the GROCERY. (And the same, BTW, for a pharmacy and all the other stores and services that people take for granted as being necessary for a normal life. There's nothing closer to me than 15 miles, each way, other than a convenience store, which is ONLY 10 miles down the road.)

And yes: I do work 60+ hours every week, MORE than that when we're busy, and yes, I wish that people who can shop WHENEVER they choose would NOT choose to shop on weekends, on Sunday, which is my only day "off." I don't think it's a crime to think that. If you think a 60+ hour week leaves a lot of time for shopping, as well as everything ELSE that people do in their alleged time "off," (laundry, household chores, miscellaneous "stuff," not to mention, oh, yeah, that whole hour or so a week that you get to relax), you're not thinking that through.

Just because your spouse takes you shopping doesn't mean that everyone here was talking about you and yours. Theey're obviously not, assuming that you're a normal person who's normally polite and courteous in the store. Lots of other people AREN'T. That's who everyone on this thread is b*tching about, not simply a couple that shops together. I cannot believe that you haven't experienced any of what we're talking about. I mean, really, I can't. (And, I'm not in Europe or on the East Coast, as you know. I'm in the boonies of Arizona, which is exceedingly similar to Bum-you-know-what Texas.)

Hitch

[Rumpelteazer]

I'm just now enjoying an evening reading in bed, I've got Classic FM on in the background, a mug of my favourite tea and my electric heating pad. And what do hear? A rustling sound in between the ceiling. Yep, a mouse. Before I went on vacation last week I hadn't heard the familiar rustling sound since around Christmas. I go on vacation and what do I hear: mice on/between the ceiling. I get home and it's the same.

I lit a cinnamon scented incense stick, which is so far the best, easiest and longest lasting remedy I've found for my problem. When this one has burned down I'll light a second one and then I'm going to bed early. It's been a long day of packing, unpacking, cleaning and laundering because tomorrow and the next couple of days will be busy. Last week five shipments came in, my father dealt with none of those (he hates to do so) and just plucked out whatever he needed. Which means a lot of asking if he has sold items or that they were forgotten by the supplier. To top it off tomorrow the next shipment is coming in. Normally Tuesdays are one of my half days, but I think this week I'll be working full time just to get everything dealt with before new orders have to be made.

[John F]

A couple of driving vents...

If you are going to turn, use your signal.

When turning, put on your turn signal sometime before the actual turn.

When making a left turn, don't move all the way over to the right, and vice versa.

[Hemmi]

I'm only 5'2" and I love it when I'm tall enough to get something down for someone even shorter than me. Makes me feel tall for a moment.

John, how about people who leave the turn signal on waaaaay past their turn? My mother tends to do that. I always offer to drive when we go somewhere together.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by Hemmi

I'm only 5'2" and I love it when I'm tall enough to get something down for someone even shorter than me. Makes me feel tall for a moment.

John, how about people who leave the turn signal on waaaaay past their turn? My mother tends to do that. I always offer to drive when we go somewhere together.

Yeah, I'm 5'5" so not exactly a giant either, but I have a few times been asked for help by someone shorter, usually a petite older woman.

Once a kid (maybe around age 8 - 10) tried to get me to get some ice cream he couldn't reach, but I was pretty sure he was trying to sneak something he wasn't allowed past his mother, whom I had seen not too far away. I didn't think she would appreciate me loading up her kid with ice cream so I told him to go ask her!

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by Hitch

For me, just to drive to the nearest grocery is 30 minutes, each way. That doesn't count the time shopping. If I do the QUICK (ha!) pickup option, it's a 90-mile round trip. NINETY miles. Cr*p, Cin, I can't make it to my own d*mn mailbox in the time it takes me to post this, and this is a longish post. Never mind the GROCERY. (And the same, BTW, for a pharmacy and all the other stores and services that people take for granted as being necessary for a normal life. There's nothing closer to me than 15 miles, each way, other than a convenience store, which is ONLY 10 miles down the road.)

I am now truly grateful that I have a choice of grocery stores within a 5 - 10 minute drive of my home!