What Grinds My Gears

[puppetmaker]

There is an episode of Family Guy in which Peter Griffin gets a job as an obnoxious ombudsman on the local TV station for slightly hilarious high-jinx ensue. His spot on the show is called "Grinds My Gears". Which has been sticking in my head as things have been happening either to me or around me so here is the first edition of what grinds my gears.

You know what grinds my gears, drivers who think that turn signals are optional. I so want to get a bumper sticker that says "Turn Signals; Not just a Good Idea but THE LAW". Then there are the yahoos who think signaling after the fact makes up for their lack of informing me beforehand that they are moving into my lane. I guess they are hoping that if I hit them, the cops will see that they had their turn signal on so it MUST BE my fault for not yielding.

You know what else grinds my gears? People who go onto other people's web sites just to either bash or troll them and never add to the conversation because it makes them feel better about themselves. Heck, I'll expand that to people I have met that do the same thing in fandom. There is a difference between constructive criticisms and just plain being mean criticisms. The problem is that most of these people don't recognize what they are doing even if presented with tons of evidence that they are. It just doesn't register in their version of the world.

You know what....well by now you know the rest of the line. That the minute I was getting my resume back in order so I could find a job in at least one of my chosen professions, we slip into more job cuts and loss than we have seen in 5 years. And what happened 5 years ago? I got downsized at my dream job (well honestly one of my dream jobs). So my chances of going back into the field at about as good as a camel going through the eye of a needle (the original meaning of it). I have been putting feelers out there and come up with less than nothing which annoys the ever loving *beeeeep* out of me since I am a good worker and an asset to any company I work for.

So what grinds your gears? I am honestly interested.

I am grateful for everyone who uses a turn signal correctly.

Comments

[ambwilson.livejournal.com]

Here's one that ticked me off a couple of weeks ago.

If you're going to post a hate-filled note in the break room blaming anyone who reads it of being a whole string of insults, then have the guts (not to mention integrity) to sign it.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. I so agree. It just sews seeds of dissension in the group and serves no purpose but to, supposedly, make them "feel better"

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

Argh, my husband runs into those type of trolls all the time on the forums he co-maintains. He's the one who pounds out all the evidence, etc., thereby shredding the troll to tatters. But the trolls KEEP COMING BACK! WTF is up with that?!? And my husband STILL responds to them! AACK!

Almost everything grinds my gears nowadays. Delays, in particular. I want everything doing RIGHT NOW. But I think there's frustration/grief playing into it, so it's not quite a true grinding gear.

*wonders if she's making any sense*

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

You're making tons of sense. No worried there.

Yeah stupid delays grind my gears too.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Oh I so agree. I am always skeptical when someone pulls out their "fan pedigree" and wants to get into a pissing match about it. Bad form if you ask me.

Grammar was drilling into my head by my parents who always had us repeat what we wanted to tell them with the correct forms rather than the way other people said it (I grew up in the deep south).

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

Oh, fan pedigree. Nothing is quite as horrifying (And amusing) as a room full of nerds almost getting into a fist fight over a) whether or not ewoks died because of the radiation from the death star (The universe has the force, people, suspend disbelief already) or b) the length of an Imperial star destroyer.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

I'd really look like a nerd since I edited the spaceship edition of the Star Wars "non-fiction" books so I have the answer (1,600 meters for the regular and 19,000 meters if you super-size it.) *grin*

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

Heehee!

That's OK to know. it's not OK to say 'WELL!! According to Source B, it's actually Y long! Lucasfilm needs to CHECK THEIR FACTS BEFORE LETTIJG SUCH ERRORS THROUGH!'

yes, I've seen people get worked up about this

[jendaby.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on turn signals. Thise make it tough when walking with kids and not knowing if approaching car will go through the intersection. Also a big annoyance: people who stop their car in the crosswalk and force those crossing to either wait or go into the intersection. (I wait.)

Also, people who talk nonstop at the movies (I don't pay $11 to listen to the people behind me chatting).

I most despise the people who spit all over everything. My idea of gardening does not involve cleaning up the spit of random passersby. Bleah!

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

The movie thing grinds my gears too. Even spending the entire movie texting because (even if they have it on silent which they usual don't) I can hear them pushing the gd keys!

I'll add idiots who can't curb their dogs to your spitting list. I currently have one individual who has a small dog that can't be trouble but that is also where I am suppose to put my trash for pick up.

[nux-vomica.livejournal.com]

my bumpersticker that says 'i bet jesus would have used HIS turn signals.' i like to get ahead of people who have been shitty so they have to read it.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Ooooooo I LOVE it! That is so great!

[paigemom.livejournal.com]

People who talk on their cell while driving.

The fact that in the 3 1/2 years we've lived here, not ONCE has McDonald's EVER gotten ANY of our drive-thru orders right.

Poor grammar, spelling and punctuation by people who presumably graduated from high school.

People who mistake fandom, SCA, LARP, or RPGs for real life.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

But but what about those people who scream FIAWOL? (fandom is a way of life) *grin* Yeah, I know of those people too well.

I think the grammar problems almost say more about our school systems than the people coming out of them. But still I do agree.

[adpaz.livejournal.com]

I'm with you 100% on the turn-signal thing. They've almost caused accidents and then have the temerity to flip ME off when I lay on the horn because they cut me off.

And I'm with Kiz on almost everything grinding my gears lately. But some of it, I'm blaming on hormones. This pregnancy has turned me into the Super Grump lately.

On a more serious note (though my grumpiness is incredibly serious to those a grump at), people who realize too late that they are in the wrong lane and cut across 3 lanes of traffic to get into the right lane/make the exit. I've seen them run other people off the road without a thought.

Also, neighbors in apartment complexes who think that vacuuming/playing their music loud/stopping around their apartment/doing their laundry (if they have their own washer/dryer) is perfectly acceptable.

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

I hope vacuuming is acceptable. but not at stupid times of the day.

There is a special place in hell reserved for the people in my building who do laundry before 9, because we have crappy pipes and if someone does laundry, there is no water to the rest of the building, except for a trickle. :(

[adpaz.livejournal.com]

Arg! Thanks for pointing out the very important phrase that I missed - "In the middle of the night". Yeah, I don't mind vacuuming, laundry, or anything else during the day. It's the just when I'm trying to sleep at 2 am and am woken up by loud bass/the vacuum slamming into the wall/an unbalanced washer banging across the floor. I really didn't mean to seem like I was anti-cleaning. :0

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

Griefers grind my gears (The aforementioned trolls).

(The next paragraph refers to the general you, not you you!)

I don't care if someone is not super attractive, or if they're overweight, or if they draw anthropomorphic animals (oh noes! My icon!), or if they believe in some non mainstream religion, hell, or if they're Muslim (Moderate every day, not wacky extremists), or Christian (See the above caveat) or Jewish and you don't agree with them - it is not right to bash people or be a general jerk. I'll ignore you, or mock you privately, but FFS, people, live and let live.

The sheer amount of borderline sociopath people on the internet freaks me out a little, especially as they've started to have the balls to mock in person now.

I actually had a channer come by my journal once and say terrible things. I laughed, deleted his comment, made a clever, snarky repl;y and ignored him. Haven't had problems since.

***

And ditto on the blinker thing.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

*The sheer amount of borderline sociopath people on the internet freaks me out a little* I so agree and remember something else that grinds my gears. People who self diagnose themselves with something that (in their world) makes this sort of behavior OK and we shouldn't point it out because then we are bashing the something that they have decided that they have.

[geekgrl64.livejournal.com]

Defintiely agree on all the above comments! I will just use those as my list. What also grinds me is when you are in horrific traffic and sitting in a line of cars waiting to turn or just go, and the person in front of you decides that they are in the wrong lane and decide to try and move. In rush hour. When no one wants to be nice and let others over. In the meantime, I have missed the light because of the doofus in front of me.


Have a happy weekend everyone!

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Oh I can't even count the number of times that has happened to me in New York City much less in my life. Good thing to grind on.

[foreverseenstar.livejournal.com]

Generally everything ticks me off, but one of my all times is people who cheat on the highway by using the breakdown lane to merge into a real lane ahead of traffic. Wait your turn like everyone else!

Also, wolfsavard and I's third roommate's boyfriend living in our apartment for the past three months and not paying rent or utilities. And consequently being in way when I need to get ready for work, even though he has nowhere in particular to be.

(And I know the grammar in this is slaughtered. I don't function so well by Friday.)

[wolfsavard.livejournal.com]

OH YES, ADD HIM TO MY LIST, TOO!

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

*added* to wolfsavard's list.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Oh the breakdown lane that seriously Pissing Me Off! And they think they are so f'ing clever for almost causing another accident.

[wolfsavard.livejournal.com]

littering (particularly cigarette butts), magnetic car ribbons, people who take cell phone calls in restaurants, ford focuses, christmas decorations up before thanksgiving, people who don't know how to use microsoft word, college administration offices, my neighbors who smoke pot and stink up our hallway and my neighbors who smoke cigarettes outside in the summer and the smoke wafts into my window, people who joke about having ADD when they don't actually have it, other drivers, chocolate chips/chunks in ice cream, and cancer

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Boy that's some list there.

Good for you for getting that all out there.

I use to have to deal with the pot problem too.

[wolfsavard.livejournal.com]

I do not live in a college dormitory anymore, so my apartment shouldn't smell like one! Our neighbors are so loud and have drunken parties with girls running up and down the halls and I just know our neighbors think that it's us since they're all guys and we're girls. So frustrating.

[wherdafux-d-cat.livejournal.com]

I love your icon!! Stealable?

[wolfsavard.livejournal.com]

Sure! Just credit magique_icon. She does great work!

[wherdafux-d-cat.livejournal.com]

Most excellent!

[tristam.livejournal.com]

My main gear grinder of late are people that stop to have a chat in a doorway and then give you a dirty look when you have to step between them to go into the room.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

And they don't understand why they are on the rude side of the spectrum. that is annoying.

[wherdafux-d-cat.livejournal.com]

I'm right there with you on the turn signals. People, it's turn signal first, then brakes. A few years ago, I was stuck behind a doofus in an overpriced 'notice me' car. He kept bouncing from lane to lane, sans signal, ditto for making turns. Every time I approached an intersection where I was going to be turning, I hoped he'd keep going but no, there he was, zipping around the corner too. We actually wound up in the same parking lot, parked a few places away from each other. (I parked first, so no I wasn't stalking his stupid butt.) As I exited my car, I was giving his car (well, him) the Quiet Glare o' Disgust, which he evidently interpreted as the Look of Much Adoration and Admiration, as he commented 'It's a pretty nice car, isn't it?' To which I replied, 'I dunno, too bad you paid that much money for something that doesn't even come with a turn signal.' And walked off.

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

Or, the really good one - when you activate your turn signal, and the moron in the lane you want to turn into decides that's the cue to start SPEEDING UP to get past you, even though they're three cars back.

[cynamin.livejournal.com]

I'm going to join in my total agreement on the turn signal thing, especially as a pedestrian. I take the bus to work, so that walk to and from the bus... I hate having to play a guessing game as to whether I'm safe crossing the road with the walk signal.

And for a new addition to the list, the current housing market. Or, the housing market in general. My landlord just decided that he wants to sell the house we're renting, so we're trying to figure out if we can buy it. We make a nice combined income - buying a place at all near where we work should not be this hard! Add the fact that the banks are now wary of lending money, and you've got my major aggravation of the moment.

[lordrexfear.livejournal.com]

Id told you what grinded my gears we'd never be out of here, but I have to state I love how you're influence was Peter Griffin as Andy Rooney.