Minor things that bother you

[Scott5114]

The best strategy is to use a walk-up ATM. I've only used the drive-thru variant a handful of times and it's always far slower than parking and walking up to one attached to the bank building or even using a standalone one in the middle of a parking lot.

I don't think my credit union even has any walk-up ATMs that are outside the branch. Each branch has one drive-thru ATM, and one ATM inside the branch (and if I'm going inside the branch anyway, I'd rather talk to an actual teller so I can get $10s instead of $20s).

Of course, all sorts of convenience stores and pharmacies and such have indoor walk-up ATMs, but they charge higher fees than the credit union ones, and I have a firm belief in not paying for money.

[ran4sh]

Being honked at  for not turning right on a red light.

Yes.  I'm at the stop line, so I am the best judge of how fast approaching traffic is coming and how much visibility I have and how fast my car can accelerate into traffic.

I've also seen where some driver who was about 3rd or 4th in line, honk at the driver at the line, while that driver (at the line) was following the law and stopped to allow a pedestrian to cross. Not sure if the honking driver saw the pedestrian but I don't think they did.

[webny99]

But going to the trouble of following people to their car and waiting for them to leave? That's crazy. It must be more of an east coast thing... which I suppose makes sense...

It's not an East Coast thing at all--I've observed some form of it in places where parking is scarce overall or the pool of parking available for a given establishment incorporates a steep falloff in perceived convenience.

For example, my local YMCA has a downtown branch that offers free parking for its members in a smallish lot on its property and in an overflow lot across the street.  Most other parking downtown requires payment.  As a result, during peak times it is very common for members to spend many minutes looping around the onsite lot instead of moving on immediately to the overflow lot, which nearly always has multiple spaces available.

That's fair - it's perhaps not so much an East Coast vs. the rest of the country divide as it is an urban vs. suburban/rural divide, as this situation is most likely to occur in an urban setting. With that said, I suspect "vultures" are less common in Rust Belt cities/suburbs in particular, as those cities tend to have less population than they did at their peak, causing fewer of the parking availability issues common elsewhere.

[ZLoth]

I try and be considerate by dropping my mother off at the front entrance and then finding a parking space.  The walk does me some good. Of course, does my mother allow me to go get the car and then pick her up? Only sometimes....

[Bruce]

The best strategy is to use a walk-up ATM. I've only used the drive-thru variant a handful of times and it's always far slower than parking and walking up to one attached to the bank building or even using a standalone one in the middle of a parking lot.

I don't think my credit union even has any walk-up ATMs that are outside the branch. Each branch has one drive-thru ATM, and one ATM inside the branch (and if I'm going inside the branch anyway, I'd rather talk to an actual teller so I can get $10s instead of $20s).

Of course, all sorts of convenience stores and pharmacies and such have indoor walk-up ATMs, but they charge higher fees than the credit union ones, and I have a firm belief in not paying for money.

Definitely the opposite for the biggest credit unions around the Seattle area.

BECU is a behemoth, so they have dozens of branches and tons of standalone ATMs (an example in a parking lot). Even smaller CUs like Seattle CU have their own machines in strategic spots.

[Scott5114]

I don't know that I've ever seen a walk-up ATM in the middle of a parking lot in Norman before. Most ATMs here are either drive-thru (invariably attached to the side of a bank) or inside a business like a retailer, grocery store, or convenience store.

[GaryV]

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.5328489,-83.1621229,3a,75y,314.24h,90.94t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1suLsc1kitHpRuXVM6xsQ13Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

The nearest Chase bank is miles away.

[J N Winkler]

If there isn't a walk-up ATM available, I often just use the drive-thru ATM on foot.

[texaskdog]

I try and be considerate by dropping my mother off at the front entrance and then finding a parking space.  The walk does me some good. Of course, does my mother allow me to go get the car and then pick her up? Only sometimes....

52 year old Texans unite!

[kkt]

Here is a 2-in-1 snit:

* When you go to a bank or credit union that has an ATM that shares the same lane as an open auto teller.  And, of course, when you hope to cruise in to grab some quick cash at the ATM only to have to wait for someone who wants every transaction available from the teller...

AND when the person in front of you IS using the ATM, but when they are done, they don't move until after they balance their checkbook for the month.

At least when I'm done with the ATM, I have the courtesy to move far enough ahead to allow anyone behind me to access the ATM freely.

I don't pull away from the ATM until I have counted my money to make sure I got all that I requested to be withdrawn. The reason is that there are usually cameras embedded in the ATMs, and if you're shorted on the cash (say you withdraw $200 but you only get nine $20 bills dispensed) you can hold the money up and mouth the words "I didn't get all the money I was supposed to get but the receipt still shows a $200 withdrawal." If you come back the next day to complain you were shorted, they're not going to believe you. But if there's video evidence, you have proof.

Otherwise, yes, I pull away immediately.

On a related note, people who stop traffic in parking lots waiting for people who just get in their cars to back out of the space so they can pull in. Once someone gets in their car, they are under no obligation to leave their parking spot immediately And I typically don't. I'll check text messages, sometimes email or social media, change the music on my player, clean my hands, or any number of other things. Now, if the driver starts the vehicle, puts their foot on the brake, and shifts into reverse, that means they're leaving, and you're more than welcome to stop to let them back out and then take that spot. If I get in the vehicle and someone stops waiting for me to pull out before I've started the attempt to back out, it bugs me.

How often do you get shorted by an ATM?  I never have.

[hbelkins]

How often do you get shorted by an ATM?  I never have.

I never have, either. But who's to say it won't happen the next time I use one?



Since there's a new Festivus thread, here's something that annoys me. "Seinfeld." That show never held any attraction for me.

For that matter, neither did "Friends."

[texaskdog]

I'm not a space circler but the 2nd best space was open.  Lady gets into her car in the first space, taking forever, then leaves the car door open for over a minute so I can't pull in.  Got mad and parked elsewhere and she had finally closed the door and still hadn't moved.

2nd one today, left lane goes left/straight, right lane turns right, jackass in the right lane decides to get into the other lane, blocking the entire lane of right turners.  If you can't plan properly go around the block!!

3rd one, backing into an end space, lady pops up out of nowhere between cars behind me.  This was not the driveway it was a random lady popping up as I'm backing in.

[wanderer2575]

Here is a 2-in-1 snit:

* When you go to a bank or credit union that has an ATM that shares the same lane as an open auto teller.  And, of course, when you hope to cruise in to grab some quick cash at the ATM only to have to wait for someone who wants every transaction available from the teller...

AND when the person in front of you IS using the ATM, but when they are done, they don't move until after they balance their checkbook for the month.

At least when I'm done with the ATM, I have the courtesy to move far enough ahead to allow anyone behind me to access the ATM freely.

I don't pull away from the ATM until I have counted my money to make sure I got all that I requested to be withdrawn. The reason is that there are usually cameras embedded in the ATMs, and if you're shorted on the cash (say you withdraw $200 but you only get nine $20 bills dispensed) you can hold the money up and mouth the words "I didn't get all the money I was supposed to get but the receipt still shows a $200 withdrawal." If you come back the next day to complain you were shorted, they're not going to believe you. But if there's video evidence, you have proof.

Your video "evidence" means nothing.  It just shows the amount of money you choose to display to the camera.  Anybody can sleight-of-hand a few bills and hold the rest up to the camera and claim a shortage.  If you are truly shorted, they very well will believe you when you go to the teller counter because the counts will be out of whack when the transactions are reconciled to the cash remaining in the machine next time it is stocked, and the bank will step thoroughly through every transaction looking for the discrepancy.  It may help to let them know that you were the one shorted, but they will find it.

[Scott5114]

In my experience working with that sort of machine, incorrect dispenses are very rare anyway. If a machine screws up, usually it's the result of a jam, which will cause nothing to be dispensed, the transaction cancelled, a very obvious error code to be inserted into the log, and the machine putting itself out of order until the jam can be cleared.

On the other hand, I do remember hearing a story when I was at the casino of soft count accidentally putting a $100s canister into the $20s slot on a bill-breaking machine. Management only realized what was happening when a huge line formed at that particular machine and none of the others...

[kkt]

Here is a 2-in-1 snit:

* When you go to a bank or credit union that has an ATM that shares the same lane as an open auto teller.  And, of course, when you hope to cruise in to grab some quick cash at the ATM only to have to wait for someone who wants every transaction available from the teller...

AND when the person in front of you IS using the ATM, but when they are done, they don't move until after they balance their checkbook for the month.

At least when I'm done with the ATM, I have the courtesy to move far enough ahead to allow anyone behind me to access the ATM freely.

I don't pull away from the ATM until I have counted my money to make sure I got all that I requested to be withdrawn. The reason is that there are usually cameras embedded in the ATMs, and if you're shorted on the cash (say you withdraw $200 but you only get nine $20 bills dispensed) you can hold the money up and mouth the words "I didn't get all the money I was supposed to get but the receipt still shows a $200 withdrawal." If you come back the next day to complain you were shorted, they're not going to believe you. But if there's video evidence, you have proof.

Your video "evidence" means nothing.  It just shows the amount of money you choose to display to the camera.  Anybody can sleight-of-hand a few bills and hold the rest up to the camera and claim a shortage.  If you are truly shorted, they very well will believe you when you go to the teller counter because the counts will be out of whack when the transactions are reconciled to the cash remaining in the machine next time it is stocked, and the bank will step thoroughly through every transaction looking for the discrepancy.  It may help to let them know that you were the one shorted, but they will find it.

Yes, I strongly suspect they would wait for the count of cash in the ATM to be wrong before they reimbursed anyone.  Maybe reporting it would let them know who should get an overage, and maybe motivate a special trip to count the cash in the ATM sooner rather than later.

[Tom958]

Cops parked sideways in the gore. They call it that for a reason, y'know.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Cops parked sideways in the gore. They call it that for a reason, y'know.

Especially in the post-COVID world where far more drivers give zero fucks about exiting through it than they did before.

[LilianaUwU]

When the sidewalk is wide enough for two people to cross one another safely... but then you get a couple who get lost if they stop being next to each other for the time they cross other people, resulting in not enough space for me to cross them without accidentally bumping into them.

[frankenroad]

How often do you get shorted by an ATM?  I never have.

I never have, either. But who's to say it won't happen the next time I use one?

in my almost 50 years of using ATMs, I've never been shorted, however, one time I got an extra $20.  At the time, I actually worked for the bank, and the ATM was in the lobby of our building (office building, not branch), so I took the extra money upstairs to the department that manages ATMs.

[1995hoo]

Finding shredded tissues all over the laundry machine because my wife doesn't check her pockets before putting stuff in the laundry. I try to check them, but it never occurred to me she'd put a wad of tissues in her kitchen apron. Lovely way to start the new year, peeling shredded tissues out of the laundry machine.

[tchafe1978]

Finding shredded tissues all over the laundry machine because my wife doesn't check her pockets before putting stuff in the laundry. I try to check them, but it never occurred to me she'd put a wad of tissues in her kitchen apron. Lovely way to start the new year, peeling shredded tissues out of the laundry machine.

Think that's annoying? Wait until your wife or daughters leave their period pads or tampons in their pockets when doing laundry. They'll soak up a lot of water in the washer, and then come apart in thousands of pieces in the dryer!

[1995hoo]

Finding shredded tissues all over the laundry machine because my wife doesn't check her pockets before putting stuff in the laundry. I try to check them, but it never occurred to me she'd put a wad of tissues in her kitchen apron. Lovely way to start the new year, peeling shredded tissues out of the laundry machine.

Think that's annoying? Wait until your wife or daughters leave their period pads or tampons in their pockets when doing laundry. They'll soak up a lot of water in the washer, and then come apart in thousands of pieces in the dryer!

Heh, I found a pad stuck to her underwear a few weeks ago. I told her to come downstairs: "You left a pussy pad stuck to your underwear and you need to remove it." She actually seemed embarrassed by it.

[vdeane]

I might have mentioned this before, but restaurants that require you to make an account to use their online ordering system.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I might have mentioned this before, but restaurants that require you to make an account to use their online ordering system.

Especially if the account is with a third-party service rather than directly with the restaurant's systems.

[wanderer2575]

I might have mentioned this before, but restaurants any merchants that require you to make an account to use their online ordering system.

Fixed that for you.  Or me.