Minor things that bother you

[Takumi]

Former Pizza Huts are common enough that there are websites about them.

Nearby where I am there was an old, old Dairy Queen that was a Chinese takeout restaurant for many years after the Dairy Queen closed. Recently it became a Mexican restaurant, with a cheap banner over the old Chinese restaurant's sign, but still in the recognizable former Dairy Queen building.

[jeffandnicole]

Around ten years ago there was even a McDonald's demolished here to build...a McDonald's, with the "eyebrow of doom" instead of the mansard roof. That's really dumb. If your purpose-built building is such shit you have to demolish it and build a new one to do the exact same thing in it, you either fucked up in planning or maintenance somewhere along the way.

A McDonald's near me was rebuilt as a McDonald's because the location became busier than expected.

Moving away from McDonald's itself, many commerical businesses buy a property, only to tear down what currently exists to build something else that fits their needs. Or many people buy properties to knock down the existing house to build a new house in its place.

[abefroman329]

Former Pizza Huts are common enough that there are websites about them.

http://usedtobeapizzahut.blogspot.com/ and, if you want to cast a wider net, http://notfoolinganybody.com/

One of the local ambulance-chasers has an office in a former Taco Bell.  Very on-brand.

[Takumi]

http://usedtobeapizzahut.blogspot.com/ and, if you want to cast a wider net, http://notfoolinganybody.com/

Well, I know how I'm spending half my day now.

One of the local ambulance-chasers has an office in a former Taco Bell.  Very on-brand.

I'd say that sounds like something Lionel Hutz would do, but I don't think he could afford a stand-alone building, hence why he had his office in a mall.

[hbelkins]

had a lady come to the door a few weeks ago, topless. she goes 'oh my god i'm so stoned i forgot to put a shirt on!'

Maybe it was her way of inviting you in for a good time.

Around ten years ago there was even a McDonald's demolished here to build...a McDonald's, with the "eyebrow of doom" instead of the mansard roof. That's really dumb. If your purpose-built building is such shit you have to demolish it and build a new one to do the exact same thing in it, you either fucked up in planning or maintenance somewhere along the way.

A McDonald's near me was rebuilt as a McDonald's because the location became busier than expected.

Moving away from McDonald's itself, many commerical businesses buy a property, only to tear down what currently exists to build something else that fits their needs. Or many people buy properties to knock down the existing house to build a new house in its place.

A number of McDonald's have been pretty much gutted to be reconstructed with the new exterior design. Myself, I don't see the point in making cosmetic renovations to serve the same food. I don't choose a restaurant based on the looks of the outside. A McDonald's with the gray and tan blocks on the outside isn't going to have anything different on the menu than one with the yellow and red highlights.

I'm bothered by years of different lengths.  I don't mean leap years, but "long years" and "short years."  If something happened three years ago, how do I know if that was three long years ago or three short years ago?  What if it was two short years and one long year?  How do you average those out?  Do all of the years in a set have to be the same length?  Are there any medium years?  What if people disagree about whether a year, or a block of years, was long or short?

What constitutes a long yr or short yr for u?

I don't think in those terms.  All years are the same to me.  Even a leap year is still just a year.  One extra day isn't enough to make it a long year.

I guess I am confused. If you don't count leap years, in what context is a year longer or shorter than any other year?

In no context.  I don't use those terms.  What bothers me is people saying "short years" and "long years."  That's what I was complaining about.

It's just a matter of perception. We all have periods of time (hours, days, weeks, months, years) that seem to fly by, and others that seem to drag on. It's also a figure of speech that people use to note just how quickly or slowly things can change. For instance, in 1991, George H.W. Bush seemed to be a shoo-in for re-election, but a short year later, he lost. Or, Kentucky basketball fans were clamoring for change after a perceived slide to mediocrity in the last years of Tubby Smith's tenure as coach. So there was excitement in the air when Billy Gillispie, one of the nation's hottest coaches who had endeared himself to UK fans by coaching Texas A&M to an NCAA Tournament over Rick Pitino's Louisville team in a game played in Rupp Arena, was hired to replace Smith. But after two long years, fans were only too happy when Gillispie was jettisoned in favor of John Calipari.

So you're saying you've never said, "that was a short hour" or "this week went by quickly," or "today just seemed to drag on forever, it was the longest day."

[abefroman329]

http://usedtobeapizzahut.blogspot.com/ and, if you want to cast a wider net, http://notfoolinganybody.com/

Well, I know how I'm spending half my day now.

Ha - the latter is (or was) pretty Atlanta-centric.

One of the local ambulance-chasers has an office in a former Taco Bell.  Very on-brand.

I'd say that sounds like something Lionel Hutz would do, but I don't think he could afford a stand-alone building, hence why he had his office in a mall.

Could be that they threw him out to turn the storefront into a Starbucks, though.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Restaurants that went to a default of closed lobbies unless stating they were open. There has been more than one place I've gone to that had no posted signs or other visible indications until I yanked on locked doors, which wasted my time that could have been spent already in the drive thru.

[vdeane]

Restaurants that went to a default of closed lobbies unless stating they were open. There has been more than one place I've gone to that had no posted signs or other visible indications until I yanked on locked doors, which wasted my time that could have been spent already in the drive thru.

I know I've been avoiding McDonalds as of late, mainly because they shut down in-restaurant ordering last year and even now that many are open again, I'm not sure if there's any source to know which ones.

[J N Winkler]

Restaurants that went to a default of closed lobbies unless stating they were open. There has been more than one place I've gone to that had no posted signs or other visible indications until I yanked on locked doors, which wasted my time that could have been spent already in the drive thru.

That hasn't been a problem around here since the March-May 2020 lockdown ended, and I am grateful for it because if a drive-thru is my only option for obtaining food from a given restaurant, I won't go to it at all.

One related annoyance is being stuck in a drive-thru queue for a restaurant that is closed.

Another, which I suspect is largely specific to regions of the country where restaurants can be granted liquor licenses without having to meet a minimum food sales percentage, is remaining open for business without posting at the door that the kitchen is closed.

[allniter89]

Our local McDs has someone stand at the end of the drive-thru line at closing time to turn latecomers away. Apparently, they take a lot of abuse. I was at the end of the line last night & I heard a lot of loud angry voices.

[CtrlAltDel]

When you can still see remnants of construction striping when the road is finished, as happens on one of the Illinois Tollway's own web pages:

[Bruce]

When you can still see remnants of construction striping when the road is finished, as happens on one of the Illinois Tollway's own web pages:

In Washington, the faded striping is almost indistinguishable from current markings in rainy and wet conditions (which is most of the winter commute). Super fun to drive in.

[tolbs17]

That I heard on the news that more rumble strips are coming on two-lane highways!

And that being said, I would like for you guys to keep that discussion in this thread.

[webny99]

And that being said, I would like for you guys to keep that discussion in this thread.

Well, you're the one that brought the discussion over here! 

[I-39]

When restaurants sprinkle some sort of green garnish on top of food. Seriously, this has been an annoying trend in the last few years. It's not just fancy restaurants that do it anymore.

[zachary_amaryllis]

When restaurants sprinkle some sort of green garnish on top of food. Seriously, this has been an annoying trend in the last few years. It's not just fancy restaurants that do it anymore.

since the garnish is free... could you go into a restaurant and order, say, a plate of garnish and a glass of water?

[tchafe1978]

Two things that bother me, both phone related. I work in a large retail store that shall remain nameless, and there are two types of phone users that drive me nuts. One is the person using a bluetooth earpiece to talk on their phone. They'll be walking around the store talking on their phone, but I don't notice their earpiece, so I either think they're talking to themselves, or trying to ask me a question. On more than one occasion I've answered them, and then I get a wierd look from them wondering why I'm butting in on their conversation.

The other type that drives me nuts are the ones walking around the store with their phone on speaker, having a loud conversation that everyone can hear. No, sir, I don't want to know what you're having for dinner, or how so-and-so's doctor appointment went. Keep that stuff private!

[renegade]

I was just watching the news.  The young woman talking about the weather and the fall colors referred to it as "follage."  Then she tossed it over to the anchor.  His next story was about the "mayorial" campaign.

[wanderer2575]

Someone goofs up at work and I'm the one who has to fix it.  (In my specific case:  I'm in payroll, so when someone doesn't get paid correctly because of someone else's entry error into the system, I'm asked to cut a manual payment.)  Okay, we're all human and make mistakes; I'll accommodate when I can.  What drives me nuts is when the person asking the favor says "Let me know if I can do anything to help."  Yeah, if there's really something you could do about it now, you'd be doing it instead of asking me.  It's just another phrase of useless small talk.

[ZLoth]

Things that bother me:

• People who think the parking lot is the perfect disposal area for their used masks.
• "Mommy fixes" - These are the tacky repairs (e.g. covering some exposed wiring with scotch tape) because they don't want to "waste" the eight bucks to get an actual replacement power supply
• People whose mantra is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", even though the technology is technologically obsolete, and it's replacement is both cheaper to operate, more efficient, and more productive. Plus, there is the issue of actually finding the replacement parts.
• In a similar brush stroke, people who cling on to the "old way of doing things", and resist even learning how to do things "the new way" because it is "too different" and perceive it to be "too complicated", even though the "new way", once learned, will be actually faster and less expensive.
• People who purchase the absolute cheapest and lowest quality "no name" products, then complain that "things don't last anymore".
• People who can't be bothers to return their shopping cart to the cart corral... three spaces down.
• Whiners who complain that the tornado warning are interrupting their viewing of their sports event because the warning takes place on the other side of the station's viewing area.
• People who criticize you for "having no consideration of others", then promptly stomp all over your carefully laid plans.
• Computer users who can't be bothered to set up even automated backups (even to the cloud) of their computers, yet expect you to perform a resurrection act when their computers crash.

[zachary_amaryllis]

words. words bother me, tho this might be more of a 'thing that moderately bothers me':

at some point recently, we started on this 'lets nice-up potentially offensive things' kick.

i am no longer an ex-con. now i'm a 'justice-involved person'. the guy hanging out in front of wal-mart hitting me up for change isn't a homeless person. he's a 'person who is experiencing homelessness'. to say nothing of why is he begging out in front of walmart anyway? he needs to be outside a higher-class store. but i digress. i don't get food stamps, i get an 'electronic benefits transfer' card. i'm not an 'idiot', i'm 'a person who chooses not to use capital letters'. and the list goes on and on.

whats the point of all this, really?

[hotdogPi]

i don't get food stamps, i get an 'electronic benefits transfer' card.

EBT is the electronic system. SNAP, also called food stamps, is the program.

[zachary_amaryllis]

i don't get food stamps, i get an 'electronic benefits transfer' card.

EBT is the electronic system. SNAP, also called food stamps, is the program.

*smacks forehead* "doh".
but you get the idea.

[abefroman329]

words. words bother me, tho this might be more of a 'thing that moderately bothers me':

at some point recently, we started on this 'lets nice-up potentially offensive things' kick.

i am no longer an ex-con. now i'm a 'justice-involved person'. the guy hanging out in front of wal-mart hitting me up for change isn't a homeless person. he's a 'person who is experiencing homelessness'. to say nothing of why is he begging out in front of walmart anyway? he needs to be outside a higher-class store. but i digress. i don't get food stamps, i get an 'electronic benefits transfer' card. i'm not an 'idiot', i'm 'a person who chooses not to use capital letters'. and the list goes on and on.

whats the point of all this, really?

Mainly to get people to stop sneering at ex-cons and homeless people.  Kinda like how some people wouldn't say I was "collecting unemployment benefits" last year, I was "sitting around collecting handouts from hardworking taxpapers."

[JayhawkCO]

When restaurants sprinkle some sort of green garnish on top of food. Seriously, this has been an annoying trend in the last few years. It's not just fancy restaurants that do it anymore.

Fancy restaurants are actually less likely to do this.  Having worked in a bunch of them, one of my favorite quotes is "one you use parsley or kale as a garnish, you've lost all inspiration".  Garnishes should add flavor or texture, not just make a crappy dish look 1% less plain.

Chris