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Minor things that bother you

Started by planxtymcgillicuddy, November 27, 2019, 12:15:11 AM

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kphoger

Quote from: mgk920 on December 05, 2019, 05:15:32 AM
One vehicle, usually a fancy ego trip one, that takes up two (or more) parking spaces.

Fortunately, most people who do this park their car wa-a-a-ay at the back of the lot, where they aren't really taking up anyone else's space.  In that case, it doesn't bother me.  However, if they take up two spaces toward the front of the lot, I've been known to squeeze my car into the half-space on the driver's side of their car, with my car a mere two inches from his door.

Quote from: Beltway on December 05, 2019, 06:43:49 AM

Quote from: mgk920 on December 05, 2019, 05:15:32 AM
- I'll second the one about vehicles that are loudly rattling to the sub-bass beat of the crap that is being played on their sound systems.

Boom cars.  One the noise scourges that anti-noise activist groups are working to eliminate.

I don't mind cars that go boom-boom too terribly much, unless it's so loud that it actually makes me feel queasy.  But what annoys me to no end is the rattle.  My best friend likes to say that they can sink hundreds of dollars into their car's sound system but they can't afford to put two extra screws through their license plate to stop it rattling.

Quote from: roadman65 on December 05, 2019, 11:09:23 AM
When you are placed on hold with that eerie music.  Not only that but I do not like when every minute or so a recorded message kicks in to let you know you are on hold!  Really???  I think we all know that we are holding for a real live person, that message is insulting to anyone.  Plus when you hear that break in the music, for a brief part of a second you are excited  that finally you are not on hold anymore only to move back in time to the beginning after you hear that same message once again starting from the beginning of the hold process.

I also get annoyed at hold music that wasn't designed to be hold music.  Because of modern limitations, the low and high frequencies get stripped from phone transmissions and the rest is grotesquely compressed, so most "normal" music ends up sounding like crap.  Listening to that for minutes on end on a cruel loop is not my idea of fun.  But "that eerie music", on the other hand, I find less annoying.  At least it was designed to be hold music and therefore comes across to my ear more or less as intended.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.


vdeane

Quote from: 1995hoo on December 05, 2019, 08:49:41 AM
I was just programming online bill payments and I found myself thinking how stupid it is that creditors will set due dates on days when the banks aren't open and online payments can't be made (in this case, my Verizon bill is due December 25). It's a minor annoyance because I normally program the payments for the business day before the due date anyway (so I set this one for December 24, and I would have done so even if December 25 were not a holiday), but it seems dumb to have bills due on Sundays or holidays.
I always just send online payments immediately so I've never noticed, but adding to that, why do online payments care about weekends and holidays?  They're theoretically online, right?  Computers don't take days off!

I don't understand why banks insist on "online banking" being just a front-end while keeping a bunch of humans doing processing on the back-end... probably with computers!  Bank tellers now just type in the information on a deposit ticket or withdrawal slip, so I'm imagining people sitting in cubicles taking the information on one screen and typing it into another.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

kphoger

Quote from: vdeane on December 05, 2019, 01:49:56 PM
adding to that, why do online payments care about weekends and holidays?  They're theoretically online, right?  Computers don't take days off!

Maybe they take the servers offline every weekend.   :-P
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

Beltway

Quote from: kphoger on December 05, 2019, 12:43:05 PM
Quote from: Beltway on December 05, 2019, 06:43:49 AM
Boom cars.  One the noise scourges that anti-noise activist groups are working to eliminate.
I don't mind cars that go boom-boom too terribly much, unless it's so loud that it actually makes me feel queasy.  But what annoys me to no end is the rattle.  My best friend likes to say that they can sink hundreds of dollars into their car's sound system but they can't afford to put two extra screws through their license plate to stop it rattling.
The "boom cars" that I am referring to are the ones with massive sound systems including woofers and sub-woofers, and in addition to the normal audible frequencies produce massive amounts of low-frequency noise and infrasound.

Infrasound is below the frequency of human audible sound, but when highly amplified literally makes the air to vibrate, and other nearby structures to vibrate.

That is what is so egregious about these boom cars.  Toxic noise.  Needs to go to the Abyss.
http://www.roadstothefuture.com
http://www.capital-beltway.com

Baloney is a reserved word on the Internet
    (Robert Coté, 2002)

kphoger

Quote from: Beltway on December 05, 2019, 02:00:58 PM
All sound literally makes the air to vibrate.

Fixed that for you.  :)  Ever stood in front of a bass player's amplifier?

Quote from: Beltway on December 05, 2019, 02:00:58 PM
That is what is so egregious about these boom cars.  Toxic noise.  Needs to go to the Abyss.

Yes.  If it's loud enough and low enough, I actually start to feel sick to my stomach from the vibration.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

kphoger

I drives me bonkers when people exclaim, "Only in __________!"

Oh really.  It snowed yesterday and now today's high is 60 degrees?  Guess what:  that doesn't only happen in your state.

Oh really.  Drivers are aggressive?  Guess what:  that doesn't only happen in your city.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

webny99


kphoger

Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

formulanone

#208
Quote from: kphoger on December 05, 2019, 02:08:02 PM
I drives me bonkers when people exclaim, "Only in __________!"

Oh really.  It snowed yesterday and now today's high is 60 degrees?  Guess what:  that doesn't only happen in your state.

Oh really.  Drivers are aggressive?  Guess what:  that doesn't only happen in your city.

Many people tend to have a narrow window in which to view the world, let alone this nation.

Though in places where snow is rare, it's an event.

Beltway

Quote from: kphoger on December 05, 2019, 02:05:37 PM
Quote from: Beltway on December 05, 2019, 02:00:58 PM
All sound literally makes the air to vibrate.
Fixed that for you.  :)  Ever stood in front of a bass player's amplifier?
My entire quote says what I wanted it to say, the characteristic of infrasound that while you cannot hear it directly, that it still does have the same effects of sound --
Infrasound is below the frequency of human audible sound, but when highly amplified literally makes the air to vibrate, and other nearby structures to vibrate.
http://www.roadstothefuture.com
http://www.capital-beltway.com

Baloney is a reserved word on the Internet
    (Robert Coté, 2002)

kphoger

Quote from: Beltway on December 05, 2019, 02:15:27 PM

Quote from: kphoger on December 05, 2019, 02:05:37 PM

Quote from: Beltway on December 05, 2019, 02:00:58 PM
All sound literally makes the air to vibrate.

Fixed that for you.  :)  Ever stood in front of a bass player's amplifier?

My entire quote says what I wanted it to say, the characteristic of infrasound that while you cannot hear it directly, that it still does have the same effects of sound --
Infrasound is below the frequency of human audible sound, but when highly amplified literally makes the air to vibrate, and other nearby structures to vibrate.

Oh, I know.  I was joking with you.  My point is only that sound doesn't have to be below the frequency range to be felt.  I figured you knew that, sorry for implying otherwise.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

Beltway

Quote from: kphoger on December 05, 2019, 02:19:57 PM
Quote from: Beltway on December 05, 2019, 02:15:27 PM
My entire quote says what I wanted it to say, the characteristic of infrasound that while you cannot hear it directly, that it still does have the same effects of sound --
Infrasound is below the frequency of human audible sound, but when highly amplified literally makes the air to vibrate, and other nearby structures to vibrate.
Oh, I know.  I was joking with you.  My point is only that sound doesn't have to be below the frequency range to be felt.  I figured you knew that, sorry for implying otherwise.
True ...

Just like sunlight doesn't have to be above or below the visual spectrum, as in ultraviolet and infrared radiation, for people to be able to feel the radiant heat from the Sun.
http://www.roadstothefuture.com
http://www.capital-beltway.com

Baloney is a reserved word on the Internet
    (Robert Coté, 2002)

kphoger

In day-to-day life, though, most people don't typically feel sound through their body.  Unless you're in front of a speaker at a concert or right next to a locomotive or something, there's not much opportunity to become aware of mere sound causing vibrations in your gut.

And, to be fair, some of the sound coming out of an amplifier is below the audible frequency spectrum, and I guess the same is true of that hypothetical locomotive.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

GaryV

Quote from: 1995hoo on December 05, 2019, 08:49:41 AM
I was just programming online bill payments and I found myself thinking how stupid it is that creditors will set due dates on days when the banks aren't open and online payments can't be made ...

I've never had a problem with scheduling a payment in advance, when the due date fell on a holiday or weekend.  It just gets credited with a pending notation.

What bugs me though is when I've scheduled a payment, and then about a week before it's due another email is sent saying my payment is due soon.  Oh crap, did I forget to schedule it, do it wrong, or miss the original email?  So I go into the website, and maybe they have a way to see if I have any scheduled payments.  Or maybe not, and I have to go to my checkbook to see if I've already entered that payment.  Way to much work!  Don't send me another "almost due" notice if I've already scheduled the payment!

Scott5114

#214
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on December 05, 2019, 07:08:56 AM
My experience with fast food was that there are people who knowingly take advantage of company policies generally prohibiting employees from responding in kind to douche customers. They know they can unload their misery and be as mean, rude, denigrating as they please because they won't hear a word in return, and if they do pick on the wrong employee to target with their spew they can immediately turn around to play victim and try to get people fired because they know corporate will likely take their side.

Which why it's great when these same people try to pull their shit in a casino. We are in the business of taking people's money and giving them nothing in return. So your complaints are going to go nowhere, which means we don't suffer people unloading on us. Being a douche will not get you a refund or free stuff–it will get you escorted from the premises by an armed guard at best, or that plus snide comments from the staff if you happen to do it to someone with experience!



In re the payments things: most of these issues are probably caused by payments going through the ACH system. Which doesn't conduct transactions on weekends or holidays, because it's run by a bunch of bankers. This also explains why you get "your bill is almost due" notifications when the transaction has already been scheduled–if something is scheduled to take place in the ACH system, the recipient is not notified, they just suddenly have money show up in their account on that day. So it looks to them as if no attempt at a payment has been made.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

Beltway

#215
Quote from: kphoger on December 05, 2019, 02:27:45 PM
In day-to-day life, though, most people don't typically feel sound through their body. 
That is what some people who post on those anti-noise activism sites hate about "boom cars."

The very nature of the low-frequency sound and infrasound when it is heavily amplified, is that it travels a long way and can vibrate and rattle cars and buildings over a block away.

I used to work on the 3rd floor of a building that fronts on Leigh Street, a 6-lane arterial.  At least a dozen times a day a boom car would be stopped at the light, and even up there it was very annoying.
http://www.roadstothefuture.com
http://www.capital-beltway.com

Baloney is a reserved word on the Internet
    (Robert Coté, 2002)

webny99

Quote from: webny99 on December 05, 2019, 02:09:35 PM
This forum.
Quote from: kphoger on December 05, 2019, 02:10:06 PM
is not a minor thing!

I can't speak for others, but in the context of my life as a whole, this forum is very much a minor thing. Fundamentally, it's a great place; but it's also been a relationship fraught with feelings of exasperation, frustration, and suppression, which takes an outsized emotional toll.

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: webny99 on December 05, 2019, 06:09:33 PM
Quote from: webny99 on December 05, 2019, 02:09:35 PM
This forum.
Quote from: kphoger on December 05, 2019, 02:10:06 PM
is not a minor thing!

I can't speak for others, but in the context of my life as a whole, this forum is very much a minor thing. Fundamentally, it's a great place; but it's also been a relationship fraught with feelings of exasperation, frustration, and suppression, which takes an outsized emotional toll.

Really all social media platforms are minor in the grand scheme of things.  Forums like this purely are hobby level entertainment, I don't know why anyone would take anything on here as a personal thing. 

kphoger

Quote from: webny99 on December 05, 2019, 06:09:33 PM

Quote from: webny99 on December 05, 2019, 02:09:35 PM
This forum.

Quote from: kphoger on December 05, 2019, 02:10:06 PM
is not a minor thing!


I can't speak for others, but in the context of my life as a whole, this forum is very much a minor thing. Fundamentally, it's a great place; but it's also been a relationship fraught with feelings of exasperation, frustration, and suppression, which takes an outsized emotional toll.

Not sure if you caught it or not*, but I wasn't being serious**.  This forum is quite the minor thing.  It definitely drops by the wayside when more important things in my life demand the time.




*  You have a way of playing along as if you didn't get something the first time, and you do it well enough that I can't always tell.

** This seems to be happening with my posts a lot lately.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

Max Rockatansky

Speaking of road related "minor"  annoyances I'd say grid numbering perfectionism would be pretty high up there.  Absolute adherence to the MUTCD gets old sometimes too when it is focused on font variations that are so minor the average person would never notice. 

webny99

Quote from: kphoger on December 05, 2019, 07:43:19 PM
Quote from: webny99 on December 05, 2019, 06:09:33 PM
Quote from: webny99 on December 05, 2019, 02:09:35 PM
This forum.
Quote from: kphoger on December 05, 2019, 02:10:06 PM
is not a minor thing!
I can't speak for others, but in the context of my life as a whole, this forum is very much a minor thing. Fundamentally, it's a great place; but it's also been a relationship fraught with feelings of exasperation, frustration, and suppression, which takes an outsized emotional toll.
Not sure if you caught it or not*, but I wasn't being serious**.  This forum is quite the minor thing.  It definitely drops by the wayside when more important things in my life demand the time.


*  You have a way of playing along as if you didn't get something the first time, and you do it well enough that I can't always tell.
** This seems to be happening with my posts a lot lately.


I am chuckling about your first footnote. I actually regard that as a compliment, backwards as it may sound!  :)

For what it's worth, I decided, given the total lack of context on either of our parts, not to worry - or care - about whether you were serious, and just go ahead and say what I wanted to say. I wasn't really "playing along" as much as just using your reply to segue into the substantive.

texaskdog

another football one "forced to punt"  No one forces you to punt, it's a decision.  Also "walk off" everything.  Every game in any sport has a last play.  We did fine before walk offs.

formulanone

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 05, 2019, 08:24:34 PM
Speaking of road related "minor"  annoyances I'd say grid numbering perfectionism would be pretty high up there.  Absolute adherence to the MUTCD gets old sometimes too when it is focused on font variations that are so minor the average person would never notice. 

I think there's a good idea for a thread: Unpopular Roadgeek Opinions

(With the pretext that we're not out to hurt feelings, unless one is taking this hobby too seriously.)

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: formulanone on December 06, 2019, 09:36:28 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 05, 2019, 08:24:34 PM
Speaking of road related "minor"  annoyances I'd say grid numbering perfectionism would be pretty high up there.  Absolute adherence to the MUTCD gets old sometimes too when it is focused on font variations that are so minor the average person would never notice. 

I think there's a good idea for a thread: Unpopular Roadgeek Opinions

(With the pretext that we're not out to hurt feelings, unless one is taking this hobby too seriously.)

That's the problem, I think there is a couple folks out there that REALLY take those opinions seriously.  Regarding the signage I've suspected that a lot of people who are big to proper fonts and MUTCD compliance would be really surprised how ugly/utilitarian they can be up close.  Almost all of my field signage in the back yard looks like something you'd on a race car, it looks nice from ten feet but is all sorts frumpy up close. 

DaBigE

"We gotta find this road, it's like Bob's road!" - Rabbit, Twister



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