Minor things that bother you

[SSOWorld]

Agreed. The deals are garbage. They raise the price on things just to discount it again and call it a great deal. Informed consumers always win.

I've been following the price of a specific Southwest Airlines flight.  It had been $160 for quite a while.

Last week Southwest put a big banner across the top of their home page.  "Use points to purchase a flight, use this code and get 25% off the number of points you have to use.  3 days only for this offer!!"

The value of Southwest points is fixed at about 1.5 cents per point.  When I looked up the flight, I found that they had raised the cash price from $160 to $220.  25% off $220 brings the price to $165 worth of points.

And of course, now that the fantastic 25% off points deal has expired, the cash price of that flight has dropped back to $160.

At least they didn't make you send a rebate form in the mail to Amazon and then send the rebate as an Amazon store credit.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I don't get streaming TV. Whether your show is great or sucks, your show invariably seems to get cancelled after 2 seasons. Apparently no one on the streaming side has struck the balance of cost-effective (which I would assume is why they pull the plug on top-rated popular shows) and well-received yet.

[JayhawkCO]

I don't get streaming TV. Whether your show is great or sucks, your show invariably seems to get cancelled after 2 seasons. Apparently no one on the streaming side has struck the balance of cost-effective (which I would assume is why they pull the plug on top-rated popular shows) and well-received yet.

I can think of a decent amount of shows that run counter to this: Ted Lasso, Stranger Things, Bridgerton, etc.

[Max Rockatansky]

The proliferation of AI road photos and pages on Facebook being fed by naive members of the road fandom.

[1995hoo]

I don't get streaming TV. Whether your show is great or sucks, your show invariably seems to get cancelled after 2 seasons. Apparently no one on the streaming side has struck the balance of cost-effective (which I would assume is why they pull the plug on top-rated popular shows) and well-received yet.

"For All Mankind" is heading into its fifth season and will have a spin-off show showing the Soviet side of the story.

[Plutonic Panda]

The proliferation of AI road photos and pages on Facebook being fed by naive members of the road fandom.

This is happening in so many Facebook groups. It's really annoying. The only reason I've kept Facebook is due to Facebook groups.

[vdeane]

Places that have long minimum times for paying for parking.  At the park for the Portland lighthouse, for instance, the minimum time that can be purchased is two hours.  I only used half an hour, so of the $5 I paid, $3.75 was wasted.  Not that I'm hurting for cash, but I can't stand being ripped off this way.

Speaking of Portland, how early everything closes.  Google Maps was wildly inaccurate with my projected drive time and I got to my hotel an hour later than planned (around 6 instead of around 5, so it's not like it was bedtime or anything).  Still, practically everything was closed or closing once I was finally checked in and situated in my room.  I was going to order out from Cracker Barrel, but it seems that can't be done because they close at 7, and even though it was still 6:30, they wouldn't take my order claiming that "it wouldn't be ready before closing" (never mind that it has never taken them more than 20 minutues, so yes they could have gotten it done).  Then I tried Panera Bread - they're out of baguetts, so I can't get my preferred side.  Out of options, I just go to the mall food court to pick up whatever is available from Amato's.  The food court seating was closed (not that I cared), I got the last pepperoni pizza out of their sad selection, and an announcement came on saying the mall was closed asking everyone to leave.  It was only 6:45.  What the hell?  Is Portland unofficially on Atlantic time or something?

I don't get streaming TV. Whether your show is great or sucks, your show invariably seems to get cancelled after 2 seasons. Apparently no one on the streaming side has struck the balance of cost-effective (which I would assume is why they pull the plug on top-rated popular shows) and well-received yet.

Apparently they have to pay the actors more after 2-3 seasons, so they don't like to do that unless a show is a bangout hit.

[Scott5114]

When you're anticipating an important call/text message/whatever and then every app on your phone decides it wants to send you a garbage "look at me!" notification.

[Scott5114]

Speaking of Portland, how early everything closes.

I read this entire paragraph thinking you were talking about an entirely different city than the one you were talking about, and only figured it out from the last sentence. (I guess the one in Oregon is inland enough that it wouldn't make much sense to have a lighthouse, but I've never actually been there. But it's a lot closer to the coast than I've ever lived, so to me it's "sort of vaguely on the coast", until I actually force myself to think about it in more detail.)

[ZLoth]

Speaking of Portland, how early everything closes.

Uhhh.. are we talking about Oregon or Maine? Or are we talking about New South Wales, Victoria, Ontario, New Zealand, or others around the world?

[JayhawkCO]

Speaking of Portland, how early everything closes.

Uhhh.. are we talking about Oregon or Maine? Or are we talking about New South Wales, Victoria, Ontario, New Zealand, or others around the world?

I'm pretty sure Portland, OR isn't on Atlantic Time, as also referenced in that post.

[J N Winkler]

I'm also pretty sure she wasn't talking about the island that gives Portland cement concrete its name.

[webny99]

an announcement came on saying the mall was closed asking everyone to leave.  It was only 6:45.  What the hell?  Is Portland unofficially on Atlantic time or something?

I don't know about the last part, but there is a noticeable trend of things closing earlier the further east you go within a time zone and staying open later the further west you go. This is especially noticeable in New England and Maine in particular, which has very early sunrises and sunsets relative to the rest of the Eastern time zone. Partly because of that, it's more of an "early bird" place in general and businesses tend to adjust to compensate for that.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I spent a weekday morning in downtown Portland in April 2022 and it just felt completely asleep.

[hbelkins]

When you're anticipating an important call/text message/whatever and then every app on your phone decides it wants to send you a garbage "look at me!" notification.

That's why, in general, I have most all app notifications turned off, and for most of the ones I do have active, I have only badges and sounds active, not full-text notifications. "Badges" may be an iPhone-specific term, though. The only app for which I have on-screen notifications active is for texts on my work phone.

[vdeane]

Speaking of Portland, how early everything closes.

Uhhh.. are we talking about Oregon or Maine? Or are we talking about New South Wales, Victoria, Ontario, New Zealand, or others around the world?

Maine

an announcement came on saying the mall was closed asking everyone to leave.  It was only 6:45.  What the hell?  Is Portland unofficially on Atlantic time or something?

I don't know about the last part, but there is a noticeable trend of things closing earlier the further east you go within a time zone and staying open later the further west you go. This is especially noticeable in New England and Maine in particular, which has very early sunrises and sunsets relative to the rest of the Eastern time zone. Partly because of that, it's more of an "early bird" place in general and businesses tend to adjust to compensate for that.

I certainly noticed that there was a lot more traffic than there would be here in the morning, too.

[Max Rockatansky]

This time of year it is difficult to determine how much pre-run water intake I need.  Usually in the summer I will spend 20-30 minutes drinking about 52-56 ounces of fluid prior to the start of a distance run.  The morning temperatures in Fresno during summer can range from around 68-80F normally. 

Today I consumed 44 ounces prior to the start of my 13.1 mile run this morning.  It turned out to still be way too much given the  temperature was about 55F prior to sunrise.  Coupled with what I was consuming during the run (32 ounces of Gatorade) I found myself having to stop twice to relieve myself. 

[webny99]

an announcement came on saying the mall was closed asking everyone to leave.  It was only 6:45.  What the hell?  Is Portland unofficially on Atlantic time or something?

I don't know about the last part, but there is a noticeable trend of things closing earlier the further east you go within a time zone and staying open later the further west you go. This is especially noticeable in New England and Maine in particular, which has very early sunrises and sunsets relative to the rest of the Eastern time zone. Partly because of that, it's more of an "early bird" place in general and businesses tend to adjust to compensate for that.

I certainly noticed that there was a lot more traffic than there would be here in the morning, too.

That could also be attributable to Columbus Day weekend being pretty much a full blown holiday weekend in New England (and to a lesser extent, upstate NY) due to leaf peeping. Today's travel/traffic patterns in New England mirrored those in Canada, where today is the last major holiday of the season.

[Rothman]

Never understood people going to New England or New York for Columbus Day and complaining about the crowds.  Well, yeah.  Been crowded here since before the Revolution.  Duh.

[LilianaUwU]

Never understood people going to New England or New York for Columbus Day and complaining about the crowds.  Well, yeah.  Been crowded here since before the Revolution.  Duh.

Similarly, complaining about crowds in stores in December. What the hell do you expect?

[Max Rockatansky]

Never understood people going to New England or New York for Columbus Day and complaining about the crowds.  Well, yeah.  Been crowded here since before the Revolution.  Duh.

Similarly, complaining about crowds in stores in December. What the hell do you expect?

I didn't even know what Black Friday was until I was 17.  I randomly walked into a Meijer's to get a Mountain Dew and was taken aback by how busy it was.  I asked an employee why it was so busy and they explained it to me.

[LilianaUwU]

Never understood people going to New England or New York for Columbus Day and complaining about the crowds.  Well, yeah.  Been crowded here since before the Revolution.  Duh.

Similarly, complaining about crowds in stores in December. What the hell do you expect?

I didn't even know what Black Friday was until I was 17.  I randomly walked into a Meijer's to get a Mountain Dew and was taken aback by how busy it was.  I asked an employee why it was so busy and they explained it to me.

Fair enough in the case of Black Friday, not everyone knew back then (and even now). But in December, leading up to a celebration of capitalism disguised as the birth of a bearded dude?

[Max Rockatansky]

Never understood people going to New England or New York for Columbus Day and complaining about the crowds.  Well, yeah.  Been crowded here since before the Revolution.  Duh.

Similarly, complaining about crowds in stores in December. What the hell do you expect?

I didn't even know what Black Friday was until I was 17.  I randomly walked into a Meijer's to get a Mountain Dew and was taken aback by how busy it was.  I asked an employee why it was so busy and they explained it to me.

Fair enough in the case of Black Friday, not everyone knew back then (and even now). But in December, leading up to a celebration of capitalism disguised as the birth of a bearded dude?

Maybe?  Back then I probably would have had blinders on due to the fact that hated shopping.  Can't really say my enjoyment of crowded stores has increased with time.

[Big John]

Never understood people going to New England or New York for Columbus Day and complaining about the crowds.  Well, yeah.  Been crowded here since before the Revolution.  Duh.

Similarly, complaining about crowds in stores in December. What the hell do you expect?

I didn't even know what Black Friday was until I was 17.  I randomly walked into a Meijer's to get a Mountain Dew and was taken aback by how busy it was.  I asked an employee why it was so busy and they explained it to me.

Fair enough in the case of Black Friday, not everyone knew back then (and even now). But in December, leading up to a celebration of capitalism disguised as the birth of a bearded dude?

What day is Black Friday in Canada, since today is Canadian Thanksgiving?

[LilianaUwU]

Never understood people going to New England or New York for Columbus Day and complaining about the crowds.  Well, yeah.  Been crowded here since before the Revolution.  Duh.

Similarly, complaining about crowds in stores in December. What the hell do you expect?

I didn't even know what Black Friday was until I was 17.  I randomly walked into a Meijer's to get a Mountain Dew and was taken aback by how busy it was.  I asked an employee why it was so busy and they explained it to me.

Fair enough in the case of Black Friday, not everyone knew back then (and even now). But in December, leading up to a celebration of capitalism disguised as the birth of a bearded dude?

What day is Black Friday in Canada, since today is Canadian Thanksgiving?

Same as in the US, because Black Friday is not tied to a holiday.