Pet Hates

[Pendraia]

I posted in Lisa's thread first...as I saw it first.

I hate bureaucracy at school...would love to just be able to get on with teaching.

My only other hate would be drivers who go into a lane that's about to disappear and merge just to get two or three cars ahead...I view it as a form of queue jumping, that just slows everybody down.

I don't really have a lot of hates...there are other things I sometimes find irritating but not to the extent I'd call them a hate.

 

[Bonnie2001]

I have a friend who almost looks like a model, beautiful, slim and healthy looking but she has this syndrome that she can be fine one minute then the next blood pressure drops so low she's on the ground.

I'm surprised she is allowed to drive. Over here the insurance companies would probably refuse to cover anyone with that health problem.

 

[Rae134]

You can drive over here without insurance but it only hits her when she stands, sitting is no problem.

 

[Pendraia]

Just to clarify, in Victoria we have insurance that is included in the cost of registration that covers public liability. Then it's up to a driver whether they wish to cover damage to someone else's vehicle and fire and theft or go for full cover which also covers your own vehicles damage. Not sure if Queensland is the same?

 

[Bonnie2001]

Oh well that's okay, she wouldn't be a danger to anyone.
What happens if someone over there has a car accident and it is their fault and they have no insurance? Who pays the other driver if the one causing the accident isn't insured?

 

[Bonnie2001]

Just seen your post now Pen, after I posted. So I guess the government pays out to the other driver and the one causing the accident pays for their own car if they don't have insurance.

 

[Pendraia]

Only for health things. If they don't have insurance you have to work out a way for them to pay and some people are not able to or try to get out of it, if you have comprehensive insurance you can claim through your own insurer and they will pay out and then collect from the person who did the damage. When someone went into the back of my car a couple of years back and wrote it off...I got the payout from my insurance and they followed up with the other guy's insurance I never heard anymore once they paid me out.

 

[Satira Capriccio]

I used to feel the same way Pen about merging lanes. For the last two years, there has been construction on the Parkway ... which is a major commute route. So, for the last two years, when I'd get onto the Parkway, I'd immediately into the through lane lane ... even though the merge point was like a mile away. As did most everyone else. Consequently, instead of there being three lanes of traffic for that mile of heavily congested blocks, there were only two ... with the result traffic was even more congested and was often stopped rather than flowing smoothly. Then about six months ago, I read an article similar to these ...

Why Last Second Lane Mergers are Good for Traffic
Zipper Merge: Curing Merger Lane Traffic Jams
Merge (Traffic)

Turns out, all us polite drivers are actually causing traffic jams, and those rude drivers are the ones using the merge lane correctly. The correct way to deal with lane mergers during congestion is for traffic to use both lanes until the merge point, and for cars in the through lane to leave large enough gaps that one or more cars are able to merge. This "zipper merge" technique, where drivers in both lanes take turns merging past the merge point actually allows traffic to move faster. Best of all, because both lanes are in use until the last minute, you avoid the situation where a driver is able to speed down an unused merge lane and force their way in front of all that traffic that has been creep ... creep ... creeping along.

The early merge, which most of us believe is the polite thing to do, should be used only when traffic is light. The late merge (zipper merge) should be used when traffic is heavy. Rather than the simple "merge ahead" type signs, signs should instruct drivers to "STAY IN LANE UNTIL MERGE POINT." At the merge point, the signs should instruct drivers to "MERGE HERE, TAKE TURNS."

 

[Satira Capriccio]

We're required to carry car insurance in the US. But that doesn't stop people from driving without insurance. (Apparently, 1 in 8 drivers are uninsured.) In a no fault state, damages are covered by each driver's insurance. In a "tort" state, the insurance of the driver at fault pays for the damages to your car. Depending on the state, you may be required to carry uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage (which costs extra, of course) or it may be an option in states that don't require it. With uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, your insurance company will pay for the damages and medical expenses caused by a driver with no insurance or minimal insurance. The insurance company will then most likely sue the uninsured/underinsured driver.

If you don't have that extra coverage, you will have to pay for repairs and medical expenses yourself. You will then need to sue the other driver yourself ... which is expensive and often results in you not recovering any damages ... even if you win a settlement.

Oh well that's okay, she wouldn't be a danger to anyone.
What happens if someone over there has a car accident and it is their fault and they have no insurance? Who pays the other driver if the one causing the accident isn't insured?

 

[Dylan]

My main pet hate is those "clothes donation" leaflets coming through our letterbox almost daily. They pretend to be collecting old clothes for charity, but the majority are scammers collecting clothes to sell. They get €50,000 for a full container of clothes, which gets shipped to poor countries in Africa and sold for profit.

 

[Pendraia]

I used to feel the same way Pen about merging lanes. For the last two years, there has been construction on the Parkway ... which is a major commute route. So, for the last two years, when I'd get onto the Parkway, I'd immediately into the through lane lane ... even though the merge point was like a mile away. As did most everyone else. Consequently, instead of there being three lanes of traffic for that mile of heavily congested blocks, there were only two ... with the result traffic was even more congested and was often stopped

I don't mind people using the other lane...my objection is when they change lanes at the last minute. If they've been in that lane all along I don't have a problem...it's when they do just to jump ahead a couple of cars.

 

[RAMWolff]

My main pet hate is those "clothes donation" leaflets coming through our letterbox almost daily. They pretend to be collecting old clothes for charity, but the majority are scammers collecting clothes to sell. They get €50,000 for a full container of clothes, which gets shipped to poor countries in Africa and sold for profit.

Similar here where I live in Redwood City, CA... we have donation bins, often some destitute will find a way to break the lock and take clothing to sell. Recently they found dead body in one of them, I think they expired during the night after a long night of drinking and it was quite cold outside. Both of the bins are now gone. They were quite unsightly since both locks were broken there was always a mess of clothing and shoes outside strewn all over the place. My friend Jeff used to stop and fold all of those clothes and put them back in only to find the same mess the next day. I kept telling him to stop wasting his time... now he doesn't have that to obsess over! lol

 

[McGyver]

Now if you had said some one who parks in a handicap parking spot without the right documentation then I'd agree with you!

Yeah, thats what I meant... But sometimes people have the permit, but wrongfully or they are milking a situation...
Here in New York we have rear view mirror tags for certain (mostly temporary) disabilities...
From my experiences, I have seen that these are often misused and abused, because you can move them from one vehicle to another just by unclipping them.
We also have license plates for permanent disabilities.
When for example I see a couple of kids barely old enough to drive, pull into a spot driving a beat up import tuner, horse playing and being jerks, and on the rear view mirror is a handicap tag... I kinda figure none of them are really handicapped...
Temporarily or permanently.
I get that there are a percentage of people that may not have a limp or look old as hell, but I've known of plenty of people who cheat and borrow other people's tags, especially their older parent's...
I've even known a guy who had an injury that took a few weeks to heal, but he kept using the tag for about two years... Even used to give it to his kids and tell them to use it... Great example.
I don't mention it much, but a while back I was riding my bike in NYC and I got nailed by a older fellow who went through a stop sign... I went halfway through the windshield, but was okay except for glass in my shoulder, arm and cheek (face cheek)... That and a big huge bruise on my lower back... My back hurt for a while but I sucked it up and eventually either I didn't notice it or it got better.
About ten years later I found out I had indeed been pretty badly injured and because the idiots at the emergency room never X-rayed my back (they did X-ray the hell out of my neck and head though), nobody noticed and I caused more damage by not treating it.
So after that for about two miserable hellish years I walked about like a pirate with a bad peg leg.
My doctor told me I should get a handicap tag (but also told me to walk as much as I could bear), I declined because I knew I wouldn't use it because I could walk (uncomfortably) and I didn't like the idea of inconveniencing someone who really needed the space...
Eventually I got better, more or less...
But in that time I became aware that a lot of doctors were okaying temporary tags for things like hand and shoulder injuries.
I'd go to the physical therapist and see some poor rickety old fella hobbling across the far end parking lot, while some twenty year old with a bad thumb parked by the front door...
There is a real deep disparity in that and that bugs me.
Especially when I see people with NO tags, stickers or plates... If you have a genuine disability, it's fairly easy to get a tag in New York and if you have none, you look fine and spry, I'm just going to assume you are a lazy inconsiderate jerk.
If you think I'm obnoxious here, in real life I'm just as bad... On a couple of occasions I've call out people who were parked close to me... I'd play dumb (okay, it mostly not an act), and ask... "Excuse me... I need to get one of those tags... Do I get that from the doctor, or do I have to pay for that?"
Each time I was right... The person hemmed and hawed or just admitted it wasn't theirs, to which I replied "Oh... Okay, thanks... I didn't realize you were just lazy... You know... it's pretty crappy to make real handicapped people walk... "
Yes, I'm a jerk sometimes, but maybe they'll feel bad about what they did and not do it again...
Probably not, but at least I got to play a meaner version of Columbo and feel a smug sense of satisfaction.
Sorry for the long explanation and post.

 

[McGyver]

My main pet hate is those "clothes donation" leaflets coming through our letterbox almost daily. They pretend to be collecting old clothes for charity, but the majority are scammers collecting clothes to sell. They get €50,000 for a full container of clothes, which gets shipped to poor countries in Africa and sold for profit.

We have one donation bin company around here that professes to be a cancer care charity... So I looked them up on NYS's "Pennies for Charities" website... Turns out that the most they ever gave to charity was in 2013 and that was 7% of the income from donations.
The owner was connected to two other scam charities which were fined thousands of dollars for fraud.
There is actually a minimum amount that must be contributed, but somehow it seems these people either flaunt that or find a way around it.
I recently came across a bin that calls itself a "recycling center" of some sort... "Give new life to your old computer, Donate it to needy children and help blah, blah, blah, blah..."
I couldn't even find a website for the name on the bin, no information online and no charity permit sticker either... I suspect adding "Recycle" to the mix changed the theme and that was how they got around needing a permit sticker.
Slick.
I think the thing that really creeped me out was the thought of people donating their computers, not just to a scam charity, but not properly wiping the hard drive or removing it... I can't see scammers like that passing up any opportunity to rip people off.

 

[Pendraia]

Most likely its mum or dads car theyve borrowed McGyver from the sounds of it.

 

[Satira Capriccio]

I agree about that Pen. By teaching drivers to use the merge lane until the merge point, both lanes are in use until the merge point. It cuts down on the opportunity to hop lanes in an attempt to "cut" traffic. The bigger problem we had on the Parkway was that with the merge lane clear of traffic for a mile, idiots would race down the empty lane and then force their way into the through lane at the last minute.

I don't mind people using the other lane...my objection is when they change lanes at the last minute. If they've been in that lane all along I don't have a problem...it's when they do just to jump ahead a couple of cars.

 

[Pendraia]

That would be annoying and unsafe...with driving on a freeway every day I see behaviour that is just unbelievable sometimes.

 

[Dawn]

In the hopes of making you feel better, Bonnie.

Being asked for ID/proof of age when I go to the cinema. - When you get to my age, you would want someone to ask for ID.

Having to go to school at all. - Relish in the long holidays and short days. Soon you will only able to have 4-6 weeks off a year and work longer hours. Unless you go out during lunch breaks during work, in winter months you won't even see daylight!

Adverts on TV (about 6 minutes every half hour!). Agree with you here, even on my virgin media paid for cable, you get adverts. I thought they were supposed to be in place of the tv licence (not sure you have that in Ireland for the BBC) ITV and the likes have adverts to fund the programmes, so what is the cable channels doing putting them on every ten minutes or so when we pay for the service? I was watching something the other day which was on the SyFy channel and they had an ad break that was 10 mins long. I had to rewind and time it and yes, it was 10 minutes! Then ten mins later they had another one!

Having to pay to use the ladies rooms in some shopping centres. - Find the management and tell them if it's not free and you can't find one you will P*** on the floor

Having to put a €5 note in the bus fare slot when the fare is only €1.90 but I don't have change, and the bus drivers don't give out change either. - That sounds about right for vending machines here in England. At least your bus service accepts money. We can only use Oyster cards (prepaid cards especially for the buses and such) or the touch debit cards (not sure if all but definately Barclays.)

--

My pet hates.

First and foremost on my list, and has always been, is the spelling of my surname. People bung an 'S' on the end as that is a more common spelling, but THERE IS NO S! grrrr!

The woman's voice downstairs from me. We live in a block of flats and she should respect her neighbours. Her voice is deep, loud and boomy and it's constant from as early as 7 in the morning until 2 at night. I think she's a hairdresser and works from home so she's constantly yabbering to someone.

Service charges for my apartment. Pay ridiculous amounts per year and see little for it. They spend in the wrong places and don't follow up on what you do complain about. I wish there was a time machine and I could go back in time and buy somewhere else. Can't afford to move now.

Having to pay for the contraception pill when it is needed for medical purposes instead of family planning, where you get it free. Why should someone have to pay for the prescription when it's needed to make them better and not when they want a bit of 'how's ya father.'

Someone taking their phone out during a dinner date. Why bother coming out if you got your head buried in Candy crush or bejewelled?

Someone spitting the floor, and I don't mean the normal spit, but one of those deep snorted snotty ones. I'm sure where I live there is a fine in place for those, but you still see loads of people doing it. I blame the footballers. Filthy unhealthy habit, no wonder TB is on the increase.

Cold Callers who ring to ask for someone else, knowing full well it's not me. I'm cockney and they ask for someone with an Arabic or asian name thinking I am that person (Do I sound like 'MR' Mohammed?) Then proceed to say that as I'm on the phone I may be interested, to which I say no and slam the phone down. It's usually a company linked to British Telecommunications (BT)

Insurance is based on post codes here. Where I live it's nearly twice as much as anywhere else, even though you have to have three keys and an electronic fob to get to my flat and I'm on the top floor with a sheer drop from my window. Not as if anyone can break in, it's Fort Knox. Even the pet insurance I was gonna take out was more than double and the cats don't even venture outdoors.

 

[HaiGan]

People who don't read the manual, then ask every question that's answered on the first page of the manual. I mean, I don't mind if they can't read, or don't have the right manual, or need text-to-speech, or don't understand after reading and need it rephrasing, but 'I can't be bothered, just tell me what to do' (with the implication of "I can't be bothered to use my own brain, let me use yours instead") is NOT an acceptable reason.

Boot (trunk) lock inspectors, aka tailgaters. The people who drive along behind you apparently glued to your back bumper.

Phone scammers... May they burn in hell alongside Hitler...

Phone scammers, oh, when I'm in the right mood, I LOVE phone scammers. They are SO FUN to play with. I have competitions with myself to see how long I can string them along before they ring off, or how angry I can make them (they usually ring off then anyway). I've never yet managed to persuade one that they have a problem with their PC and need me to talk them through installing remote-access software so I can see what they're doing, though. Poot.

People who complain about the 'yobs' hanging around the local skate park, when those 'yobs' are kids out in the fresh air, getting exercise, being sociable with their friends while also often keeping an eye on/teaching a bunch of younger siblings to use their wheels. Apparently kids should be out of sight inside, alone, glued to a computer or something, except 'they' complain about that too. I guess human beings should just spring into life as fully-formed adults?

Deliberately derogatory comments disguised as helpfulness. ("I can give you the address of a dentist, he does really cheap teeth whitening." From a stranger you just met). By all means have an opinion and be tactful, but, when there is no need to mention something, and nobody is asking you to say something about it, and it's in a venue where critique is not normal, just pretend not to notice.

Unthinking/unquestioning use of stereotyping to be critical, e.g. "women drivers".

Answerphones. I hate talking to answerphones. I clam up, I forget what it is I want to say, I just... bleh. It's a bit easier when the 'please leave a message' part is funny.

People who pick-n-mix statistics or facts to 'prove' an argument, especally when the 'facts' are unatributed statements copied and recopied across the Internet without any traceable origin. Pet Hate status withdrawn in the case of those who are willing to reconsider their position when pointed in the direction of reliable contradictory evidence, providing that evidence doesn't come up in the top three entries of a basic web search, and that the individual does have web access.

Mobile phone company employees who won't believe that 4G is not available in my local area.

People who approve the building of housing estates with hundreds or thouands of houses without also making sure that there will be a corresponding increase in road access, school places, bus services, waste removal, shops, public services and leisure facilities. People who approve the building of housing estates without being aware of what the phrases 'water meadow' and 'flood plain' mean.

I've created a new thread here called I Love ...

The rules are that for every post you make in this "Pet Hates" thread, you must also go and make a post in the other one.

Will do!

 

[Mythocentric]

People who sit next to me on the train and repeatedly use their cell phones to ring their office just to tell them where they are and when they expect to arrive (usually in a loud voice!). Honest! That happened to me recently during a trip from Lancaster to Preston with a woman (complete in power-suit) who called her secretary seven times in the space of a twenty-minute journey! Mind you! It was rather funny when a group of teenagers who'd been in the same coach with us stepped onto the platform behind her and started waving and calling, "Bye Debbie (the woman)! Have a nice day at the office!" Sometimes I think youngsters aren't so bad after all!