AND ANOTHER CELL PHONE ONE!

Do you remember my telling you about the lady in the next stall asking me to "hold it" until she was off the phone?

She was in the building a while back and was yacking away again. This time she was standing in front of our office door! She kept holding up her hand to kinda tell me I was disturbing her. I put my hand on her shoulder and nudged her. She looked around and made some sort of remark about being on the phone. I remarked back that she's blocking a door. MOVE!

She could have sat in one of the chairs by the fountain or gone outside. Out of all the offices in this building, she had to stand in front of our door.

I don't like her.

I have to put up with those guys in the spring summer & fall! Have fun with them during the winter months

and on the note of irresponsible pet owners...hmm many. Definately the retractable leashes...they suck...please control your pet before it gets 20 ft away from you. Please pick up your pets poo..i do it, it hasn't killed me and it definately won't kill you.
But the best ones are the owner that bring me a sick and or limping dog for me to examine...then when i tell them what test i need/want to run...they tell me..nope i can't do anything and leave. Well why the F did you just waste my time and frustrate me. I'm here to help your pet...but i can't do it by just waving my hands over it like some evangelical preacher and yelling "thou art healed" For pete's sake people..i'm a veterinarian..not god.

Same thing I was thinking. I've been taking my son to restaurants since his birth. And I LOVE The Olive Garden. And...they even have kid menus there, so they do cater to children. However, I've eaten out with my cousin when her children were younger. It isn't even the kids manners most time, but the parents inability to control the child. And she did NOT control hers...PLUS they were ill mannered kids. It was totally embarrassing.

My son is two, and very rambunctious. But he is very well behaved in restaurants...for the most part. When he isn't, we go to the restroom or maybe have to leave. I don't just sit at the table and allow him to disturb other customers. Even as an infant, the car carrier doubled well as a rocker. Just sit it on the table and rock him with one hand while I eat with the other. Kept him happy and quiet and mom got to enjoy a good meal.

Got a friend in NC in farm country. Her neighbors have a large farm. And they own gas stations. So they have a pump in their driveway for their personal vehicles and farm equipment. I was sooooo sorely tempted to fill up before leaving. LOL Sadly, they don't trust anyone and lock the darn thing. Dang! People don't trust anyone anymore. ::snicker::

I wholehearted agree about not using one's cell phone when being helped at a store. I used to cashier when I was a teenager. And yes, I'm working, and yes I'm getting paid to stand there, but it doesn't give you the right to be rude to me. I'm trying to help you out! So thank you to those who put their phones down for 5 minutes while you're interacting with me.

Even more than that... PEOPLE WHO TALK ON CELL PHONES IN A RESTAURANT. If you NEED to take a call, and it rings in the restaurant, PLEASE for the love of all that is holy step outside!

I have a few aquaintances who will take a call at the table while one of our friends is talking and I cannot stand it. It's so absolutely rude. The person in front of your face is highest priority. (I will say that bars emergencies but that's obvious. And I mean hospital & death sort of emergencies, not little Timmy won't go to sleep so I need to talk to the babysitter for 15 minutes emergencies.)

It annoys me, because when someone is on the phone, we're all used to trying to be quiet around them so that they are better able to hear the person on the other end. (Or so I was taught when I was young and we only had phones in our houses.) So now we have cell phones all over the place (And that's fine. I use one exclusively, no land line.) However, when I go to use my phone, if I happen to be in a public place, I say excuse me to the person I am speaking with, and I make sure the conversation on the other end is brief and to the point. I say excuse me again when returning to interact with the person who is in front of me. And if I am in a restaurant, I GO OUTSIDE! I don't care if it's -20 degrees out. Your conversation is not so important as to hold the rest of the restaurant hostage while you blab away. And that's what they do. They hold all conversation hostage until they're done.

There was this one time in particular that I was hanging out after work with a co-worker and we go into a restaurant for some dinner and she spends the whole dinner calling both a car dealership and her husband back and forth to try and work out going to see a car. If that was so important, why am I here? Either it could have waited until afterwards, or we could have rescheduled so that you could work that out without an audience.

Sorry that was long, but I'm very annoyed by it... *grumbles*

Not only have I gone to my share of movies where someone's cell phone rang, I've also been to them where people have taken the call. And yes, I said something to them - "go outside!!!!".

I also can't stand it when I see parents with young children at a movie that is rated R and completely inappropriate for a young child. If you couldn't get a sitter, you probably shouldn't have come to see the movie.

I also have it when people "knock" on my cubicle wall but I guess that is more of a pet peeve! Or when I clearly have my headphones on and they start talking to me as if they assume I could hear them instead of waiting for me to finish typing before I reach up to remove the headphones.

Oh and all those people that tell me food doesn't contain calories when you eat it with friends or family.

Cell phone rudeness, definitely on the list!

New peeves -- women who won't make sure they completely FLUSH the stupid public toilet. Yes, I've read the reports about the huge number of germs flushing throws into the air. But they're YOUR stupid germs, not mine, so why should I have to flush your waste and deal with your germs?

People who get in the fast lane and do 55-60 MPH. In regular traffic, not even remotely crowded. Yes, I realize it is better for fuel consumption. Get your butt into a more speed appropriate lane and save the universe from there please. Otherwise you're going to cause a huge accident from all the other morons who have to 90 who are bobbing and weaving all over the freeway, cutting me off while trying to get past you.

Last -- people who take the stairs and stomp all the way up or down. In the case of my office, marble stairs. I've seen some of these people, they don't appear to weigh a ton. They just sound like it as they clump up and down all four blessed flights of stairs. Some of them need new heel taps on their shoes, so the screw is scratching every step. Some of the folks have the cheap shoes with the hollow heels with the heel pad worn down so there is an echo with every step. Some of them manage to stomp while wearing athletic shoes. I don't know how they do it. Lack of muscle tone I guess. I appreciate the healthiness of what they're doing, but honestly, could they do it QUIETLY?

Faerie and Mod, you've both done wonderfully with your losses!

Since we're talking about taking babies to places........

Over the Labor Day Weekend, we were helping out at a winery we love. We were there 1 day and got to go tour the other wineries the other day. We opted to take the shuttles rather than drive in all that massive crowd. Keep in mind that it was over 100 deg F that day. There was some woman on the shuttle and visiting the wineries with a newborn! She had it in one of the front carriers and that kid was miserable. It was constantly having to be nursed (she did a wonderful job keeping herself and the baby covered) and it was hot. I don't know what she did when she had to change it. Since she was tasting wine, it's a wonder the kid didn't pass out after nursing a few times.

How about people who are in the carpool lane legally. They have more than 1 person in the car? I love it when the illegal ones get caught, don't get me wrong. However, the legal ones in the carpool lane and don't want to go the speed limit. The speed limit might be 65 but like you said, they want to save money on gas and slow everybody else down. Yep! Move Over!

Mod - you reminded me.

I had been looking forwarding to seeing the 4th Harry Potter movie for almost a year. #4 was my favorite book at the time, and we were at a TEN PM showing on the DAY IT CAME OUT.

There was a mother behind me with 5 kids under 10. One was maybe 3-4 and kept asking what was happening as the movie went on, so the mom would explain. One of the older ones was kicking my chair the entire time. And two sisters gabbed away about their friends at school. Then when the movie got a little scarier, the 3-4 year old started screaming and crying and the mom just sat there. During the climax of the movie. While her child ruined it for everyone there.

I know parents have kids, and that a lot of kids (even if they weren't old enough yet) really wanted to see the HP movies. But for pete's sake - if you are taking your kids to a movie that appeals to most ages but some are too young to sit through a movie, get an aisle seat and try to go during a matinee. And while this isn't a hard and fast rule, for a franchise like Harry Potter, the people who are there on the day it came out are most likely the most ardent fans, and at any theater around here, they have waited in line at least 2-3 hours for the rights to be in that theater on opening day. The movie is probably something they really want to see (understatement of the year). So maybe that isn't the best showing to bring your too-young child to. And if you must, exit swiftly when they cry. Oh, and make your kids not talk and kick other people's chairs.

The best part of this story (or worst, from my perspective)...I turn around and give them the "Family Glare" - learned it from my father. You never say a word, you just turn around and....stare at them with a face best described as half angry, half incredulous...it usually works without saying a single word. And they all shut up for a minute. And then when I turned back around, the mom (Yes, the MOM) turns to what I can only presume to be her oldest daughter and says "what a b*tch", and they both snicker.

They definitely get on the list, yes?

What's wrong with getting a sitter? Certainly it would make it better for people who want to watch a movie, play, sporting event or whatever if they didn't have to listen to kids crying and whining. Does a kid that young get in free? It certainly cost her money to take all those kids, especially to a 10PM showing. In fact, I feel 10PM is too late for kids of those ages to be out!

Sometimes those people might really not have the money to afford the level of care you're offering. When Pepper had a urinary blockage, we went to the 24-hour animal hospital and the visit had already cost $100 before he had even been examined because it was after hours. Then the vet told us the diagnosis, that he'd have to stay overnight, that he'd need a bunch of tests and a bunch of drugs - we had to go from a 2-car to a 1-car family to pay for it, AND take out CareCredit to pay the rest. Granted, we did so, but some people might not be willing or able to do that for their pets.

I agree about small children and restaurants - one time, the GF and I went out to a pretty nice place (Macaroni Grill) just to have our date ruined by two kids who wouldn't stop YELLING, CRYING, and THROWING FOOD! I kid you not, this little boy threw food that landed on our table!

If I had kids, would I take them to Olive Garden (where they do cater to children) or Red Lobster? Probably, but I would tell them that if they were loud and/or obnoxious in any way that we would be leaving the restaurant early and they would be punished for it.

I second Manda that pet care can be really, really expensive. I have a little dog who has had his fair share of very random ailments (he's a runt) and the bills are INSANE!

Ok, onto the jerk list:
I have to add my downstairs neighbors! They're in a band, and every night the band practices. Their music is awful, but I'm not going to be upset just because they're practicing. I've had bands and I understand that practices don't always sound good. What bothers me is that they practice and play very loudly at 2 or 3 AM on WEEKNIGHTS nearly every day! While THEY might not have to wake up early for work, I DO! Nearly every night, I bang on their door with one eye open, my hair sprouting in all directions, and semi-slurred sleepy speech, letting them know that they need to STOP! Sometimes they adhere to my request, but other times, they find it comical and play louder. I've even had to call noise ordinance once. I don't do stuff like this. I'm not the kind of person that pisses all over other people's parades and I definitely don't want to sick Gainesville's Finest on anyone, but sometimes it just HAS to STOP!

And OHMYGOSH, if you don't flush the toilet in public restrooms, then you are SICK!
One of the most disgusting things ever is to walk into an otherwise clean restroom and then see a big load of turds and toilet paper just sitting in the bowl. How can, um, going number two impact your life to SUCH a TINY degree that you don't even REALIZE you left it in the bowl to begin with?!

Sometimes, I wonder if this not flushing thing is just done as a mean trick because these mysterious individuals just KNOW someone will walk into the stall and go "EWWWW!!!" A very crude friend of mine once told me that she purposely takes huge dumps in the stalls of the restrooms at her university because she knows lots of sorority girls are there and she likes to remind them that "they poop too AND their poop stinks just as bad as mine!"

Ok, my friend just went on the jerk list for a moment there.

Thanks for the compliment cbmare!

kappy - You know what I hate? When I'm in the left hand lane and going the speed limit or just over and I am actually still passing everyone to my right and someone tailgates me. At that point I always refuse to move over. I'm using the lane the way it was meant to be used. They can move over and pass me if they're in that much of a hurry.

If you really want it to stop, call your landlord. Your neighbors signed a lease too, and it might have something in there about a responsible noise level. DH and I had this problem once when we lived in an apartment and management made them keep it down. Of course my case wasn't happening that late at night. In your case, I already would have called the cops on them and not been as nice to go to the landlord first but that is just me...