Things that grind your gears

[Imicola]

What are those things that just really annoy you? Whether bad design, overused phrases, or unaware people.

Here's a few of mine that I'd like to get off my chest...

Hooks, usually in UK public loos, which don't remotely resemble hooks and are actually just a small stump incapable of holding a bag. Why would you design that, it's shit.

"Good morning, good afternoon, good evening" as an intro from every single participant on an international remote meeting. I'm so over it, why not just say hello?

"Uptick". Seriously, I'm a statistician and I never came across this term in relation to data before the pandemic. Why?

Back to the public loos, but cubicles which are so small you end up pretty much sitting on the sanitary waste bin. Then if you want to actually use said bin you need to be a contortionist. Ouch. Clearly those bins were designed by men.

While back on the subject of public loos...i don't get the thought process for the design of some air fresheners. "Oh, you know what would be great? If we could design something that would freshen not only the toilet with a loo freshener smell, but also cover the people using the loo with said freshener at frequent intervals... let's just spray it into the air above their heads so it lands in their hair add they wash their hand". NO FFS.

That was cathartic... who's next?

'Such an effort is made with coffee - the machines are like bloody spaceships - but when you ask for tea, any old boggo teabag will do'

Yes! And don't get me started on being charged different prices for a small, medium or large tea 😡

Meninism.

Absolutely everything. Really. I'm so over life. Everything pisses me off, I have no patience with anything or anyone. I'm constantly miserable and have had enough. Sorry, not as lighthearted as the thread called for but yeah, short answer, everything.

BLUETOOTH. Fucking thing never fucking connects.

Faux naivety, rife on Mumsnet 'what did he DO when you told him about it? A vagina? Did you mean a VULVA??'

Jobsworths.

People who, despite having no interest in said topics, still take the time to respond anyway despite lack of said interest. Or people who don't just, you know, google it.

The lack of hooks in any disabled loo. I use them a lot through my work, I have never yet seen a look that has a hook for your bag. I guess they think disabled people don't have bags?

Also S&B

"I'm looking at handabags , I have birthday money/gift vouchers/inheritence/bonus from work/DH bonus and he gave me £x . Budget about £900 but I'll go higher for the right bag"

Then you get
"Well there's this one , made from a Unicorn's scrotal sac and stitched with mermaids hair . They've got a 5% code which takes it down to £9,550 "
(About 10x the OPs budget)

Or:
"They've got exactly the same bag in Primark" . Except it's lime green . And plastic . And smells like it would sear off your eyelids

Or :
"That's an obscene amount of money ! Nearly a grand on a BAG . There's children with no shoes . Why not buy this one and give £600 to a Charity . "
OP might have saved like billy-oh or worked her butt off and wants this once in a lifetime treat

Cars parked on pavements. Selfish arsehole drivers.

Compulsory e-tickets for events. For the love of God, give me the option of printing off a ticket if you're adamant about not providing them yourself. You're a bloody ticketing site. I don't want to spend £££ on gigs then be fretting for months about whether I'll lose my phone or it runs out of battery, or the stupid O2 app fails to recognise the log-in I've just created to access the wildly overpriced seats I paid for before anyone mentioned this malarkey.
Oh, and every damned outlet that sells takeaway food diversifying to become a miniature coffee shop. I just want to buy a quick sandwich, not wait behind 3 different customers wanting elaborate caffeinated drinks that take longer to collectively prepare than a hot meal. Have a separate queue.

1. On the road - slow drivers. I mean usually old men wearing a cap, driving a Honda Jazz or Nissan Micra not keeping up with the speed. Frustrating.
2. Supermarkets - Couples shopping together. One usually faffs about putting items on the belt while the other acts like they’re packing the Crown Jewels!!

        Ahhhh!!

People using the phrase "the ick"

I have no idea why!

Having spent the weekend on public transport in 4 different cities.... people who play some kind of noise with no headphones 🤬 Really fucking selfish and annoying.

I fully agree with you about the public loos! And the sort where the door opens inwards but the loo roll holder is just in the wrong place so you have to SQUUEZE yourself around the door and holder while banging your legs on the loo. Not easy when you've on 2 sticks or crutches, with your handbag and shopping!

''Faux''. It's a faux fur handbag, a faux leather settee. Use the word ''fake'' which is what it means. We're in England, not France!

I absolutely HATE any sort of coffee, including in food. People who actually ''tell me off'' or criticize me for refusing to touch it and they DEMAND to know EXACTLY WHY I don't like it! Because I don't, I've got far better taste, so bugger off and mind your own business!

And those other public loos where there's 3 pokey-out swivel metal bars and you have to pay to squeeze past and you've got just seconds to get through before they lock! As of above comment!

The words ''wanna and gonna'' instead of ''want to and going to''.

Those in various eateries who insist on repeatedly snot coughing really loudly, putting others off their meals!

When in a restaurant/cafe/shop and the staff greet me with ''hi guys''. It's not my name or gender and we're in England, not the USA! What's so wrong with good old fashioned ''hello'' or ''greetings'' and so on?!

Having some ''celebrity'' rammed down out throats every time one of them farts, colours their hair, gives birth etc. etc. Who cares?! Same with the others who strip off......no, I don't want to see your anal beads or bleaching, huge inflated knockers and lips and so on!

Just about every business now demanding charity donations/tips......sod off!

People blocking business doorways with their drag-along trollies or overly stuffed prams with tons of bags dangling from them, gossiping with their elbows stuck out, purse in stuck out hand of stuck out elbow, one leg pointed out in un-natural angles, refusing to move so anyone else can get in or out! Same in the aisles!

Screaming obnoxious arrogant kids and mummy that daddy refuse to control because they're busy worshipping their mobiles!

In hotels and B&B's, those tiny little rubbish bins that are so small you can't get anything bigger in them than a squashed sweet wrapper!

Men who tell period/menopausal women to ''just switch it off''.

The list is endless!

Just about every business now demanding charity donations/tips......sod off!

Yes, and a big fat tax dodge by the business.

''Faux''. It's a faux fur handbag, a faux leather settee. Use the word ''fake'' which is what it means. We're in England, not France!

Im taking notes. What should I substitute ‘en suite’ and ‘sachet’ with? What should the French use for ‘parking’? 🧐

When in a restaurant/cafe/shop and the staff greet me with ''hi guys''.

Don’t you mean ‘coffee shop?’ We’re not in France you know!

'Faux''. It's a faux fur handbag, a faux leather settee. Use the word ''fake'' which is what it means. We're in England, not France !

Where d'you stand on pleather ?

Fake pockets.

LOL after every sentence in a text.

When I want to buy makeup and someone has opened every single fucking wrapper. Just leave the bloody thing alone, it isn't a tester.

The phrase "just want to put that out there" I'd rather you didn't, thanks.

The micro public loo cubicle you've all been talking about.

Bags that don't have zips.

When keyboard keys stick , I also don't like stiff keys.

Innit.

Dupe - I hate the use of dupe when the person is looking for a copy (or cheap ripoff). Usually on S&B for perfume or a designer outfit.

Ick - makes me furious! OK if you are 5 but not as an adult (or even over the age of about 8!)

I like faux when used with fur - it's an extension of our language and appears in both the Oxford English Dictionary and the Cambridge Dictionary. (I hope TattyOne doesn't go to France where 'weekend' is used to refer to the weekend - she'll have to tell them it isn't England!)

Middle lane motorway drivers( who think the inside lane is for hgvs only) not using indicators especially at busy roundabouts, loud exhausts on cars or motorcycles… ignoring the standing lanes of traffic and pushing in at the front… I’ve started driving to work (public transport is a bag o shite) so the above has taken over from my train rants 😂

Oh and people who exit a door/escalator then stop dead… and can’t understand when they get stood on

I would also like to add people stood noses pressed to lift doors who almost jump in shock that there are people already on the lift. Wanting to get off. But they’re stood there blocking the way.

People who are glued to their phones!! I'm glued to mine but only at home, I never use it whilst walking and certainly not whilst driving. Sometimes I go round roundabouts twice or take different routes to get away from people using their phones whilst driving. I can't be doing with the stress of being involved in an accident, even just a bump.

People who are rude for no reason.

People who stand in front of bus and train doors and seem shocked because you need them to move

Oh yes the escalator zombies!!!!! I enjoy just pushing them as I have no other choice really to avoid a mass pile up

Middle lane drivers could turn me into Micheal Douglas in Falling Down - WHY - if I can undertake you, you're the bad driver not me.

Sniffing, coughing, scraping chairs, throat clearing, chewing loudly