To hate faffers everywhere!

[Freshlysqueezed]

Why are there so many faffers -buying cinema tickets, going to the Post office etc - someone in front always has to have an issue and take twice as long as they should, drivers taking 10 minutes to get in a space 4 times the size of their car, people taking forever over a simple food order - I could go on!

Aaah thanks venus for that nice post

It is true that if someone is extremely slow and obviously impeded in some way, eg it's clear they have bad arthritis and it's hard to get their coins out, even the most impatient among us will forgive that. But when someone's just slow and faffy and it's not ovbious why, it's easy to just blame them when there could still be a very good reason.

OTOH notwithstanding that, I do think some faffing is down to people being thoughtless and selfish and/or not learning from the past. People who take 20 minutes to get ready not starting to get ready until it's time to go is a classic. Why haven't they learned that they need to start 20 minutes earlier? I'm always having this conversation with DP.

DP "We need to be there at X time and it's 20 mins drive so lets leave at 20 to X"

Me: But remember it will take you a while to find your shoes etc., and faff with the satnav even though we both know the way grrrr so could you start getting ready 20 minutes earlier.

DP: OK

Then.... he doesn't start getting ready until it's time to leave.

WHY WHY WHY

YANBU!!!! I was at a Halloween party last night. Tiny house...loads of people...wherever I went the same faffing woman was in my way! I was helping the host and so trying to carry food trays around etc and this woman was always faffing in doorways with bags etc

Its the dawdlers and the hoggers of aisles with trolleys that piss me off.

People who suddenly stop right in front of you in the street.

Queue jumpers.

In fact, most people just annoy me.

ArgyMargy and *JustaShopGirl" - we'd probably be friends in real life

Efficient = impatient (often)
Faffing - making a valid, qualified decision (usually)

VenusRising - Lovely post!

Queue jumpers would probably describe an impatient, organised, super-efficint person, rather than a "faffer". More likely to be a person complaining about a faffer, then kicking them out of the way to get to the front of the queue first.

There's definitely a difference between faffing and "having lots of things to do" or "being slow for a reason".

e.g. At a till, with vouchers

having lots of vouchers that are valid for use, that you have pre-checked and got out of your purse while waiting = not-faffing

spending ages getting your purse out and then offering invalid vouchers when you've had plenty of time to check them in the queue = faffing

spending longer than usual getting the vouchers out because you have arthritis = not-faffing

all of these will result in the person behind you having to wait longer, but only one is faffing

YY trils

ummmm

Thin ice, Zing!

Oh FFS.

It's not about wishing everyone was speedy all the time. It's about having a bit of self-awareness and consideration for others.

Tit about with your map and small change at the station all you like. But don't bloody do it at the top of an up escalator. Find a corner instead.

Make small talk with the cashier. But perhaps take a look at the queue stretching half way down the aisle and cut it short, eh?

Drive in a leisurely fashion? Either choose a quiet back route rather than a main road, or better still, pull over and have a cup of tea to better enjoy the scenery. You shouldn't be motoring with anything less than 100% attention on the road and traffic, so if it's landscape you want to admire, get out of the car.

Surely the natural habitat of the faffer is the National Trust tearoom, where they queue (because of all the faffers) and then get all flustered and indecisive when they have to choose a cake (that they've been standing next to while they queue). Then they have to go through all the food and drink possibilities with Emma and Tarquin. Ffs just buy them an orangeade and a biscuit.

If you have waited fifteen minutes at the grocery deli counter, you've had ample time to decide what you want. Please don't ponder, whine, and ask for three cheese samples.

I think National Trust tea rooms are largely staffed by faffers, actually.

I'd love to use them more because I like the idea in principle, but they are so chaotic and inefficient I just can't bear to too often.

The last time I had lunch at one I had to wait for the server to stop doling out my mash because she needed to talk to someone about the correct size of teapot to use for teas (which I hadn't ordered). Multi-tasking is apparently alien to some.

Aah, Erica that pondering time is surely to decide which three cheeses you would like to sample. Then one can make one's decision, after sampling said cheeses, whilst the impatient masses make their own decisions.

Silverton - not everyone is fortunate enough to have their wits about them at all times, nor be aware of others. Life is busy, life can be confusing for some people. Awareness works both ways, young, old, faffers and non- Faffiness was not invented to annoy others, it's just how life is sometimes. Relax, one day you WILL be that faffer, mark my word

You shouldn't be motoring with anything less than 100% attention on the road and traffic

That would surely apply to everyone yakking into their latest mobile phone devices, whilst driving, wouldn't it? Double

Evans - 'not everyone is fortunate enough to have their wits about them at all times, nor be aware of others.'

No they are incredibly selfish and stupid in my opinion and shows they lack common sense and intelligence. It doesn't take an Einstein to work out that despite standing at a bus stop for 10 minutes that you need your bus pass/ change ready for when the bus comes.

On my work journey there are regular commuters who are faffers which is worse, the same person doing the same journey at the same time fives times a week and yet they still wait until they get to the barrier to dig around their bag for their train ticket, causing a mini pile up behind them and then reducing the number of available exit points. That isn't having your wits about you that just beggars belief especially as they do it day in day out. I defy anyone to say they were 'not aware of others' at rush hour at any London station.

Last weekend DP, DSD, DD and I were all sat in the fully packed-and-ready-to-go car, about to head off to the airport, waiting for MIL.

She was doing the hoovering. [rage]

OMG YANBU! The rage I experience on a daily basis due to faffers, you would not believe.

Today's example: Now we have the 5p charge for carrier bags in Scotland, asda click and collect is an absolute nightmare! A woman today actually stepped into one of the grocery boxes and tripped over it as she faffed around with different bags-for-life, trying to decide what groceries should go into what bags. Meanwhile I'm waiting to drive up next, gripping the steering wheel so hard with rage, my knuckles are white!

No they are incredibly selfish and stupid in my opinion and shows they lack common sense and intelligence

Woaah, Li'lMissAngry
As I said before - you will be there one day, you really will
(I do quite understand it may be irksome if it really is the same people every day at the same time) However - might it have crossed your mind that they may have learning difficulties? Could you take the earlier or later train/bus/mode of transport to make your own journey easier? Seems a shame to vilify everyone legitimately occupying the same public space as you. Are you more important than they are?

A woman today actually stepped into one of the grocery boxes and tripped over it as she faffed around

I hope she wasn't hurt, Lindsay. Poor lady.

The worst faffing of all is at national trust type food counters, when they dole out three and a half tiny spoons of salad or baked potato filling, squinting carefully to ensure the perfect portion size.

Why not get a spoon the right size for god's sake?

Scoop, blob, job done.
NOT mini scoop, scrape, squint, microscoop, squint, shake, scoop, tip a bit back, squint, shake.....