Things people do that just baffle you

[Whatexcellentboiledpotatoes]

What does either a specific person in your life, or just the general public do, you just don't understand why they do it, and you either can't ask them or you've tried to ask them and they can't tell you?

Write it here and maybe someone else that also does it can tell you why, or has an idea as to why.

Here are mine:

Why do my neighbours across the street bring their bins outside a full 24hrs early? They are retired, home most of the day, go in and out of their house five or six times during that 24hr period, but bring their bins out early Monday morning when they don't get picked up until Tuesday morning?

Why do people talk on their phones on speakerphone in public, what is the purpose?

When we went over to a three bin system many years ago , we were told that the recycling one had to be loose items only , no bags allowed. So often I take out a bag and empty it in to that bin for recycling those items ( plastic, cardboard, glass and so on)
We now have a small food caddy as well and you can use the green disposable ones for food in that one. I suppose some people don’t, but must make it harder for the ones who have to empty it as they don’t use a truck for those bins.
I used to put food in the green bin wrapped in newspaper , but you can’t do that now with the caddy’s. It’s all a lot more faff to sort out , but some areas have bags and they end up strewn around the place.

You mean the people who can’t get their food shopping online. You can choose how you shop and so can others. Personally, I have had my food delivered from Ocado for about 15 years so I don’t get supermarket rage.
There are a lot of people on here who just object to other people doing things at the same time as them because obviously they are more important.
I know someone ( not a friend) who complained to a supermarket that when she wanted to get her food shopping in her lunch hour the supermarket was full of adult with special needs, doing their shopping with carers. This person was late back to work. The supermarket explained that their customers was just as important as hers.

Oh, yes, indeed. "I'll trawl through MN looking for threads that I think are not worthwhile for people to bother clicking on, reading and participating in - and then I will click on them, read them and participate in them to let everybody know that they shouldn't have done the same as me!"

Also the people who see a tribute thread to a recently-deceased well-liked but non-household-name celebrity - unambiguously titled 'Bob Bobinson RIP" or similar and genuinely believe that the best use of their time is to click and engage with the thread to tell everybody else on there that they've never heard of them.

I can only think that some people don't really understand that MN is huge and worldwide, with something for everybody. Maybe they believe that every single thread they see is directed at and assumed to be of interest to them, and they are then annoyed if it doesn't interest them. I wonder if they also go to the supermarket and get angry at the presence of every item on the shelves that they personally don't want to buy?!

Oh, yes, indeed. "I'll trawl through MN looking for threads that I think are not worthwhile for people to bother clicking on, reading and participating in - and then I will click on them, read them and participate in them to let everybody know that they shouldn't have done the same as me!"

hehe exactly! why cant they see this- isnt it obvious? so strange

It appears to be illegal to ever say "no" to children these days

Makes sense to have a food scrap container sitting aroubd smelly unable to fit in the fridge..
Eew grosse.
They can shove there recycling.

My thoughts exactly- a small container filled with just food waste sounds revolting to me and far more minging and unhygienic than putting it in the original bin in a thick bin bag

It’s fine if they enjoy it. It’s the pressure that some people feel to have to do it that saddens me.

We get ours once weekly. Not the Uk.
It is tipped into a combined garden waste bin
I imagine the dump must be crawling with rats with the food scraps they do collect.
I send my scraps to the ducks. The love it

People who stand in queues in shops for several minutes, then spend ages rummaging about in their bag / purse for their cash / card when they get to the till, holding everyone up. It's not a surprise that you have to pay for your item.... why not get the cash / card out when you're standing in the queue??!

People with no awaress of what's going on around them....staring at their phones, stopping randomly in the street to look at something / talk to somone, poeple walking in groups, talking, with no awareness that they're in the bloody way! Just move!

When there's a perfectly good free car park a few yards away, they insist on parking badly on the pavement. Usually blocking it forcing people to walk into the road

I can’t hear without my phone on speakerphone. I actually have no idea why. I used to think it was my phone 🤣 then I got a new one and nope just hear properly. The reason I may answer it despite this in public on loud speaker is because I get a lot of phone falls about DD from hospital / nurses / school etc

Kind of the opposite - those who enjoy ‘people watching’ - just why???? Get on with your life and let others do the same. Why would you want to sit in a cafe or whatever and spend your time gawping at randomers?

See also people who strike up conversations with strangers. Why?

See also people who strike up conversations with strangers. Why?

Gosh, no wonder there's a loneliness epidemic.

See also people who strike up conversations with strangers. Why?

The attempt to talk doesnt bother me but the reaction to not wanting to engage does. Its fine to try to talk to me but you should equally respect the fact I dont want to and not get pissy about it.

You get condemned on here though if you dont wish to have long in depth conversations with random strangers because "they might be lonely" and its always women who are tasked with the duty/responsibility of listening to some strange bloke you met at a bus stop wanging on about his upcoming prostate operation.

Because for those of us who live alone, talking to strangers is the only conversation I'll have most days

In the same way that nobody except the council calls the tip/dump the 'household waste and recycling centre', I'm hereby predicting that, once food waste collection is universal, nobody will call it the 'food waste caddy' and the accepted general term will be 'the minging bin'!

We have a small container lined with a plastic bag for food waste, kept under the sink. The bag is removed., knotted and placed in a larger brown container kept outside, which we put out once a week for emptying. No smell issues. We have canvas mail bag style sacks for paper and plastic/can recycling, also put out and emptied once a week, and a plastic box for glass which is emptied fortnightly. Other household waste in black bags in the black bin emptied once a week. Bin juice not really a problem.

Because escalators and stairs are not comparable. Escalators are designed to be stood on and so have higher risers and steeper pitches compared to stairs, so it’s comparatively much harder to walk up escalators.

If you’ve ever tried to walk quickly up a deep tube line escalator to catch your mainline train you’ll be intimately acquainted with this fact!

Yes I find people watching odd. Dog watching, different matter.

Dog watching, different matter.

I would love to have a place to go, have a coffee and just watch dogs!!!!

People who live the same handful of life experiences on a loop. A colleague at my old workplace- mid-fifties, no kids, he and his wife in good health, both work full time with very decent salaries- would go on the exact same 3 holidays every single year. Same location, same holiday cottage/hotel, same weeks of the year. Obviously it didn’t bother me as people can do what they like with their own money/time, but it is baffling to me.

Vote Reform.

I wonder why my neighbours insist on parking so close to my car I can't get in my boot when there's no other car parked on that bit except mine and plenty of room, I get not wasting space but they park so close its ridiculous, and they've had to ask me to move my car to let them out more than once (I usually park right up to the double yellows) before because someone has done the same thing to them, why keep doing it?!

I also wonder why when I'm behind someone doing 35 in a 60, with nowhere safe to overtake, the car behind tailgates me - even if you could intimidate me into driving faster I literally can't! And because in many cases the car doing 35 is also driving erratically, I've given them extra space so if they do something stupid unexpected I've got enough time to react safely, which the tailgater negates by driving up my arse meaning if I need to react suddenly I'm likely to get hit from behind anyway!

I'm sure there's more 🤣

The parking so close would infuriate me too, @NothingHereAnymore - I don’t think I could stop myself pointing out that they had parked practically in my boot and had created the problem for themselves - but now they were expecting you to solve their problem.