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?

What kind of detrimental impact? They'd have to be pretty stringent rules.

Why do oldish men (it's always men) queue up behind you at a normal trolley checkout with one or two items then huff and puff as you're packing your trolley-load (NB not in Aldi/Lidl!). There are plenty of self-checkouts but, no, they HAVE to be served by someone on the till. I asked a cashier why they do this and they said it's the same old group who do it because they're sad gits who disapprove of having to scan their Daily Fail and tinned carrots. Apparently some shop several times a day so that they can get their huffing and puffing quota in.

"The bloke who does my dry cleaning told me the other day that I looked really ill. (I was fine and I felt fine)."

If people at work thing you look ill you can get the next day off so I find that a plus.
Also it could be that you're very tired and it's a prompt to rest a bit.

I live alone too and have done my shopping online since I got rid of my car 6years ago. There's always the option of shopping fortnightly so as to bring your order up to the minimum to avoid the delivery charge. With perishable foods, keeping everything (even potatoes) in the fridge means they will often keep much longer than labelled, often for weeks on end. Generally I freeze meat orders & defrost as necessary. As I don't mind eating the same evening meal 2days running, I usually cook every 2-3days (or batch-cook & freeze) and just vary the green veg / salad accompaniment - saves time and effort. Because I live in an urban context, I can (luckily) pop to the corner for anything I desperately need. Additionally, with online shopping, it's good to keep an eye out for good 'offers', e.g. I buy ground coffee, it's getting much more expensive, but my s'market often discounts it & so I buy extra for my store-cupboard. Same with olive oil and other things that you know are going to get more expensive. We can look ahead to prices going skyward. Take advantage of offers and "fill yer boots" while you can.
And I use all that time saved not going to the supermarket on other stuff like doing my piano practice, doing my German homework, going to the cinema in the morning or afternoon, doomscrolling & following MN, etc.

Why do people have metal rings/studs etc pierced into their noses, lips, tongues, eye sockets, navels? How come they don't realise how pathetic and hideous they look and how they are negatively judged by others. Ear lobes I get, earrings are attractive.

I haven't parked in a disabled bay because I don't have a badge but I considered it after a recent injury as I was struggling.
Of course you do get a few CFs but I like to think if someone has chosen to park in one, perhaps there is a good reason behind it even if they don't necessarily have a badge to show.

What harm does it do though? It's the same as reading a book.

Neighbour 1, mid 40’s family man with a car obsession of a 16 year old. Sits in his souped up car and revs it over and over before taking a good 20 minutes to walk round it and admire it. Obsessed with cleaning it with a really loud power washer at 8am on a Sunday morning. Wife is ran off her feet with two SEND kids shouting at him to come inside and help out. Happens every other day without fail. Neighbour 2, 60’s, bought a BMW motorbike. Doesn’t ride it as it’s too fast for him but will turn it over every morning at 5am before he gets in his car and goes to work. Sets his rescue dog off barking for hours after he’s left. The street chat goes mental with one neighbour suggesting both men need to get a life, get therapy and get rid of their toys.

Cars driving up your arse or doing dodgy overthinking to get 1 car ahead

I was told I looked ill and I'm sure it's because I usually wear a bit of makeup! It was a bit of confidence knock when I actually felt fine!

Yes but reading a book is a bit weird when you have gone out for coffee with someone.

I'm not meaning people alone. That's perfectly natural.

I mean when scrolling takes the place of social interaction in what has traditionally been a spot for meeting, discussing and generally spending time with people. So two people sitting either side of a table, not talking and looking at their phones.

If that's what you are meaning too, then the harm is the slow but steady disintegration of social interaction IRL as opposed to virtual.

That’s reminded me of a similar one I bet you love as well. When it’s busy in a coffee shop so there’s a group of people who’ve paid and are waiting for their drinks to be made, and the latest person to order stands expectantly at the counter in front of them all, as if their drink’s going to be next when it clearly isn’t and they are obviously going to have to move out of the way.

And I’m not talking about situations where there’s nowhere else to stand, but where they could easily stand back a bit.

Drivers who keep edging forwards bit by bit when waiting for a car ahead to complete a manoeuvre like parking or turning round, delaying themselves further by reducing the space for the other car to do what it needs to.

You can say the same about anything. I don’t have piercings but I’m not sure how it’s a difficult thing to work out

Our council are very out of date when it comes to recycling. Our household waste is collected two weekly but as we don’t have food waste collections yet the food has to go in that bin. Sometimes by the end of the two weeks the bin bags have leaked or started to decompose and we get bin juice in the bottom of the bin 🤮 which is why I pay to have my bin cleaned every 4 weeks. I also get my recycling bin cleaned every 8 weeks as some of the members of my family appear unable to grasp the concept of rinsing tins thoroughly before they go in the recycling bin. Our garden waste bin gets cleaned at the end of the collection time for the year. I used to wash them all myself but damaged my spine a few years ago so can’t now 🤷‍♀️

Drop litter! It baffles me, do people think the fairies will pick it up? It shows such a lack of respect for our community and environment. I was thinking today that if the royal family could stop banging on about mental health for a bit and get behind and raise awareness about litter I’d be right behind them!! And I’m young not an old moaney Minnie!!

Ah yes, I remember my in-laws. ‘We can’t come for dinner on Sunday because we have the chiropodist coming a week on Thursday’

I remember someone coming to my house and saying “I’d never have loads of bookshelves like this” I think we were equally baffled at each other

People who drive at 15mph holding everyone up

People who take more than 30 seconds to register a green light, holding everyone up

People who stop in the middle of the street and create an obstacle for everyone to walk round

People who ask inane and pointless questions in meetings just to be seen to say something

ETA - able bodied people who park in child spaces because they can’t be arsed to inconvenience themselves but happy to make life harder for those who need it. Equally apply to those using disabled spaces. They truly are the worst.

People should have no awareness of how their actions impact on others generally and spend their life getting in the way of those who do things at normal speed.

We used to have litter duty at school and I have never dared drop it since (see also anything that featured into those terrifying public information films).

Maybe people told them 'it's different when it's your own' or their DHs/DPs pleaded.

They aren’t the same as each other though.

Disabled spaces are protected by law and P&C spaces are a courtesy provided by the car park owner. So someone who wouldnt dream of parking in a disabled space can park in P&C parking. You may not like it but they aren’t breaking any laws

Because my house is set back from the road and there's no pavement on my side so no one ever gets close to my house

People who can’t wait for their periods to stop … don’t they realise that once they do they will age at t speed of light and their bodies will start playing all those nasty tricks like osteoporosis and all the not so nice symptoms of getting into menopause when they do?

Why does my husband cover the washing up sponge in fairy liquid and then procede to squeeze it under the running tap, over an empty sink, for so long that most of the suds just go down the drain.
then once there are hardly any suds he tries to wash the dishes.
he then has to cover the sponge again with fairy liquid and do the same rigmarole under the tap after only washing about 2 plates.

why do people waiting to get on the tube not stand to the side? They will actually get on quicker if they do as it allows a quicker flow of people off the carriage.

why do people throw out food according to a date printed on a packet rather than smelling it?