Pet Peeves

Ken Anderson

Ken Anderson

Well-known member
A pet peeve is a minor annoyance that an individual finds particularly irritating to a degree larger than the norm, but not necessarily to the point of anger. What are your pet peeves? Most of us have more than one.

I'll start with one that I faced today. Because I leave the outside door to our enclosed porch open just enough for a cat to get in, given that I feed outdoor cats there, we installed a barn door there. A barn door slides open on a track rather than opening outwards or inwards like ordinary doors. At least a few times a year, sometimes more, someone will try to open our barn door like a regular door, knocking it off the track and sometimes even bending the lower track. They do this despite the door being partway open, which should clue a conscious person to the fact that it slides open. When the door comes off the track, they don't know how to put it back on, or may not even know what happened, so they leave it like that. Being off the track, it won't open or close any further than it is, so if I can't fit through the opening, I have to go out the back door, which we don't generally use, and come around the front. I had a sign made up that reads:

DO NOT PULL
Slide left to open

Still, I have repeatedly had to put the door back on track. If nothing is bent, that's not a significant issue, although it's a pretty heavy door. Most often, only one of the wheels is off the track. However, when the track is bent, I have to take the door off completely and hammer the bottom track back into shape. When someone does that and tells me what they have done, I might think they're an idiot, but I don't tell them that. It's more annoying when they walk away.

Usually, it's UPS that does that. I don't want to complain to them because then they'll probably start dumping my packages in the snow.
 
I have many pet peeves. One of them is…people blocking the grocery store isles with their grocery carts talking to another person with another cart. 🤨 Traffic is blocked in both directions, while other people can’t get through. I need a leaf blower for people! I also need to carry a can of wd-40 to use on those crappy wheels on the carts.

Another peeve is people leaving the store carts scattered all over the parking lots. People get done loading their cars and leave the cart set off to the side to where it can take off rolling into another car, or rolls into a open parking space. I always try to park way in the hell out there in any parking lot, but there always seems to be a cart that has gone rogue rolling around the lot getting close to my car by the time I get out of the store.😑

Pet peeves about my husband. That would require a powerpoint presentation.:LOL:
 
The Millinocket Public Works Department's snowplowing practices. Every winter, I have a much harder time cleaning up after them than I do the snow itself. They can turn even a moderate snowstorm into a 24-hour ordeal by burying my driveway and sidewalk every time they pass by with the plow. After the snow stopped yesterday, I had everything cleared, as far as my driveway, sidewalk, and other paths. Although there was no additional snow, they managed to pack my driveway and sidewalks with slush that froze solid overnight, and I can't even chip it away today. Although there was no further snow, they spent the night moving slush from the road onto the driveways and sidewalks.

This isn't a one-time thing. That's what they do every winter. The town has a sidewalk plow, but they have never once, as far as I have seen, used it on my side of the street. On the other side of the street, they routinely plow the sidewalk after every snowfall and scoop snowbanks into their truck to haul away, but we're fortunate if they do that even once during a winter on our side of the street. By the end of winter, we can't even see over the snowbank to tell if a car is coming, which is a problem, especially for my wife, who insists on parking forward in the driveway, meaning she then has to back out blindly onto the road.

If I can't shovel my snow into the road, then they shouldn't be able to plow their snow into my driveway. If they refuse to clear the sidewalks on my side of the road, then they shouldn't bury them with snow and slush every time they pass by. I don't expect them to plow my driveway, but neither should they block it. Frequently, I have shoveled the driveway so that we could get out to go the store or somewhere, only to find that, on my return, I have shovel the entrance to the driveway again, because the plow had gone by.

We rented a house in Fort Kent, Maine, a few years ago while I was working on our camp, and the Fort Kent Public Works Department didn't do that. After a large snowstorm, they would indeed focus on clearing the road, which meant temporarily blocking driveways, but once the roads were clear, they would clear the snow that they might have plowed into people's driveways. In fact, one day, we had a snowstorm while I was checking on our house in Millinocket, leaving Michelle alone in Fort Kent. She was trying to shovel the driveway herself, which she generally wouldn't do, and the Public Works guy stopped the plow and cleared the driveway for her. No one expects that, but he did.

However, in Millinocket, rather than cleaning up after themselves, they will spend the night scraping the streets onto everyone's driveways and sidewallks.
 
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Ken Anderson said:
The Millinocket Public Works Department's snowplowing practices. Every winter, I have a much harder time cleaning up after them than I do the snow itself. They can turn even a moderate snowstorm into a 24-hour ordeal by burying my driveway and sidewalk every time they pass by with the plow. After the snow stopped yesterday, I had everything cleared, as far as my driveway, sidewalk, and other paths. Although there was no additional snow, they managed to pack my driveway and sidewalks with slush that froze solid overnight, and I can't even chip it away today. Although there was no further snow, they spent the night moving slush from the road onto the driveways and sidewalks.

This isn't a one-time thing. That's what they do every winter. The town has a sidewalk plow, but they have never once, as far as I have seen, used it on my side of the street. On the other side of the street, they routinely plow the sidewalk after every snowfall and scoop snowbanks into their truck to haul away, but we're fortunate if they do that even once during a winter on our side of the street. By the end of winter, we can't even see over the snowbank to tell if a car is coming, which is a problem, especially for my wife, who insists on parking forward in the driveway, meaning she then has to back out blindly onto the road.

If I can't shovel my snow into the road, then they shouldn't be able to plow their snow into my driveway. If they refuse to clear the sidewalks on my side of the road, then they shouldn't bury them with snow and slush every time they pass by. I don't expect them to plow my driveway, but neither should they block it. Frequently, I have shoveled the driveway so that we could get out to go the store or somewhere, only to find that, on my return, I have shovel the entrance to the driveway again, because the plow had gone by.

We rented a house in Fort Kent, Maine, a few years ago while I was working on our camp, and the Fort Kent Public Works Department didn't do that. After a large snowstorm, they would indeed focus on clearing the road, which meant temporarily blocking driveways, but once the roads were clear, they would clear the snow that they might have plowed into people's driveways. In fact, one day, we had a snowstorm while I was checking on our house in Millinocket, leaving Michelle alone in Fort Kent. She was trying to shovel the driveway herself, which she generally wouldn't do, and the Public Works guy stopped the plow and cleared the driveway for her. No one expects that, but he did.

However, in Millinocket, rather than cleaning up after themselves, they will spend the night scraping the streets onto everyone's driveways and sidewallks.
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We don't have a sidewalk in front of our house but the snow plow always throws snow over into our driveway and blocks it. We always have to shovel it open. Always. There has been a few times our mailboxes in the hood has been knocked down too. :mad:
 
Patsy Faye said:
@Krystal Shay Agree with your post about shopping carts, over here we have a double issue, not just shoppers
but staff have great big wide carts to load home deliveries, its like being on a freeway swerving around carts!
Or as I say (over here) 'duckin' and diving' :)
I loved this line from you above ... 'I need a leaf blower for people!' ..... what a great idea !
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I confess @Patsy Faye. I seen that line on a meme and I loved it too, so I stole it. :sneaky:
 
For me …its my husband annoying habit of leaving the microfibre dish washing cloth soaking wet in the sink instead of wringing it out to dry , I used to say is the cloth a bit heavy for you to rinse under tap wipe sink and leave to dry , now I just go do it myself …..it’s just not worth wasting my time saying anything ….He’s otherwise neat and tidy in the house and vacuums washes tiled floors , but I can’t get it through his head it’s a dangerous practice not rinsing and wringing out the dish cloth to let it dry
 
Ken Anderson said:
The Millinocket Public Works Department's snowplowing practices. Every winter, I have a much harder time cleaning up after them than I do the snow itself. They can turn even a moderate snowstorm into a 24-hour ordeal by burying my driveway and sidewalk every time they pass by with the plow. After the snow stopped yesterday, I had everything cleared, as far as my driveway, sidewalk, and other paths. Although there was no additional snow, they managed to pack my driveway and sidewalks with slush that froze solid overnight, and I can't even chip it away today. Although there was no further snow, they spent the night moving slush from the road onto the driveways and sidewalks.

This isn't a one-time thing. That's what they do every winter. The town has a sidewalk plow, but they have never once, as far as I have seen, used it on my side of the street. On the other side of the street, they routinely plow the sidewalk after every snowfall and scoop snowbanks into their truck to haul away, but we're fortunate if they do that even once during a winter on our side of the street. By the end of winter, we can't even see over the snowbank to tell if a car is coming, which is a problem, especially for my wife, who insists on parking forward in the driveway, meaning she then has to back out blindly onto the road.

If I can't shovel my snow into the road, then they shouldn't be able to plow their snow into my driveway. If they refuse to clear the sidewalks on my side of the road, then they shouldn't bury them with snow and slush every time they pass by. I don't expect them to plow my driveway, but neither should they block it. Frequently, I have shoveled the driveway so that we could get out to go the store or somewhere, only to find that, on my return, I have shovel the entrance to the driveway again, because the plow had gone by.

We rented a house in Fort Kent, Maine, a few years ago while I was working on our camp, and the Fort Kent Public Works Department didn't do that. After a large snowstorm, they would indeed focus on clearing the road, which meant temporarily blocking driveways, but once the roads were clear, they would clear the snow that they might have plowed into people's driveways. In fact, one day, we had a snowstorm while I was checking on our house in Millinocket, leaving Michelle alone in Fort Kent. She was trying to shovel the driveway herself, which she generally wouldn't do, and the Public Works guy stopped the plow and cleared the driveway for her. No one expects that, but he did.

However, in Millinocket, rather than cleaning up after themselves, they will spend the night scraping the streets onto everyone's driveways and sidewallks.
Click to expand...
We usually have contract snowplowing and some companies do better than others, but the better ones have blades on the ends of the plows that they drop when in front of a driveway. Not all companies do it, but a lot do and no berm is blocking the driveway when the blade is dropped on the plow.
 
I wouldn't be as upset if not for the fact that they come through four times a day to plow the sidewalk on the other side of the street and they regularly break down the snowbank, hauling it away on the other side of the street. On my side of the street, all they do is shovel the crap from the street onto my driveway and sidewalks. Not once during a typical winter do they run their sidewalk plow on my side of the road and I am lucky if they ever take the snow away from the embankment that builds up between the street and my property. In the past 20 years, I think they've hauled the snow away from my side of the street no more than three times.
 
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This may anger some with me, but it came up in an argument at a New Year's party last night. Is the Coast Guard military? I strongly believe they are not unless they are called to work as part of the Navy. To me, they are law enforcement first and search and rescue second. I think the Trump Administration showing the drug boats being blown up was his way of showing the outlaws that they are now dealing with the military, not the law enforcement entity they have traditionally encountered. The Coasties are still in pursuit of a tanker that said "no" to the Coast Guard call for them to slow and prepare to be boarded.

The Coast Guard was originally tax collectors who sought those smugglers who evaded tariffs in the old days, then they became fishing enforcement. The U.S. Coast Guard is not part of the War Department (or the Department of Defense), and was originally under the Department of Commerce but have now been moved into Homeland Security. I think the Coasties had a tantrum and said, "We have boats, uniforms, and guns damn it! That makes us military." Many state and city police agencies could claim to be the Army by the same criteria.
 
Don Alaska said:
This may anger some with me, but it came up in an argument at a New Year's party last night. Is the Coast Guard military? I strongly believe they are not unless they are called to work as part of the Navy. To me, they are law enforcement first and search and rescue second. I think the Trump Administration showing the drug boats being blown up was his way of showing the outlaws that they are now dealing with the military, not the law enforcement entity they have traditionally encountered. The Coasties are still in pursuit of a tanker that said "no" to the Coast Guard call for them to slow and prepare to be boarded.

The Coast Guard was originally tax collectors who sought those smugglers who evaded tariffs in the old days, then they became fishing enforcement. The U.S. Coast Guard is not part of the War Department (or the Department of Defense), and was originally under the Department of Commerce but have now been moved into Homeland Security. I think the Coasties had a tantrum and said, "We have boats, uniforms, and guns damn it! That makes us military." Many state and city police agencies could claim to be the Army by the same criteria.
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I never gave it much thought. I guess I've always "assumed" that the Coast Guard is considered military. I know that the other branches of military make a lot of Coast Guard jokes, though. :D
 
Like Beth said, I never gave it much thought either, but I just considered the coast guard to be the “water version” of the border patrol, which makes them law enforcement and not military. If they were military, then people could be drafted into the CG, just like the army , and I don’t remember ever hearing that this happens.
In any case, it is certainly not something that I would call a pet peeve, @Don Alaska , so I have no problem with whichever you want to call it.

I am thinking about this, and I don’t think that i have any pet peeves.
I have been reading the list of things that bother everyone else, and those things might be happening in my life, too; but they are just small stuff to me, and not something I dwell on .

I could care less if drawers are shut or lights are left on , etc. I just take care of it and forget it. I think Bobby must be the same way because he puts up with living with me, and doesn’t grumble. I don’t remember my mom or dad grumbling either.
In my life, any day that the sky is not falling, is a good day.
 
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