[jjbrr]

Luckily there aren't many (any?) of those.

[cherdano]

jjbrr, on 2012-January-17, 18:17, said:

Luckily there aren't many (any?) of those.

Huh? We had a thread on this ages ago, and I think no single American thought there was anything wrong with the majority of someone's wage depending on tipping...

[jjbrr]

jjbrr, on 2012-January-17, 09:15, said:

People who complain about tipping, don't understand tipping etiquette, under-tip, or fail to tip the waiter despite the kitchen being entirely at fault.

Were they guilty of any of these things? If not, what exactly is your problem? If so, would you say it peeves you?

[jillybean]

mycroft, on 2012-January-17, 11:52, said:

Jillybean: on hold for N minutes - yeah, and they play music, so I can't just ignore it and work on something else (and usually the music is "inoffensive" - i.e. mush muzak crap). Although I've found something that's worse - one meeting provider I use says "the moderator has not yet started the conference. please hold. You will hear some silence while you wait." Great! I can do something, and when I hear someone talking, we're on! No - every minute or so, the silence stops while they tell me this again. WTF?

I should add, I ♥ the companies who invite you to enter your telephone number and then call YOU back

[Phil]

Passive-aggressive discussions about tipping.

[JLOGIC]

overuse of semicolons

[BunnyGo]

JLOGIC, on 2012-January-17, 21:01, said:

overuse of semicolons

When used correctly, for example by Joseph Conrad, semicolons are awesome; they add a certain flavor to sentences. The semicolon gives the ability to convey thoughts in a free-flow without using run-on sentences; the semicolons connect them so that the grammar is correct, but the thoughts are not cut short.

[Elianna]

Being treated like the students I teach (FYI I do not treat them the way I am treated).

[gordontd]

JLOGIC, on 2012-January-17, 21:01, said:

overuse of semicolons

Under-use of punctuation & failure to use capitals.

[BunnyGo]

I hate when people talk about modifying percentages by a percent in an ambiguous way. An example from today's headlines "Gov. Christie proposes 10% cut to NJ income tax." Is that saying we'll save 10% more of our income, or we'll pay 10% less than what we're paying now? This also comes up a lot in political polls.

[blackshoe]

Depends what kind of tipping. Cow tipping? :-)

[Trinidad]

jjbrr, on 2012-January-17, 07:40, said:

People who stop at the top of escalators or at doorways or otherwise show no situational awareness.

People who block traffic in the supermarket by leaving their shopping carts in the middle of aisles or even intersections. Why don't they park to the side of the aisles?

Rik

[gwnn]

Dutch people who switch to English immediately (and permanently) as soon as I mess up one plural of one noun.

[Cyberyeti]

jjbrr, on 2012-January-17, 18:00, said:

Eurotards who unabashedly criticize American football as somehow being inferior to their form of football, citing players wearing padding as some sort of indication that the athletes aren't as tough or somehow don't qualify as athletes.

As a 300lb ex nose tackle in lowish level Euro American football (who has played it with and without pads) I can testify that the NFL players are great explosive athletes, BUT the same degree of aerobic fitness combined with the athleticism is not required of the linemen as is required in say Rugby Union. Some of the linemen require oxygen after returning an interception 50 yards, the equivalent rugby player might have to run around for several minutes without a break, hence is a very different sort of athlete.

I actually preferred playing without pads/helmets. People were sensible about where they put their heads (unlike the invincible feeling you get from a helmet), and you got a lot less sprains and the like as the padding can give longer levers to twist things.

My pet hate, people in front of me who recline their seats on aircraft without looking or warning. If I have the fold down table in the down position when they do it, this will a) cut me in half as it will be resting against my stomach b) probably deposit my drink all over me.

[kenberg]

Elianna, on 2012-January-17, 22:22, said:

Being treated like the students I teach (FYI I do not treat them the way I am treated).

You might enjoy this true story.



I was a new faculty member at the University of Maryland and I needed some work done by the office. Things were not moving very fast. Someone came in and addressed me as Dr. Berg, at which the secretary said "Oh my God, I have been treating you like a graduate student".

[billw55]

BunnyGo, on 2012-January-18, 00:09, said:

I hate when people talk about modifying percentages by a percent in an ambiguous way. An example from today's headlines "Gov. Christie proposes 10% cut to NJ income tax." Is that saying we'll save 10% more of our income, or we'll pay 10% less than what we're paying now? This also comes up a lot in political polls.

I wonder about that sometimes. I see two possible explanations:

1. They do that on purpose so they can later claim or deny that they said whatever is convenient at the moment. Or so they can make polls results mean whatever they want.
2. Many politicians don't understand consumer arithmetic.

[Vampyr]

Trinidad, on 2012-January-18, 02:37, said:

People who block traffic in the supermarket by leaving their shopping carts in the middle of aisles or even intersections. Why don't they park to the side of the aisles?

Rik

In London there is a solution to that. Space is usually at a premium, so shopping carts cannot reasonably be left all over. Unless the supermarket is very large or has a car park, you have to put £1 coin into a slot to get the trolley, and return it to a specified place to get the coin back. It seems like a tiny amount of money to worry about, but for some reason pretty much everyone (including me) cares about getting their £1 back.

Cyberyeti, on 2012-January-18, 06:54, said:

My pet hate, people in front of me who recline their seats on aircraft without looking or warning.

I think it is obnoxious to recline the seats, period. There is just not enough room. I recline my seat only a little and only when the person behind me seems to be asleep. And not at all when the flight is only, say, 2 or 3 hours.

[wyman]

You all must fly different airlines than I. IMO, reclining the seats is totally standard, and it takes up essentially no useful room.

[Fluffy]

I hate french people who talk to me in french because since I am spannish I must have learnt it on school.

I also find a lot of people over the net (mostly teenagers I guess) who contact to you in french while playing some web game assuming you should understand it. I always reply in english that I am sorry, but I have no knowledge about German.

[blackshoe]

gwnn, on 2012-January-18, 02:58, said:

Dutch people who switch to English immediately (and permanently) as soon as I mess up one plural of one noun.

Keep practicing your Dutch. If they want to speak English, let them.