You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?

[Rev. Powell]

I'd guess I'll never find out my pirate name 

I thought "Skull" was your pirate name.

[indianasmith]

When TV dinners have a perforated box, for easy opening, but it turns out you have to have the thumbs of Chuck Norris to tear the stinking things open!!!!!!!!!!

[JaseSF]

I hate when the little step thing on the garbage bin doesn't work and I have to lift it by hands which naturally means I have to wash my hands every dang time. I really want the lift thing to work but it hardly ever does! Yarggghh!!!

[AndyC]

I may catch flames for this but don't really care.  I can't stand when people refer to their pet as "their kid" and if its a couple they call themselves "mommy and daddy" to the animal.  At no point did that dog squeeze out of you or any other human so please stop. 

What flames? It's pathetic.

Another practice that often goes with that is assigning your last name to the animal. So he's Rover Smith or whatever.

I'd be the first one to say a pet is a member of the family, but I'd draw the line at treating it as a relative. I consider them friends, personally.

[dean]

Another practice that often goes with that is assigning your last name to the animal. So he's Rover Smith or whatever.

I'd be the first one to say a pet is a member of the family, but I'd draw the line at treating it as a relative. I consider them friends, personally.

Our vet assigned our cat a last name when we took it in for the first time, which he said was because it made it easier on admin.  I guess it makes things hard when you have 20 different Rovers, and making sure you keep track of them.

[Leah]

people who put shirts on dogs. it sucks

[Leah]

okay, kill me if you must, but Firefly, my avatar, I like him BETTER than the JOKER! there, I said it!

[Mr. DS]

I may catch flames for this but don't really care.  I can't stand when people refer to their pet as "their kid" and if its a couple they call themselves "mommy and daddy" to the animal.  At no point did that dog squeeze out of you or any other human so please stop. 

What flames? It's pathetic.

Another practice that often goes with that is assigning your last name to the animal. So he's Rover Smith or whatever.

I'd be the first one to say a pet is a member of the family, but I'd draw the line at treating it as a relative. I consider them friends, personally.

people who put shirts on dogs. it sucks

I think people who over personalize pets in general bug me. 

[The Gravekeeper]

I may catch flames for this but don't really care.  I can't stand when people refer to their pet as "their kid" and if its a couple they call themselves "mommy and daddy" to the animal.  At no point did that dog squeeze out of you or any other human so please stop. 

What flames? It's pathetic.

Another practice that often goes with that is assigning your last name to the animal. So he's Rover Smith or whatever.

I'd be the first one to say a pet is a member of the family, but I'd draw the line at treating it as a relative. I consider them friends, personally.

people who put shirts on dogs. it sucks

I think people who over personalize pets in general bug me. 

I don't mind pet accessories as long as they have a practical use. Sweaters and pet booties? Great for winter, since they'll keep the animal warm and protect its paws from ice and road salt. Sunglasses? If you take your dog, say, cross-country skiing with you they'll appreciate being to see without squinting all the time. Strollers? Come one...it's an animal. On top of that, it's an animal with hunting instincts; they were originally built to walk for long periods of time, so unless your pet has no legs or something, you're depriving it of the excercise it needs.

That being said, I do enjoy shopping for sweaters for one of the dogs every Christmas. She's just a little toy poodle, so she loses body heat very quickly when she's outside. What better way for her to be more comfortable outside than with a cute little sweater?

[Mr. DS]

Angry musicians.  Listen, I know more than anyone pop music is horribly overproduced and the same old chit over and over again.

BUT, nor do I see a need to bash the hell out of it so someone can promote their brand of "talented" music.  There are so many bands out there that have a great amount of talent that just write horrible and painful to listen to music. 

Just a side thought, what IF people started to dig what others think is "talented" music.  Would the people promoting it be happy? I doubt it. I just don't see a point in caring what other people listen to.

[BTM]

When the media constantly reports on what celebs think politically.  

Honestly, I don't care, and I get tired of hearing it, and yet, for some reason, especially during election years, the media can never get enough of reporting what famous people think about politicians.  I know it happened on occasion before this, but I think the thing really exploded after 9-11 and the Iraq war, with every celeb coming out of the woodwork opining their uninformed opinions about the issue(s) of the day with the media lapping it up like obedient little dogs.  And no matter how wild or idiotic what was being said, the media, for the most part, would take it as gospel and never challenge the celebs with what, more often than not, they had no idea what the hell they were talking about.

As another writer (can't recall who off-hand) said, "If these guys were plumbers, or draftsmen, would the media be interested in what they have to say?"  

I mean, are there people out there going, "You know, I had NO idea who I was going to vote for, but when I heard the opinion of MATT DAMON (or Madonna, Sean Combs, George Michael, or whoever), why that helped me make up my mind!"?

It's funny, about two decades ago, when a notable radio personality came into the forefront espousing a political viewpoint not often heard during that time, one of the big criticisms against him was, "Why are you listening to him, he's just an entertainer!"  Now though, we've seem to completely reversed this trend, with actors and celebs being given more weight than actual experts.  Hell, we even had a COMEDIAN testifying before Congress recently.

I mean, I can understand the media paying attention to a celeb that's actually IN the political arena (like Schwarzenegger, for example) but come on!

Suffice to say, I don't look forward to the news I'll see during the next Presidential election...

[AndyC]

People who ask me about work. A particularly irritating aspect of the pain that is small talk.

I think about work all week. And when I go away to visit family for a couple of days, as I did last weekend, I get stressed about work I could be doing. What does everybody ask about? Work. Thanksgiving dinner and I'm giving a status report to one person after another, because everybody asks, completely unaware that they are about the umpteenth person to do so. And as the owner, I have a lot more to worry about than just getting the work done. I'm not as detached from it as I used to be. If I'm getting away from work for a couple of days, I want to forget about it. I don't want to be constantly reminded.

If there were a genuine interest, I might understand, but there isn't. If I actually talk about what I'm working on, people just kind of glaze over and don't really care. I don't blame them for that. Why should they care if I happened to make 100 hats for some fishing lodge the previous day? If something really unusual or interesting happens at work, I'll share the story without being asked. If I have to be asked, chances are there's nothing worth talking about. But if I just say, "It's going well," there's usually an uncomfortable pause, the conversation turns somewhere else, and I get a look like I'm not holding up my end. And it happens with everybody at a family gathering. Happens at coffee hour at church too, but at least I know some of those people don't know me well enough to ask about anything else. My relatives don't have that excuse.

I don't like talking about work. Never have.

[Flick James]

When the media constantly reports on what celebs think politically. 

Honestly, I don't care, and I get tired of hearing it, and yet, for some reason, especially during election years, the media can never get enough of reporting what famous people think about politicians.  I know it happened on occasion before this, but I think the thing really exploded after 9-11 and the Iraq war, with every celeb coming out of the woodwork opining their uninformed opinions about the issue(s) of the day with the media lapping it up like obedient little dogs.  And no matter how wild or idiotic what was being said, the media, for the most part, would take it as gospel and never challenge the celebs with that, more often than not, they had no idea what the hell they were talking about.

As another writer (can't recall who off-hand) said, "If these guys were plumbers, or draftsmen, would the media be interested in what they have to say?" 

I mean, are there people out there going, "You know, I had NO idea who I was going to vote for, but when I heard the opinion of MATT DAMON (or Madonna, Sean Combs, George Michael, or whoever), why that helped me make up my mind!"?

It's funny, about two decades ago, when a notable radio personality came into the forefront espousing a political viewpoint not often heard during that time, one of the big criticisms against him was, "Why are you listening to him, he's just an entertainer!"  Now though, we've seem to completely reversed this trend, with actors and celebs being given more weight than actual experts, Saturday .  Hell, we even had a COMEDIAN testifying before Congress recently.

I mean, I can understand the media paying attention to a celeb that's actually IN the political arena (like Schwarzenegger, for example) but come on!

Suffice to say, I don't look forward to the news I'll see during the next Presidential election...

Hmmmm. Yes, politicians and celebrities are both similarly out of touch with reality. Do either one of them have much to say that is relevant to the rest of us?

[The Gravekeeper]

When the media constantly reports on what celebs think politically. 

Honestly, I don't care, and I get tired of hearing it, and yet, for some reason, especially during election years, the media can never get enough of reporting what famous people think about politicians.  I know it happened on occasion before this, but I think the thing really exploded after 9-11 and the Iraq war, with every celeb coming out of the woodwork opining their uninformed opinions about the issue(s) of the day with the media lapping it up like obedient little dogs.  And no matter how wild or idiotic what was being said, the media, for the most part, would take it as gospel and never challenge the celebs with that, more often than not, they had no idea what the hell they were talking about.

As another writer (can't recall who off-hand) said, "If these guys were plumbers, or draftsmen, would the media be interested in what they have to say?" 

I mean, are there people out there going, "You know, I had NO idea who I was going to vote for, but when I heard the opinion of MATT DAMON (or Madonna, Sean Combs, George Michael, or whoever), why that helped me make up my mind!"?

It's funny, about two decades ago, when a notable radio personality came into the forefront espousing a political viewpoint not often heard during that time, one of the big criticisms against him was, "Why are you listening to him, he's just an entertainer!"  Now though, we've seem to completely reversed this trend, with actors and celebs being given more weight than actual experts, Saturday .  Hell, we even had a COMEDIAN testifying before Congress recently.

I mean, I can understand the media paying attention to a celeb that's actually IN the political arena (like Schwarzenegger, for example) but come on!

Suffice to say, I don't look forward to the news I'll see during the next Presidential election...

Hmmmm. Yes, politicians and celebrities are both similarly out of touch with reality. Do either one of them have much to say that is relevant to the rest of us?

Other than the fact that politicians have the power to really screw you over and aren't required to be what Hollywood considers beautiful, there's little difference between them anymore.

[ulthar]

I can't stand it whenever there is a party, people hound at me to eat.   "COME ON, EAT SOMETHING" or "YOU SURE YOU DON'T WANT ANYTHING, YOU SHOULD TRY THE......"  

Then I get a "whatad!ck" stare from people when I don't.  If I want to eat I friggin will when I'm ready. I really hate this at pizza parties because I'm very picky about my pizza.  Usually I end up at one where they order the greasiest, floppiest pizza around.  I've just decided in my life I'm not eating bad unless I can truly enjoy it.  

Hate that, too.

Related: Being "designated driver" at a party so my friend(s) can whoop it up guilt-free and having people act like I'm some sort of a$$hat alien because I am not drinking.

Why do they care?  I'm not raining on anyone's parade by not drinking...

Errrgh.

On a side note to my side note, when I was younger, I used to hang out with a bunch of really hard-core stoners, but I did not smoke.  They all accepted me and took it in stride.  No biggie, and we all generally had a good time hangin' out, partin' whatever.

Then one night, some friends of friends showed up, and when I would not take a "hit," they got a bit p**sey...saying stuff like "what's up with THAT guy... he a NARC or something?" and generally acting quite aggressive.  You can imagine how that conversation was going.

Happy Ending:  My stoner friends stood up for me.  They were told it was a "cool party, man, no room for D$CKS."  In other words, they were "politely asked" to leave if they did not like the "rules." The threat of real physical violence In My Defense against these dudes was quite touching.

It is that (and similar) experiences why I hate stereotypes; and, for example, typically go out of my way to 'defend' skateboarders (not saying they are stoners, but they are a group that gets put down just for doing their thing...most time, they are causing no harm, and the group should not get the whip for the few d$ck-heads that DO cause trouble).