Monday, May 29, 2017

#MicroblogMondays: A few annoying things

(Taking my cue from a recent #MM post by Mali. ;)  This might become a regular feature...!)
  • Salespeople who stand at one end of a long counter, absorbed in checking something -- while I'm at the head of the checkout line at the other end, waiting for someone to ring in my purchase (for several minutes) -- and then, when they do motion me forward, ignore me (except to take my money) while shouting to one of the other store clerks some distance away while I'm standing there...! 
  • Mommies pushing those huge strollers at the mall, ambling along in pairs or groups, two abreast, chatting and looking at their phones, taking up the whole aisle & making it impossible for other people to get around them.  
  • Moms who ignore the baby/toddler in the stroller who is trying to get their attention while they're absorbed in checking their phones. 
  • Moms who stand in the aisle of the bookstore talking to a friend or checking their phone -- while their toddler throws a mega-tantrum in the next aisle, screaming at the top of their lungs -- and ignore the child, letting the tantrum continue for a full FIVE MINUTES before intervening (hmmm, I sense a theme here...!).  
  • Disorganized bookshelves at the bookstore -- it sometimes looks like a cyclone went through, especially after the weekend. I realize these stores are staffed thinly and staff are stretched... and customers will take a book off the shelf to look at and then shove it back any old place... but still...!  I often spend half my time there reorganizing the shelves and moving books into proper alphabetical order (does anyone know alphabetical order these days?? or that books in the biography section should be filed according to the name of the subject and not the author?? -- it seems not...).  Nothing drives me crazier than seeing three copies of  a book on one shelf (and not in alphabetical order), and then two more copies two shelves down (ARRRGGGHHHH....).  Dh says "it's not your job." I said, "Maybe it should be, since nobody else seems to be doing it...!"  lol  (Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this...!) 
  • People who leave their cigarette butts on the floor of our condo's parking garage (particularly since it's a no-smoking zone in the first place...!). 
  • People who leave their cars parked in a clearly marked no-parking zone right in front of the supermarket, blocking other cars that are entering & exiting the parking lot ("oh, I'll only be in there a minute...")(last Sunday afternoon there were FOUR parked in a row!!). 
  • The neighbour somewhere directly above us, who must have recently bought some plants for their balcony (which is all fine & good) & is a little TOO enthusiastic about watering them well, as the excess water cascades off the edge of their balcony & comes splashing onto ours. It's not a very big balcony & one of the chairs is always getting wet. Fortunately, nobody has been sitting there when this has happened (yet...!). 
(All real-life incidents, by the way...!)

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMonday posts here

8 comments:

  1. Generational theory predicted a lot of the behavior you've described. A lot of people have lost the ability to be aware of others and I think a lot of it has to do with our leadership. So sadly people. Red to be retrained to care. Part of it means being vocal. "I'm so sorry, but you're blocking the aisle," or "aren't temper tantrums the worst? Is there anything I can do to help," to "out of curiousity, are you hiring part time? I'm interested in helping you reorganize those shelves and would love an employee discount in exchange." It always shocks people, but we're at a point where I think it's necessary.

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  2. Ha ha! The first one happens in India too and I always thought it's an India thing.
    By the way - I am guilty of being over enthusiastic about my plants and sometimes it falls on the balcony beneath ours ;)

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  3. Checkout clerk indifference is a big one for me. People being generally rude and / or unawares is another. Most others of mine revolve around motorists and their lack of attention to the rules of the road, being in too big a hurry, no apologies for nearly mowing down pedestrians.

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  4. I reorganize shelves, too. At the bookstore, grocery ... it's awful. But so, so satisfying.

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  5. YES! Yes to the phone people, especially moms. We keep seeing moms and dads with their kids at the ice cream place down the hill, absorbed in their phones while their kid(s) eat their ice cream, bored out of their skulls. PAY ATTENTION TO THE SMALL PEOPLES! Drives me nuts. Luckily I don't go to the mall often at all so I'm spared the double-aisle stroller crew, but I've seen it and it is irritating. And absolutely, I'm all for alphabetizing out-of-order books or straightening shelves at the bookstore. Love that. Maybe in retirement I'll get a job at Barnes & Noble... :)

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  6. Oh my gosh...yes to all of those (except the one about the balcony because I don't like there and can't relate). And yes, I re-organize the books on shelves at stores. I also like to "face" products (pull them forward so they can be seen better). I figure, if no one else is doing it while I'm standing there waiting for Mr. Big (slowest shopper EVER), I may as well.

    You forgot to include people who stop in the middle of an aisle to check their phone and halt the entire line of people...and people who walk the wrong way down an aisle, interrupting the 20+ people who are all walking the other direction.

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  7. I love your list. I'm thinking I might make it a regular topic on my blog too.

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