The same reader (who likes people who drive with a cell phone plastered to their ear as much as I do) pointed out the cell-phone
impaired driver who pulls out in front of you and then drives so slowly through a yellow light that you're caught by the red. People who drive while holding long, pointless conversations on a cell phone are usually
paying more attention to the call than they are to me and other cars on the road. How about the imbeciles who pull out in front of you, causing you to brake, then drive three feet and turn – usually a left hand turn
across traffic – when there was no one behind you in traffic. Hey, buddy. Can't you wait just another second or so and pull out behind me instead?
Driving seems to inspire a lot of ire among my readers. Another one
brought up my husband's least favorite Stupid Road Trick – two cars, side-by-side on a four lane, both going 10 miles under the speed limit, neither one pulling ahead or behind the other so traffic can pass. My children
have learned some colorful language this way.
Still with cars, but in a parking lot, how about the morons who can't be bothered to put their shopping carts up, instead, leaving them in the parking lot to either smack
into the side of your parked car or block the parking space you are trying to get into. Aw, c'mon, guys. Can you get any lazier?
Here's a consumer gripe I like: Sheets made exclusively for pillowtop mattresses, so
that regular ones swim in them. And – one of my personal favorite irritations – price tags on the front of picture frames and other glass items. Price tags that appear to be superglued on – so hard to get off that
Heloise would need a blowtorch.
Another suggested employees who insist on carrying on personal conversations rather than wait on the customers (I like to call those people "over-employed") and, to be fair
about it, customers who think nothing of interrupting the sales person or cashier while you're being waited upon. Hey – I was there first!
Then there's voice mail coupled with automatic telephone answering systems
with recorded menus that make me listen to when the place opens and closes and how to get there and the number of all the departments when what I really want to do is talk to a live human being. This is particularly
egregious in government agencies.
Gee, I still have lots of griping to do, but space is getting tight. So here are a few more quickies: People who let their kids run wild in stores, restaurants and movie theaters.
Idiots who talk during the movie. Loud, thumping car stereos blaring obscene lyrics. The dummies who write on bathroom walls. And people who shove their crammed shopping carts into the express lane, totally ignoring the
line that backs up behind them.
Whew. I, for one, feel a lot better having gotten those off my chest. Thanks to the readers who sent me their personal "vents" – wish I could have used them all. But there's
always next year!
Have a great – and stress-free – 2003.
