Minor Irritations

OK, it's "Venting Day" and I have several irritations to vent about! Here goes:


1. Co-worker's kids' fundraisers - I can totally understand the concept of kids doing fundraisers through their school, sports teams, Girl/Boy Scouts, church, etc. In fact, I did many of them when I was a kid - Girl Scout cookies being a prime example. I can also even understand the child's parents taking the form to work to get extra sales for the fundraiser (believe me, I still love the Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies - especially when you put them in the fridge or freezer and eat them cold!).

With that said, I had something happen recently that went TOTALLY over the edge of appropriate. One of my co-workers' daughter was selling cookie dough for her school and he brought in the form. Instead of leaving it in our kitchen area (which has a big counter space to put such a form) so that people could take a look and buy something if they wanted to......he came over to my desk, shoved the form in front of me and said something to the effect of "Oh, you're a woman, the women are always the ones I can get to buy something. *Child's Name* needs you to buy something. Her school will really appreciate it." Mind you, I have never met this person's wife or any of his children before. So I felt like I HAD to buy $15 cookie dough that I do NOT want sitting in my house as temptation. UGH. NOT COOL.

2. I have never been a server/waitress in my 32 years on this earth, but I also don't think that it takes a former or current server, or any other credential to figure out that when servers are refilling drinks by using a pitcher, you shouldn't touch the pitcher directly to the glass/cup!

Hello?! A person's saliva/lipstick/half-eaten food are all over the rim of that glass and now you have transferred it to the pitcher, which you expertly move to the next glass and deposit that nastiness for the next person to enjoy! Think of how many glasses that ONE pitcher has touched and retouched in a day's time before it would get washed. GROSS!!

3. This one might offend parents of small children, but as someone who is childless, I'm going to go ahead and complain about it anyway. What's the deal with the grocery store shopping carts that look like there's a freaking go-kart on the front of it?! Did I accidentally walk into an amusement park when I meant to walk into Kroger and actually go down the aisles with ease?

Where have the days gone when if you brought a child to the grocery store, they sat in the little seat area with your purse? Or if they were bigger than that, they walked or rode in the big part of the cart? I cannot count how many times I have been blocked in by those massive 'carts + big plastic vehicle on the front' or even run into by one.

Now, I'm not heartless - I understand that some people that I encounter are single parents who need to bring their children to the grocery store with them and can't leave them at home with the other parent, or are stopping to get some things on the way home from work/daycare. However, do we REALLY need a huge plastic car on the front of the carts? The rest of us would actually like to shop and get down the aisles sometime TODAY without sustaining injuries. I'm just sayin.......

4. This last one is something that anyone with a drivers license and a car would understand and agree with. During the hours of 6-9am and 4-7pm, it is probably safe to say that most of the motorists that are on the road are driving on roads that they take every single day to work and back or around familiar areas near to their work and home. Right?

OK, well then why, oh why are there always the SOBs that when 2 lanes merge into one at particular areas, they race up to the very last inch and then look like a lost puppy and want to cut in, when the rest of us have been waiting in a LONG line going 5 miles an hour because we know that we need to be in that particular lane and are waiting our turn? Do you really want us to believe that you had NO IDEA that that was going to happen RIGHT THERE?? Since usually there are multiple signs about lanes ending, and you can visually see that there is a line forming to move over....why are they so arrogant to think that THEIR commute is WAY more important than everyone else's and they should just be able to bypass the inconvenience of waiting. Because I bet every single one of those people who are waiting their turn and inching along has NOWHERE to go and NOTHING else to do but sit there for fun. UGH.

So, since I drive 20 miles through some nasty traffic each way every day, I tend to get a little bit of road rage with these annoying folks. I don't do anything crazy to get myself shot, but I WILL definitely try to keep these line-cutters in their place. When 2 lanes are obviously merging together and one will be ending, I will sit my car right in the center of the 'triangle' that is created when the 2 lanes are starting to blend together, so that no one can sneak by and cut in line. I see others do it, but I am a big fan of making it fair.

Sometimes I see people racing ahead and then I see drivers ahead of me letting them in! NO, PEOPLE! Make them sit there off to the side for a while and wait - kind of like the waiting they should be doing at the back of the LINE! I really am a polite driver in most cases - when you are in traffic and someone needs to get over or coming out of a parking garage after a big event, I definitely like to let people out and hope they would do the same for me. However, as for the rude people who think they own the road and don't feel like waiting their turn like everyone else - NO WAY!