What grinds your gears?

[damonster]

people that have something that is still working fine/good, yet want a new one & I currently don't have one (job, smartphone). Pisses me the f off.

[BHK1978]

Originally Posted by moon_lit_tears

Okay so I spent last night in Gettysburg PA. I was at a Lurthern Missionary school campus. I know that the ones here in the States will understand what this is.

Last night was an Easter vigil and a baptism for a dear friends little baby.

So there is drama in the group of friends I'm in. Of course this is with every group I suppose. One of the girls has pretty much isolated herself by pushing everyone away. The rest of the group was there and are still pretty close. I am trying to stay friends with the girl. WELL. During this 2 1/2 hour church thing I'm getting texts from my phone. Now I'm suppose to respond while standing, holding a candle, a program, and a song book. How the hell am I suppose to type a text?

So what really pisses me off are these people who think friend means BE THERE FOR ME WHEN I WANT YOU AND NO ONE ELSE BECAUSE I'M SELFISH..

You shouldn't be texting in Church in the first place...

[moon_lit_tears]

Originally Posted by BHK1978

You shouldn't be texting in Church in the first place...

Shut up I wasn't trying too!

[alphadraighon]

What's grinding my gears today is ungrateful employers.

After a year an a half with my employer (during which time increased my day-today hours and number of days worked, as well as took on additional duties) I finally got a raise: $0.50/hr. Considering that it still puts me far under the average rate of pay for the region I work in, I'm a tad bit miffed about it.

I was hired as a floor salesman. I currently handle floor sales, phone and internet sales, all customer service, all advertising and marketing, and even cover in the warehouse when the regular guy leaves early or takes a day off (which is usually once or twice a week.) I've been sick exactly 3 times in 18 months, and have taken a total of less than 10 days off between being sick and my unpaid "vacation". After all this, I told them I needed more money, to reflect the amount of work I do.

My boss tells me that they'll give me the raise, but they want to see more even work out of me, including a short list of things that I already do, but that they don't see because (shock/surprise) I come to work 2 hours earlier than they do, and usually do those things when I get here, rather than wait for them to show up just so they can see me doing it.

That's what grinds my goddamned gears today.

[steesh07]

"What grinds my gears" is how long it takes in A&E, they have a 4 hour upper limit for patients being kept in. Yet when my nanna went in it took (and I'm being specific here) exactly 3hrs 59 mins for her to be moved to a ward (took 45 mins to get an IV flushed). Very very grinding of my gears.

[fusionfreak]

Be driving on a 2 lane road. I'm in the left lane (the fast one). No one is in the right lane (the slower one). Some A-Hole pulls out in front of me into the left lane, that I'm in, as if they are in some kind of massive rush. The speed limit is 55 and they decide to go 35. Man, that just really pisses me off.

This isn't just an old person thing. Young drivers and old alike do it. I actually think young drivers do this a little more. Older folks seem to know what the slow lane is for.

[Remianen]

Originally Posted by alphadraighon

What's grinding my gears today is ungrateful employers.

I'd quit and do something else. But let me give some background to explain why.

People who know me often make fun of the fact that I'm always working in some capacity but never in just a single area. I'm 39 years old and have 10 years of experience in retail (Electronics Boutique, JCPenney, Macy's, K-Mart), 20 years in the travel industry, 8 years of tax accounting, 3 years of car sales, and 6 years of gaming industry (mostly QA though I've done/can do level and world design as well). And that doesn't count my 3 years of volunteering at an animal hospital or four months as a drug & alcohol and crisis counselor or four summers working in Archiving/Book Location at the Brooklyn Central Library.

I've told all of the kids I've mentored to never be one thing. "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst". I don't care what your degree is for, do something else too. Find something you enjoy and spend some time doing it and it will pay off eventually. One guy who took the advice got laid off of his position at Bank of America during the "recession" and slid right into a manager's spot at Barnes & Noble (he also spent summers working at the BPL Grand Army Plaza branch, though years after I did). During the recession, when unemployment was spiking hardcore, I had three jobs and had no qualms about leaving any of them if I so chose (well, couldn't leave one since it's my own company ). Of course, after Wells Fargo finished consuming Wachovia, they started hiring people and guess who jumped back into banking? It's advice I'd give to any and everyone. I haven't experienced any periods of involuntary unemployment in my life and I've been working since I was 15 (well, earlier but 15 was when it was legal for me to do so). I've taken six month sabbaticals to "try something else" (like my internship at NCSoft in Austin) but only been fired once in my entire life (from a mom & pop agency no less. But then the very next day (actually, before I got home after being fired), American Express came a-knockin').

Your skills have value and the sooner people realize that, the sooner we'll have an explosion of entrepreneurship like we did, what, a century ago? I build (enthusiast) computers and sell 'em a dozen or so times a year. If Alienware wants $14,000 for a high end rig, I can guarantee I can build it for $6500 or less (usually 'less'). That skill has value. Networking has value too.

TL: DR version - Do what you enjoy and it'll pay off.

So yeah, $0.50 for that would be an insult to me and I'd hand in my notice.

Originally Posted by fusionfreak

Be driving on a 2 lane road. I'm in the left lane (the fast one). No one is in the right lane (the slower one). Some A-Hole pulls out in front of me into the left lane, that I'm in, as if they are in some kind of massive rush. The speed limit is 55 and they decide to go 35. Man, that just really pisses me off.

OMG that's why that STP commercial has resonated so much. Notice the ever present blinker/turn signal (which is also an annoyance of mine).


What grinds my gears is MMO newbie zones.

Wait, that's not exactly true. What grinds my gears are designers who do a piss poor job designing newbie zone encounters. I'm playing Aion right now and there's two examples in the Asmodae newbie areas. First is the Black Pearl quest. For some odd reason, they put the quest item in a (respawning) chest "guarded" by a "boss" mob. Here's the problem with that: it encourages scumbag behavior. Basically, you just sit around the cave and wait for someone to engage the boss then you run behind and snag the quest item (forcing the person taking all the risks (killing the boss) to wait for the chest to respawn. Oh and did I mention the chest's respawn is about a minute longer than the boss's?). This situation screams for the boss to DROP the quest item. Second example is at the end of the questline where you have to go into a cave full of catmen and "destroy" (click on) three generators to close a portal. Another quest for the same area requires the boss of said catmen (who happens to be located just across from the third generator) to be killed. The design flaw here is, you have to be credited with the kill to get quest credit. So what happens when a warrior engages the boss and two wizards come along and nuke the boss down? Here's what happens: the warrior doesn't get a quest update, one of the wizards does. Encouraging douchebaggery by encounter design. Again, an old school mechanic fixes this. Namely, locking the encounter to the person who has first aggro (until that person or the boss dies).

In this day and age of "accessibility", expecting people to group up to kill soloable mobs is folly. It's stupid, shortsighted, and dumb and runs directly counter to their free to play goals. So everyone you see in the Asmodae newbie zone with 'Treasure Hunter' before their name, I'd bet only a handful of them actually killed the Kantif boss.

[Makhai]

Originally Posted by moon_lit_tears

Shut up I wasn't trying too!

There're these things on phones... They're call OFF buttons. Push that sonbitch. Problem solved.

[BHK1978]

When people ask me what my nationality is and I say American and they tell me that American is not a nationality. What the hell?

Let me see I was born in the nation of America, therefore one would assume that my nationality is American. I got into an argument with one of my friends over this. He said he was one hundred percent Italian. I asked him if he was born in Italy, his response was no I was born in America.
I said do you hold dual citizenship?

His reply was no, so I told him that he was not one hundred percent Italian, he was in fact one hundred percent American. I am not sure why people fail to grasp this concept; if you were born in America you nationality is American. You ancestry might be Italian but you yourself are not Italian. Does this come up in any other country besides over here?

[moon_lit_tears]

Originally Posted by BHK1978

When people ask me what my nationality is and I say American and they tell me that American is not a nationality. What the hell?

Let me see I was born in the nation of America, therefore one would assume that my nationality is American. I got into an argument with one of my friends over this. He said he was one hundred percent Italian. I asked him if he was born in Italy, his response was no I was born in America.
I said do you hold dual citizenship?

His reply was no, so I told him that he was not one hundred percent Italian, he was in fact one hundred percent American. I am not sure why people fail to grasp this concept; if you were born in America you nationality is American. You ancestry might be Italian but you yourself are not Italian. Does this come up in any other country besides over here?

See in a way I think you are wrong.

I plan to move to either Scotland or England in the near future, but nationality will still be American.

Your nationality is what makes you who you are. I'm Irish, Scottish, Native American, and German. It's what makes me me.

[BHK1978]

Originally Posted by moon_lit_tears

See in a way I think you are wrong.

I plan to move to either Scotland or England in the near future, but nationality will still be American.

Your nationality is what makes you who you are. I'm Irish, Scottish, Native American, and German. It's what makes me me.

Is that not ancestry though?

Were you born in Ireland, Scotland, or Germany?

How can you claim any of them as your nationality?

Being Native American makes it tricky because they were here first, but all of them did end up becoming American.

Yes you would be an American nationality wise because you are from America. You would not be able to call yourself Scottish because you are not actually from Scotland. You have Scottish ancestry, but you yourself are not actually Scottish. People will still view you as Scottish.

I suppose once you become a citizen of Scotland or England you can say your nationality is English or Scottish.

[moon_lit_tears]

Originally Posted by BHK1978

Is that not ancestry though?

Were you born in Ireland, Scotland, or Germany?

How can you claim any of them as your nationality?

Being Native American makes it tricky because they were here first, but all of them did end up becoming American.

Yes you would be an American nationality wise because you are from America. You would not be able to call yourself Scottish because you are not actually from Scotland. You have Scottish ancestry, but you yourself are not actually Scottish. People will still view you as Scottish.

I suppose once you become a citizen of Scotland or England you can say your nationality is English or Scottish.

You can marry a woman from here and go on a vacation to say Germany. If you have a baby while there does that make your kid German?

[BHK1978]

Originally Posted by moon_lit_tears

You can marry a woman from here and go on a vacation to say Germany. If you have a baby while there does that make your kid German?

Why would it matter if you are on vacation?

The parents are still Americans, they just happen to be in another country at the time of birth.

[moon_lit_tears]

Originally Posted by BHK1978

Why would it matter if you are on vacation?

The parents are still Americans, they just happen to be in another country at the time of birth.

That's my point. You're saying it's where you are born, not where your family comes from.

Point is. Your nationality IS where you come from. No matter where you are born. It's your heritage.

[BHK1978]

Originally Posted by moon_lit_tears

That's my point. You're saying it's where you are born, not where your family comes from.

Point is. Your nationality IS where you come from. No matter where you are born. It's your heritage.

That is not what your point is though, you are saying your nationality is where your ancestors are from. If you are saying your nationality is where you are from then you would be agreeing with me because we are both from the United States.

If you are from America then you are an American. You are not English, Italian, German, et cetera.

As far as the parents example goes well here:

Yes this is from Wiki but it states citizenship more clearly than the actual government website.

Do you think you can go into any other country and say that you are Scottish?

What if they ask you from what part of Scotland are you from?

Are you going to say Maryland?

They will laugh at you and call you an American.

You are an American not Scottish, no matter what your ancestry is.

After this you can give your reply but I am not going to go back and forth over this, and no it is not because I think I am wrong it is because I hate getting into long drawn out debates on here.