Goofy People

[SARGE]

Seems it never fails - we're in a hurry at the store and someone holds up the line with something ridiculous (to me). The other day I was at the drug store with a bus coming before long. Plenty of time, right? This guy was arguing over a coupon for 50 cents off the price. He was buying cigarettes and the lady said the coupon didn't apply to cigs. He said it didn't say that. She showed him where it said "exceptions may apply". She got the manager, they haggled, redid the entire transaction and she gave him a dollar. He looked at it for the longest, then asked "do you have one newer, this one needs to go back to the Federal Reserve". It looked fine to me and I loudly said so along with other words. She searched thru her cash drawer until he accepted one.

Another one, at the post office. Always happens when in a hurry. A long line and one clerk. A little old lady wanted to look thru an entire album of stamps, page at a time. "I'll take this one", flips the page and starts selecting other stamps, then changes her mind and starts over. I swear it was 10 minutes to buy a few stamps. Everyone in line (for most was their lunch hour) was getting very annoyed and said so. All that and she was going to put them on an envelope and never see them again anyway.

My favorite - waiting in line at a fast food joint that has the menu on a huge board where everyone can see. People are gabbing instead of deciding ahead of time what they will order while standing in line. When it's their turn to order, they THEN start discussing with their crowd what everyone wants. More than once I've told them they had all that time while gabbing to decide ahead of time what to order, now they're holding up everyone else.

[shadowpr]

Originally Posted by SARGE My favorite - waiting in line at a fast food joint that has the menu on a huge board where everyone can see. People are gabbing instead of deciding ahead of time what they will order while standing in line. When it's their turn to order, they THEN start discussing with their crowd what everyone wants. More than once I've told them they had all that time while gabbing to decide ahead of time what to order, now they're holding up everyone else.

That ones get's me all the time. It takes a lot to not just tell them all off.

[David M]

There are certain types of people that I avoid getting in line behind at the grocery store...I can't really say what types though for fear of offending them in these politically correct times. I can give one unoffensive example...people who are holding a check book and like Sarges example, people with coupons.

[shadowpr]

i just remembered one time like a year or two ago, i 2was home for a few days on leave, and was at the grocery store trying to buy some milk. there was this family in front of me. mom, dad, and little girl. the little girl just starts talking about how the war is bull, and how President Bush is stupid, and how we shouldn't be over there killing people. At that point i literally bit my tongue. it was all i could do short of going off on the parents.

so yeah....

[MaxRat]

how about people who get groceries and pay with $20.00 in pennies....argh

and the same for me in fast food...and I always try to be curtious of others when I am in line...I make everyone make up their mind before we get to the window...BUT as many times as the wife goes she waits till the window to order...lol...I just want to boot her outta the car at those times...ha ha...just kidding

[glc]

people who are holding a check book

And invariably they wait till the entire order is rung and bagged before even STARTING to write the check........the same people who bring an oversized order into the express line.

I've discussed this with store managers - they feel they have to look the other way in order not to piss off customers - but they smile when people behind them in line get on their case.

[xraycatj]

Here's one I get a lot:

I run into the gas station with my cash to -quickly- pay, pump, and go...except that when I get to the counter the person in front of me is buying scratch tickets, scratching them, "Ooh this one's a winner, I'll have five more of these..*scratch scratch* ...Ooh another winner"....five minutes later they finish and I get to pay for my gas... ...and I'm late.

[shadowpr]

Originally Posted by xraycatj Here's one I get a lot: I run into the gas station with my cash to -quickly- pay, pump, and go...except that when I get to the counter the person in front of me is buying scratch tickets, scratching them, "Ooh this one's a winner, I'll have five more of these..*scratch scratch* ...Ooh another winner"....five minutes later they finish and I get to pay for my gas... ...and I'm late.

that's why i use my credit card at the pump. it's quicker, and i have one of those cards that gives cash back. i have to buy it anyway, might as well get something back if i can.

[blue60007]

Or when people pull in such that their car blocks two pumps...

[Floppyman]

How about people who decide to hug your blind spot on the freeway, or even worse, decide to pass you going only 0.0000000001mph faster, therefore taking a good 10min just to get past you. In the meantime you are coming up behind a slower car and need to slam on the brakes.

[juppy]

A major annoyance for me, and it's bad around here, is people that park right alongside the front sidewalk of a business like Wal-Mart or Target for instance, where it's plainly painted bright red and says "NO PARKING....FIRE LANE", just because they're only going to be in the store a short time and are too lazy to walk from the regular parking spaces. Usually when my brother and I are walking into a store and see someone doing this, if their window is rolled down, one of us says to the other rather loudly "Hey, check out that new model of fire truck!!" We usually get frowned at (or flipped the bird), but hey, they're in the wrong and they know it.

On that note, I saw a picture on the internet once that made me laugh. It showed a BMW parked in front of a fire hydrant and both back windows were broken out of it. Why is that funny? Because going THROUGH the back windows was a fire hose, which was then hooked to the hydrant.

[glc]

Originally Posted by Floppyman How about people who decide to hug your blind spot on the freeway, or even worse, decide to pass you going only 0.0000000001mph faster, therefore taking a good 10min just to get past you. In the meantime you are coming up behind a slower car and need to slam on the brakes.

I'm guilty of that myself - cruise control passing - but I try to pay attention and override it to get around if someone is behind me wanting to pass too.

[Strider]

The other day I was going home from work and I was coming up on a traffic light that just turn green (it is a short light) and there were 3 to 4 cars in front of me. I said to myself good I'm going to make this light when all of the sudden the car in front of me slows down 5 to 10 mph below the speed limit for some unknown reason which annoyed me; however, he finally got in the right turn lane. I thought to myself good, but all of the sudden he gets in my lane with his left turn signal on and wants to get into the left turn lane to make a left hand turn which is a couple of lanes over. I'm normally a very patient driver and rarely ever use my horn, but I couldn't on this one, so I blasted my horn. I don't know how, but I made the light which like I said is a short light. The drivers I consider goofy are the ones who think they can get into a lane any old time they feel like it and don't care about other cars that are around them.

[HAL9000]

Originally Posted by juppy A major annoyance for me, and it's bad around here, is people that park right alongside the front sidewalk of a business like Wal-Mart or Target for instance, where it's plainly painted bright red and says "NO PARKING....FIRE LANE", just because they're only going to be in the store a short time and are too lazy to walk from the regular parking spaces. Usually when my brother and I are walking into a store and see someone doing this, if their window is rolled down, one of us says to the other rather loudly "Hey, check out that new model of fire truck!!" We usually get frowned at (or flipped the bird), but hey, they're in the wrong and they know it. On that note, I saw a picture on the internet once that made me laugh. It showed a BMW parked in front of a fire hydrant and both back windows were broken out of it. Why is that funny? Because going THROUGH the back windows was a fire hose, which was then hooked to the hydrant.

That's why I love wearing the ball cap and shirt that I got when I went through the citizens police academy... I walk by, bang on the hood and point at the signs.. all they see are the police logos, nowhere have I identified myself as a police officer... they get all apologetic and move.

[blue60007]

Originally Posted by Floppyman How about people who decide to hug your blind spot on the freeway, or even worse, decide to pass you going only 0.0000000001mph faster, therefore taking a good 10min just to get past you. In the meantime you are coming up behind a slower car and need to slam on the brakes.

Semi's seem to be pretty bad at that. They'll pass each other going 1mph faster, and to top it off, semi's are typically going slower then the rest of traffic. So they've basically created a rolling road block...

[thefultonhow]

The worst is when a semi decides to pass another semi on a two-lane road. That's always interesting...

[Cricket]

I don't use the term "goofy" for these kinds of people...I use another term that begins with the letter "a".

Cricket

[blue60007]

Originally Posted by thefultonhow The worst is when a semi decides to pass another semi on a two-lane road. That's always interesting...

I've had semi's pass me on a two-lane road before...not exactly the most relaxing situation.

[shadowpr]

Originally Posted by Cricket I don't use the term "goofy" for these kinds of people...I use another term that begins with the letter "a". Cricket

my word for them stats with a "S" and also a "M"

[doubledragon5]

How about your local Wal-Mart, they have at least 20 registers, and only 1 or 2 at a time up and running. I told this one cashier on time to stop gabbing with the customer, and she might get more people out of the store.. She was talking to another women about something, that had nothing to do with anything she was buying...

[MaxRat]

you know one thing that really T's me off is the abuse of Handicap parking...

you'll get these people who arent handicap but borrow the tag or the car just to park up front...

I wish I could start a bussiness just pratoling lots and fining/towing cars...

And i'd be a real arse...if they could produce the appropriate docs I would tow and leave them standing....

I see all the time teens and youngers my age abusing these places and the older people who trully need them are forced to park out farther with no coarse of action or help...

I mean come one...talk about selfish...you just cant get any lower than that...

[The_YongGrand]

Originally Posted by MaxRat you know one thing that really T's me off is the abuse of Handicap parking... you'll get these people who arent handicap but borrow the tag or the car just to park up front... I wish I could start a bussiness just pratoling lots and fining/towing cars... And i'd be a real arse...if they could produce the appropriate docs I would tow and leave them standing.... I see all the time teens and youngers my age abusing these places and the older people who trully need them are forced to park out farther with no coarse of action or help... I mean come one...talk about selfish...you just cant get any lower than that...

You will find tons of those Handicap-parking abusers in Malaysia. Go and check out the great car parks in shopping centres in Malaysia, you will find those people who even blocks the emergency exit , not in the yellow box provided and even double park/triple park.

[juppy]

Originally Posted by HAL9000 That's why I love wearing the ball cap and shirt that I got when I went through the citizens police academy... I walk by, bang on the hood and point at the signs.. all they see are the police logos, nowhere have I identified myself as a police officer... they get all apologetic and move.

LOL! Nice one! But if I had one of those shirts and tried that, I'd probably pick an undercover cop with an unmarked car to do it on and end up in the slammer.

[doubledragon5]

Originally Posted by MaxRat you know one thing that really T's me off is the abuse of Handicap parking... you'll get these people who arent handicap but borrow the tag or the car just to park up front... I wish I could start a bussiness just pratoling lots and fining/towing cars... And i'd be a real arse...if they could produce the appropriate docs I would tow and leave them standing.... I see all the time teens and youngers my age abusing these places and the older people who trully need them are forced to park out farther with no coarse of action or help... I mean come one...talk about selfish...you just cant get any lower than that...

Don't judge a book by it's cover. My wife is disabled, but to normaly people she doesn't look it. She has a handicap placard and uses it all the time. just because a person doesn't look handicap doesn't mean there not...

[tomster2300]

Originally Posted by doubledragon5 How about your local Wal-Mart, they have at least 20 registers, and only 1 or 2 at a time up and running. I told this one cashier on time to stop gabbing with the customer, and she might get more people out of the store.. She was talking to another women about something, that had nothing to do with anything she was buying...

For anybody who's ever worked in retail (like myself) you'll understand why some of that stuff happens. I've worked at a retail chain mentioned in this thread (not Wal-Mart) for the past year now while going to college, and have gained enormous respect for those who do that for a living. It's ridiculous the amount of work we do in a day, let alone at night after the store closes. I went to work today at 2:30 pm and clocked out at 1:30 am (about two hours ago); during that time I ran around like a chicken with my head chopped off to help guests, stocked shelves, reset guest set alarms, and moved loads of product from point A to point B - all so it could be picked up, thought about, then thrown to the floor by a guest who decided they didn't want it, (then they often run over it with their buggy so the next guest can call you over and demand an answer as to why a crushed item is on the shelf. The second guest typically lectures you on how they would never buy anything in that condition and commands you to remove it immediately). We stay exhausted, and only receive two 15 minute breaks and a half hour lunch per 6 hour shift.

Depending on the corporation's policy, stores will schedule fewer cashiers than needed and more floor members than needed in the theory that the floor members will come and open registers when a crowd forms up at the lines. When it becomes extremely busy that theory does not always work. We're all busy in all parts of the store, so please be a little patient when you guys shop, if just for my sake at least.

If you think employees are annoying, you ought to try it from the other end and talk to some to the boneheads we get to deal with. One woman who had some rather foul mouthed, spoiled daughters (not that young either) began picking merchandise up, insulting it, then throwing it down onto the shelves. When a fellow employee politely asked them to stop, they began insulting him across numerous aisles as well as to their mother. The mother's retort was that they should be allowed to act the way they were simply because she was purchasing a buggy full of items and the amount she was going to pay ought to make up for it.

We should have told her how much we make an hour.

I got told that story one night around midnight on a 10 hour shift while trying to straighten up the store so we could go home and collapse.

Seriously.

[HAL9000]

I don't think all places are like that though. We have three Walmarts in town.. and well, the South end one is THE WORST. It doesn't matter how busy it is, out of 14 registers, you will NEVER find more than three open. The East one is a little bit better, they will open up to 5... the North one is the best, I've seen on a slow night, they will still have 8 registers open. You can't tell me that is governed by corporate policy.

When Walmart opened here in Regina, they had signs up.. if there are more than 3 people waiting in a line, we'll open a new register... those signs were removed pretty dang fast... I think they were up a total of less than two weeks.

[doubledragon5]

Originally Posted by HAL9000 I don't think all places are like that though. We have three Walmarts in town.. and well, the South end one is THE WORST. It doesn't matter how busy it is, out of 14 registers, you will NEVER find more than three open. The East one is a little bit better, they will open up to 5... the North one is the best, I've seen on a slow night, they will still have 8 registers open. You can't tell me that is governed by corporate policy. When Walmart opened here in Regina, they had signs up.. if there are more than 3 people waiting in a line, we'll open a new register... those signs were removed pretty dang fast... I think they were up a total of less than two weeks.

Try finding an associate when you need help, their none existent half of the time.. I have gotten more help at a Target than at any Walmart I have visited.. And when you need something all they can say is that what is out there is all we have.. I worked at a Walmat yrs ago, and when a customer wanted to know if we had any more in stock I would at least make an effort to see if we did rather than just say that is all we have..

[tomster2300]

Target stresses guest service so that it can differentiate itself from other retail institutions. They have guest service buttons for guests to push in every section of the store which send out a message over the employee's walkie system. Employees get three tries of 60 seconds each to reach the button and turn off the request or a failure notice gets automatically sent to corporate (bypassing the local store management).

Wal-Mart employees simply look at you funny.

[washablemarker]

wow. you can't let petty experiences like these get to you. you need to relax and realize that a few minutes hold up here and there are not important. there are seriously far more important things than minor inconveniences. and remember that walmart and other stores alike are merely mass convenient stores with a lot of minimum wage workers. you can't expect great service, and really, it's not desperately needed.

like everyone else, i have experienced a fair share of events like these, and i always think about how unfortunate it is for the individuals causing the "problem" who get worked up over fifty cent coupons and whatnot. if only they weren't so close minded. i would actually like to try and "enlighten" them rather than complain, but that is nearly impossible, because the kinds of people who yell at walmart managers have far more complex problems than their inability to exercise self control.

what i dislike more than the people who h some of you claimed to have done this before, just expressing my thoughts and opinions). you only encourage the person creating the fiasco, and to me seem just as "blind" as them. and it's especially anoying when the individual next to you says something like "can you believe this *explicit*?" i don'twant to agree, because they tend to ramble on about it, and frankly, i don't care; however, i don't want to disagree, because again, they tend to again, ramble on either trying to persuade me or comparing me to the likes of the people who do all the holding up.

[SARGE]

I don't believe anyone, including myself, are really "complaining", but are pointing out things that annoy us as we trek thru our everyday lives. Afterall, in 100 years it won't mean anything anyway. I have to caution and remind myself when in these situations that the person annoying me is living their own life, and despite their trespasses upon my time, may indeed be having their own share of frustrations with others. I always walk away from those times shaking my head at them, but also find a way to laugh at the dumb things they do. I then am humbled when recalling the times I must annoy folks, and must then laugh again at my own self. We all are a mysterious creature.