Thursday, July 10, 2008

something which causes grief; a complaint or annoyance

My brother recently aired some grievances and asked others to share their own as well. I'm just glad he didn't use the two words that both start with p, which mean the same as grievance or annoyance. For some reason, those two words, which I refuse to type here are an annoyance in and of themselves.

Like Dave, I am replete with grievances and will share a few that come to my mind at the moment, in no particular order:

People who don't understand right of way.
I'm not sure if I'm more annoyed by people who cede the right of way when it is actually theirs or people who go when it's not their turn. Those who take someone else's turn are either impolite or oblivious of their surroundings, but at least they keep things moving. It just really bothers me when I come to a four way stop and the other car obviously stopped before I did but they just sit there with this big grin, waving me on. No, it's your turn to go, and you're not doing me some big favor by sitting there making me wait for you to realize it's your turn, not mine.

Strange behavior around bikes.
I observe people doing weird things when I'm biking, having people walking down the sidewalk totally jump out of the way as if I am about to run them over even though I'm at least 20 yards away and not even on a trajectory that would cause our paths to cross. Even if I am headed in your direction, it's my job to avoid you, so don't start jumping around and acting strangely or I'm not going to know which way to go around you. I should mention, as I say that I'm riding my bike on the sidewalk, that I'm talking about the sidewalks around campus, which don't follow along with a road. The road is actually the appropriate place to ride your bike, on the right side, with the flow of traffic.

Messages from students who need help but don't leave me their student ID number.
People either have so common of a name that there's no way I'll be able to figure out which John Smith is trying to get a fee refund or else their name is so strange that there's no way I'll be able to figure out how to spell it. On a similar note are the parents who call on behalf of their children, instead of helping them figure out how to take care of their own problems by making them call.

Cigarette butts littered all over the place.
Cigarette smoke doesn't bother me as much as it bothers some people with allergies or asthma. The post-smoking smell that lingers on some people bothers me more than the smoke itself. But the most annoying part of that unhealthy, money-wasting habit (besides it raising my health insurance premiums) is the smokers who flick their butts on the ground. Find an ashtray or carry an old snapple bottle in your car to seal up the leftovers. Smoking is legal; littering is illegal.

Obsessive text messagers.
Students, text at home, while driving, on a date, in class, at the dinner table, at the movies, or anywhere else to your heart's content, but when you come to meet with me one on one for personal help to pass one of your tests, leave your phone in your pocket until we're done. If you're not paying attention to what we're talking about, I will stop dishing out the pointers and send you up to take your test, however prepared you may or may not be. While we're at it, don't text or otherwise use your phone during your test.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Sweet Advertising

To follow up my last post complaining about the sad state of the advertising industry, a commercial that tells a clever story and keeps you guessing until the end: