Grumble grumble grumble petty whingey thread

[chocolate-chip chooky]

Here's a thread for petty whinges. Please join me in being irrationally irritated by petty things.

I hope the rest of the world is spared this, but here in Australia, if you buy something like 5 pairs of socks, or 5 teatowels, the bundle is held together with about 6 silly little plastic things, that go through the material. You have to pry the material layers apart, snip the plastic, and then dig around for the tiny near-transparent ends that are floating in the layers somewhere.  Arrgghh. 

My second whinge for the day is about those peel-off seals on jars that don't have a tab to get you started. Arrrgghh again.

These are tiny inconveniences, I know, but sometimes it's those tiny things that feel like they are about to tip you over your limit.

Edited April 19, 2023 by chocolate-chip chooky

[Melissa in Australia]

My whinge for the day

One of my twins is starting a new medication today. It isn't on the pbs, I was told by the paediatrician it would be $60 for pack of 30 tablets. Went to pharmacist and they tried to charge me $87 . When I questioned why the paediatrician said it would be  just under $60 they dropped the price to $64. I can't believe it. Did they really try a$23 mark up? Were they really expecting  I would be paying an extra $23 every 30 days.  I am thinking I should next time try the pharmicest 100 km away

Edited April 19, 2023 by Melissa in Australia

[SKL]

Speaking of prices being inflated ... I recently updated my car insurance to reflect that my kid's learner's permit is now a teen driver's license.  Back when I added the permit, the price went up a little, and I asked and was told that it probably wouldn't change once the kid had an actual license.  In between times, I turned down an offer for comprehensive insurance, because the car insurance part of that quote was higher than I was expecting to pay my current company.  So now I feel annoyed and stupid.  I mean, maybe it's obvious my rate would more than double.  (It was a pretty low rate before.)  I'm also wondering what's gonna happen when my other 16yo gets her license, which should happen in the next couple months.

[Ausmumof3]

I had my covid vax yesterday and I still feel like my limbs are made of lead and my arm hurts. I don’t want to do this every six months for the rest of my life 😞 

[happi duck]

I've woken up two hours before my alarm! 

[Guest]

Yeah, why DO they rivet socks together with invisible thread or a Permanent Sticking Charm? It may be true that I have ruined brand new socks before by cutting a hole in them while trying to cut the pairs apart. 
 

In the same vein, why do shirts, dresses and *bathing suits* need those stupid hanging loops? You have to cut those off or risk wardrobe malfunction. It’s such a waste of materials. Ditto on clothing labels that are made out of some scratchy, horrible material. 

[Indigo Blue]

Things that  just generally work/taste fine and then changes are made and it’s not an improvement. 
 

iPhones

Windows updates

Constantly moving things around in stores so you never know where things are

Food products that taste worse and worse over time

 

Also…..tailgaters, obnoxious smokers, and the stickers that are on everything and won’t come off. And, yes, those little plastic things that OP talked about that hold a pack of socks together. 
 

While I’m at it…..things that are frustratingly difficult to open seems magnified times ten when you are getting a bit older. That struggle is legit. And it seems they sit around that big table discussing ways to make things as difficult as possible to open. Seemingly no companies give much thought to the ease of opening something, except maybe for Apple, who gets credit for putting in tons of thought into the ease of opening of their nice packaging. If they could just leave well enough alone with their PHONES, that would be great. 
 

So….today I have a bad headache and must drive to a large nearby city to look for pants that are not leggings and are also not jeans so that I will have a real pair of pants to wear that don’t aggravate my muscle pain (yes, pants hurt) to wear to an upcoming event. It’s probably a unicorn that I will not find today, which will undoubtedly lead to more frustration and whining. Yes. Sorting through all the pants to find my size and fuming over the absolute crap quality that goes even further downhill every time I shop will undoubtedly lead to frustration and whining. Also, there will be tailgaters and probably tags and packages to deal with today, but there is also the possibility of coming  home with no pants and wearing that same pair of leggings to an event I really wish I didn’t have to wear leggings to. 
 

Right now, Autocorrect is driving me bonkers. 
 

First world problems, and I am a grateful person….but these things ARE frustrating. 😬

I hope when the headache is gone and I’m out in the sun I will be in a better mood. 

Edited April 19, 2023 by Indigo Blue

[JustEm]

Today was a sleep in day and rest day from the gym and I still woke up at 5:45 because someone didn't turn their alarm off. I was too tired to get up and do anything but to awake to fall back asleep. Now I'm just grumpy

[marbel]

6 hours ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

if you buy something like 5 pairs of socks, or 5 tea towels             

I just dealt with this the other day, with a pack of socks. I drives me crazy.  Similar,  underwear sold in a plastic bag (yes I buy cheap underwear), with each item rolled tightly (fine) and then taped (not fine). I hate fiddling with those little bits of tape. (I don't know why my quoting got messed up but I can't fix it.)

Edited April 19, 2023 by marbel

[Indigo Blue]

Okay….does this bother anyone? While we are being grumpy here…..

…..when you are typing a reply to someone and at the same time, a message pops up that says “so and so has replied”…. and that little message box gets in the way of seeing what you are typing? Sometimes, if I choose “show reply” it scrolls to a different place and messes up what I was typing. If I choose to hit the “x” to get it out of the way for just a minute while I finish typing, it just keeps coming back like a little annoying gnat, lol. (I hit refresh when I am done typing to read the new replies).

And probably someone is annoyed by my overuse of ….dots in my sentences. I’m just being lazy….and don’t want to think about proper sentence structure….😁🤨

[Faith-manor]

We have the same problem here with the plastic things. Actually, we have all kinds of nasty over-packaging pollution issues, and I hate it.

Some days I dream that a brilliant mind with access to working capitol opens an old fashioned department store with big oak and glass cases, wood display shelves and wardrobes, and nothing is in plastic packaging. Nothing is hanging from plastic hangers. Buttons come in glass bottles, and a clerk opens them and pours out the number you want, same for snaps, pins, and other sewing notions. Toys that come in a cardboard box are not also covered in plastic wrap. Hanging straps on dresses and shirts are made of ribbon not nasty plastic, real fabrics exist and no polyester in sight. There would be little signs in front of the items with the price, none of those nasty stickers, and no tags to cut off nice clothes. Sigh....

And when you go to the meat market, wax paper, paper, and twine are used to wrap up your choices, not a plastic bag anywhere. 

Then I return to reality and am annoyed. 

Also, the dog woke me up today. Now he is trying to use cute as a means to assuage my feelings. That usually ends up working which annoys me greatly. 

[Scarlett]

6 hours ago, SKL said:

Speaking of prices being inflated ... I recently updated my car insurance to reflect that my kid's learner's permit is now a teen driver's license.  Back when I added the permit, the price went up a little, and I asked and was told that it probably wouldn't change once the kid had an actual license.  In between times, I turned down an offer for comprehensive insurance, because the car insurance part of that quote was higher than I was expecting to pay my current company.  So now I feel annoyed and stupid.  I mean, maybe it's obvious my rate would more than double.  (It was a pretty low rate before.)  I'm also wondering what's gonna happen when my other 16yo gets her license, which should happen in the next couple months.

Interesting.  In my state we don’t even have to add our kids until they have an actual license. 

[ScoutTN]

7 hours ago, SKL said:

Speaking of prices being inflated ... I recently updated my car insurance to reflect that my kid's learner's permit is now a teen driver's license.  Back when I added the permit, the price went up a little, and I asked and was told that it probably wouldn't change once the kid had an actual license.  In between times, I turned down an offer for comprehensive insurance, because the car insurance part of that quote was higher than I was expecting to pay my current company.  So now I feel annoyed and stupid.  I mean, maybe it's obvious my rate would more than double.  (It was a pretty low rate before.)  I'm also wondering what's gonna happen when my other 16yo gets her license, which should happen in the next couple months.

It’s even worse with boys!

[Kidlit]

My beyond messy (dirty, even) house

My work schedule (even though I really like my job)

a super busy weekend that will likely be very short on downtime 

the trials of parenting many ages and stages simultaneously 

these aren't the same kind of whine, but it's all I've got 😣

[Spryte]

My whine: our elderly dog is completely deaf and has dementia. We love him. But Every. Single. Day. he wakes up around 5:30 and barks and barks and barks (and barks and barks). He doesn’t need to go out and use the bathroom, it’s not about food and water, he has a comfy bed. The vet thinks it’s part of the dementia, and he just gets “lost.” No one else in our family is ready to get up at 5:30, so this we are all walking around sleep deprived from figuring out his needs.

[MEmama]

9 hours ago, SKL said:

Speaking of prices being inflated ... I recently updated my car insurance to reflect that my kid's learner's permit is now a teen driver's license.  Back when I added the permit, the price went up a little, and I asked and was told that it probably wouldn't change once the kid had an actual license.  In between times, I turned down an offer for comprehensive insurance, because the car insurance part of that quote was higher than I was expecting to pay my current company.  So now I feel annoyed and stupid.  I mean, maybe it's obvious my rate would more than double.  (It was a pretty low rate before.)  I'm also wondering what's gonna happen when my other 16yo gets her license, which should happen in the next couple months.

We have to pay for DS to be fully insured on both our cars because he's a "licensed member of the household" even though he's a college student ACROSS THE OCEAN and obviously isn't borrowing the car on the weekends. I'd be happy to put him back on over breaks when he's actually home, but as it is this adds >$1000/ year. 🤬

[Kassia]

3 minutes ago, MEmama said:

We have to pay for DS to be fully insured on both our cars because he's a "licensed member of the household" even though he's a college student ACROSS THE OCEAN and obviously isn't borrowing the car on the weekends. I'd be happy to put him back on over breaks when he's actually home, but as it is this adds >$1000/ year. 🤬

Wow, we have the same issue with dd, who is 1200 miles away at college and we thought that was bad!  Your situation is ridiculous! 

[MEmama]

The next door neighbours allow their dog to bark at their back door for hours on end, day and night. The dog is dumb as bricks but at least it's doing the right thing; it's the people who are negligent. The other day I got fed up with, looked up how to stop a dog from barking and discovered the miracle cure--an ultrasonic device disguised as a birdhouse, lol. I immediately ran out and bought one, and have enjoyed the peace ever since. 😈

This, btw, is a JAWM. I'm in a don't f*ck with me phase and dammit if they aren't going to stop their dog from barking endlessly at 2 am, I will. 
 

(it's a different situation than @Spryte's poor doggo is going through)

[Moonhawk]

Someone with 20+ items in the 15-or-less check out line. *mic drop*

 

[Spryte]

20 minutes ago, MEmama said:

The next door neighbours allow their dog to bark at their back door for hours on end, day and night. The dog is dumb as bricks but at least it's doing the right thing; it's the people who are negligent. The other day I got fed up with, looked up how to stop a dog from barking and discovered the miracle cure--an ultrasonic device disguised as a birdhouse, lol. I immediately ran out and bought one, and have enjoyed the peace ever since. 😈

This, btw, is a JAWM. I'm in a don't f*ck with me phase and dammit if they aren't going to stop their dog from barking endlessly at 2 am, I will. 
 

(it's a different situation than @Spryte's poor doggo is going through)

Oh my goodness, please share a link?

In addition to our dementia doggo (who barks inside, and I sure hope the neighbors aren’t disturbed!) we have new neighbors who leave their beautiful, huge husky outside 24/7. So our old boy does his 5:30 - 6:00 am barkfest, and the other dog just barks and barks the rest of the day. We have actually considered moving!

[MEmama]

2 minutes ago, Spryte said:

Oh my goodness, please share a link?

In addition to our dementia doggo (who barks inside, and I sure hope the neighbors aren’t disturbed!) we have new neighbors who leave their beautiful, huge husky outside 24/7. So our old boy does his 5:30 - 6:00 am barkfest, and the other dog just barks and barks the rest of the day. We have actually considered moving!

https://www.petsmart.com/dog/training-and-behavior/bark-control/petsafe-outdoor-dog-bark-control-5127731.html?gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=CjwKCAjw8-OhBhB5EiwADyoY1dq3zCaspeeOaZ-pDF4VY8_oYvSt1E7yBU-KCt5GWmla8796GTH9zBoCVqgQAvD_BwE
 

If you're as fed up as I was and can't wait for shipping, they'll give you the online price in the store if you ask 🙂 

The reviews are a mixed bag but so far it has worked here 🤞. It's returnable if it doesn't help (yes I asked lol).

[SKL]

Ignorant drivers who slow already slow traffic.

Like this morning.  My lovely kids got into the car at the last minute (petty whine #1) so we didn't have a lot of cushion to avoid tardies.  Our suburb is laid out stupidly so there's only one reasonable way to get to the high school 3 miles away (petty whine #2).  And there's a middle school along this route.  Which has a long dropoff line (petty whine #3).

So the vehicle in front of me is a great big van that you can't pass (petty whine #4).  The light turns yellow and she takes her van about 1/8 of the way into the intersection and stops.  (This street is one lane each way, middle school is down a short road to the left off a 3-way intersection; there's nothing but a ditch to the right at said intersection.)  The van in front of me sits partway in the intersection through the whole red light and part of the green light (peeve #5).  She probably thinks she's being so considerate of the cars in the other lane heading for the middle school dropoff (who are not late because their school starts later than the high school).  But how about considering the cars behind you (peeve #6), who are probably trying to get to work or school or somewhere?

Then we get stuck again at the longest red light in America (peeve #7).

When we finally approach our high school, there's another red light.  My complaint here (peeve #8) is that given there are two lanes here, one of them should be reserved for people turning into the school, at least during certain hours of the morning.  Instead, people going straight are sitting at the red light causing half of the school population to wait for no good reason.  It can sometimes take 10 minutes just to get down this <1mile stretch of road.  Why hasn't someone thought of putting up a sign ("right lane must turn right from 7:30-8am")?

Additional peeves are how my kids think they are too precious to walk part of the route to school, and too precious to run (or at least speed-walk) from the car to the school when they are about to be late.  And how this is somehow my problem.  [They also think they are too precious to take the bus when it becomes available to them next year, but alas, they are wrong about this.]  Also the way high school kids think they can just dart in front of cars and the cars will automatically stop in time to save them.  Also the way tardies work so if you're 1/10 of a second late to the building, you have to stand in line at the tardy sign-in so you can be 10 minutes late to class.

OK it's time for me to get over myself, until tomorrow morning, when we do it all over again.

[SKL]

The barky dog thing ... my dog is so adorable, he only barks when anyone on our street has a delivery, a visitor, a handiman/worker, a new car, a  deer/squirrel/bird/pet in their yard, a change in their schedule, or an irrational urge to go check their mail.  My dog is so loud and boistrous that it doesn't matter that he's inside while barking.  (We're working on it, but man.  He must be descended from those scary POW camp guard dogs you see in old WWII movies.)

Edited April 19, 2023 by SKL

[KSera]

1 hour ago, MEmama said:

We have to pay for DS to be fully insured on both our cars because he's a "licensed member of the household" even though he's a college student ACROSS THE OCEAN and obviously isn't borrowing the car on the weekends. I'd be happy to put him back on over breaks when he's actually home, but as it is this adds >$1000/ year. 🤬

Have you checked other companies? Ours has a special low rate for drivers in college who live at least 100miles from home. 

[bolt.]

1 hour ago, SKL said:

Ignorant drivers who slow already slow traffic.

Like this morning.  My lovely kids got into the car at the last minute (petty whine #1) so we didn't have a lot of cushion to avoid tardies.  Our suburb is laid out stupidly so there's only one reasonable way to get to the high school 3 miles away (petty whine #2).  And there's a middle school along this route.  Which has a long dropoff line (petty whine #3).

So the vehicle in front of me is a great big van that you can't pass (petty whine #4).  The light turns yellow and she takes her van about 1/8 of the way into the intersection and stops.  (This street is one lane each way, middle school is down a short road to the left off a 3-way intersection; there's nothing but a ditch to the right at said intersection.)  The van in front of me sits partway in the intersection through the whole red light and part of the green light (peeve #5).  She probably thinks she's being so considerate of the cars in the other lane heading for the middle school dropoff (who are not late because their school starts later than the high school).  But how about considering the cars behind you (peeve #6), who are probably trying to get to work or school or somewhere?

Then we get stuck again at the longest red light in America (peeve #7).

When we finally approach our high school, there's another red light.  My complaint here (peeve #8) is that given there are two lanes here, one of them should be reserved for people turning into the school, at least during certain hours of the morning.  Instead, people going straight are sitting at the red light causing half of the school population to wait for no good reason.  It can sometimes take 10 minutes just to get down this <1mile stretch of road.  Why hasn't someone thought of putting up a sign ("right lane must turn right from 7:30-8am")?

Additional peeves are how my kids think they are too precious to walk part of the route to school, and too precious to run (or at least speed-walk) from the car to the school when they are about to be late.  And how this is somehow my problem.  [They also think they are too precious to take the bus when it becomes available to them next year, but alas, they are wrong about this.]  Also the way high school kids think they can just dart in front of cars and the cars will automatically stop in time to save them.  Also the way tardies work so if you're 1/10 of a second late to the building, you have to stand in line at the tardy sign-in so you can be 10 minutes late to class.

OK it's time for me to get over myself, until tomorrow morning, when we do it all over again.

That sounds like a lot of effort and frustration for you, just so that other people don't experience normal non-devastating consequences for their own choices. I don't think you need to 'get over yourself' at all!

[knitgrl]

6 hours ago, Indigo Blue said:

Okay….does this bother anyone? While we are being grumpy here…..

…..when you are typing a reply to someone and at the same time, a message pops up that says “so and so has replied”…. and that little message box gets in the way of seeing what you are typing? Sometimes, if I choose “show reply” it scrolls to a different place and messes up what I was typing. If I choose to hit the “x” to get it out of the way for just a minute while I finish typing, it just keeps coming back like a little annoying gnat, lol. (I hit refresh when I am done typing to read the new replies).

And probably someone is annoyed by my overuse of ….dots in my sentences. I’m just being lazy….and don’t want to think about proper sentence structure….😁🤨

I have recently been advised to never use ellipses with Gen Z, because it has s3xual implications. Only "old people" use them and the awkwardness that ensues is Huge.

[Spryte]

3 minutes ago, knitgrl said:

I have recently been advised to never use ellipses with Gen Z, because it has s3xual implications. Only "old people" use them and the awkwardness that ensues is Huge.

I have heard similar about many, many emojis (way, way beyond the eggplant and peach here — emojis are looking like a minefield to me these days, hahaha!), but not about ellipses. I did stop using them because I read that to some (gen z, young mils) they appear wishy-washy and can come across in a bunch of unintended ways, including making one look old. Didn’t know about sexual implications, though — yikes! — that’s good to know! 

[Pawz4me]

18 minutes ago, knitgrl said:

I have recently been advised to never use ellipses with Gen Z, because it has s3xual implications. Only "old people" use them and the awkwardness that ensues is Huge.

 

10 minutes ago, Spryte said:

I have heard similar about many, many emojis (way, way beyond the eggplant and peach here — emojis are looking like a minefield to me these days, hahaha!), but not about ellipses. I did stop using them because I read that to some (gen z, young mils) they appear wishy-washy and can come across in a bunch of unintended ways, including making one look old. Didn’t know about sexual implications, though — yikes! — that’s good to know! 

The world has truly gone crazy. That's my whinge of the day. 😉 

Where's my cave???

[Laura Corin]

8 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

We have the same problem here with the plastic things. Actually, we have all kinds of nasty over-packaging pollution issues, and I hate it.

Some days I dream that a brilliant mind with access to working capitol opens an old fashioned department store with big oak and glass cases, wood display shelves and wardrobes, and nothing is in plastic packaging. Nothing is hanging from plastic hangers. Buttons come in glass bottles, and a clerk opens them and pours out the number you want, same for snaps, pins, and other sewing notions. Toys that come in a cardboard box are not also covered in plastic wrap. Hanging straps on dresses and shirts are made of ribbon not nasty plastic, real fabrics exist and no polyester in sight. There would be little signs in front of the items with the price, none of those nasty stickers, and no tags to cut off nice clothes. Sigh....

And when you go to the meat market, wax paper, paper, and twine are used to wrap up your choices, not a plastic bag anywhere. 

Then I return to reality and am annoyed. 

Also, the dog woke me up today. Now he is trying to use cute as a means to assuage my feelings. That usually ends up working which annoys me greatly. 

The socks I received for Christmas were attached to a cardboard label with a simple stitch. Why is that not normal?

When I lived in Hong Kong, stationery shops would wrap purchases in paper and secure them with twine. That was around the year 2000.

Edited April 19, 2023 by Laura Corin

[MEmama]

7 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

The socks I received for Christmas were attached to a cardboard label with a simple stitch. Why is that not the normal?

When I lived in Hong Kong, stationery shops would wrap purchases in paper and secure them with twine. That was around the year 2000.

I bought a pretty postcard at an artists market when we were recently in Portugal and the vendor wrapped it in a page she tore out of a book. She simply folded the page carefully over the postcard and handed it to me. I thought it was delightful. 🙂 

[Indigo Blue]

1 hour ago, Pawz4me said:

 

The world has truly gone crazy. That's my whinge of the day. 😉 

Where's my cave???

I agree. It’s punctation for crying out loud. I’m a boomer, and I just don’t care if my punctuation has some silly secret  meaning in the “hip” crowd!!! And this isn’t directed at Knitgirl….lol…dot dot dot

just amused by the absurdity of it. 🤭

Honestly, for awhile, I caught myself checking Urban Dictionary on a few things. Forget that. If there are any Gen Z here, sorry not sorry!! Lol. 

[Indigo Blue]

I was coming to update on my earlier post from this morning. So, I drove an hour to find pants, and:

It’s a miracle. I found two pair. Hadn’t been to REI in YEARS. 

There are, in fact, Stanley Flowstate  30 oz tumblers to be had in REI for the low bargain price of $35.00. Only in one color. 

No one tailgated me. I kept seeing big, black trucks everywhere and thought of @Garga, but none of them tailgated today. 😁

No narrowly having missed being ran off the road today. 

Now I just need to go take all the annoying tags off the pants. 

 

[LaughingCat]

5 hours ago, MEmama said:

We have to pay for DS to be fully insured on both our cars because he's a "licensed member of the household" even though he's a college student ACROSS THE OCEAN and obviously isn't borrowing the car on the weekends. I'd be happy to put him back on over breaks when he's actually home, but as it is this adds >$1000/ year. 🤬

Wow! my insurance told me I didn't have to add DD at all as long as she only drove occasionally (she is also away at college but home for breaks and summer).  Note: this is with 2 cars and 2 other adult drivers (DH and I) ETA: DD did not get her drivers license until she was going away for college

Edited April 19, 2023 by LaughingCat

[MEmama]

39 minutes ago, Indigo Blue said:

I agree. It’s punctation for crying out loud. I’m a boomer, and I just don’t care if my punctuation has some silly secret  meaning in the “hip” crowd!!! And this isn’t directed at Knitgirl….lol…dot dot dot

just amused by the absurdity of it. 🤭

Honestly, for awhile, I caught myself checking Urban Dictionary on a few things. Forget that. If there are any Gen Z here, sorry not sorry!! Lol. 

I haven't been told not to do the ellipses yet but apparently I'm not supposed to give the thumbs up to texts? It's passive aggressive or something? I do it anyway, mostly because idk what else I'm supposed to use if the intent is simply a positive acknowledgement.

Surprisingly, I do like not needing to use periods at the ends of sentences in texts, and find myself often forgetting to use them when I write here.

Edited April 19, 2023 by MEmama
Ellipses not eclipses, autocorrect! The dots!

[MEmama]

2 minutes ago, LaughingCat said:

Wow! my insurance told me I didn't have to add DD at all as long as she only drove occasionally (she is also away at college but home for breaks and summer).  Note: this is with 2 cars and 2 other adult drivers (DH and I)

They are keepers! Lol

[Clarita]

I'm going to take this opportunity to complain about the number of fundraisers for kid extracurriculars. Some of it really feels like exploitation of children to me. What is it really teaching a child to ask people to buy overpriced popcorn, that people might not really buy except that "it's for the children"?  

[Emba]

Sometimes at work I run a cash register. My petty whine is that I hate the whole “How are you?” “I am fine, how are you?” ritual from total strangers. They do not really care how I am. I do not really care how they are, mostly. I was having a very not fine day, and I hate that I must pretend otherwise for social ritual. At the same time, I won’t say I’m not having a good day to people I don’t know, or only know as a customer name/face. I just want to say hello and ring up their order. 

Petty whine #2 - I really hate it when people say “How are you?” When they mean “Hi”, and don’t wait for or expect an actual answer. Why not just say hello and avoid this charade of a charade?

Edited April 20, 2023 by Emba

[SKL]

17 minutes ago, Clarita said:

I'm going to take this opportunity to complain about the number of fundraisers for kid extracurriculars. Some of it really feels like exploitation of children to me. What is it really teaching a child to ask people to buy overpriced popcorn, that people might not really buy except that "it's for the children"?  

I've never asked my kids to sell, and I've normally only seen parents doing the selling.  I don't sell to family/friends because I don't want to guilt them into using their scarce resources on my foo foo fundraiser.  Sometimes I'll buy the stuff and give it as gifts.

I much prefer a buy-out.  Just tell me how much money you want.

I've bought stuff from other people's kids' fundraisers sometimes, but there are just too many.  They pop up on facebook etc.  I don't blame the parents; I know they're being guilted into it.

Speaking of guilt, then there are the fundraisers for certain personal life events.  I'm emotionally supportive, but I feel icky about the cash ask.  I'm probably a horrible person for this.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

7 hours ago, Moonhawk said:

Someone with 20+ items in the 15-or-less check out line. *mic drop*

 

What I really don't like is when a staff member directs me to go to the 12-or-less line, even though  I clearly have more. And then someone queues behind me, and I want to explain that I was told to go here, really, truly, honestly I was.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

Seems I'm not the only Grumpy McGrumpypants 😄

[chocolate-chip chooky]

And I really don't care if using emojis make me look old 😎👍

[Clarita]

13 minutes ago, SKL said:

I've never asked my kids to sell, and I've normally only seen parents doing the selling.  I don't sell to family/friends because I don't want to guilt them into using their scarce resources on my foo foo fundraiser.  Sometimes I'll buy the stuff and give it as gifts.

I much prefer a buy-out.  Just tell me how much money you want.

Me too. Though if I'm shelling out the money I'm going to take the product. Or if they tell me up front how many and how much they want per fundraiser I can also budget better.

[Clarita]

10 minutes ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

And then someone queues behind me, and I want to explain that I was told to go here, really, truly, honestly I was.

You know no one is going to believe you.

[*****]

It grovel snowed again today, so tired of being cold!

[kbutton]

8 hours ago, MEmama said:

The next door neighbours allow their dog to bark at their back door for hours on end, day and night. The dog is dumb as bricks but at least it's doing the right thing; it's the people who are negligent. The other day I got fed up with, looked up how to stop a dog from barking and discovered the miracle cure--an ultrasonic device disguised as a birdhouse, lol. I immediately ran out and bought one, and have enjoyed the peace ever since. 😈

This, btw, is a JAWM. I'm in a don't f*ck with me phase and ###### if they aren't going to stop their dog from barking endlessly at 2 am, I will. 
 

(it's a different situation than @Spryte's poor doggo is going through)

I will have to mention this to my DH!!! Our neighbors dog is a dumb little thing that barks incessantly when it's out. The owner often lets it out at 6 AM or so, and I think she goes back inside to take a shower while that stupid dog yaps the whole time. 

It also can't figure out that we live hear and aren't going anywhere--it barks at us through the fence the whole time we're in the yard.

[SKL]

16 minutes ago, Clarita said:

Me too. Though if I'm shelling out the money I'm going to take the product. Or if they tell me up front how many and how much they want per fundraiser I can also budget better.

Well the ones I've dealt with, they want a net of say $150 per kid, but to get to that, you have to sell (read: buy) $300 of stuff you don't want.  I'd rather be out the $150 cash than the $300 (unless it's a product I can actually use).

This conversation is reminding me how glad I am that my kids are done with most of their non-school-based activities.

But then there's another whine of mine:  my kid who rides horses.  She begged me for a $700 helmet for Christmas, which I bought, because it's cheaper than another concussion.  She wore it maybe 2x and now she is saying she wants to quit horse riding.  She has at least a year of make-ups from all the rides she missed that I paid for in advance.  I'm gonna guilt her into at least using some of it.  The amount of money down the drain ... it dwarfs my car insurance whine.  😕

[Kidlit]

1 hour ago, SKL said:

I've never asked my kids to sell, and I've normally only seen parents doing the selling.  I don't sell to family/friends because I don't want to guilt them into using their scarce resources on my foo foo fundraiser.  Sometimes I'll buy the stuff and give it as gifts.

I much prefer a buy-out.  Just tell me how much money you want.

I've bought stuff from other people's kids' fundraisers sometimes, but there are just too many.  They pop up on facebook etc.  I don't blame the parents; I know they're being guilted into it.

Speaking of guilt, then there are the fundraisers for certain personal life events.  I'm emotionally supportive, but I feel icky about the cash ask.  I'm probably a horrible person for this.

I never imagined that I'd be the sort of uninvolved parent that I am when my kids went to school (and I, a teacher myself, no less), but I all but refuse to participate in any fundraiser.  My public school kids go to a fairly wealthy school district, and I'm not all that interested in guilting people  into buying something just so the PTO can lavish the teachers with fantastic lunches and cool water bottles or "tea bombs" or what-have-you.  Neither am I going to sell so some athletic team can have X, Y, or Z.   I know how much is spent on education and it's not insignificant.  
 

okay, whine-rant over 

[SquirrellyMama]

I wanted to start a thread like this about my most recent grump, but wasn't sure if I should. So, glad you did 🙂 My most recent grump is how all of the movie streaming services, and now even Spotify have all gone to automatically playing previews of shows/movies/songs as I'm scrolling. I do not want to have previews playing, and I'm way too lazy to mute and unmute the tv or phone every time.

The other one is about the text reply suggestions. I do like them, but sometimes they will pop up as I'm about to click on something else, and it will send a reply that I hadn't intended to send. Then I have to send another reply that says "Accidental Reply" which probably makes me look stupid to the other person. Those reply suggestions can be really useful when they don't pop up at the wrong time.

Adding a picture of my cat who was having a bad day and decided to block out the rest of the house. 

[Ausmumof3]

3 hours ago, Clarita said:

I'm going to take this opportunity to complain about the number of fundraisers for kid extracurriculars. Some of it really feels like exploitation of children to me. What is it really teaching a child to ask people to buy overpriced popcorn, that people might not really buy except that "it's for the children"?  

Yes. I don’t want my family guilted into finding my kids sports. Just be upfront about what it costs to run the club, roll it into the fees then I will figure out from the fees if we can afford it or not. No more chocolates, socks, entertainment books, pies, anything. 

[Kidlit]

3 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Yes. I don’t want my family guilted into finding my kids sports. Just be upfront about what it costs to run the club, roll it into the fees then I will figure out from the fees if we can afford it or not. No more chocolates, socks, entertainment books, pies, anything. 

And while we're on the subject--

it's not uncommon in my neck or the woods to be met by 8 or 10 or 12 or 14 year old youngsters asking for donations so their travel ball team can realize their dreams by going to "World Series" of their particular sport.  This shows how cantankerous I really am, but I would be over-the-top embarrassed to ask perfect strangers to help me foot the bill so we can spend the week or weekend in south Florida (or somewhere) playing ball.  I cannot imagine a circumstance that would induce me to do that. 
 

okay, rant over (again)