What Irked You Today?

[Tim W. SoCal]

2 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Seem to be healing up pretty well, as I've already been able to cut way back on the pain meds...but yesterday was rough, still having to sleep in a chair.

Coulda been a lot worse.

EMTs seemed kinda surprised I didn't break anything else,

Been there.... Rib injuries are TORTURE! Take it easy, Bill, until you're comfortable walking around, twisting and bending again, don't let the pain get to a point where you can't inhale.

[crazyjim]

Keep a pillow close by in case you're going to cough or sneeze.  Hugging the pillow tight can relieve some of the pain.

[stavanzer]

And shoo away the Cat.

Tripping over a cat hurt my wife so badly that she is in pain from it 5 years later....

Edit-Ruined her right knee. It has never been the same since. Kaiser Doctor has given up on it.

Edited April 21 by stavanzer

[Can-Con]

Very windy here today.

Power went out from about 3 to 6. Ruined Easter dinner. 😒

[iamsuperdan]

I don't get irked very often, but here's one.

 

When someone mentions that they have an issue.

I then respond, telling them that I can solve their problem, they just need to send me a message with some info, then I can fix their issue in about 2 minutes.

Instead, they continue to complain that they aren't getting any help and that they've tried everything.

Except reading apparently.

 

 

So fine then. Enjoy your issue, helping is no longer a priority or interest for me.

 

[johnyrotten]

1 hour ago, iamsuperdan said:

helping is no longer a priority or interest for me.

 

I don't blame you, it's frustrating.  I try and only ask questions AFTER exhausting ideas and resources, as well as doing some homework. After all, there is no better teacher than experience.

[Russell C]

No wall between my backyard-side neighbor and my little property, I see one of my items over in that yard, no clue how it ended up over there, so I go and retrieve it and put right back where it was last sitting. Hour or so later I look out my window over there, my item is in their yard again, some worker doing repair work has helped himself to using it. When he go goes around the side of their house to his work truck, I snag back my item and stash it out of his view if he returns. Should be the end of the situation. Another hour goes by, the worker trespasses all the way into my patio, knocks on my door and sneers at me that my item is "safe from him now," then walks back out the way he came in. I figured he had come over to apologize for using something that wasn't his, so I was stunned for a moment before I said — nice guy that I really am — "I'm happy to share, you just have to ask permission first."  Some folks got a lot of nerve …..

[johnyrotten]

4 hours ago, Russell C said:

Some folks got a lot of nerve …..

Indeed. Not just the fact of the trespass, the slick comments completely explain this person. Most likely, had you not seen seen your item, it would be gone. I hate thieves.  There's a saying about fences and neighbors.

[espo]

15 hours ago, Russell C said:

No wall between my backyard-side neighbor and my little property, I see one of my items over in that yard, no clue how it ended up over there, so I go and retrieve it and put right back where it was last sitting. Hour or so later I look out my window over there, my item is in their yard again, some worker doing repair work has helped himself to using it. When he go goes around the side of their house to his work truck, I snag back my item and stash it out of his view if he returns. Should be the end of the situation. Another hour goes by, the worker trespasses all the way into my patio, knocks on my door and sneers at me that my item is "safe from him now," then walks back out the way he came in. I figured he had come over to apologize for using something that wasn't his, so I was stunned for a moment before I said — nice guy that I really am — "I'm happy to share, you just have to ask permission first."  Some folks got a lot of nerve …..

Don't know what your relationship is like with your neighbor, but I would mention to them what your interaction was like with this person. 

[Falcon Ranchero]

Get this. So a couple weeks back my dad ordered some nice white letter B F Goodrich tires for the truck. And then today he brought the truck in to get those tires put on the rims and then back on the truck. Later in the day comes to pick me up from my grandmas house and I notice there’s still black wall tires on the truck. He then told me the workers there put the tires on backwards. Like the whole reason he got white letters was to have the white letters showing. And those were expensive tires. They didn’t ask which side of the tire was to be shown, and my dad just assumed since he had inquired about some different white letter tires there before settling on these ones and so you’d think they’d know that of course he’d want the white letters facing out. So now he’s gotta go through all that again to get the tires facing out the right way. Bummed out cause I was totally hoping to see some sporty tires on the truck. Oh well not today.

[rattle can man]

minor pet peeve, but people who stop for green lights.

[Can-Con]

31 minutes ago, rattle can man said:

minor pet peeve, but people who stop for green lights.

Better to stop on a green then run a red. 😉

[peteski]

3 hours ago, Falcon Ranchero said:

They didn’t ask which side of the tire was to be shown, and my dad just assumed since he had inquired about some different white letter tires there before settling on these ones and so you’d think they’d know that of course he’d want the white letters facing out. So now he’s gotta go through all that again to get the tires facing out the right way. Bummed out cause I was totally hoping to see some sporty tires on the truck. Oh well not today.

NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING, especially with the low-IQ "certified technicians" servicing your car.

[stavanzer]

A two part, First World Irk!

1. Ultrashort power cords on Small Countertop Appliances. Since the Safety-for-All folks decided that small appliances (mixers, blenders, toasters, can openers, small grills, and such-like) are at risk of causing Death and Destruction from the long cords getting tangled or causing mayhem some other way, now all the S.C.A.s have ridiculously short cords. My Small George Foreman Knock-off grille has an 11" cord. So short, I can barely Plug it in to use. The Can Opener? A generous 14" long cord. My house was built in the 1980's and "Blessedly" has huge counters. But, these new appliances can only be plugged in at a couple of outlets. Most of the outlets are on the backsplash (as is normal) but the counters are so wide, that you can barely reach to use the appliance. A minor, but continuously frustrating Irk.

2. Modren Distracted Drivers.....All of a sudden, folks (esp. in left Turn Lanes) are leaving a whole car length between cars. It really makes getting a left turn harder. I've had to wait a whole 10 seconds for a car to clear in front of me before I can turn. 10 seconds sounds like nothing, but many of our local Left Turn lanes are calibrated for on 35-40 seconds. I see it at regular lights now too, much more frequently than I used to.  Folks stop 10' away from the crosswalk, and never pull forward. I see lots of drivers, stop at a light, and then look down at their phones. Some times these same drivers, then miss the light when it turns green......(argh)

However, I don't see phones all the time. I think many drivers, are just worse than they used to be. Distracted, Not paying attention, or just plain old Bad Drivers. There sure seem to be more of them......

[Russell C]

9 hours ago, espo said:

Don't know what your relationship is like with your neighbor, but I would mention to them ...

We'll see. Lady just moved in 3 weeks back, talked to her once, seemed like a nice person. In such situations, it's best to tread carefully, repair workers come & go, but a neighbor is someone usually not leaving anytime soon, so it's best not to make enemies out of 'em. I'll ask if the repair guy was a particular name of one I've heard of working in the neighborhood, and if she says no, it's a friend/relative of hers, that's when you keep your mouth shut. If she says he is the local repair guy who's doing a great job, same deal. If a wacko weirdo has the gall to trespass, tries walk off with stuff, and gets huffy when called out on that, the person might also be the type who retaliates by any means possible if a friendly client warns him about a complaint against him.

[Falcon Ranchero]

5 hours ago, Russell C said:

so it's best not to make enemies out of 'em.

Too late for us in our 'hood. We had an ongoing situation with the house directly across from us. Not going to say much, but they had a dog that would just never shut up. like ever. And we always just turned the other way and not make a big deal. But then one day, 2 years ago now I think, me and my dad were out in the backyard working on my 1971 Skyline bicycle, and i guess the people 'cross the street were going for a walk down the street and then they left the dog in their house, with the windows open. Non-stop barking for 20 minutes. The bylaw is 10 before you can actually have the police interviene. So by that time they came back and my dad was just not having it, and he went over there and unfortunatley an argument occured. Then a bit afer he went back to apologize but they just wouldn't have it and then they argued again. So to this day it's still no good even now that the dog has recently passed. But the other thing is that my dad had talked to them before and they were nice about it and even bought a barking collar for the dog. But i guess they just got tired of it or something and all hell done broke loose that one day. 

[NOBLNG]

The service guy from La Z Boy is coming this afternoon to replace all the padding in our one year old recliner loveseat. He had to come over last year just after it was delivered to replace the “cardboard” and padding on the center console. He told us then we would likely have to call just before the warranty was up to get the padding replaced. We paid thousands for this leather trimmed POS.🤬 They offered to upgrade the padding for an extra charge…I told them they already had enough of my money and they were never going to get any more.😡

[rattle can man]

But stopping for a green means they could get rear-ended by someone not expecting it. Or they hit someone when they decide to go and someone turns left at the same time.

[peteski]

3 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

The service guy from La Z Boy is coming this afternoon to replace all the padding in our one year old recliner loveseat. He had to come over last year just after it was delivered to replace the “cardboard” and padding on the center console. He told us then we would likely have to call just before the warranty was up to get the padding replaced. We paid thousands for this leather trimmed POS.🤬 They offered to upgrade the padding for an extra charge…I told them they already had enough of my money and they were never going to get any more.😡

So much for La-Z-Boy having reputation as a excellent quality furniture company.

[NOBLNG]

7 minutes ago, peteski said:

So much for La-Z-Boy having reputation as a excellent quality furniture company.

We have two relatively new La Z Boy recliner rockers upstairs that we are very happy with. But this thing is not what we expected. It has all the power options, but the mechanisms are very loose and sloppy. We are not optimistic about the longevity of it. I am 5’6” and the wife is 5’2”ish so we like the fact that they make furniture for shorter people. Buyer beware!😕

[Ace-Garageguy]

On 4/20/2025 at 3:28 PM, johnyrotten said:

That boils down to shear laziness. That's one of those situations where it takes longer to grab the correct tool, so we'll just break the faceplate instead.

I have seen a huge number of cracked or otherwise damaged parts or stripped threads / heads where chimps used power drivers or the wrong tool or just way over-tightened screws by hand, especially prevalent on instrument panels and inspection plates on aircraft, and anywhere there's a Phillips or JIS or Pozidriv or Torx fastener in cars...or anything else a chimp might have "fixed".

When I had the fleet services company, almost every one of the approx. 60 trucks my largest client had needed wheel studs replaced because of stupid, lazy air-gunning by the company that had the tire contract with my client (I solved the problem by buying several sets of wheels and having the tire company do nothing but mount and balance tires on loose rims, and we changed them out in my shop).

A cowboy "race car mechanic" I knew destroyed an FE in a real Cobra by air-gunning the main and rod journals. Engine scattered on the third lap.

Etc. etc. etc.

And people seem to think I'm just being nasty and negative when I remark about the poor quality of craftsmanship in the "skilled" trades.

EDIT: And it's much the same in construction, drywall, house painting, plumbing, welding and fabrication, electrical contracting, HVAC, any kind of mister-fixit operation, etc.

Which Is why over the years I've learned to do damb near everything myself.

And which is why I'm always overjoyed when I get lucky and find somebody who can do ANYTHING well.

Edited Friday at 06:10 PM by Ace-Garageguy

[Bugatti Fan]

All the gear and no idea!    How true does that ring?    Tyros with tools.   Plenty of those around.

Actual skilled tradespeople.    A dying breed !

Edited Friday at 06:40 PM by Bugatti Fan

[Ace-Garageguy]

8 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:

...Actual skilled tradespeople.    A dying breed !

All largely because the populace has been brainwashed to look down on tradespeople with hard skills, and believe that to be "successful", everyone needs a college degree...even the useless (insert course-of-study-that-leaves-you-unemployable-as-anything-but-a barista-or-a-dog-walker) degrees.

Never mind that a competent mechanic or bodyman or painter or plumber, etc. can still make well in excess of $100,000 annually working for somebody else, and for a smart guy with good skills AND who can handle business management and isn't afraid to go out on his own, the sky's the limit (with the hardest part being finding conscientious and talented help).

I can teach skills to anyone who has the right combination of attitude and aptitude, but even that is in much shorter supply than it was in the 1980s and '90s.

Without God-given mechanical aptitude and an innate desire to do things right, fergit it.

Edited Saturday at 03:01 AM by Ace-Garageguy

[JollySipper]

3 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

And which is why I'm always overjoyed when I get lucky and find somebody who can do ANYTHING well.

or is Brave enough to do a good job! I worked with some boys painting houses, and I guess they didn't like the fact that I took pride in doing a good job, or that I actually Could do a good job. They didn't 'let' me work there very long........ One kid, the one that disliked me the most, kept saying, "I don't know how he's painting that quarter-round and not getting it all over the floor....." (and him a painter).

[johnyrotten]

57 minutes ago, JollySipper said:

I guess they didn't like the fact that I took pride in doing a good job

This is the exact thing that is missing in these kinds of occupations. "The less I do, the more I make" and " in a hundred years, no one will care"seems to be the common attitude. 

Edited Friday at 10:16 PM by johnyrotten
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