Comedic "things you would ban": minor things that irritate you

[Richard Scott]

Admin fees for print-at-home tickets.

That really annoys me. I'm the one doing the admin.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The weird handling of stored passwords by certain apps on Android devices...

For example, my Android phone has two pre-installed bits of software (Samsung Pass and Google Account) which both suggest strong passwords for new accounts, and store those passwords so you don't have to remember them- instead using a fingerprint to authenticate when logging in.

Where's the problem, you ask? Well, some apps will use one of those to suggest the password when you sign up, but then when you try to log in later will default to the other- which doesn't have that password stored!

 

[dangie]

Not so much an irritation, but it doesn’t seem quite right to me.
A local pub is holding a ‘Remembrance Day Disco’ his evening.

Now I don’t know if this is fund raising, if so, great, but I’m not sure if holding a ‘Remembrance Day Disco’ is the right way to go about it. I feel as though the pub is cashing in. Just my thoughts.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Another linguistic one I've noticed recently:

People using the word 'backlog' as short-hand for the 'back catalogue' of an artist or writer. That's not what that word means! A 'backlog' is caused by work building up faster than you can complete it, it isn't your record of work done.

Yes, I know that language is descriptive not prescriptive, but there has to be some standard for language to function as a useful means of communication.

 

[gg1]

Another linguistic one I've noticed recently:

People using the word 'backlog' as short-hand for the 'back catalogue' of an artist or writer. That's not what that word means! A 'backlog' is caused by work building up faster than you can complete it, it isn't your record of work done.

I've genuinely never heard that usage of 'backlog' and Google doesn't bring up anything either.

Have you heard the word used in that context from a few different sources or just the one? If the latter I suspect it's just someone misunderstanding the true definition of the word.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I've genuinely never heard that usage of 'backlog' and Google doesn't bring up anything either.

Have you heard the word used in that context from a few different sources or just the one? If the latter I suspect it's just someone misunderstanding the true definition of the word.

So far I've only seen it used in a couple of YouTube videos and in comments... but the fact that I've seen it in completely unrelated places, and only noticed it in the last week or so, has me worrying that it's the next "should of"!

Perhaps my grumble about it will turn out to be the canary in the coal mine?

 

[Gloster]

Self-defeating headlines. My news feed had a headline ‘I’m A Celebrity: Who is Danielle Harold?’ (I have never heard of her.) If you have to tell us why they are a celebrity, they aren’t a celebrity and so shouldn’t be on the show.

 

[Howardh]

Using the term "doubling down". It's crept in the news/politics recently, no idea where it's come from (USA??) but to me it means, er, nothing! Complete meaningless gaff. We have plenty of phrases in the English Dictionary which will cover what they mean.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Using the term "doubling down". It's crept in the news/politics recently, no idea where it's come from (USA??)

Possibly crossed over from the card game 'Blackjack'?

 

[dgl]

Self-defeating headlines. My news feed had a headline ‘I’m A Celebrity: Who is Danielle Harold?’ (I have never heard of her.) If you have to tell us why they are a celebrity, they aren’t a celebrity and so shouldn’t be on the show.

The title should be "Am I a celebrity?, don't let them out"!

 

[GusB]

The title should be "Am I a celebrity?, don't let them out"!

I'm in total agreement with you here, especially as it has been rumoured that our beloved Nigel "man of the people" Farage is to make an appearance.

 

[JD2168]

I'm in total agreement with you here, especially as it has been rumoured that our beloved Nigel "man of the people" Farage is to make an appearance.

Nigel Farage is a confirmed contestant on I’m a Celebrity.

 

[Gloster]

People who wander around supermarkets guiding their trolley from one side, rather than from the handles as they are designed to be. Not only do they take up more width in the aisles, but they can’t control the trolley properly and it wanders off in all directions. (Yes, I know that all trolleys wander about at random, but if you are at the handles behind you can stop it before it has gone far. If you are to one side you can’t stop it before it has taken out two pensioners, a pushchair and half a shelf of bottled sauces.)

 

[DelW]

Nigel Farage is a confirmed contestant on I’m a Celebrity.

Can I vote for him to be left there permanently please?

 

[Busaholic]

People who wander around supermarkets guiding their trolley from one side, rather than from the handles as they are designed to be. Not only do they take up more width in the aisles, but they can’t control the trolley properly and it wanders off in all directions. (Yes, I know that all trolleys wander about at random, but if you are at the handles behind you can stop it before it has gone far. If you are to one side you can’t stop it before it has taken out two pensioners, a pushchair and half a shelf of bottled sauces.)

A variation on that is the person who steers it with their elbows. I'm not referring to people with some sort of disability in their hands. because the ones I'm talking about show no difficulty in getting things from the shelves, unlike myself. It's laziness, like people who refuse to use a car steering wheel in the correct way.

 

[nlogax]

Probably minor and inconsequential stuff, but I find myself hugely irritated by today's travel experiences. Seatfrog, an app that works until it suddenly really doesn't. Then yet another Avanti experience where the wifi isn't working, none of the plug & USB sockets or wireless charging are working and where 4g and 5g signals make only fleeting appearances during most of the trip. All my plans to be productive on the journey gone out of the window.

This follows a week wandering around Germany where stuff did generally work as expected if not better.

I'n not normally one for trading 'country x works while the UK feels broken' stories as it's really not always like this, but today was certainly a bit crap.

 

[AM9]

Probably minor and inconsequential stuff, but I find myself hugely irritated by today's travel experiences. Seatfrog, an app that works until it suddenly really doesn't. Then yet another Avanti experience where the wifi isn't working, none of the plug & USB sockets or wireless charging are working and where 4g and 5g signals make only fleeting appearances during most of the trip. All my plans to be productive on the journey gone out of the window.

This follows a week wandering around Germany where stuff did generally work as expected if not better.

I'n not normally one for trading 'country x works while the UK feels broken' stories as it's really not always like this, but today was certainly a bit crap.

I'm usually happy so long as the service runs as per the timetable. The rest of it isn't as important as that.

 

[Kite159]

The new colour scheme on Google Maps. All the shades of grey making it very hard to read in dense places where the darker grey tends to overshadow the minor roads

 

[Gloster]

The music piped over the sound system in the supermarkets. Usually it is pitched at the most irritating level: too quiet to hear clearly and too loud to ignore.

I also dislike those announcements that they put out (loudly) extolling how wonderful they are, ‘Last year Smileymarket was voted ‘most environmentally responsible supermarket by the EGVSA’. If you bother to look it up, you will find that EGVSA stands for the East Grinstead Vole Stapling Association.

 

[PeterY]

The music piped over the sound system in the supermarkets. Usually it is pitched at the most irritating level: too quiet to hear clearly and too loud to ignore.

I also dislike those announcements that they put out (loudly) extolling how wonderful they are, ‘Last year Smileymarket was voted ‘most environmentally responsible supermarket by the EGVSA’. If you bother to look it up, you will find that EGVSA stands for the East Grinstead Vole Stapling Association.

Lots of shops I go into, Asda and B&M etc playing irritating Christmas songs. It's November.

 

[Calthrop]

The music piped over the sound system in the supermarkets. Usually it is pitched at the most irritating level: too quiet to hear clearly and too loud to ignore.

I know that in the following, I'm "a rare and strange bird"; but I would extend this to all piped "background music", in all environments and situations. If I want to listen to music (which I rarely do -- have been, accurately enough, described as "musically dead"), I'll damned well take steps to seek it out: I emphatically do not want to have it forced on me, consent-less. And I seem to lack the talent of mentally "tuning it out". Although I'm admittedly unusual in this, I believe I'm not unique: recall there having been for a while, a good many years ago, an organisation calling itself "Pipedown": which campaigned for an end, overall, to piped music in the public domain -- perceiving it, rightly or wrongly, as something which annoyed more of those subjected to it, than it pleased.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Lots of shops I go into, Asda and B&M etc playing irritating Christmas songs. It's November.

Do store managers have any choice as to what's played in their stores (other than maybe turn it off), or is the playlist effectively imposed upon them by some 'Smashie' or 'Nicey' type at Asda or B&M HQ?

 

[nlogax]

Lots of shops I go into, Asda and B&M etc playing irritating Christmas songs. It's November.

Bad enough from the customer perspective but it's people who work in these places I feel sorry for. Imagining constantly hearing that stuff anything from eight to twelve hours a day. You'd want to rip your ears off.

 

[Merle Haggard]

I know that in the following, I'm "a rare and strange bird"; but I would extend this to all piped "background music", in all environments and situations. If I want to listen to music (which I rarely do -- have been, accurately enough, described as "musically dead"), I'll damned well take steps to seek it out: I emphatically do not want to have it forced on me, consent-less. And I seem to lack the talent of mentally "tuning it out". Although I'm admittedly unusual in this, I believe I'm not unique: recall there having been for a while, a good many years ago, an organisation calling itself "Pipedown": which campaigned for an end, overall, to piped music in the public domain -- perceiving it, rightly or wrongly, as something which annoyed more of those subjected to it, than it pleased.

When I worked at the G.M's office, Waterloo, overlooking the concourse, we noticed a psychological undercurrent to the muzak played there. At 10.00 it was relaxed, slow tempo presumably so that people were induced to take their time and not rush, which might have its dangers. But, as the clock worked towards 17.00 the tempo increased until it was very 'martial' at rush hour, presumably to get everyone quickly marching towards their train and boarding it without delay.

---------

An oddity about piped music is this, at least for me; you will 'log on' to the music and it's a recognisable tune. Boredom cuts in, you fade out; next time you listen, it's a different tune. But, no matter how hard you try, you never seem to be able to identify the point at which one tune changes to another.
In contrast, when you pass a tube station busker he's always playing a hook line. That's because you're passing; if you hang around you find he's only playing the hook line (usually of Streets of London )

 

[dangie]

Man Flu
Got severe man flu, is there any other kind? I’m 72 so I know what I’m talking about.

This is not about the man flu itself, but the dire TV programmes on BBC daytime television.
Thank goodness for YouTube…..

Lots of shops I go into, Asda and B&M etc playing irritating Christmas songs. It's November.

Yes they must be really p****d off with it by now, it’s been playing since September

 

[Calthrop]

In contrast, when you pass a tube station busker he's always playing a hook line. That's because you're passing; if you hang around you find he's only playing the hook line (usually of Streets of London )

Ah, yes -- I'm not against buskers in general; they annoy me, but they have a right to try to make a living. However: if I were Supreme Overlord, I would ban buskers -- preferably on pain of death -- from playing Streets of London, and Where do you go to, My Lovely? -- both hideously over-used and done to death, by that fraternity.

 

[dgl]

Kraftwerk supposedly had the solution to Muzak, wire cutters!

 

[JD2168]

Do store managers have any choice as to what's played in their stores (other than maybe turn it off), or is the playlist effectively imposed upon them by some 'Smashie' or 'Nicey' type at Asda or B&M HQ?

When I was at Wilko’s it came direct from Head Office.

 

[GatwickDepress]

Do store managers have any choice as to what's played in their stores (other than maybe turn it off), or is the playlist effectively imposed upon them by some 'Smashie' or 'Nicey' type at Asda or B&M HQ?

Tesco and Sainsbury's (and I presume other major supermarkets) use media players such as Mood Media's MP7xxx where music and announcements are either automatically uploaded to the unit or a CD is sent out from Head Office, who can also see if a device is not playing music or the volume has been turned down. Non-compliance was treated very seriously by the bigwigs.

 

[Gloster]

Tesco and Sainsbury's (and I presume other major supermarkets) use media players such as Mood Media's MP7xxx where music and announcements are either automatically uploaded to the unit or a CD is sent out from Head Office, who can also see if a device is not playing music or the volume has been turned down. Non-compliance was treated very seriously by the bigwigs.

They should have the same music piped into their offices as they subject shop staff and customers to. Three months of the same tinny carols would learn ‘em.