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Talk to me on AIM about it. I promise, I'll actually be there one of these days. But I'm going to bed right now.
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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The bitchy woman at Smoothie King who changed her order eight times all the while blabbing on her cell phone who then proceeded to dispute the total at the register while I was standing behind her with the color draining from my face because I was about to pass out from low blood sugar.
Lady, you lucked out. When I get my death ray vision...
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People who use my reluctance (fading) to commit vehicular homicide in order to jaywalk. At least refrain from waiting to cross IN the street, lady.
Posts: 2907 | Registered: Nov 2005
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The skinny kid that ran into me on his bike while I was walking, fell off his bike, got up, jumped on his bike, and sped away without apologizing.
Posts: 1594 | Registered: Apr 2006
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That kid, I'd lay a bet, probably would have lasered himself out of existence at that moment.
People who insist on framing the discussion at the start of a business meeting and miss the mark so completely that you have to spend the first 10 minutes of the meeting chasing down all the generated confusion (the confusion sprouts in all directions like the tentacles of some alien super-organism taking over your spaceship). You should know by now how unlikely you are to be right, so keep quiet.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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The woman ambling along down the sidewalk with her arms spread wide for no apparent reason, making it impossible to get around her.
Posts: 2849 | Registered: Feb 2002
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quote:Originally posted by calaban: The people who seem to think that the safe minimum following distance I am keeping between me and the individual in front of me is an invitation to merge in front of me. (Yes, if anyone speeds up to get into that spot I will speed up to prevent it.)
thereby removing your safe distance AND pissing off the drivers around you. Simply allowing the other driver in still allows you to tap the breaks and resume your safe distance without increasing the amount of road rage your likely to see. If the weather conditions are bad though, I'd forgive you for not letting the other driver in. aggressive drivers in weather should be lased on site.
Posts: 197 | Registered: Jan 2007
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quote:Originally posted by Launchywiggin: Drivers who don't stop at crosswalks.
quote:Originally posted by Dagonee: Pedestrians who cross against the light.
While I agree that both are irritating, I also know which one is the most dangerous. How often is a driver killed by a pedestrian who crosses against the light?
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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Pedestrians who don't seem to understand that if they are at the curb and there are white stripes across the road right in front of them, I am legally required to wait for them to cross the road. I know you are afraid that my Honda Accord can kill you from the top speed I can achieve from my standing position 20 feet away from you, but myself and everyone else at the intersection are waiting for you to cross the street.
Posts: 1286 | Registered: Dec 2005
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quote:While I agree that both are irritating, I also know which one is the most dangerous. How often is a driver killed by a pedestrian who crosses against the light?
How often is a pedestrian who crosses against the light killed?
Just because it's less dangerous to the one inconvenienced doesn't mean it's not laser beam worthy.
Moreover, it can lead to very dangerous situations, such as a car swerving into another lane. One such situation is what prompted my earlier post.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:How often is a pedestrian who crosses against the light killed?
There is a fundamental ethical difference between doing something that endangers your own life and doing something that endangers someone else's life.
Between 1998-2001 there were ~18,000 pedestrians killed in single vehicle collisions reported to the US Fatalaty Analysis Reporting System (FARS). Of those, drivers were found in violation of the law 48% of the time. In 0.2% of the collisions, a driver or car passenger was also killed. Even if we assume that 100% of the driver deaths occurred when the driver was not at fault (a really bad assumption since in most of these cases the driver was under the influence of alcohol), we would conclude that car drivers are 200 times more dangerous to pedestrians than pedestrians are to car drivers.
I've been both a pedestrian and a car driver. I've been nearly hit numerous times by drivers who failed to yield right of way. At an intersection near my home, I was nearly hit many times by cars making turns while I was in the crosswalk crossing with the light. My husband came home one night shaking after he said he was nearly killed by a car. When he took off his close, he had bruises all down his side from where the car had side swiped him. If he hadn't leapt at out the way, he would have been killed or seriously injured. After that, I started crossing the street mid block where there was no crosswalk but at least I only had to watch for cars coming from 2 directions instead of 4.
As a pedestrian I've been glared at for jay walking. As a car driver, I've been glared at for failing to yield right of way to a pedestrian in a cross walk. I know I was in the wrong both times but I also know that failing to yield to a pedestrian was a much much more serious error.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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quote:There is a fundamental ethical difference between doing something that endangers your own life and doing something that endangers someone else's life.
You continue to think I'm equating the two. I'm not. In fact, I acknowledged the distinction you mention here ("Just because it's less dangerous to the one inconvenienced...") already.
All your stories aside, I'm not going to stop complaining about the pedestrians who cross against the light.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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When your response to someone complaining about "Drivers who don't stop at crosswalks" is to complain about "Pedestrians who cross against the light", most people would understand you to be equating the two.
When your response to "How often is a driver killed by a pedestrian who crosses against the light?" is "How often is a pedestrian who crosses against the light killed?", most people would understand your comment to be equating the two.
Context is important. If you go to visit a friend in the hospital who has just suffered severe multiple broken bones and your response to his suffering it to complain about a recent paper cut, whether you intended it our not -- your complaints would appear to equate the two.
If you did not intend to equate pedestrians who inconvenience you to car drivers who endanger pedestrians lives, what did you intend with your response?
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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quote:When your response to the statement to someone complaining about "Drivers who don't stop at crosswalks" is to complain about "Pedestrians who cross against the light", most people would understand you to be equating the two.
I don't think that's true. Certainly, most people would think that I consider the subjects related.
More importantly, any doubt you might have had on the subject should now be removed. I've said I wasn't equating the two. I don't believe an honest reading of my second post on the subject would allow you to continue to think that I was equating the two, but there should be no doubt after my third post on the subject.
There should absolutely be no doubt after this, my fourth post on the subject.
quote:When your response to "How often is a driver killed by a pedestrian who crosses against the light?" is "How often is a pedestrian who crosses against the light killed?", most people would understand your comment to be equating the two.
I was answering an irrelevancy with another irrelevancy.
quote:Context is important. If you go to visit a friend in the hospital who has just suffered severe multiple broken bones and your response to his suffering it to complain about a recent paper cut, whether you intended it our not -- your complaints would appear to equate the two.
Yes, context is important. The context described in your hypothetical is nothing like the context described here. This is a thread to complain about the little things that drive us crazy. Everyone is meant to be complaining about the things that upset them. That's clearly not the case in your hypothetical.
quote:If you did not intend to equate them, what did you intend with your response?
I've already answered that question: "Moreover, it can lead to very dangerous situations, such as a car swerving into another lane. One such situation is what prompted my earlier post." It happened on the same day someone bumped the thread. I wouldn't have look for it to bump. Even had it been bumped, I might not have posted had not the post about crosswalks not reminded me of it.
It's a strange sort of reasoning that leads someone to think that a comment on an obviously related topic means one is equating the two.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I'd lazerbeam the cop who *didn't* give a ticket to the girl who hit my brother while he was walking across the street a couple weeks ago.
It was on the UCSB campus. He had the little green man and everything, and saw this BMW SUV coming, and had the presence of mind to think "she's got a red light, she's not going to stop."
Anyway, yep she rolled right through the red, he had the choice whether to jump and roll up her hood, or go under. He decided jumping was the better option. About the time he hit the windshield she realized she'd hit a pedestrian, slammed on her breaks, and he repeated the roll process in the other direction, ending up on the asphalt in the middle of the intersection.
Fortunately all he ended up with was bruises and road rash, and he refused the ambulance treatment. Every single witness had an identical story, much to the surpise of the cop. The girl even admitted she rolled right through the red light... said she always does that at that intersection. AND THE COP DIDN'T GIVE HER A TICKET!
(I understanding rewarding someone for their honesty but my goodness!)
Posts: 11265 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Unfortunately that response is very typical. Its very unusual for cops to cite drivers who hit pedestrians and cyclists. I have numerous first hand and second hand experience with this.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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In some states, they sometimes wait a few weeks to issue tickets in accidents. This just happened to my brother in law. Maybe that's the case here. But, unfortunately, I wouldn't be surprised if it was not.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:Originally posted by The Rabbit: Unfortunately that response is very typical. Its very unusual for cops to cite drivers who hit pedestrians and cyclists. I have numerous first hand and second hand experience with this.
Just a guess, but are you usually a cyclist when these scenarios occur? BTW what did you do with that cute scooter you had?
As for my own LBS of today.
People who have worked at your place of employement for 20+ years, clearly are not talented enough for management and since the company must give them token rewards for loyalty make them "assistant managers." To them I say,
"Look it's wonderful that you care about your job and take pride in your work. I'm sorry that you do not have any REAL additional duties or pay raises related to your position and that you and I actually do an identical job. I am not seeking your position I PROMISE. So you can just stop trying to abuse your oversight authority that nobody really cares if you use or not to harass me and make me look bad in a stupid effort to get me kicked out of a race I am not running in. I work just as hard as you do, and were somebody to as enthusiastically look at your performance you would find it's just as spotty as everyone else in this office, it's called being human. I'm sorry you are in your mid 40s and that you never married, I can only imagine how hard that is. I'm sure you hate the fact that you put in 10 hours at the office everyday as you don't have friends or a family member that would warrant the excuse to put in only 8. No doubt you hate coming home to that empty house every freaking day and since you do not care for the internet or TV, or any other hobbies for that matter you just experience loneliness in a way most people experience blinking or breathing. Thank you for at least having the decency to hide your contempt for me and many of the other employees while at the office, I'm sure you have voodoo dolls of us all at home and you make liberal use of them. I wish you understood that many of us NEED our jobs and that we barely make it paycheck to paycheck. You might get some sort of sick temporary satisfaction out of getting me fired, but trust me though I am biased it's not worth the constant stress you put on my shoulders daily. Be thankful that I am not tempted with the power to simply vaporize you out of my life. From a utilitarian stand point, far more people would miss me than you, and I admit it is probably just that as I have an emotional bias in this matter I cannot act as judge. I promise the moment I have my bachelors degree, which will hopefully be in just a few more months, I will go get a job at another place and we can both get what we want. Until then, can we at least agree to just leave each other alone. I'm already doing my part of this bargain so you don't even have to wait for me to put my gun down. If you choose not to, I can't really do much about it, you've been at the company for 25 LONG years, and they'd feel guilty firing you and it's not as if I am the first employee you have declared a blood oath against. At least if you stop attacking me now, when it comes time for God to do the accounting for your entire life I promise I won't agree to witness for the prosecution. Both of our lives are hard enough without either of us wasting any of our mental faculties plotting the destruction of the other. Look I've gone and wasted 30 minutes of my time typing this up and hence risked doing well this semester and graduating, I apologize and will promptly get back to work. Thank you for considering what I have said, may God love us both enough not to grant one of us eye lasers. Barring radical change one of us must die so that the other may live."
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Just a guess, but are you usually a cyclist when these scenarios occur?
I lead a charmed life. I've never actually been hit as either a cyclist or a pedestrian despite numerous close calls. I've also never hit a cyclist or a pedestrian. My husband, on the other hand has been hit by cars 6 or 7 times. In my first hand experiences I've been present on the scene of the accident but was neither the driver nor the person hit. In one case the person hit was a stranger, in two others it was my husband. I've also had several friends who were hit by cars and seriously injured. The most serious penalty given to any car driver in any case with which I've been associated was a $60 fine. In that case the driver ran a red light and the cyclist who was hit has permanent disabilities.
quote:BTW what did you do with that cute scooter you had?
Right now, its lost at sea with all my other valued possessions.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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It occurs to me that most of these laser beam survivors are those who interfere with haste.
I'm guilty of that too. I remember in middle school, there were these gangs of five or so girls that walked side by side, just the right length apart from each other to both block the entire hallway wall-to-wall, and keep me, thin as I was, from slipping between them. If only I had those laser beams...
Or better yet, Force powers. Or, if I want to keep God from biting my head off on judgment day, simple harmless teleportation powers.
Posts: 1029 | Registered: Apr 2007
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People who have job responsibilities they cannot perform, who then offload the work onto me. It's even more aggravating when they persist in having zero clue about how technology works...
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Part of my job is explaining mortgage escrow issues to customers with mortgages, over the phone. I often transfer them to other departments for semi-related issues. A couple of days ago a woman of low intelligence with poor English skills, the tendency to interrupt, and little understanding of escrow called me to get into her online banking account. I transferred her to online banking. I sat on the line while they talked, occasionally jumping into the conversation when the customer misunderstood something, to help clarify. 5 minutes in, she starts asking about her tax bill. These issues aren't simple even if you have a good brain and know about tax escrow issues. After 5 minutes of her interrupting me while I'm telling her the exact same thing 6 different times/ways (to call her county to get the expected yearly tax amount, since I can't use her assessment amount, which was all she had on hand, since I don't know her county's tax rate), yeah, I was steamed. I was so angry, my co-workers called my supervisor to get me to calm down. It really irritated me that she was so willing to waste the online banking rep's time. That was mainly why I got so worked up. Dumb, interrupting, can't speak the language, and thoughtless...these customers are going to give me a heart attack.
[ April 24, 2008, 01:50 PM: Message edited by: steven ]
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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You gotta be detached to survive in a call center, I think.
Some of my laser beam survivors are call center fellow employees who mute their phones and interject vile insults for the customers they are working with. It's extraordinarily jarring to overhear someone say "just follow the directions on that page _you stupid ****ing ****_" and not realize at first that the customer only hears the first part. Not to mention it's a stupid risk...what if you miss the mute button without realizing it, or the phone malfunctions? They could have used a little more detached coolness. Or actually, I could have benefited from them having it. Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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"Some of my laser beam survivors are call center fellow employees who mute their phones and interject vile insults for the customers they are working with."
This is me to a "T", but I try to keep the dirty words under my breath. This allows my fellow employees to imagine which swears I've used.
It is a little risky, though. I know of at least 2 different people who have been fired for what they've said on mute. One got fired because he was overheard by a manager, the other was heard on his cubemate's monitoring session calling someone a bitch. I was warned at least 5 or 6 times at another call center job for doing it. They canned me eventually, but not for that. Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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Well, at least you keep it down. I might only shoot you with a kilowatt laser, crisp you up a little.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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The people at Global Ocean Freight who assured me repeatedly last friday that my they would released before it arrived in port on Sunday. Its now thursday and its still not released.
I'm leaving the country next Wednesday for 2 weeks, the shipment is already of 3 weeks late. If it isn't released, cleared through customs and delivered to me by Tuesday, it will cost me $50/day in demurrage charges.
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