Really trivial stuff that bugs you

[21st Century Schizoid Man]

On a related note...

A few weekends ago, I needed some items from my (relatively) local auto parts store. I ordered them online so I could pick them up without spending much time in the store.

I nearly got to the store when I noticed that I forgot my mask and goggles. I mentally kicked myself in the butt as I retraced my way home to get them.

There is a need for a drive-through window to pick up masks, for exactly this situation. Or maybe vending machines.

[Van Rijn]

The store where I bought my masks had them on a table next to a checkout counter near the door. They were fine with me coming in far enough to get a mask. Foot traffic was light so it wasn’t hard to keep my distance. Funny thing: It was a pharmacy and I had asked at their drive through if they had masks when I was there picking up refills.

[Trebuchet]

After the recent internet fiasco, now our cable TV from the same company isn't working properly. As in, only about six channels of old movies and TV series are working. Two hours on the phone with them. No Joy. Service call tomorrow, sometime between 8:00AM and 7:00PM.
I hate technology.
After the previous mess, they sent me a "how was our service" email. The response, according to the link, would be emailed directly to their customer service director. While I praised the tech they sent out, I tore them a new one for their service otherwise. At the end of the survey, they said that if I was to provide a phone number or email, they'd get RIGHT back to me to discuss the situation. I did, they didn't. WHAT a surprise.

[Solfe]

I was in a video meeting this morning and the internet went wonky. The whole meeting went down hill when speakers would freeze for 30 seconds at a time while saying "Wahhhh!". Everyone else's connection was fine. The first time we laughed. The next 11 times it happened to random people, it was slightly less funny.

[grant hutchison]

I nearly got to the store when I noticed that I forgot my mask and goggles. I mentally kicked myself in the butt as I retraced my way home to get them.

Mask not an issue for me, since a fresh mask always lives in a plastic wrapper in my trouser pocket. So long as I remember to get dressed before going out, I'm sorted.

More problematic is the contact-tracing app on my phone, which I downloaded in an uncharacteristic burst of community spirit, and have been annoyed by ever since. Not only do I need to be carrying my phone (which I don't usually), I need to have bluetooth enabled (which I never do, because bluetooth is the Work Of The Devil). And I strongly suspect that I'm better at judging "within two metres for fifteen minutes" than the phone app is, and I have the luxury in my life that I just don't ever permit that to happen.

Grant Hutchison

[Trebuchet]

I should be happy, I guess, that our cable outage is now fixed but I'm mostly just bugged that A) it happened; B) the replacement box is an older model that takes up half the dresser; and C) about the level of stress I let this kind of problem cause me.

[Swift]

I should be happy, I guess, that our cable outage is now fixed but I'm mostly just bugged that A) it happened; B) the replacement box is an older model that takes up half the dresser; and C) about the level of stress I let this kind of problem cause me.

I can appreciate the stress; computer and technology problems drive me crazy.

[jamesabrown]

Me too. My wife has the ability to generate error messages on her devices that Google has apparently never heard of.

[ozduck]

I almost didn't mention these happenings due to embarrassment at my idiocy but in the spirit of confession I will do so.

Yesterday I was pruning my Bougainvillea's with an electric pruner and with a brilliant display of dexterity I suddenly made my extension power cord 20 centimetres shorter. There was few small sparks and then silence. The pruner has non-conductive plastic handles so I received no electric shock. Also all my household power points, and light fittings, are connected to RCD's, pretty much compulsory here, so I was well protected. It didn't trip the RCD.

Then, after a few choice words at my stupidity, I cannibalised an old extension cord and fitted a plug to the slightly shorter damaged cord. Unfortunately when I tried to test the connection I realised that I had fitted a 'male' plug by mistake so my long extension cord now had the same plug type at either end. All is now repaired but these were not my finest few moments.

[Extravoice]

My circular saw has a repair in the power cord where I managed to cut it during the saw’s first use well over ten years ago.
Some may say it serves as a reminder to be careful, but I’m pretty sure it taunts me whenever I take it out of its case.

[Solfe]

We bought my son a kitten. She's nearly grown now but still likes to play in bags. This has our older cat also playing in boxes and containers. It's super cute.

What is annoying is our German Shepherd tries to rescue them from bags, boxes, under the curtains, off the top of the refrigerator, etc. She's 60 lbs of crazy. She'll try to knock over boxes, shovel lift the cat with her snout, and when all of that fails, barks and howls. It's like having a hurricane roll through the house.

[Trebuchet]

I almost didn't mention these happenings due to embarrassment at my idiocy but in the spirit of confession I will do so.

Yesterday I was pruning my Bougainvillea's with an electric pruner and with a brilliant display of dexterity I suddenly made my extension power cord 20 centimetres shorter. There was few small sparks and then silence. The pruner has non-conductive plastic handles so I received no electric shock. Also all my household power points, and light fittings, are connected to RCD's, pretty much compulsory here, so I was well protected. It didn't trip the RCD.

Then, after a few choice words at my stupidity, I cannibalised an old extension cord and fitted a plug to the slightly shorter damaged cord. Unfortunately when I tried to test the connection I realised that I had fitted a 'male' plug by mistake so my long extension cord now had the same plug type at either end. All is now repaired but these were not my finest few moments.

My circular saw has a repair in the power cord where I managed to cut it during the saw’s first use well over ten years ago.
Some may say it serves as a reminder to be careful, but I’m pretty sure it taunts me whenever I take it out of its case.

This is why double-insulated tools are a very good thing!
And I've done that with the hedge trimmer, as well.

[ozduck]

Well thanks to Extravoice and Trebuchet I don't feel so bad now. The important thing is of course to have learnt the lesson.

[Noclevername]

We bought my son a kitten. She's nearly grown now but still likes to play in bags. This has our older cat also playing in boxes and containers. It's super cute.

What is annoying is our German Shepherd tries to rescue them from bags, boxes, under the curtains, off the top of the refrigerator, etc. She's 60 lbs of crazy. She'll try to knock over boxes, shovel lift the cat with her snout, and when all of that fails, barks and howls. It's like having a hurricane roll through the house.

At least the dog likes the cats.

[Noclevername]

I've run over an extension cord with an electric snow blower. It wasn't even my cord! It was borrowed.

And then there was the time I melted the clips of my sister's jumper cables in a shower of sparks. When they say the red is positive and the black is negative, they mean it!

[Gillianren]

When I was in high school, a friend hired me to mow her lawn while she and her mother were on vacation. This was my first experience with an electric mower; my mom's was gas-powered. Yes, I ran over the cord.

[Extravoice]

I've run over an extension cord with an electric snow blower. It wasn't even my cord! It was borrowed.

And then there was the time I melted the clips of my sister's jumper cables in a shower of sparks. When they say the red is positive and the black is negative, they mean it!

Not always. Back when I was a teenager working at the grocery store, one of the cashiers had a dead battery. Eager to demonstrate my manly skills to her, I offered to jumpstart her car.
It was dark, but there was enough light to identify the red an black wires. I hooked everything up, and her battery began to boil over. It turns out that someone had done a repair on the wiring and used reverse colors.
Fortunately, no serious damage or injury resulted, but I didn’t get a date.
I’ve jumped many batteries since then, but always check the markings on the batteries.

[Trebuchet]

At least I don't have to worry about cutting the cord of my current pruner, Shane the Yard Guy!

[Gillianren]

Venmo sent me $5 to encourage me to use their system more often. I accepted it, because I'm not so well off as to fail to accept $5. However, the reason I don't use their system more often is that they completely and totally refuse to make it possible for me to actually personally access money from their system; the two or three times someone has sent me money via Venmo, I've had to send it on to a local friend who can just hand me cash. Which feels like a lot of work for $5.

[DonM435]

I have this old TI-30XA scientific calculator in a corner of my desk, which I use for quick-and-easy math, maybe once or twice per month. I'm aware that I could invoke an on-screen calculator on the computer, or access VBA out of Excel or Word, but this is easier, for me at least. I probably got it at a thrift store for $5 or less. I used to snap up things like this, because you can't find the simple scientific calculator any more: I don't need the expensive models that do graphing nor the cheap ones that have multi-line displays that you have to clear before using and learn new rules to do simple things. But I do want one with exponents and trig and statistical functions, and need one for each desk and for my briefcase.


This is a "solar" model. Its display goes blank, but perks up when brought out into room lighting. Used to anyway: it had gotten very dim. Now, it might have been cheaper to buy a new one (If indeed I could find one) than to get batteries, but I had a blister card (itself probably purchased many years ago) with various button batteries on it, including the ones I needed.


To get inside the thing, I had to unscrew six tiny screws on the back, using a screwdriver from an eyeglass repair kit. Even having done this, I was annoyed to find that the case clung together, and I had to pry just right and pop it loose without breaking any plastic. These operations that require patience and dexterity are what I try to avoid. It wasn't easy, which suggests that six screws, or even one, were superfluous. The old batteries, need I say, required tricky manipulation to extract from tight sockets.


Still, I did get the thing back together with the relatively new batteries, and again have a decent LCD display, so all is well. It probably has a better chance of lasting 20 more years than I do.

[Extravoice]

I have a “TI-36X-solar” that I use quite often for simple calculations. It is especially handy because it has two features: hexadecimal math and engineering notation. I don’t need a graphing calculator, or one that displays my typing.

In the “bugs me” department, it lost one of its rubber pads and wobbles when I press buttons.

Edited to correct model number.

[The Backroad Astronomer]

Earlier this week someone said that they were visiting my niece at university and they way the said it I thought they I was goin I am not. Just have correct my mental plans.

[DonM435]

I have a “TI-36X-solar” that I use quite often for simple calculations. It is especially handy because it has two features: hexadecimal math and engineering notation. I don’t need a graphing calculator, or one that displays my typing.

In the “bugs me” department, it lost one of its rubber pads and wobbles when I press buttons.

Edited to correct model number.

That's the calculator I have on my other desk! Its battery is still okay.

[Selenite]

I was picking up a takeout of fish and chips from a popular local chowder bar, when a middle-aged man came in after me wearing a black face mask which proclaimed in white bold letters, "F--- this mask". (Except not as circumspectly as I just put it)

I just can't fathom the mentality of someone who feels they have to blatantly advertise their contempt for having to don a mask to the whole world. Especially in restaurant where children are also eating.

Much as I hate to admit it, I left the place almost hoping he would choke on a fish bone. But, the fillets there are too fine for that.

[Extravoice]

The dashboard of Mrs Extravoice’s car briefly showed a battery icon yesterday while I was sitting in a parking lot listening to the radio.

The OEM battery is over six years old, so I figure it may be wearing out. Checking the internet, there is altogether too much disassembly required to replace it.
Removal of the windshield wiper... really?

[Trebuchet]

Speaking of batteries, the one in my pickup is dead because I haven't driven it in far too long. I need to jump-start it today and give it a drive.

We got a Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner yesterday. Take 'N Bake. It was "$12 Tuesday" but the total came to $13.04 with sales tax. That bugs me. There's not supposed to be sales tax on food in this state, except for prepared food at restaurants & such. If I buy a frozen pizza at the supermarket, or, I'm sure, one of the supermarket's TNB pizzas, there's no tax. But the state decided Papa's pizza is "prepared food", despite being uncooked. That's bugged me for a long time.

[The Backroad Astronomer]

One thing that is bugging me lately. There is every fall an auction a bit further out in country but has been postponed. This year was and is going to be done outdoors because of Covid. But there is a paper mill just on the American side that some people from over here work at and seven people from New York came up to work without self isolating for 14 days so the auction was postponed. I haven't gone for years, it mostly have stuff like wild cranberries and carvings and the such, it is more met the neighbors kind of thing.

Another thing the auction I work for have this sixth sense when it comes to calling me like today. I was just by one of the phones to get breakfast but it wasn't until I was getting my first sip of coffee in my room that they called.

[Extravoice]

I had a Space Shuttle question, so I googled it. I was taken to some discussion board that referenced a thread on this board...
that I started 15 years ago!

What bugs me is how fast time has flown.

[schlaugh]

I had a Space Shuttle question, so I googled it. I was taken to some discussion board that referenced a thread on this board...
that I started 15 years ago!

What bugs me is how fast time has flown.

So does that mean you answered your own question?

[Trebuchet]

I had a weird little computer issue: Anything I clicked on in Chrome or Firefox opened in a new window. So I rebooted the computer and, once it was going again, tried to go back to my other forum. Which is down now!
The latter is probably a good thing.