{"id":2389,"date":"2025-02-21T14:55:16","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T20:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=2389"},"modified":"2025-02-21T14:55:16","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T20:55:16","slug":"irritations-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=2389","title":{"rendered":"Irritations II"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"\"<\/a>This blog was posted in September of 2019<\/a>. Supposedly, nothing has changed – NOTHING!<\/p>\n

As I get older, I notice that I am becoming one of those old people that I despised as a young boy.\u00a0 There are several things that piss me off, and I think I should jot them down.\u00a0 You may be able to empathize.<\/p>\n

Drivers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Certain drivers drive me crazy.\u00a0 Okay, maybe all drivers drive me crazy.\u00a0 Why am I the only decent automobile driver out there?<\/p>\n

The driver that pisses me off more than others is the guy who speeds up in the inner lane to pass me, cuts over to my lane, and slows to a complete stop before making a right turn.\u00a0 That goes for the guy that makes a left turn when he passed me in the right lane.<\/p>\n

In second place is the person who is in front of me at a stop light.\u00a0 The light turns green and they sit there.\u00a0 They may be reading a text or email, or just day dreaming.\u00a0 Honking is almost a self-irritant (I don\u2019t like honking horns, either \u2013 especially the Honk, Honk, Honk of a car that is being stolen \u2013 never).\u00a0 The minute the person in front of you takes off, the propulsion is that of a rocket.\u00a0 You never see them again, until you get to the next stop light.<\/p>\n

Third place is the tailgater who finally speeds around you, fingering you as he goes by, and two miles up the road he\u2019s next to you at the same stoplight.\u00a0 I have been taught not to taunt.\u00a0 He could have a gun.<\/p>\n

This category could be pages, so I have decided to make it part of a series.<\/p>\n

Shopping<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDid you find everything you need?\u201d\u00a0 I often say \u201cno\u201d whether I did or not.\u00a0 The answer is always an amazing.\u00a0 \u201cOh!\u201d\u00a0 As the clerk continues to scan items.\u00a0 Many retailers have taught the clerk what to ask, but never gave the minimum wage earner a lesson on what to do if someone answers anything but \u201cyes\u201d.<\/p>\n

An occasional bright clerk may call the manager over, or direct you to the courtesy counter.\u00a0 When you discover that \u2013 yes, they are out of that product \u2013 the conditioned reply is: \u201cWe\u2019ll have it in the morning.\u201d\u00a0 The next time I get that answer I\u2019m going to have them deliver it to me.\u00a0 I don\u2019t feel like I have to return to the same store in the morning, spending about a dollar in gas, when I might save 20 cents on the out-of-stock item.\u00a0 Better yet, I think I\u2019ll tell the manager that I\u2019ll just stop at the competitor\u2019s store down the street and pick it up there.<\/p>\n

Grocery stores hire many high school students.\u00a0 Those students have been taught to converse with the customer.\u00a0 My desire is for the student-clerk to pay attention to what they are doing.\u00a0 \u201cThat tomato juice is on sale for 79\u00a2.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cOh\u201d, she says.\u00a0 \u201cIs it in the ad?\u201d\u00a0 I think employees should be required to read the advertisements before their shift starts (and get paid for it) each week the store begins a new week of discounts.\u00a0 At the least, people working in a department, like meats or produce, should have a comprehensive idea of what is on sale in their respective departments during a given week.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you have big plans for the weekend?\u201d\u00a0 That question from a teenager was suggested by management to keep up a conversation with the customer.\u00a0 One of these days I want to respond with: \u201cWell, that depends.\u00a0 What are you doing on Saturday night?\u201d\u00a0 I would probably get arrested.<\/p>\n

Television Commercials with old songs<\/strong><\/p>\n

It began with a pickup commercial years ago in which Chevy used Bob Segar\u2019s \u2018Like a Rock\u2019.\u00a0 I once liked that song.\u00a0 Chevy drove it into my brain so much I now despise it.\u00a0 Applebee\u2019s is using a popular song now.\u00a0 And Ford is attempting to ruin every Queen song I\u2019ve ever loved \u2013 which was all of them.<\/p>\n

Lectures with a Q & A<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t attend many lectures anymore, and maybe it\u2019s because I get irritated at people who stand up during the Q & A at the end and give a 6-minute description of something that happened in their life to relate to the lecturer\u2019s subject (even though it\u2019s a stretch to make the comparison).\u00a0 It usually ends by having the lecturer asking if the person standing has a question.\u00a0 It\u2019s bad enough when the commenter says \u2018no\u2019 and sits down or wraps it up.\u00a0 It\u2019s a 10 on the Pain Scale when the person stumbles over trying to come up with a question.<\/p>\n

Overturning the Tables at the Temple<\/strong><\/p>\n

Store managers that allow nonprofit groups to solicit outside the store\u2019s doors should be fired.\u00a0 I don\u2019t appreciate being greeted by a mob of Girl Scouts asking if I want to buy overpriced cookies.\u00a0 I lie and tell them that I buy them from my daughter.\u00a0 So what if my daughter is 40-years-old.\u00a0 The scouts\u2019 moms are reaching that age.\u00a0 And aren\u2019t they the cookie pushers with the idea to hassle store customers going in and coming out of the store?<\/p>\n

The Knights of Columbus want to give me a Tootsie Roll.\u00a0 Yeah!\u00a0 \u201cHere, have a 5 oz. roll of guilt.\u00a0 It\u2019s free!\u201d\u00a0 Sure, it is.\u00a0 If you happen to be Roman Catholic that guilt of turning it down and not contributing will last through your death bed and into the first 4 days of purgatory.<\/p>\n

You may like eating the free nibbles at COSTCO and in the grocery stores, but I stay away.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that I reject free food, it\u2019s the problem of cluttering up the aisle while pretending to think the tiny sample is the greatest thing since sliced bread, even though the sampler doesn\u2019t buy the product. I hate to be one of those aisle cloggers.\u00a0 I have to get ahead of you in the check out.<\/p>\n

What do you like, Marty?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I like kids.\u00a0 They can make you laugh more than most comedians.<\/p>\n

We live next to a licensed day care center.\u00a0 The facility has about 50 kids, from infants to 12-year-olds.\u00a0 If you can remember watching the Art Linkletter show back in the 60s, you can relate to what I get almost every day.<\/p>\n

Stephanie and I watched a dog overnight for a friend a few weeks ago.\u00a0 Four or five children came running up to the fence.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s its name?\u201d\u00a0 They were all asking.\u00a0 \u201cZoe,\u201d I said, and kept on walking.\u00a0 All of the children in the group began yelling, \u201cBye, doggie!!\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though the children can keep me laughing, they can also keep me humble.\u00a0 One of the teachers suggested the kids say \u201cHi\u201d to the neighbor.\u00a0 \u201cHi, old man!\u201d<\/p>\n

Crap.\u00a0 I\u2019ve become that old man I never wanted to be.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This blog was posted in September of 2019. Supposedly, nothing has changed – NOTHING! As I get older, I notice that I am becoming one of those old people that I despised as a young boy.\u00a0 There are several things … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2389"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2390,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389\/revisions\/2390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}