Yes, I know. I am supposed to be above the little, petty irritations of life. I should have a lofty view. After all, I have a blog named HeartMindSoul, right?
Nahh.
Lots of stuff irritates me, and one day last week I was reminded of a few of them.
Looks good in a photo, but such bad bagging.
The Safeway baggers. Now, I have to tell you that I have had the pleasure of encountering some world-class baggers in my time. But that was back in the day when grocery chains actually TRAINED baggers.
Those days are gone.
That day, I did a very short bit of grocery shopping. I had two bags, which of course, I brought myself, because this is California and plastic bags have been banned. One bag was clearly insulated for cold foods. One was clearly not insulated.
My cashier/bagger was probably my age or older. Probably older. About the age of the ace elderly baggers at Publix in Florida retirement cities. And they ARE ace at Publix. So it wasn’t age.
My bagger took my potatoes and apples and lined the bottom of the insulated bag with them. On top of them, he precariously balanced flat bottom boxes and plastic containers. After that, he took the rest of the packaged goods, none of them cold, and bagged them in the insulated bag.
I couldn’t help it. I said “It’s usually easier if you put the flat goods on the bottom and then the produce on top of them.”
“It is,” he agreed.
I did not ask him why he failed to do that. I did not even point out how to use an insulated bag.
Not wanting to miss a teachable moment, I did say “It might be smarter to do that next time.”
Can I get an “amen?”
I know it was kind of bitchy. Maybe the PC police will take away my blog name now.
It’s petty, I know. But isn’t that what most of life’s irritants are? Petty little things that drive us crazy? This drives ME crazy because it happens ALL the TIME. No one knows how to bag any more. And Safeway doesn’t give a rat’s ass, either, about its customers. Just check out some of the layout in their produce department, clearly meant to confuse.
Oh, and then, really, I can’t let a bitchfest go by without a word about Captcha and its nicer brother, Re-Captcha.
Oh, how frustrating to encounter blogs and websites that use complicated Captcha, making it hard for readers to post a comment. This blog post on the subject of “Crapcha” got a lot of support. That’s because everyone hates Captcha. Sometimes, the words and numbers are barely legible and I get them wrong, meaning the entire process begins again.
And ok, I’ll admit it. Sometimes I just can’t add. The simple arithmetic trips me up once in a while, too.
So when people starting using that new Re-captcha tick box that says “I am not a robot” it seemed orders of magnitude better than those twisty numbers and letters.
Until I ran across a blog that used the robot tick box AND the letters and numbers. Both. After you tick the robot box, you still have to do the letters. Seriously? Are your pearls of wisdom so important that you require two lines of defense to prevent hackers from busting in? I mean, the CIA is easier to hack than these blogs. Do you not want your audience to comment? Do you not see that one action is enough and two can be a deterrent?
It is inexplicable. Folks. If you can, use Askismet. Make it easy on your commenters. If not, the simple “I am not a robot” tick box is more than enough.
So there. I’ve gotten that off my chest. Can I get an “amen!”?
Are there any petty irritations you’d like to get off your chest? Here is your chance to vent about ANYTHING that drives you nuts.
I used to cater and was always very picky about how fresh fruits and veggies were packed. So I pack my own groceries. It’s much faster too. It annoys me to no end (since you asked) when it’s really busy to see the shopper not helping at all when his/her groceries are being checked out. Bagging my own is the ideal solution for me.
YES. People who lean with their forearms on the dinner table and hover over their plates to push in food, and also, DO NOT know how to cut meat by placing their index finger down the back of the knife, instead holding it like a dagger ready to stab and kill the food. Disgusting. What happened to table manners? Wait until EVERYONE is served, napkin in lap, mouth closed, fingers ARE NOT pushers–that’s for babies. Add children running around restaurants and i am in a horrible mood after a meal out.
People who don’t answer emails and people who TEXT instead of calling. I am 60. My phone is not an appendage I was born with. Often it lives in my car for days. If you want to reach me, CALL. My eyes are worse and so is my dexterity, Texting is work for me.
Snotty, know it all nurses( available at any doctors office across the country, bar none).
And finally people who don’t nod in appreciation when I stop and let them cross the street. RUDE.
There.
I feel better.
Thanks.
I’ve completely given up on bag packers – it’s a miracle if I get a good one and I compliment them to try to reinforce good behaviour! My biggest shopping bugbear is when they change where thing are in the aisles – supposedly to keep things interesting – it just drives me crazy having to hunt for groceries that are randomly placed in new spots for no apparent reason. Thanks for the fun of having a rant 🙂
Oh, we’ve had so much trouble with baggers. My husband used to bag groceries many years ago and he said he was trained to do it right. He gets so disgusted with baggers today, that he flat out tells them that he’ll do it, thank you. They smash bread with fruit, put meat in with fresh fruits and veggies, put mouse bait in with fruit. It’s ridiculous! ….I also cannot stand when people bring up religion and politics in mixed company. Not just bring up, but make their views very clear and cut off and degrade anyone who has an opposing view. Oh that bugs me. It’s rude.
In Washington we bag our own groceries so that isn’t an issue anymore. Captcha — if I get it wrong I usually won’t bother commenting – too irritating. Have a few pet peeves and wrote a post about it — venting as well. But my biggest one is SLOW PEOPLE — I don’t care what age you are –
Ever since a Publix opened here, and not just any Publix–but this year’s crown jewel–my life has done a 180. It’s the first supermarket here with good food, or food I like. Somehow even their produce looks better
The employees own stock which helps a lot. I bring my bags though it’s not illegal here. The big Stouffer’s bag we were given at BAM–they think is too nice to have food in it. No! put it in.
This is the rant of a person who never shopped in supermarkets in NY–and was expecting them to be well like Publix is (all I remember from the Miami ones were what seemed to be aisles and aisles of denture creams–it was like living a nightmare.)
One rainy night my friend and I had nothing to do so we went to Publix. It was like dinner at Costco but instead of just demonstrations you go to the actual department and they give you “samples.” Like whole cookies.
The other stores here–when I first moved down here and would hand them my bags they would fill plastic, well fill is the wrong word–put two items in each–and I would say “look I brought you bags to put the food in” and they would look at me as though I were speaking another language–and I speak Southern
Well, since you asked: I live in the Bay Area, where parking can be a real challenge. So you see someone going toward a car, keys out, and figure once they’re in and seatbelted, you can get that spot–whether it’s on the street or in a crowded parking lot. Moments go by, no action. You creep up a little further and realize the driver is looking lapward…checking email, sending essential texts, watching a cute cat video, whatever. I’ve seen this happen more and more lately. I’d understand a quick “I’m on my way” text, but from what I’ve seen, people just go down the rabbit hole and forget that they are in a car taking up valuable real estate! Grrrr.
I bag my own because my goal is to just get the hell out of the store as fast as possible. I do bring my own bags, but often it’s not enough.
Captcha is so ridiculous. Askimet is enough for me. I’ve also had issues with writing a comment then being asked to sign in. After signing in my comment is gone…and so am I!
b
I know nothing about bagging, except I usually say pack them light, because of my back. What does irritate me is the stupidity of the people in the pharmacy at my local CVS. Is it really that hard to fill a f^&$ing prescription?????
I absolutely hate it when baggers stuff my extra empty bags into another empty. What a PITA to get them out again.
And since we’re venting, I realize Los Angeles is relatively new to the whole subway/public transit. But it’s time we got it: It’s stand to the right, walk to the left on the escalators!!!
I have to admit that both of those things annoy me. The Capcha (or what ever that is) is a puzzle designed to make me look dumb or blind. I hate it. I do not get robot comments ever. If I do I just delete them. No annoyed visitors and it gives me something to do.
As for the squashed groceries…have the bag boys/girls looked at the price of groceries lately? I want those items wrapped in tissue with a ribbon on top. I deserve it. Honestly!
LOVE a good rant! And I am totally with you when it comes to Captcha, especially since a friend told me today that she’d tried to post a response to one of my recent essays but was repeatedly thwarted by Captcha. She told me what she had wanted to post and it was a terrific comment — insightful and fun and informative. Rats!
Stationery vs. stationary. Both are acceptable spellings of words with extremely different meanings. Since I’m in the wedding industry, it really bugs me when wedding professionals use the latter to describe wedding invitations and thank you notes. Sure, they’re probably immobile papers that sit on a desk somewhere but then they’d be stationary stationery. 😉 Really silly to get annoyed about but it happens a bit too much for my liking.
I agree on the baggers. The worst baggers are men–they just aren’t spacial. I’ve changed lanes to avoid one male bagger because my Italian bread doesn’t stand a chance.
Next on my list are those who sit in the car when they should just back out and let me park.
Then there is dish network, which I’ve had for two weeks. I was promised and given the new all weather dish and I’ve now had no signal five times. I called today and my rant was an hour long.
But, since this is a blog I have to rant about word press blogs where I can’t comment unless I sign in with my word press account. I don’t have one and I don’t want one.
There’s more but it’s late. Good Night.
I hate my bagger. She doesn’t know anything about it! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she’d never received any training at all!
Oh. Wait. I go through a self-serve line. Forget what you just read . . .
But Captcha. Don’t get me started!!!
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The Captcha thing gets me every time.
I used to cater and was always very picky about how fresh fruits and veggies were packed. So I pack my own groceries. It’s much faster too. It annoys me to no end (since you asked) when it’s really busy to see the shopper not helping at all when his/her groceries are being checked out. Bagging my own is the ideal solution for me.
Yes, we bag, too, when we can. In Calif it is has become an expectation in some stores as they do not staff enough baggers.
YES. People who lean with their forearms on the dinner table and hover over their plates to push in food, and also, DO NOT know how to cut meat by placing their index finger down the back of the knife, instead holding it like a dagger ready to stab and kill the food. Disgusting. What happened to table manners? Wait until EVERYONE is served, napkin in lap, mouth closed, fingers ARE NOT pushers–that’s for babies. Add children running around restaurants and i am in a horrible mood after a meal out.
People who don’t answer emails and people who TEXT instead of calling. I am 60. My phone is not an appendage I was born with. Often it lives in my car for days. If you want to reach me, CALL. My eyes are worse and so is my dexterity, Texting is work for me.
Snotty, know it all nurses( available at any doctors office across the country, bar none).
And finally people who don’t nod in appreciation when I stop and let them cross the street. RUDE.
There.
I feel better.
Thanks.
I’ve completely given up on bag packers – it’s a miracle if I get a good one and I compliment them to try to reinforce good behaviour! My biggest shopping bugbear is when they change where thing are in the aisles – supposedly to keep things interesting – it just drives me crazy having to hunt for groceries that are randomly placed in new spots for no apparent reason. Thanks for the fun of having a rant 🙂
Oh, we’ve had so much trouble with baggers. My husband used to bag groceries many years ago and he said he was trained to do it right. He gets so disgusted with baggers today, that he flat out tells them that he’ll do it, thank you. They smash bread with fruit, put meat in with fresh fruits and veggies, put mouse bait in with fruit. It’s ridiculous! ….I also cannot stand when people bring up religion and politics in mixed company. Not just bring up, but make their views very clear and cut off and degrade anyone who has an opposing view. Oh that bugs me. It’s rude.
In Washington we bag our own groceries so that isn’t an issue anymore. Captcha — if I get it wrong I usually won’t bother commenting – too irritating. Have a few pet peeves and wrote a post about it — venting as well. But my biggest one is SLOW PEOPLE — I don’t care what age you are –
One of my pet peeves too Carol. And now that I bring my own bags, they pack them random and over filled!
Ever since a Publix opened here, and not just any Publix–but this year’s crown jewel–my life has done a 180. It’s the first supermarket here with good food, or food I like. Somehow even their produce looks better
The employees own stock which helps a lot. I bring my bags though it’s not illegal here. The big Stouffer’s bag we were given at BAM–they think is too nice to have food in it. No! put it in.
This is the rant of a person who never shopped in supermarkets in NY–and was expecting them to be well like Publix is (all I remember from the Miami ones were what seemed to be aisles and aisles of denture creams–it was like living a nightmare.)
One rainy night my friend and I had nothing to do so we went to Publix. It was like dinner at Costco but instead of just demonstrations you go to the actual department and they give you “samples.” Like whole cookies.
The other stores here–when I first moved down here and would hand them my bags they would fill plastic, well fill is the wrong word–put two items in each–and I would say “look I brought you bags to put the food in” and they would look at me as though I were speaking another language–and I speak Southern
Well, since you asked: I live in the Bay Area, where parking can be a real challenge. So you see someone going toward a car, keys out, and figure once they’re in and seatbelted, you can get that spot–whether it’s on the street or in a crowded parking lot. Moments go by, no action. You creep up a little further and realize the driver is looking lapward…checking email, sending essential texts, watching a cute cat video, whatever. I’ve seen this happen more and more lately. I’d understand a quick “I’m on my way” text, but from what I’ve seen, people just go down the rabbit hole and forget that they are in a car taking up valuable real estate! Grrrr.
I bag my own because my goal is to just get the hell out of the store as fast as possible. I do bring my own bags, but often it’s not enough.
Captcha is so ridiculous. Askimet is enough for me. I’ve also had issues with writing a comment then being asked to sign in. After signing in my comment is gone…and so am I!
b
I agree with this one…thank you for saying it.
I know nothing about bagging, except I usually say pack them light, because of my back. What does irritate me is the stupidity of the people in the pharmacy at my local CVS. Is it really that hard to fill a f^&$ing prescription?????
I absolutely hate it when baggers stuff my extra empty bags into another empty. What a PITA to get them out again.
And since we’re venting, I realize Los Angeles is relatively new to the whole subway/public transit. But it’s time we got it: It’s stand to the right, walk to the left on the escalators!!!
I have to admit that both of those things annoy me. The Capcha (or what ever that is) is a puzzle designed to make me look dumb or blind. I hate it. I do not get robot comments ever. If I do I just delete them. No annoyed visitors and it gives me something to do.
As for the squashed groceries…have the bag boys/girls looked at the price of groceries lately? I want those items wrapped in tissue with a ribbon on top. I deserve it. Honestly!
b+
LOVE a good rant! And I am totally with you when it comes to Captcha, especially since a friend told me today that she’d tried to post a response to one of my recent essays but was repeatedly thwarted by Captcha. She told me what she had wanted to post and it was a terrific comment — insightful and fun and informative. Rats!
Stationery vs. stationary. Both are acceptable spellings of words with extremely different meanings. Since I’m in the wedding industry, it really bugs me when wedding professionals use the latter to describe wedding invitations and thank you notes. Sure, they’re probably immobile papers that sit on a desk somewhere but then they’d be stationary stationery. 😉 Really silly to get annoyed about but it happens a bit too much for my liking.
I agree on the baggers. The worst baggers are men–they just aren’t spacial. I’ve changed lanes to avoid one male bagger because my Italian bread doesn’t stand a chance.
Next on my list are those who sit in the car when they should just back out and let me park.
Then there is dish network, which I’ve had for two weeks. I was promised and given the new all weather dish and I’ve now had no signal five times. I called today and my rant was an hour long.
But, since this is a blog I have to rant about word press blogs where I can’t comment unless I sign in with my word press account. I don’t have one and I don’t want one.
There’s more but it’s late. Good Night.
I hate my bagger. She doesn’t know anything about it! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she’d never received any training at all!
Oh. Wait. I go through a self-serve line. Forget what you just read . . .
But Captcha. Don’t get me started!!!