Things I Hate - A Comedic Rantesse

[dwhitlow]

I need to vent having just been to Sainsburys (my nearest supermarket).

To a mother, it is not a playground for your toddler when your unsupervised toddler runs into my stationary trolley it is your fault not mine. To the same mother sitting on the floor playing a game with the aforementioned toddler that should be done at home/play group NOT a supermarket aisle.

To another shopper Smart shop is scanning your goods as you pick them, you then pack them in your bags. Fresh produce is weighed on the scales provided and you scan the label generated and pack your effing Broccoli. You DO NOT take your full trolley to the check out to then scan and pack while a queue forms. You DO NOT then complain because you cannot weigh your effing Broccoli!!

To the motorist who pulled out in front of me twice, it is generally accepted as good driving practice to look to your left and right before pulling out into a main thoroughfare, your conversation with your passenger is not important. Fortunately I spotted you were an idiot before you hit my car and had braked pity you did not realise the toot of the horn was to alert you that I was there!!

Aaaaaand breathe.

have you considered having your shopping delivered?

[Noggin the Nog]

Left = bad: Right = good? Really?
We erected a plywood wall so that a mural could be painted on it for a Wildlife event. The mural has a message extolling the virtues of a clean environment.
Good idea.
However, the first time I saw it completed after the event, I noticed that everything 'bad', dead trees and creatures, litter, plastic debris etc was on the left, while all the nice stuff, ickle bunny wabbits, lush trees and grass, clean blue water etc was on the right. I queried why this was, and was told it just looks right that way (fwiw: I thought the bad stuff should have been evident across the board)
Is the left/right prejudice just too ingrained, even in the 21st century?

I've tried making a mirror image of the mural and, I must admit, it looked ...... different?
I'll take the two images with me today and see what reactions they get.

[longbow]

Left = bad: Right = good? Really?
We erected a plywood wall so that a mural could be painted on it for a Wildlife event. The mural has a message extolling the virtues of a clean environment.
Good idea.
However, the first time I saw it completed after the event, I noticed that everything 'bad', dead trees and creatures, litter, plastic debris etc was on the left, while all the nice stuff, ickle bunny wabbits, lush trees and grass, clean blue water etc was on the right. I queried why this was, and was told it just looks right that way (fwiw: I thought the bad stuff should have been evident across the board)
Is the left/right prejudice just too ingrained, even in the 21st century?

I've tried making a mirror image of the mural and, I must admit, it looked ...... different?
I'll take the two images with me today and see what reactions they get.

The word sinister comes from the Latin for left. I think it's all to do with most of us being right handed and goes way, way back. The right hand page of a magazine is a better advert placement than the left (to the point it used to cost more), generally right hand placements of most layouts seem work better for most people but whether that's long term conditioning I don't know. It's an interesting subject. Doesn't the left / right political thing come from where people sat during the French Revolution?

[Chrisch]

... Doesn't the left / right political thing come from where people sat during the French Revolution?

Yes.

It is a way out of date idea that has passed its useful life. Sadly we are stuck with this phraseology and it has now become more about the culture wars than political or economic (or environmental) strategies. Even in that context it is nonsense - Cameron brought in gay marriage and he is on the right in most understandings of the word.

The founding ideas of France after the revolution are similar to the US post revolution: - liberty, freedom, rule of law, social cohesion (fraternité = literally brotherhood). All good things and sadly all of them mean different things to different people. What one might identify as the "right" (UK Tory, US Republican, France En Marche etc) do not believe in any of those things and perhaps a new label is needed. I have a label but the forum software doesn't allow it.

[F.P.]

I need to vent having just been to Sainsburys (my nearest supermarket).

To a mother, it is not a playground for your toddler when your unsupervised toddler runs into my stationary trolley it is your fault not mine. To the same mother sitting on the floor playing a game with the aforementioned toddler that should be done at home/play group NOT a supermarket aisle.

When I was on the 'clock' working in the late '80's, city centre Thursday lunch times was do the supermarket shop time - every week I'd end up swearing under my breath or sometimes louder at the OAP's having their 'catch-up' talk in the middle of the isles or otherwise blocking the passageways. Ask them politely to move and mostly they would ignore me, ask them again loudly and I'd be told I was impatient or ignorant. One person complained the store floor manager about me, found me in the checkout who when told why I'd asked loudly for them to move then turned round to the complainer and supported me not them.

To another shopper Smart shop is scanning your goods as you pick them, you then pack them in your bags. Fresh produce is weighed on the scales provided and you scan the label generated and pack your effing Broccoli. You DO NOT take your full trolley to the check out to then scan and pack while a queue forms. You DO NOT then complain because you cannot weigh your effing Broccoli!!

Why is Sainsbury's who attract that type? Had exactly the same thing occur in the queue in front of us the previous weekend – Cashier on the checkout was less than amused and called the supervisor, who promptly dumped all the purchasers stuff back in her trolley and dragged them off to the Scanner station desk – was giving the purchaser a dressing down when we left.

Another shop another, day collecting stuff from the Frozen Food isle to see a Mother/Daughter/grandbrats (only me and them in the isle) stuffing half the contents of her trolley into her shopping bags. Later they appeared in the next checkout queue as me with heavy bags and not much stuff in the trolley – had I seen a shop person on the way out I would have said something if I could have done it discretely, unfortunately didn't see such a person.

To the motorist who pulled out in front of me twice, it is generally accepted as good driving practice to look to your left and right before pulling out into a main thoroughfare, your conversation with your passenger is not important. Fortunately I spotted you were an idiot before you hit my car and had braked pity you did not realise the toot of the horn was to alert you that I was there!!

Aaaaaand breathe.

I think it's modern, post covid driving practise – I have a bright red car, not quite florescent but a pretty obvious colour but I'm regularly pulled out in front of. Mate has a 'trick' Land Rover – goes much quicker than what is expected, painted in contrasting visibility colours and he complains about people pulling out in front of him, even the mashoosive steel bumpers don't affect the other drivers thinking abilities.

[longbow]

Yes.

It is a way out of date idea that has passed its useful life. Sadly we are stuck with this phraseology and it has now become more about the culture wars than political or economic (or environmental) strategies. Even in that context it is nonsense - Cameron brought in gay marriage and he is on the right in most understandings of the word.

The founding ideas of France after the revolution are similar to the US post revolution: - liberty, freedom, rule of law, social cohesion (fraternité = literally brotherhood). All good things and sadly all of them mean different things to different people. What one might identify as the "right" (UK Tory, US Republican, France En Marche etc) do not believe in any of those things and perhaps a new label is needed. I have a label but the forum software doesn't allow it.

I think the whole left / right political axis evaporated with the demise of the great mass worker movements decades ago. Anyone who still thinks in those terms (many politicians, journalists and activists on both sides still do) will continue to be caught out and surprised by the behaviour of the public at the ballot box etc for years to come. It's happened all across the Western world.

It's all a continuum though, for example - the founding ideas of France and particularly the US didn't just spring fully formed onto the barricades from nowhere, they were hugely influenced by what came before - particularly the upheavals and the founding of a republic here in the 1640's. One can argue that the US revolution in particular was the final act in the English (well, the war of the five Kingdoms) Civil war.

[Divemouse]

I have a bright red car, not quite florescent but a pretty obvious colour but I'm regularly pulled out in front of.

Our huge white 5.5m long van has been reversed into while parked with us in it 4 times. Every single time the other driver claims not to have seen us. We don't care, they come off much worse from hitting our steel rear step with their soft little cars.

[Chrisch]

I think the whole left / right political axis evaporated with the demise of the great mass worker movements decades ago. Anyone who still thinks in those terms (many politicians, journalists and activists on both sides still do) will continue to be caught out and surprised by the behaviour of the public at the ballot box etc for years to come. It's happened all across the Western world.
...

I am usually surprised by the public at ballot box to be honest. Dorries? Really? Johnson? Are they for real? No. Don't get it, honest I don't.

[steelemonkey]

Why is Sainsbury's who attract that type?

As Stephen Fry once said, " I like Sainsbury's, it keeps the riff raff out of Waitrose."

[barnaby_s]

Currently hating our bin men (and they are all men).
Put out our recycling bin last night as they can collect from any time after about 630am.
I am working from home see them lift the lid of the recycling bin, close it and walk away, after running out of the house bare footed and shouting I get the attention of one of them.
They told me that as there is a black bin bag at the top of the bin they won't take it.

I had to take the bag out (not one that we had put in there) and dragged the bin a block down the road before they would empty the bin.
If I hadn't been there and spoken to them there would have been nothing to tell me why the bin hadn't been emptied, and it would be 2 weeks before they were back round for the recycling.

And people are surprised when people don't recycle or end up fly tipping.