Complaint Thursdays

[Hoss]

I've just been dragging all week - I had Monday off for a golf outing, but haven't been able to drum up enough energy to not want to sleep since then.

 

I went to a wake last night for a fellow golfer. 61 years old and dropped dead from a heart attack. Nice guy, just kinda blended in, but was always fun to play with. You'll be missed, Joe. :(

Sorry to hear that. Take some time for yourself to get refreshed. It's all that seems to work for me when everything is dragging... Take some time completely alone to breathe.

[TrueBlueGED]

Inspired by Claude's post in the food thread: Amazon Prime day. What a load of garbage. It was mostly low quality products that Amazon clearly wanted out of its warehouses. And much like Black Friday, all the good stuff was extremely limited supply and gone by the time I had a chance to browse.

 

Second complaint which may rile some folks up: people who go grocery shopping as a family and take up an entire aisle by themselves. When I go to Wegmans I want to get in and out ASAP, not dodge kids who are spinning in circles in the middle of an aisle because they don't want to be there. Two parents with three kids? Next time do the rest of us a favor and one of you stay home with the kids. Go ahead parents, tell me how I'm wrong and don't understand family dynamics, I'm ready for it!

[drnkirishone]

Preach on brother phd

[Weave]

Inspired by Claude's post in the food thread: Amazon Prime day. What a load of garbage. It was mostly low quality products that Amazon clearly wanted out of its warehouses. And much like Black Friday, all the good stuff was extremely limited supply and gone by the time I had a chance to browse.

 

Second complaint which may rile some folks up: people who go grocery shopping as a family and take up an entire aisle by themselves. When I go to Wegmans I want to get in and out ASAP, not dodge kids who are spinning in circles in the middle of an aisle because they don't want to be there. Two parents with three kids? Next time do the rest of us a favor and one of you stay home with the kids. Go ahead parents, tell me how I'm wrong and don't understand family dynamics, I'm ready for it!

 

 

I swear to God one day I am going to attach cattle prods to the front of a cart and give everyone a lesson in getting the #### out of the way.

[Hoss]

So in 2010 we got Tim Conboy. Last year we got Tyler Ennis' extension. Both pretty big franchise-changing moves the Sabres made on my birthday (today).

 

This year? Some scrub re-signings. Sigh. #dosomethingtimmy

[biodork]

I'm sorry about the horse, Jo.   :(  And condolences to you also, ubkev.  Now on to my list...

 

1) I am still unemployed.  It's been just over a week now since I submitted the required application to HR and they have yet to contact me with an official offer.  And even after they do, I won't be permitted to start until they complete a background check and I complete a health screen.  If this is their idea of expediting things, I'd hate to think how long a normal job recruitment would take.

 

2) I did not budget for an extra 2-3 weeks unpaid "vacation" between jobs, and am starting to freak out about what my finances will look like in 6 weeks after the last of my vacation payout from the previous job have been used.

 

3) I had to take apart and re-assemble that stupid GD toilet a total of FIVE times last week and buy another new tool before I could get everything tightened enough to finally stop the leak.

 

4) My dad's surgery was yesterday.  They took him back to the OR (late) at noon, started the surgery around 2pm, finished around 2:30am, and we were finally able to see him in his room around 5:30am.  I'd only slept 3 hours the night before, and probably only slept 3 hours total last night in several 30 min. increments on uncomfortable waiting area chairs at the hospital.  They had planned to just remove a section of his right jaw and do a graft from his upper leg, but when they opened him up they found the tumor (not lesion) was more extensive than they thought and ended up removing the entire right side of his jaw from the joint to his chin and just doing a soft tissue graft from his leg to fill the space.  They were reasonably confident they removed all the cancer, but also removed the lymph nodes for biopsy and are planning on radiation therapy in around 6 weeks.  He's got a feeding tube and a temporary tracheostomy for breathing since the swelling from the surgery partially blocks his airway at the back of his throat for now.  He will likely go home with both still in place a week or so from now and will almost certainly need speech therapy since he no longer has any teeth on the lower right side.  The jaw may be able to be reconstructed in some manner much further down the road, but for now that makes a return to his current job highly unlikely.  It sounded like this was actually a slow-growing cancer from the bone left over in 2002 rather than a new malignancy that started in the cheek and invaded the bone... the doc said his jaw probably would've fractured on its own in a couple more weeks due to the extent of the damage.  All this time my dad has been trying to tell his previous doctors there was something wrong, and no one could be bothered to take the time to investigate properly.  It never should've gotten this bad, and he's going to be devastated when he realizes what they had to do.

Edited July 16, 2015 by biodork

[The Dominator]

Thanks for the resume tips everyone. Most of it seems like common sense (maybe not that common seeing as how you have had multiple issues with elementary level errors). I will be sure to avoid those errors 

[ubkev]

I'm sorry about the horse, Jo. :( And condolences to you also, ubkev. Now on to my list...

 

1) I am still unemployed. It's been just over a week now since I submitted the required application to HR and they have yet to contact me with an official offer. And even after they do, I won't be permitted to start until they complete a background check and I complete a health screen. If this is their idea of expediting things, I'd hate to think how long a normal job recruitment would take.

 

2) I did not budget for an extra 2-3 weeks unpaid "vacation" between jobs, and am starting to freak out about what my finances will look like in 6 weeks after the last of my vacation payout from the previous job have been used.

 

3) I had to take apart and re-assemble that stupid GD toilet a total of FIVE times last week and buy another new tool before I could get everything tightened enough to finally stop the leak.

 

4) My dad's surgery was yesterday. They took him back to the OR (late) at noon, started the surgery around 2pm, finished around 2:30am, and we were finally able to see him in his room around 5:30am. I'd only slept 3 hours the night before, and probably only slept 3 hours total last night in several 30 min. increments on uncomfortable waiting area chairs at the hospital. They had planned to just remove a section of his right jaw and do a graft from his upper leg, but when they opened him up they found the tumor (not lesion) was more extensive than they thought and ended up removing the entire right side of his jaw from the joint to his chin and just doing a soft tissue graft from his leg to fill the space. They were reasonably confident they removed all the cancer, but also removed the lymph nodes for biopsy and are planning on radiation therapy in around 6 weeks. He's got a feeding tube and a temporary tracheostomy for breathing since the swelling from the surgery partially blocks his airway at the back of his throat for now. He will likely go home with both still in place a week or so from now and will almost certainly need speech therapy since he no longer has any teeth on the lower right side. The jaw may be able to be reconstructed in some manner much further down the road, but for now that makes a return to his current job highly unlikely. It sounded like this was actually a slow-growing cancer from the bone left over in 2002 rather than a new malignancy that started in the cheek and invaded the bone... the doc said his jaw probably would've fractured on its own in a couple more weeks due to the extent of the damage. All this time my dad has been trying to tell his previous doctors there was something wrong, and no one could be bothered to take the time to investigate properly. It never should've gotten this bad, and he's going to be devastated when he realizes what they had to do.

That sucks, bio. I'm very sorry.

And my condolences to Jo. I love horses (my casino is actually at the track).

[darksabre]

Josie is off to Vancouver until Tuesday to watch a friend run the Ironman Triathlon and relax. She deserves the vacation but I'm definitely going to complain a little about not getting to see her at all this weekend.  :bag: Grump Grump Grump. 

 

 

B-)

[shrader]

Bank of America charged me a $10 fee for my savings account falling below $300 for a period of less than 12 hours.  It's a small amount, but stealing money seems like a crappy thing to do to someone who has been with them for around 15 years.  I'm oddly tempted to close the account over this.

[darksabre]

Bank of America charged me a $10 fee for my savings account falling below $300 for a period of less than 12 hours.  It's a small amount, but stealing money seems like a crappy thing to do to someone who has been with them for around 15 years.  I'm oddly tempted to close the account over this.

 

You should. BOA is the worst bank in the world. 

[shrader]

Josie is off to Vancouver until Tuesday to watch a friend run the Ironman Triathlon and relax. She deserves the vacation but I'm definitely going to complain a little about not getting to see her at all this weekend.  :bag: Grump Grump Grump. 

 

 

B-)

 

My wife's been back in Boston since Friday.  It's strange and all, but I think that the fact that I complained about a $5 fee first is very telling.

[darksabre]

My wife's been back in Boston since Friday.  It's strange and all, but I think that the fact that I complained about a $5 fee first is very telling.

 

:lol: 

 

I don't think I'd be complaining as much if I was seeing her more often than just the weekend. But all we get are our weekends (although I've been coming out on Wednesday nights lately thanks to my new car). So I'm gonna complain a little bit. 

[chileanseabass]

Bank of America charged me a $10 fee for my savings account falling below $300 for a period of less than 12 hours.  It's a small amount, but stealing money seems like a crappy thing to do to someone who has been with them for around 15 years.  I'm oddly tempted to close the account over this.

 

 

I had something similar happen a few years ago with BOA.  They pissed me off royally after having an account with them for close to 20 years.  So, I closed it, switched to PNC and haven't regretted it one bit.  

[shrader]

I had something similar happen a few years ago with BOA.  They pissed me off royally after having an account with them for close to 20 years.  So, I closed it, switched to PNC and haven't regretted it one bit.  

 

We actually just opened a PNC account a couple weeks ago.  Right now my paychecks go to BOA and the wife's go to PNC.  I've never had any issues with BOA before, so I'll probably stick with it for now, but I may just see how they respond to me making the threat to walk away.  The only thing that makes me question it is whether or not I'd have to pay ATM fees at non-PNC banks.  I forget if that's worked into their accounts or not.

[Weave]

My daily commute is on the NYS Thruway.  It is generally a low stress, enjoyable commute (well, as enjoyable as the monotony of the Thruway can be).  I perceive a big difference among the daily NYS Thruway drivers and those that only use the Thruway occasionally.  The difference is mostly in use of the left lane.  Not only are there signs along the Thruway indicating that slower traffic should keep left, there is a sort of understood etiquette as well.  Stay right, move left to make your pass, resume in the right lane.  Fridays from Memorial Day to Labor Day are the worst.  Every vacationing jackwagon that hangs in the left lane on Transit Road and Niagara Falls Blvd insists on staying in the left lane on the Thruway, regardless of their speed and the speed of those around them.  This morning I came upon a Camry that was doing 70 in the left lane.  The pickup truck between us got all over this guys rear bumper.  Nope.  He's not gonna budge and he's not gonna speed up.  Truck passes him on the right when its clear, and so do I.  Then the guy speeds up, passes me, and then slows back down again.  All in the left hand lane.  A second vehicle comes up behind him and tailgates when he slows to under 70.  This was like a 10 mile game. Dude, you are adding stress to folks morning commutes.  Move the F over if you aren't actively passing vehicles.

 

It's really simple. 1.  Keep right except to pass.  2. If you are going to move into the left lane, respect the faster traffic that is already in the lane.  Wait til they've passed to make your move, or match their speed.  3. Move into the left lane to let mergers in, and see #2 while doing it.  4. Holding up the guy tailgating you affects a whole line of cars behind him too, and they weren't the ones tailgating you.  Don't be that guy.  5.  The highway doesn't need nannies.  Let the Troopers catch these guys.

Edited July 23, 2015 by weave

[darksabre]

My daily commute is on the NYS Thruway.  It is generally a low stress, enjoyable commute (well, as enjoyable as the monotony of the Thruway can be).  I perceive a big difference among the daily NYS Thruway drivers and those that only use the Thruway occasionally.  The difference is mostly in use of the left lane.  Not only are there signs along the Thruway indicating that slower traffic should keep left, there is a sort of understood etiquette as well.  Stay right, move left to make your pass, resume in the right lane.  Fridays from Memorial Day to Labor Day are the worst.  Every vacationing jackwagon that hangs in the left lane on Transit Road and Niagara Falls Blvd insists on staying in the left lane on the Thruway, regardless of their speed and the speed of those around them.  This morning I came upon a Camry that was doing 70 in the left lane.  The pickup truck between us got all over this guys rear bumper.  Nope.  He's not gonna budge and he's not gonna speed up.  Truck passes him on the right when its clear, and so do I.  Then the guy speeds up, passes me, and then slows back down again.  All in the left hand lane.  A second vehicle comes up behind him and tailgates when he slows to under 70.  This was like a 10 mile game. Dude, you are adding stress to folks morning commutes.  Move the F over if you aren't actively passing vehicles.

 

It's really simple. 1.  Keep right except to pass.  2. If you are going to move into the left lane, respect the faster traffic that is already in the lane.  Wait til they've passed to make your move, or match their speed.  3. Move into the left lane to let mergers in, and see #2 while doing it.  4. Holding up the guy tailgating you affects a whole line of cars behind him too, and they weren't the ones tailgating you.  Don't be that guy.  5.  The highway doesn't need nannies.  Let the Troopers catch these guys.

I've been making the drive in and out more often lately and I have to say that evening traffic is worse going Eastbound no matter what day of the week it is. My morning commute is usually pretty relaxed and I've been able to cruise at 80 with few disruptions. But going back to Rochester on Fridays is unreal. I spend half my commute hanging behind a truck in the right lane doing 60 because I just don't want to be stressing out about trying to go at any reasonable speed in the left lane. It just isn't going to happen. I'll pop over to the left when I get my chances and wind it up for as long as I can, but it's just rolling roadblock after rolling roadblock of people who don't know how to get the f*ck over. 

[nfreeman]

Thanks for the resume tips everyone. Most of it seems like common sense (maybe not that common seeing as how you have had multiple issues with elementary level errors). I will be sure to avoid those errors 

 

As long as you're being careful about it -- use periods at the end of your sentences too.

[shrader]

My daily commute is on the NYS Thruway.  It is generally a low stress, enjoyable commute (well, as enjoyable as the monotony of the Thruway can be).  I perceive a big difference among the daily NYS Thruway drivers and those that only use the Thruway occasionally.  The difference is mostly in use of the left lane.  Not only are there signs along the Thruway indicating that slower traffic should keep left, there is a sort of understood etiquette as well.  Stay right, move left to make your pass, resume in the right lane.  Fridays from Memorial Day to Labor Day are the worst.  Every vacationing jackwagon that hangs in the left lane on Transit Road and Niagara Falls Blvd insists on staying in the left lane on the Thruway, regardless of their speed and the speed of those around them.  This morning I came upon a Camry that was doing 70 in the left lane.  The pickup truck between us got all over this guys rear bumper.  Nope.  He's not gonna budge and he's not gonna speed up.  Truck passes him on the right when its clear, and so do I.  Then the guy speeds up, passes me, and then slows back down again.  All in the left hand lane.  A second vehicle comes up behind him and tailgates when he slows to under 70.  This was like a 10 mile game. Dude, you are adding stress to folks morning commutes.  Move the F over if you aren't actively passing vehicles.

 

It's really simple. 1.  Keep right except to pass.  2. If you are going to move into the left lane, respect the faster traffic that is already in the lane.  Wait til they've passed to make your move, or match their speed.  3. Move into the left lane to let mergers in, and see #2 while doing it.  4. Holding up the guy tailgating you affects a whole line of cars behind him too, and they weren't the ones tailgating you.  Don't be that guy.  5.  The highway doesn't need nannies.  Let the Troopers catch these guys.

 

And playing games like that at high speeds just isn't worth the risk.  You never know when it can turn into that drunken idiot video from a few months back. 

 

Anyway, I just hope you realize that this kind of thing isn't unique to the Thruway.  The slow guy in the left lane thing actually seems to be a bit more present here in NC (especially Durham) than I've seen in the past.  I've had several cars pull over into the left lane in front of me last second even though there wasn't a single car in front of them in their lane.  And it's not like they're getting ready for an upcoming exit on the left or something, they just decide to drive in the left lane for no reason whatsoever.

 

Your post reminded me of someone I ran into last night.  I was in the left lane passing someone and saw a car coming up on me pretty quickly.  I sped up a bit to get past the right lane car and then immediately moved over and slowed back down to my normal speed, getting out of the other car's way before he even got to the point of tailing me.  The fast guy then pulled up along side me and then matched my speed for a couple miles.  I had cruise control on, so I was locked in at a steady speed.  A little later, the guy did a hard break, switched into my lane, then turned on his high beams before getting off at the next exit.  I still have no idea what that was all about.

[darksabre]

And playing games like that at high speeds just isn't worth the risk.  You never know when it can turn into that drunken idiot video from a few months back. 

 

Anyway, I just hope you realize that this kind of thing isn't unique to the Thruway.  The slow guy in the left lane thing actually seems to be a bit more present here in NC (especially Durham) than I've seen in the past.  I've had several cars pull over into the left lane in front of me last second even though there wasn't a single car in front of them in their lane.  And it's not like they're getting ready for an upcoming exit on the left or something, they just decide to drive in the left lane for no reason whatsoever.

 

Your post reminded me of someone I ran into last night.  I was in the left lane passing someone and saw a car coming up on me pretty quickly.  I sped up a bit to get past the right lane car and then immediately moved over and slowed back down to my normal speed, getting out of the other car's way before he even got to the point of tailing me.  The fast guy then pulled up along side me and then matched my speed for a couple miles.  I had cruise control on, so I was locked in at a steady speed.  A little later, the guy did a hard break, switched into my lane, then turned on his high beams before getting off at the next exit.  I still have no idea what that was all about.

 

DRUNK. 

[Weave]

 

 

Anyway, I just hope you realize that this kind of thing isn't unique to the Thruway.  The slow guy in the left lane thing actually seems to be a bit more present here in NC (especially Durham) than I've seen in the past.  I've had several cars pull over into the left lane in front of me last second even though there wasn't a single car in front of them in their lane.  And it's not like they're getting ready for an upcoming exit on the left or something, they just decide to drive in the left lane for no reason whatsoever.

 

 

 

I assume the mindset comes from traveling on expressways around town.  I get it on an expressway around the suburbs.  The right lane has alot of merging and exiting, so that leaves the left lane for everyone else.  On the open road though, just move the F over.

 

 

Your post reminded me of someone I ran into last night.  I was in the left lane passing someone and saw a car coming up on me pretty quickly.  I sped up a bit to get past the right lane car and then immediately moved over and slowed back down to my normal speed, getting out of the other car's way before he even got to the point of tailing me.  The fast guy then pulled up along side me and then matched my speed for a couple miles.  I had cruise control on, so I was locked in at a steady speed.  A little later, the guy did a hard break, switched into my lane, then turned on his high beams before getting off at the next exit.  I still have no idea what that was all about.

 

Yeah, no sense even trying to understand what pisses some folks off some times.  Just another reason why we all should do what we can to make the commute less stressful.  This guy sounded like he was already wound like a spring and looking for an energy release.

[Doohickie]

Bank of America charged me a $10 fee for my savings account falling below $300 for a period of less than 12 hours.  It's a small amount, but stealing money seems like a crappy thing to do to someone who has been with them for around 15 years.  I'm oddly tempted to close the account over this.

 

Did you call them?  I've had them for something like 30 years, and I've found that they do that kind of stuff once in a while.  If you're a longtime customer and don't constantly incur fees like that, they'll usually remove them if you call (at least in my experience).

Not only are there signs along the Thruway indicating that slower traffic should keep left,...

 

It's really simple. 1.  Keep right except to pass. 

 

See, this is a problem with the jackwagons, but also with the signage.  The sign should read per your words:  "KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS".  When it says "SLOW TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT" or whatever it says on the Thruway (I forget the exact wording), it sends the wrong connotation; it says that if you're in the right lane, you're slow, and no one likes to think of themselves as traveling slowly on the Thruway.  They need to remove the reference to speed from the signage and say left lane is for passing only.  Period.

[Lanny]

Bank of America charged me a $10 fee for my savings account falling below $300 for a period of less than 12 hours.  It's a small amount, but stealing money seems like a crappy thing to do to someone who has been with them for around 15 years.  I'm oddly tempted to close the account over this.

I would call your local branch and request that they reverse the fee. If they say no politely close the account.

[The Dominator]

Did you call them?  I've had them for something like 30 years, and I've found that they do that kind of stuff once in a while.  If you're a longtime customer and don't constantly incur fees like that, they'll usually remove them if you call (at least in my experience).

 

See, this is a problem with the jackwagons, but also with the signage.  The sign should read per your words:  "KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS".  When it says "SLOW TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT" or whatever it says on the Thruway (I forget the exact wording), it sends the wrong connotation; it says that if you're in the right lane, you're slow, and no one likes to think of themselves as traveling slowly on the Thruway.  They need to remove the reference to speed from the signage and say left lane is for passing only.  Period.

 

This is a good point. The connotation is completely different when re-worded in that manner. Instead of drivers thinking: I drive 5 mph over the limit (fast) I should be in the left lane. They would instead be thinking: I'm going to drive exclusively in the right lane unless I approach a car that I can pass. The 2nd line of thinking is what the 2/3/4 lane system was built to do but the current signage doesn't always infer that.

[shrader]

I would call your local branch and request that they reverse the fee. If they say no politely close the account.

 

I did call and they weren't all that helpful.  The best part was after the call, the woman said "thank you for having an account since 20XX".  That right there is what made me think about closing it.