Comedic "things you would ban": minor things that irritate you

[Techniquest]

"Which coffee, sorry?" is often the response.


I wonder if people ever actually try to order a "black Americano with milk"?

Or if anyone has asked for a "black Americano, no sugar" and been asked "Is that brown or white sugar?"

I suspect at least one person has done before, probably in error by saying with instead of without I would imagine though! The sugar one I can well believe happens often!

 

[dakta]

On the topic of google and email I have linked my domain so I can read email sent to my personal domain through the gmail interface, but it only syncs at a speed proportional to the rate of email you tend to receive

so if you dont receive a lot of email volume daily, but like me when you do it tends to be a one time code sent to allow you to sign in to some invariably important service within the next ten minutes you're a bit stuffed

Moved to outlook only to realise the lack of email apart from the ones mentioned above is because googles default spam filter is rather good (outlook btw is not)

To be fair on either organsiation lets ban both

 

[61653 HTAFC]

People going to well known fast food outlets and having to have a long detailed discussion about the menu with the operative before ordering.

Well known fast food outlets that don't display their menu in a legible format adjacent to the queuing area to the drive-through bit, or have it on a single screen which cycles through several different pages, at least 20% of which are just adverts for a single item or promotion.

 

[yorksrob]

Foam soap. No doubt a cost saving initiative.

 

[Busaholic]

Foam soap. No doubt a cost saving initiative.

A total con imo.

 

[yorksrob]

A total con imo.

Indeed. Give me soap gel anyday !

 

[Runningaround]

Why not just ban fast food outlets altogether? I cannot think of a single thing they have benefited society, health, or the communities they're in.
Subway is about the only one that allows a bit of variety with free salad choices. But if you cannot be bothered o are able to make a sandwich yourself, then there's no hope for you.

 

[yorksrob]

Why not just ban fast food outlets altogether? I cannot think of a single thing they have benefited society, health, or the communities they're in.
Subway is about the only one that allows a bit of variety with free salad choices. But if you cannot be bothered o are able to make a sandwich yourself, then there's no hope for you.

I can't be arsed cooking a lot of the time.

I am that person

 

[py_megapixel]

I don't see what's wrong with foam soap...

 

[nlogax]

I don't see what's wrong with foam soap...

Rather foam or liquid soap over bar soap. Bar soap in public bathrooms can be pretty nasty.

 

[yorksrob]

I don't see what's wrong with foam soap...

I like a nice splodge of gell to work up a larther. Foam feels like a cheapo alternative.

 

[Techniquest]

Why not just ban fast food outlets altogether? I cannot think of a single thing they have benefited society, health, or the communities they're in.
Subway is about the only one that allows a bit of variety with free salad choices. But if you cannot be bothered o are able to make a sandwich yourself, then there's no hope for you.

I can make sandwiches no problem, but the reason I like Subway, or fast food in general, is when I'm out and about exploring/cycling/whatever. I do prefer to go to a supermarket and get the bare essentials to make my own sandwiches, sometimes this is not practical though for whatever reason. Subway is very handy in that situation!

Now if it's people leaving a house with plenty of good food in the kitchen, and going out to say McDonald's for a Big Mac meal or whatever, then going home, then I'm more likely to agree with you. However, equally if it's being done purely on an uncommon treat basis, or a reward after achieving a huge goal (my example here is a trip to the chippy after a 64+ mile cycle ride, when I genuinely have patience for preparing a meal, but sometimes I do actually make a meal), then again it's different.

I should add to the above that I used to spend plenty of money in McDonald's, Greggs and other such places in the not too distant past. I had a number of opportunities to be lazy this afternoon, and visit Greggs, but while it wasn't that much better really I went to Tesco for a meal deal instead. This was when I was quite a way from home, so I could hardly go and cook a meal!

 

[Runningaround]

I can make sandwiches no problem, but the reason I like Subway, or fast food in general, is when I'm out and about exploring/cycling/whatever. I do prefer to go to a supermarket and get the bare essentials to make my own sandwiches, sometimes this is not practical though for whatever reason. Subway is very handy in that situation!

Now if it's people leaving a house with plenty of good food in the kitchen, and going out to say McDonald's for a Big Mac meal or whatever, then going home, then I'm more likely to agree with you. However, equally if it's being done purely on an uncommon treat basis, or a reward after achieving a huge goal (my example here is a trip to the chippy after a 64+ mile cycle ride, when I genuinely have patience for preparing a meal, but sometimes I do actually make a meal), then again it's different.

I should add to the above that I used to spend plenty of money in McDonald's, Greggs and other such places in the not too distant past. I had a number of opportunities to be lazy this afternoon, and visit Greggs, but while it wasn't that much better really I went to Tesco for a meal deal instead. This was when I was quite a way from home, so I could hardly go and cook a meal!

Proper Fish & Chips with Mushy Peas at least has a decent supply of nutrients and 'do mushy peas count as one of the five a day? Is a treat and will fill you up for the day.
A Big Mac meal being seen as a rare treat though puts it on some kind of pedestal that a meal that poor shouldn't be on.
How do the chains with the product of the lowest standards become the biggest in it's industry? It's something that has baffled me for years. Convenience trumps standard. But quality produce loses to poor.
Supermarket Meat & Bread forced the quality local skilled Butcher and Baker to close and aren't always cheaper.
It's why Wetherspoons succeeds if they think it's cheap it some don't give damn what they eat.

 

[Techniquest]

Proper Fish & Chips with Mushy Peas at least has a decent supply of nutrients and 'do mushy peas count as one of the five a day? Is a treat and will fill you up for the day.
A Big Mac meal being seen as a rare treat though puts it on some kind of pedestal that a meal that poor shouldn't be on.
How do the chains with the product of the lowest standards become the biggest in it's industry? It's something that has baffled me for years. Convenience trumps standard. But quality produce loses to poor.
Supermarket Meat & Bread forced the quality local skilled Butcher and Baker to close and aren't always cheaper.
It's why Wetherspoons succeeds if they think it's cheap it some don't give damn what they eat.

I will agree, a fish and chips meal with mushy peas does have some good nutrition in it, unlike a lot of options for fast food. I would contest the value of mushy peas these days, yes there's some sort of nutrition in them but the quality of the product is extremely low in every chippy I go to, so I don't bother. £1.40 for a small pot of dark green liquid with a bit of "peas", no thank you!

My point about treating fast food as a rare treat was that if such food is consumed on just an occasional basis, and not as a standard option in place of good food, then it's not necessarily the end of the world. I do agree that fast food chains like McDonald's should not have such an influence as they do, but it is worth noting that sometimes it is the most efficient option available. If I'm at, say, Reading and I have 20 minutes before my next train then I basically have two options on the station. Burger King or Subway, assuming of course this is at a meal time. Whichever one I'd choose would partly depend on the queue length, to be honest, but there would not be sufficient time to go to a local shop and get something from there first.

Going back to last night's post, the Subway experience I had in mind was in Leominster a good number of weeks back. I'd just finished a 31 mile cycle ride, and needed something good for lunch before I had somewhere to be for a few hours, then I had more cycling to do in the late afternoon. Subway was my best option at that time, especially being on a Sunday. So it wasn't because of being lazy/unable to make a sandwich, I just didn't have the time to go to a shop and source the stuff I needed to make a sandwich.

Otherwise, I generally agree with you. Cheap, mass-produced and low-quality food has been favoured by the masses for so long that good quality food that costs more is not seen in such a good light. Why it's like that, I don't know but it's not going to change any time soon. I definitely agree with Wetherspoons food, let's not discuss the poor quality meal my Mum had when we went there earlier in the year!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I don't see what's wrong with foam soap...

Me neither. This thread is slowly turning into the Grandpa Simpson "old man yells at cloud" meme...

 

[jfollows]

People who can't park without driving over the pavement first, usually but not always in a monster SUV.
I was walking past one such a while ago and said "I have just been on a canal boat and I could park it better than you just did" in a friendly tone, no offence was taken.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

People who can't park without driving over the pavement first, usually but not always in a monster SUV.
I was walking past one such a while ago and said "I have just been on a canal boat and I could park it better than you just did" in a friendly tone, no offence was taken.

Are you sure no offence was taken? If I'd been that person who'd made a bit of a pig's ear of parking, and some smart-**** had said something like that, my response would not have been suitable to post here.

 

[jfollows]

Are you sure no offence was taken? If I'd been that person who'd made a bit of a pig's ear of parking, and some smart-**** had said something like that, my response would not have been suitable to post here.

In this particular case the driver had already grimaced and grinned at me to acknowledge what a mess he had made of parking, so I just said something like "I can park a canal boat better than that" and we both laughed. However in general people who are too lazy to park properly is a minor thing that irritates me slightly.

 

[nlogax]

Me neither. This thread is slowly turning into the Grandpa Simpson "old man yells at cloud" meme...

Tbf this thread has always been a non-celeb version of Grumpy Old Men / Grumpy Old Women. If nowt else it's entertaining

 

[Runningaround]

I will agree, a fish and chips meal with mushy peas does have some good nutrition in it, unlike a lot of options for fast food. I would contest the value of mushy peas these days, yes there's some sort of nutrition in them but the quality of the product is extremely low in every chippy I go to, so I don't bother. £1.40 for a small pot of dark green liquid with a bit of "peas", no thank you!

My point about treating fast food as a rare treat was that if such food is consumed on just an occasional basis, and not as a standard option in place of good food, then it's not necessarily the end of the world. I do agree that fast food chains like McDonald's should not have such an influence as they do, but it is worth noting that sometimes it is the most efficient option available. If I'm at, say, Reading and I have 20 minutes before my next train then I basically have two options on the station. Burger King or Subway, assuming of course this is at a meal time. Whichever one I'd choose would partly depend on the queue length, to be honest, but there would not be sufficient time to go to a local shop and get something from there first.

Going back to last night's post, the Subway experience I had in mind was in Leominster a good number of weeks back. I'd just finished a 31 mile cycle ride, and needed something good for lunch before I had somewhere to be for a few hours, then I had more cycling to do in the late afternoon. Subway was my best option at that time, especially being on a Sunday. So it wasn't because of being lazy/unable to make a sandwich, I just didn't have the time to go to a shop and source the stuff I needed to make a sandwich.

Otherwise, I generally agree with you. Cheap, mass-produced and low-quality food has been favoured by the masses for so long that good quality food that costs more is not seen in such a good light. Why it's like that, I don't know but it's not going to change any time soon. I definitely agree with Wetherspoons food, let's not discuss the poor quality meal my Mum had when we went there earlier in the year!

Wetherspoons has replaced a greasy spoon ''mega breakfast'' style café for some, which I cannot comprehend unless someone's desperate for a pint at 8 o'clock in the morning, or a curry house both are ubiquitous in British towns and cities why go to a place that does neither very well? But although both are worth it in the UK it's not unknown to spend the week on the Spanish Costas in Cafes, British style pubs and a Curry House!!!
One of the saddest sights seen is ''British tourists'' hunting for a pint of Carling/Carlsberg in the Czech Republic the home of Pilsners, a McDonald's in France or a Starbucks in Milan.

 

[py_megapixel]

Wetherspoons has replaced a greasy spoon ''mega breakfast'' style café for some, which I cannot comprehend unless someone's desperate for a pint at 8 o'clock in the morning, or a curry house both are ubiquitous in British towns and cities why go to a place that does neither very well? But although both are worth it in the UK it's not unknown to spend the week on the Spanish Costas in Cafes, British style pubs and a Curry House!!!
One of the saddest sights seen is ''British tourists'' hunting for a pint of Carling/Carlsberg in the Czech Republic the home of Pilsners, a McDonald's in France or a Starbucks in Milan.

For many people their holiday is not about food and as such they'd rather not worry about it. They just want something easy and familiar that they know they'll like.

 

[Busaholic]

One of the saddest sights seen is ''British tourists'' hunting for a pint of Carling/Carlsberg in the Czech Republic the home of Pilsners, a McDonald's in France or a Starbucks in Milan.

My wife won a raffle prize of a free weekend for two in Paris, air flight and cheap hotel inc. Got to Gatwick Friday afternoon to find lightning strike by French air traffic control, we arrived at our hotel after midnight and, tired and starving, went in search of a lovely little bistro! As we suspected, it was a McDonald's Big Mac or nothing so, for the only time in her life, my wife ate one: we didn't linger!

 

[WelshBluebird]

Wetherspoons has replaced a greasy spoon ''mega breakfast'' style café for some, which I cannot comprehend unless someone's desperate for a pint at 8 o'clock in the morning, or a curry house both are ubiquitous in British towns and cities why go to a place that does neither very well? But although both are worth it in the UK it's not unknown to spend the week on the Spanish Costas in Cafes, British style pubs and a Curry House!!!
One of the saddest sights seen is ''British tourists'' hunting for a pint of Carling/Carlsberg in the Czech Republic the home of Pilsners, a McDonald's in France or a Starbucks in Milan.

Whilst I agree with you in general, there's also an element of needing something quick and not have the time or energy to research what places you should go to in an unfamiliar town. That applies as much in the UK as it does abroad too. If I get somewhere at 6pm and have an event I'm going to at 7pm, I'm not going to fuss around finding somewhere nice to eat, I'll just find the closest place I know I am happy enough with. Or a situation I will be in come September, if I land at Berlin airport at 9pm, I won't get to my hotel until at least 10pm if not later and so once I've checked in, I'm not going to want to wander around trying to find some nice food and beer - I'll probably just find the nearest fast food place and then have a quick drink at the hotel bar!

 

[jfollows]

For many people their holiday is not about food and as such they'd rather not worry about it. They just want something easy and familiar that they know they'll like.

I'm sure my experience isn't unique, but I remember going to a restaurant and ordering something, the person sitting next to me said something like "oh good, what is that you've ordered?" and was flummoxed when I said "I don't know, that's why I ordered it".
There are clearly people who like to stick with what they know under some circumstances, that's fine, we're all different. I don't judge, I wouldn't personally go near Mcdonalds or Carling or Starbucks when abroad, but if that's what floats your boat ...... so I guess on the thread topic I'd say that people who do don't irritate me even slightly.

 

[Purple Train]

Incorrect punctuation really annoys me; can I ban that.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Incorrect punctuation really annoys me; can I ban that.

"can I ban that?"

 

[duncanp]

What really annoys me in this hot weather is why drinking beer makes you put on weight, whereas drinking water helps you lose weight.

It should be the other way round.

 

[Purple Train]

"can I ban that?"

Thank you for your, assistance.

 

[duncanp]

Thank you for your, assistance.

Shoodent that bee

"..thank yew for your're assistants...

 

[Purple Train]

Shoodent that bee

"..thank yew for your're assistants...

Your right.

On the same subject, I would also ban pre-recorded station announcements whose delivery is completely mixed up. For example, "The next traiiiiin to arrive at platform 2. [long pause] is the 12 [pause] 42serviceto [pause] NottinghamcalLINGat..." I don't know which announcements are particularly notorious for doing so, and can't really describe the auto-announcer that does them, apart from the fact that it's a female voice.

I'd also ban TikTok. And Burger King. And The Sun. And the Daily Mail. And GB News. And I would also ban Grant Shapps from holding the position of transport secretary.

(I've been a grumpy old man from the age of seven).