Things you can't stand (2022)?

[babyblob]

I live in a rural area. I tell my friends and family when we are on the phone if the call drops I will call you back. Yet they always seem to forget and when I try and call them back they are calling me even though I told them all a hundred times I will be the one who calls back.

[Zelena]

Where I live, plastic bags from stores are banned, and many towns have enacted laws where stores have to charge 10¢ to give customers a paper bag.

Where I live, plastic bags shouldn’t be used anymore too… but I have the impression that there are a lot of derogations.

Plastic is such a problem: over-consumption, over-packaging should be discouraged… Everything should be revisited: otherwise, eventually, our civilisation will end and leaving mountains of garbage…

[TheRay]

People who go looking for fights online.
All of those statements you made look like bait to me.

[babyblob]

People who go looking for fights online.
All of those statements you made look like bait to me.

What does that mean? You some kind of wise guy? I know how to handle wise guys!

[TheRay]

Also, everything about driving seems weird and scary to me.

[The Gold Stream]

airline food

[babyblob]

Also, everything about driving seems weird and scary to me.

I am with you on this. I have not driven in 12 years.

[Jim Kelly]

In high school they offered driving lessons, so I took those, but I was terrible at it and they said I'd need more lessons, so my parents sunk more money into getting me extra lessons, but I was still terrible at it and couldn't pass the test. At that point I felt guilty for costing my parents so much money so I put a stop to the lessons and never did get a license. I do still have dreams where I'm driving and it's always scary, because I don't know what I'm doing.

One of my biggest fears is heights. Especially if I have to cross a high bridge. My heart starts racing, my legs feel like rubber and I become frozen with fear. I can overcome it with exposure. When I was at university in Edmonton, I walked over the High Level Bridge every day to get from my place to the campus and back again. But if I stopped doing that for a period of time, when I tried to do it again, I would become paralyzed with fear all over again.

I have a mild fear of phones. I thought maybe this was just my own stupidity, but it's apparently a real phobia that people have. I associate phones with tragedy--getting calls that someone I loved has died. i don't have good associations with phones. And the sound of a phone ringing fills me with dread. So I usually keep my phone shut off and just check my messages a few times each day. Anyway most phonecalls are from international scammers. There aren't many people who use the phone anymore for legitimate reasons.

[MajorHoy]

In high school they offered driving lessons, so I took those, but I was terrible at it and they said I'd need more lessons, so my parents sunk more money into getting me extra lessons, but I was still terrible at it and couldn't pass the test. At that point I felt guilty for costing my parents so much money so I put a stop to the lessons and never did get a license. I do still have dreams where I'm driving and it's always scary, because I don't know what I'm doing.

Back when I was in high school, when in NJ you had to be 17 to get a driver's license, for junior year we had a driver's education course in place of health class for half the school year.
The end of the course was taking the test (in the school classroom) to get your learner's permit.

An actual on-the-road, behind-the-wheel course from the high school was done later (sometimes much later) and not necessarily during school hours. I wound up getting my driver's license before I got scheduled for any behind-the-wheel course, but I still took it during summer because it would get me a discount on auto insurance. I even had one afternoon when I drove home from my summer job at the town library in our family's car and then got behind the wheel of the school's car for my lesson, which was already waiting at my house. And I also got the benefit of the behind-the-wheel lessons focusing on highway driving, which I hadn't done much of yet at that time.

[TheRay]

I am with you on this. I have not driven in 12 years.

If you can do it, more power to you, but there are certain fringe benefits of it that I’d prefer to have.

[babyblob]

If you can do it, more power to you, but there are certain fringe benefits of it that I’d prefer to have.

I am a very bad driver. Being in the passenger seat of a car freaks me out. if I drove I would kill someone. And chances are that someone would be me.

[useridgoeshere]

The fortunes in our fortune cookies tonight were ads for FTX. I don’t like it.

[Totoro Man]

I get frustrated when I read interviews with high school students who complain that they had trouble learning because their teachers didn't look like them, or reflect their cultural heritage. you're there to learn, right? they are there to teach, right? so, start learning. it shouldn't matter what they look like... so long as they are not physically or verbally abusive or incompetent. when I read about people complaining of microaggressions... I think "y'know, 50 years ago there were teachers in Chicago that were punching their students because they were black, and they knew that they could get away with it."

but, this idea that I have to be able to see myself in my teachers to truly learn is... not good.

when you go out and get a job... what do you suppose the odds are that you're going to work with people who reflect your skin color and cultural heritage? depending on who you are, where you're from, and what sort of job you get into... the answer is going to be ZERO. so, learn to connect with people based on other things.

for me, when I started working at a new place I always focused on the people with the most seniority and were respected and trusted... did they take pride in their work, and earn the trust of all their co-workers and customers? then THAT is the person I want to learn from. I made it a point to LEARN as much as I could from those people as possible. if it was a 40-year old Bosnian Muslim woman who fled to America on fear of death... then great. if it was a 50-year old black man or 60-year old Vietnamese immigrant? cool. if it's a cranky old white guy who's been doing his job as long as I've been alive... that's fine too. if they have experience, knowledge, and skill... we should be prepared to learn from anybody.

I see a lot of younger people who tend to only associate with, and try to learn from, people who reflect their age and cultural backgrounds... and, it just annoys me. I find myself thinking, "why are you asking that question to a guy who has only worked here four months longer than you have? that 40-year old Mexican immigrant knows WAY more than that 25-year old you're talking to. That 50-year old Russian immigrant could give you better advice."

I don't need somebody to look like me, or have my cultural background to learn from, and respect them. hell, it's not even a matter of age... I've worked with younger co-workers that taught me stuff. if I can see that they're smart, hard-working, and honest... I'm prepared to learn from them.

I feel as though the desire for 'representation' can be counter-productive and even dishonest. when I read journalists complaining that blacks and asians are "over-represented" in the logistics industry I just think "at least they're still working because they are -essential-. how many white college-educated guys do we know that WANT to be a truck driver or a warehouse worker?"

so, when I read interviews with high school students where they complain that they had a hard time learning because their teachers didn't look like them... I just shake my head in utter disbelief. it just sounds like these people are less concerned with learning than in actively seeing themselves 'represented' in other people... and that, for me, seems like a dead-end attitude to have.

[Jack Dracula]

Where I live, plastic bags shouldn’t be used anymore too… but I have the impression that there are a lot of derogations.

Plastic is such a problem: over-consumption, over-packaging should be discouraged… Everything should be revisited: otherwise, eventually, our civilisation will end and leaving mountains of garbage…

A huge problem is that plastics don’t biodegrade like organic substances. Instead they photo-degrade it exposed to sunlight for long periods and unlike organics, they break into smaller and smaller pieces eventually to near microscopic size. These tiny bits are picked up by winds and blown for hundreds of miles. There are micro-plastics on top of the highest mountains and the bottom of the deep ocean trenches. A recent UK study found micro plastics in peoples bloodstreams. We have no idea what the widespread, long-term repercussions will be for humanity as we all will eventually have this garbage collecting in our organs. I doubt they will be beneficial though.

[CaptainEurope]

A huge problem is that plastics don’t biodegrade like organic substances. Instead they photo-degrade it exposed to sunlight for long periods and unlike organics, they break into smaller and smaller pieces eventually to near microscopic size. These tiny bits are picked up by winds and blown for hundreds of miles. There are micro-plastics on top of the highest mountains and the bottom of the deep ocean trenches. A recent UK study found micro plastics in peoples bloodstreams. We have no idea what the widespread, long-term repercussions will be for humanity as we all will eventually have this garbage collecting in our organs. I doubt they will be beneficial though.

But is having all kinds of diseases in humans and animals, possible decreased life expectancy, children born with disabilities at some point in the future REALLY enough reason to inconvenience people with plastic bag bans?