Things that make me go "grrrrr" (Room 101)

Member Name: Chelle1969

Product:	Room 101
Date:	02/08/09 (172 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: My pet hates

Disadvantages: You may not agree with my choices

Oooh a chance to share all my little pet hates - this will be fun! So, at risk of sounding like a grumpy old woman, here's my list of things I'd like to banish into Room 101.


Crocs
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Not the big scary reptiles, but the horrible plastic shoes that have invaded the world over the past couple of years. Where did they come from? Who on earth is responsible for creating such monstrosities? And more to the point why do people buy them? Maybe they're really really comfortable (I don't intend to ever find out) but come on, admit it, they look stupid. I can just about excuse them on children, lots of children's things are plastic and novelty looking, but on adults, please! Apologies to any Croc wearers reading this, who may be offended, but I'm sorry, my eyes get offended every time I see a pair!


Queue Jumpers
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No other nation can form a polite orderly queue like the British, unfortunately it seems to be a dying art and these days getting on a bus can be akin to negotiating a rugby scrum. Bring back queuing I say, it's only right and proper, and those that can't or won't do it can go straight to Room 101.


Tipping In Restaurants
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I hate tipping in restaurants. No, actually the problem I have is that society dictates that you must leave a tip or suffer the embarrassment of being subjected to dirty looks from the staff and/or other members of your group. It's not because I'm tight, I just don't get it, why do we feel obliged to automatically tip waiters and waitresses regardless. They get paid for the work they do like the rest of us. I've worked as a cinema projectionist for over 10 years, and in that time not once has anyone ever come to the projection box after seeing a film and said "you showed that film really well, thanks, here's a fiver", and nor would I ever expect them to, I get paid for the job I do. So why then after a meal when the waiter has finished doing the job they are paid to do, and you have paid for the meal are you 'expected' to leave around 10% extra as some sort of 'thank you' tax? I can say thank you perfectly well without money being involved. It's supposedly a 'service charge' and some restaurants even tell you that service is not included, how ridiculous, of course it is. They wouldn't let customers go to the kitchens and collect the food themselves now would they! Oh and if it's sneakily added automatically to the bill by the restaurant (the cheek of it!) then I'll definitely remove it.
I've been guilty many times of automatically tipping, but not any more, I'm getting good at ignoring dirty looks and I'm learning to live with being branded a tightwad. If someone goes out of their way to make my experience special, or goes that extra mile for me when they didn't have to, then I'll leave a tip but otherwise forget it.


Coffee
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I don't drink coffee, can't stand the stuff but that's only partly why I'd see coffee banished to Room 101. It's also the fact that coffee has taken over the high streets and shopping centres of the world. Surely there must be a limit to how many coffee shops a high street actually needs. But what's even worse is that it's becoming harder and harder to find a decent cup of tea on the high street these days, you certainly won't get a good strong cup of builders tea in a costabucks or whatever they're called. Exactly when did Britain, traditionally a nation of tea drinkers become so bloody European anyway?!


Traffic Wardens
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Not all traffic wardens I hasten to add, I'm sure most of them do a sterling job at handing out tickets to only the very worst offenders on the roads, no, my beef is with one particular lying cheating toe rag working for my local council.
You may or may not know that for a parking ticket to be valid it has to be either placed on your vehicle or handed to you by the warden, so therefore if you drive away before he has chance to legally present it to you, he must declare it void. You can tell where this is going can't you? I admit was illegally parked for a few minutes (nipped into Tesco to get flowers for my Mum, not that that matters) but rushed back before the warden has even printed the ticket and drove away. Yes, I admit I felt quite pleased with myself, but that was short lived when I received the fine in the post two weeks later. I appealed and failed, then took it to an adjudicator and failed again - with no witness it was the toe-rag's word against mine.
'I fought the law and the law won' - so unfair.


Ladybirds
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Yes really, the creepy little red and black flying bugs that most people seem to find so cute. I had a bad experience as a child in the 70's when I was taken to Worthing on the south coast at the time when an invasion of ladybirds came over from France. The streets were paved red with squashed bugs and I was bitten all over. Ever since then I freak if one comes near me, so I could happily be rid of them into Room 101.


Telephone Option Menus
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It seems that whenever the need arises to phone a large company or bank these days you first have to navigate your way through a minefield of option menus. You know the ones I mean, "if you are calling about blah, press 1. If you are calling about blah blah press 2" and so it goes on. Sometimes there can be 5 or 6 options and woe betide you miss your option, or more likely, you're not sure what option to choose, you'll have to go through it all again. Why can't we just speak to a real live person, preferably one who speaks English and has some experience with the company they are supposed to be working for?
The other day I needed to speak with someone at the Abbey National, that's all I wanted to do speak to someone, I phoned the customer care number (yeah right!) and none of the options fitted what I was phoning about. When I eventually found my way through to a person, (before which I had already entered all my account details and had been told my account balance regardless of whether I wanted it or not) he had such a strong accent I honestly couldn't understand a word and so I politely asked to be transferred to someone else - what did he do? Yep transfer me straight back into the automated menu system. Arggghhh!!!


24 Hour Bus Lanes
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I won't rant on too much about bus lanes, or about how much I despise them as a road-tax-paying driver deprived of using half of the road system, or about how much I resented paying the fines on the two occasions I got caught on camera with half a wheel daring to cross into the forbidden land. All I'll say is that if bus lanes are truly for the purpose the powers that be say they are for i.e. improving the flow of public transport, why, oh why are there bus lanes in operation for 24 hours - where's the congestion at 3am huh?


Michael Winner
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Surely there is nobody more conceited, smug, arrogant, irritating and downright punchable on TV than Michael Winner. Yes, I know he is a well-respected film director and food critic but just lately he's forever popping up on my TV screen in those terrible adverts for Esure motor insurance that just make me want to scream. I find myself physically cringing at them and I just know that one day I'm going to hear him whine "calm down dear, it's just a commercial" once too often and then watch in horror as my foot flies through the TV screen. I can't believe that using him to advertise car insurance has done the company any good, I for one would go out of my way to avoid Esure just because of their TV adverts. I'm not a violent person but I swear that if I ever met him, someone would have to hold me back from giving him a slap - esure-ly deserves it!

Summary: Writing this has been a form of therapy - I feel so much better now!