The First World Whinging Thread

I once climbed up Yellow Mountain in China, to watch the fabled sunrise. And it was magnificent. The mountain holds a deserted monastery but the contemporary setting is modern and commercial, moderately touristy, though at least at that time (1995) there were no Coke machines. We hung around till noon, when we bought lunch. I don't remember exactly what I got, but it was exceedingly spicy hot. My mouth began to burn and we had no water. I had to wander around in agony until I found a vendor, and had to pay an exorbitant amount for a container of tepid, probably unclean, water that only helped a bit.

I would have loved to find a Coke machine.

 

I wasn't quite sure where to post this, so this one gets it.

I was browsing for a certain book online. Specifically, a 1300-page graphic novel. It goes for $140 on a Norwegian online shop. The British one I always use offers it for a cool $37,60.

I guess I shouldn't care. I wasn't even looking to buy the thing, I just remembered having read some of it as a kid and I wanted to check it out. But I guess it's fair game to rant about ludicrous book prices on a writer's forum. Or maybe not, as some of us are aiming to sell books? All right, sod this, my head hurts, I need a lie-down.

 

The thing that really pisses me off is when the Kindle edition is the same price, or in some cases more than the dead trees version. I have no problem with the publisher, agent, and even god forbid the author making a reasonable profit, but when the cost of the paper and ink isn't reflected in the retail price (not to mention shipping) there's an issue.

 

Supermarket trolleys; on a few occasions I had the misfortune of using one's having serious wheel alignment problems. Doesn't matter how hard you push them straight, they either drifted left or right. It's even harder to keep them going straight when they are full - bah, humbug

 

How d'ya think Facebook's Friend Recommendation algorithm works? I mean, when I've got mutual friends, or friends twice removed or something I guess it makes sense, but for the past two weeks it's been recommending some, well, booby-monster that I can discern no connection to and who Mrs. A would doubtless disapprove of .

In the mean time though, I guess I didn't click "like" enough on some pages that I have elected to follow as they don't show up in my feed anymore unless someone shares them.

 

I went grocery shopping today. It was too swamped, even though it’s a holiday over here (Labor Day). The first store I went to was okay; I was there a bit longer than I planned, but it was still basically in and out.

At the second store I just needed a few things I didn’t find at the first, so that one was going to be even quicker. Right? Nope.
I ducked into a quick moving line, and I was feeling a little smug. Right up until the woman ahead of me started to pay for her groceries. She had a whole accordion file of coupons. Rather than just hand over the coupons she wanted to use, so the cashier could run through them, she handed over one coupon at a time, had to detail what the coupon was for, when it expired, from what publication she clipped the coupon, and if she actually needed or wanted the item or it was just too good a deal to pass up.

Her coupons took longer than the three other people in line ahead of her combined.

 

A decade or two ago, they produced trolleys with fixed wheels at the back and only the front wheels could swivel. These were great for the customer because you didn't have to keep your trolley straight to push it around easily as it would tend to keep straight unless you pointed the front of the trolley in a different direction.

But, they were a PITA to collect and stow for the trolley attendants. I guess the trolley attendants won that war. So now we only have trolleys with 4 swivelling wheels and you spend your time fighting the trolley as it follows whatever direction takes its fancy, a bit like an incontinent hound in a warehouse full of fire hydrants.

 

Recent news reports suggest that the algorithms are now focussing on the most sensational or provocative content as these tend to get your thumbs a twiddling. The fact that your aunt has died or your sister just had a new bub aren't twiddle-worthy.

 

Or as some of the customers in my local supermarket have discovered, you can look at the items on display to your right, with your "trolley" (shopping cart, dammit! ) pointed the other way as you saunter, meander, mosey, lollygag, stroll, or drift through the store and block the entire aisle! Win for Mrs. Tanaka, whose kids are currently wreaking havoc in the fruit department and screeching at the top of their lungs while doing so.

 

It's heartening to know that life is the same in every supermarket, whatever language happens to be dominant. Our dears have a social at the intersections of the aisles and are apparently completely unaware of the queues of trolleys backed up. Either that or they believe we're waiting with bated breath to find out if little Timmy is now properly potty trained.

 

Any store where you can’t find the seafood counter blindfolded is a good one.

 

Both my Sodastream canisters are out of gas and my tap water purifier only has 18 liters left before it needs changing.

Working from home is hell.

 

You are in my prayers.

 

Our filter required changing last month, but somehow I can't motivate myself to open the replacement package. It's a messy business in a tight space, requiring all the chemicals under the sink to be removed, a good amount of swearing and skinned knuckles to remove the old and install 2 new canisters. To top it off, the pump also blew so I have to replace that too. Oh to hell with it, I'm feeling masochistic and sufficiently unhappy with water quality to do it now.

 

This one screws onto the tap itself, so whenever I get motivated to cycle to the home center the new one will be simple to install.

 

Pro shopper move.

 

Jeebus, google is all over the VPN I use today. Every search, even following a link posted by a member here and I get the damned "Click on all the traffic lights/buses/cars/Witness Protection Program members in this picture." It comes and goes in waves, but yeah, the more popular VPNs are going to have bad actors using them as well, no need to stop me from watching someone make an omelette FFS.

 

I sometimes envy those families with a ton of kids. When you're cooking for one, you miss out on all the culinary tactics, like canning. Sure, I could 'put up' jars and jars of food, then throw a lot of it away when I haven't eaten it in years.

 

I use one of the more popular VPN services as a matter of routine.

I get that VPNs aren't solely used by law-abiding people who want to make the occasional anonymous terroristic threat or two, but I am so sick of finding all the buses, traffic lights, fire hydrants, and motorcycles in Google's surprisingly limited repertoire.

 

I'm enduring an acidic pain in my right nostril. Everyone should be using a VPN these days.

 

Not really whin(g)ing, but watching sporting events on television isn't nearly as engaging when there aren't any fans in the stands, for some reason, recorded cheer track or not.

 

That might be it. I have a college game on right now, featuring two teams I couldn't care less about.

 

I hate cold callers. The folks trying to sell stuff over the phone, but have no idea what type of business you run, or if we have any need for the product or service they’re hawking. I got one this morning from a floor cleaning service. My sales floor is less than 200 square feet (18 square meters), like I need a cleaning service just for the floors.
So they say their records show the building is 13,000 square feet.
Maybe the whole building is that big, but there are something like 15 other stores here.
Then they ask if they can speak to the management.
I suppose if you called them, in stead of a tenant, you’d have a fair shot.

I was very indulgent up to a point, but this guy just wouldn’t catch my drift. Finally I told him if he had anything we wanted or needed, we’d have probably contacted him.