Showing posts with label grumpy old man. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grumpy old man. Show all posts

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Pet Peeves

Today, I am going to share some of my pet peeves.

1) When you're driving down the road and the car in front of you goes to make a left hand turn, but they don't go all the way into the median. Their back end is still sticking out in the driving lane. Get all the way into the median! Likewise, when making a right hand turn pull over to the right and let us get by.

2) Standing in line at the register at the supermarket (or Target) and the person in front of you doesn't even open their purse or get their wallet out until after the cashier has completed the entire transaction. Or worse yet, they act like they've never swiped their card though one of those machines before. They can't follow the simple step by step instructions on the display? Or if they are paying with cash, they stand there digging through their purse for change.  Hello?! You've been standing in this line for 10-15 minutes before even getting to the cashier. Not only that but you have 3-5 minutes while the cashier was ringing you up to get your money or card out. And news flash! Did you know you can swipe your card while the chaser is ringing you up? I know! I just blew your mind didn't I? I always, ALWAYS have my card in my hand ready to go before I even get to the cashier. And if I'm paying in cash, my wallet is in my hand and open while the cashier is ringing me up. I might even have my other hand in my pocket ready to grab some change.

3) The pre-pay machines in parking garages. I don't know about you but the shopping center near me, has pre-pay machines in several locations. There are also signs throughout that say "Pay at machine before exiting the parking structure." And yet, 30 - 40% of the time, there is someone at the exit gate who hasn't paid. Excuse me! Do you not read English? You cannot pay at the exit gates. Well, you can if you have a credit or debit card. But still. Earlier this week, I was behind someone and I heard the attendant say. Cards only. Really?

4) And along with that (so I guess this really a 3-a), the parking is automated. There are no booths with attendance to take your money. But in my local shopping center, there is an office next to the one exit and 7-8 times out of 10, that attendant at the gate helping people like the aforementioned. So much for saving money on staffing with a person so it can be automated.

5) Bicycling on a designated bike path and having to dodge, joggers, walkers, dog walkers, kids playing, people pushing strollers. It's the bike path. Get out of the way. I don;t mind going around the occasional interloper, but sometimes (weekend, evenings) the paths are crowded with all of the above. There are designated lanes and/or paths for people walking or running. Use them and stay off the bike path. My fave is when its an entire family walking, pushing a stroller and maybe one or two kinds on a bike or skateboard and they are walking along side to side taking up the entire length of the path in both directions. There are signs at all the entrances stating bike path. There is a dividing line down the middle with the occasional set of directional arrows. Get out!

6) Circling back to 2 and 3...people using the self-pay lines art the supermarket acting like they're never used one before. C'mon! These are not new. They've been around a while. Is this really the first time you've used one? How else do you explain that you don't seem to understand what you're doing?
Geez!

Okay, I think I'm done...for now!


Friday, November 13, 2015

Grumpy Old Guy Rant

Alright. Get ready. I'm putting on my grumpy old man hat.

I just got back from my lunch break. I went to my bank down the street to make a withdrawl from the ATM. There is only one branch of my bank on Bunker Hill, the neighborhood where my office is located.  And this one branch has only one ATM. The Bunker Hill neighborhood is made up of several tall skyscrapers housing all the major banks and financial institutions So as you can imagine, that makes for a large number of people here every weekday during business hours.

There are other banks on the hill here and in fact they all have corporate headquarters here on the hill so their branches not only have ATMs in the bank branches but also ATMs within their building lobbies and concourse levels. My bank does not as it does not have a presence here on Bunker Hill.

All this is to preface the fact that there was a long line at the ATM so I peaked inside the branch to see that the line for the tellers had only two people in it. So I went inside to make a withdrawl rather than stand in the long line at the ATM. Are people that dense? Do they not remember that you can make withdrawls inside the actual bank? Have they forgotten what we did before ATMs? But then I thought about it, it has been about 33-35 years since ATMs hit the scene. I realized that anyone under 45 or so probably didn't bank before ATMs so they probably never experienced life without ATMs.

In fact, when I go t back to my office I was talking about this with a co-worker who is 32. Do you know what he asked me?  "Can you make withdrawls at the teller windows?"  I mean..DUH! Yes! Of course you can. It's a bank. That's why they're there. Deposits and withdrawls. Hello?!

I. AM. OLD.

Rant Two:
There were only two windows open. Two tellers during lunch hour in a business district. This is not a residential, shopping or tourist area. Its a business area filled with business people who work weekdays. And all those many thousands of office workers take lunch breaks usually somewhere between the hours of 12 and 2. So you would think they would staff up during lunch breaks. I worked in retail management for years. If I were the branch manager I would schedule my staffs breaks around the rush hour. Its just common sense. But no. Despite having 10 windows in side the bank. There were only two windows open.

Now don't get me wrong, I realize that in this day and age most business is done using the ATMs and not as many people will come inside. These banks were built in an era when all your banking was done inside so that is why there are so many teller windows and they are not all staffed. But c'mon. Its lunch time. Have 4 windows open instead of two!

That's it. I'm done. Go back to your regularly scheduled lives.