Heh. That's how I am too. Lots of hand gestures. And I too use them when I'm on the phone. On a related note, I also catch myself nodding in agreement during phone conversations, which probably comes of as me having no response to what's being said to me. :laughing:

I think you're the first person I've ever heard of who has a problem with "no problem". It must be a regional thing or something because everywhere I've lived "no problem" is completely acceptable in a business setting.

I normally say "no bother" to people. I don't say you're welcome because I don't get a thanks in the first place.

Back when I used to work in an office, we had one of these bloody seminars where we were all told how to provide customer service (as if I hadn't been doing that unaided for about twenty years before they came along!) and we were told that we were to avoid using the phrase "No problem", because apparently people only hear the problem part, and start thinking there IS a problem.

My arguments, that the "no" de-qualifies the "problem", fell on deaf ears. I think it was she who had the problem! I mean, how stupid and single-minded do you have to be to only hear the last part of a sentence, the worst part? :confused: :rolleyes:

Following that logic, if they told you "don't say that", I guess you should have responded as if you only heard "say that".

I don't think it's regional, perhaps it depends on the work environment though. My longest professional run was in an industry and company where I was usually the most inexperienced of everybody I worked with, and involved brief relationships with huge numbers of people from all over the country and world, so I became conditioned to see "no problem" as a sign of lack of maturity or experience.

That said, it's not like anyone was actually sincere about their pleasantries - it was all just tradition for tradition's sake in a business where nobody truly cared about anything at all but the bottom line. And to be honest, I hope and intend to never work in an environment like that again.

I tend to use "No worries" a lot. I don't really work in a professional setting though. I'm not sure what I would use in that context. Usually it's in response to someone thanking me for something trivial so the "No worries" is just a way of saying thanks for the thanks but my actions were pretty inconsequential and I'd do it automatically for anyone so no need to thank me really.



On another matter, just something I notice on my morning school runs to drop off my kids. No matter what variations there are getting ready in the morning we always seem to arrive just as the bell is going. The thing is every morning I see the same people arriving seemingly in the same order of lateness. It's like we all have these finely honed routines that ensure we get there for the same late arrival every morning.

If I thanked someone and they ignored it or merely grunted, I'd think they were a stuck-up prick.

I have a problem with slow, mindless shoppers. I hate going to the store here (I live in the south) because the aisles are always blocked by oblivious fat people waddling around like penguins. I could deal with the slowness if they were even the least bit aware of their surroundings, but no. They just drift aimlessly in your way, leaning on their shopping carts.

The other day I ran into the store to get a single item. I was obstructed by this massive woman who wandered right in my way and started trying to pick out what kind of chips she wanted. She was practically facing me, and I was staring right at her hoping she would acknowledge me and decide that maybe she didn't need to occupy the entire aisle to make her decision. No luck. She might as well have been in a trance.

LOL. Reminds me of how people in horror movies always have zero peripheral vision.

At my place, instead of having a dinner conversation in person, everyone in the room is busy texting their FB friends and tweeting at the same time. That irritates the F out of me. It's annoying. People don't communicate like they used to back in the good ole days. Technology is one evil B! I try to stay away from it but somehow it's useful for school stuff and job wise. Other than that, it takes so much away from family and friends. In a reality world of lack in conversation (let alone) communication. Oh my gosh, am I crazy?

I wonder if any other drivers suffer from PGS when they´re waiting at a red light. That´s Premature Gear Syndrome; when I feel like I´ve waited long enough at a red light, I put the car into first gear, but because the light hasn´t changed yet, I´m stuck there holding the clutch pedal down for another minute until the light does actually change...

I too suffer from PGS! It's at its worst at intersections where oncoming traffic gets the green first.

I have an automatic. But I wish we had premature greeners here. I might actually get to work on time without having to plan an extra 20 minutes wakeup, due to the idiots that like to blankly enjoy the color green.

:laughing: That´s right ! Some traffic light sequences have an unexpected sting in the tail that keeps you waiting even longer !

Most traffic lights turning green have this:

First person: (doesn't care about going fast. He's gonna make it anyway.)
Second person: (Doesn't care about going too fast. Was on the phone and texting, but fortunately, the guy ahead of him took off and it caught his eye. But he's the second guy, so he will make it. No need to rush)
Third person: (Slightly annoyed at the response time of the first two, but he'll make it, so his entire concern is based on his own interest.)
Fourth person: (This one is paying attention, but becomes victim of the lag cycle.. where forward movement is starting to be exponentially worse)
Fifth person: (This guy tailgates the fourth guy. He wants to make the light, but something goes wrong, invariably)
Everyone else:
They all hate the first 5 people. And they're progressively more likely to hit the light. When they get under it, they completely forget other humans exist. Only they exist. They have gotten under the light before it turned red and ruined their lives.
The last person in this convoy is the guy that does not want to chance it, so he stops on the yellow. At a glance, you would think that this guy would also be the perfect person to be first at the light. This is not so. He will ruin it somehow, since he is now first. And thus, the cycle will continue.

I drive a manual (stick shift for you Americans) and I have PGS, too. I'm always waiting with my foot down on the clutch for longer than I need to be because I'm so impatient. I also do it when I'm on a hill and balancing the car between first and neutral which is really bad for the car but I am very impatient.

Driving a manual with traffic up a hill is the worst. I know this because people that thought manual transmission vehicles are a great idea have told me about it.

passive aggression, man i don't get that one. i just have no time for that.

I started singing the "ain't nobody got time fo dat" song after reading this.
Thanks Obama.

Should I punctuate this with a "global net jive" or a gif? I can't figure out which will come off as more self-righteous while still trying to smokescreen with irony.

It is annoying, but you get pretty good at handbrake starts! I only drive a manual because when I went to buy a car it was there and it was cheaper than the auto.

Not sure how that relates. I'm lost.

My first car was a manual. Honda Civic 86, Hatchback... of all things. After I let the water pump die without replacing it, I drove it home one day to its smoky death on Bryan Dairy road in Florida, right near Largo. In my defense, the hood release latch broke, so I couldn't open the hood to do things. I enjoyed it while it lasted, but all I have to say is that bridges were unnecessarily retarded with a manual during traffic.

i am partially making fun of myself.


http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/upl...s-obama-28.gif

It sounds like it served you well! My first car was a little 80s hatchback as well. I sold it to a newly licensed teenager before I had to face its death. You never forget your first car! I should've 'upgraded' to an auto... but I didn't!

Why bridges specifically? You mean just in the sense of the whole pulling out of a toll booth/shifting/rolling up window/trying to put change away juggling act?

I had an '89 Civic Hatchback in the late 90's. It had a Rockford Fosgate 1200w amp with 2 16" Piledrivers (woofers/horns/tweeters all in one box) in the hatch. You could sit in the back seat and get a massage with the right tune on (Crystal Methods' Vapor Trail was a good one), and the rear view mirror would do a little dance. Sadly, a 17yo girl went to make a left, saw me and stopped right in my path. Out of the girl, her friend, my daughter and me, noone was hurt, but the Piledrivers tried to make their way to the front seat. If she'd have kept going, I'd likely still have it. Well, maybe not.

And yeah, it was a manual trans. I had 6 vehicles in a row, all manual. The worst encounter with a manual truck I had was stopping on a hill at a stop sign in the snow. I had to back up down the hill, and gun it. Hoping noone was crossing the intersection. Luckily it wasn't a heavily traveled road.

My first car was a 72 manual 2 door Torana that I picked up for around $600. Pulled up at some lights one night and it just stopped dead. I was trying to restart it when I saw some weird wavy shadows on the road in front of the car. When I got out I realised they were coming from the fire under the hood. Turned out the fuel line had popped off and pumped fuel all over the engine which ignited and burnt out all the wiring and hoses.

I had a year 2000 5dr navy blue Ford Fiesta, had it for two years and my manifold completely fell off the engine so got that welded back up, then my rearview mirror fell off when I was driving the backroads, then my glovebox fell off on same road. Still loved her. Then I was going to pick up weed and I was coming off the motorway at 80mph, so I get on to the slip road and it's time to brake and my foot goes further than it normally does and I instantly know I have no brakes so I said in a weird calmness to my mates in the car "right lads, I don't mean to alarm yous but I have no brakes" haha, got my weed and went home. Still drove her for 6 months after that and she finally got scrapped as she wasn't worth repairing.

:laughing: ^ I thought of this very neat analysis the other day, Freebase!

I was tailgating a truck to get through on green, up so close that the truck obscured my view of the actual traffic lights, when this justification suddenly ran through my head :- " All traffic lights shall be assumed to be green until proven otherwise."

If that´s not actually in the Highway Code, it should be.

Human BEhavior
 

I've noticed "women" on the phone while driving. Terrible!

Well I've noticed "men" on the phone while driving.

The number of times while driving that people in oncoming traffic swerve in front of me because they are looking down texting gives me the absolute ****s.

At work, we have to scan our key cards to get into three doors before we are on the floor. Courtesy dictates, if in the hallway and you turn around to make eye contact with a person behind you, you must stop and hold the door, lest you be seen as a total dick.

Also, if someone doesn't have their key card, you have to grill them about which campaign/team they are on to ascertain they are not a disgruntled mass shooter.

I do figure, though, if that situation ever arises, they'd probably shoot me, then swipe my key card

Especially when it's a fully loaded semi.

Sometimes I drive right at them, horn blaring. Scares em right into submission. I wouldn't suggest this though.

By that logic you should immediately shut the door after you, and put as much distance between you and the guy (disgruntled maniac) behind you as possible.

I like your example of etiquette for modern times !

Here it´s normal practise to shake hands almost every time you see or leave a colleague, but when there was that big scare about swine flu a few years back, people started to become very aware of who they were touching and how often they were washing their hands.
I was working at a hospital at the time and one morning, I reached out as usual to shake a doctor´s hand when she grabbed me by the middle of the forearm. I soon worked out that this was the new etiquette within the hospital; a kind of Roman-Centurian mutual forearm clasp.

Since then I´ve never been sure with doctors. If I don´t shake their hand am I being unfriendly - or considerate ?

You shouldn't be staring at men while driving and texting at the same time. Bad idea. I am especially fond of the people who hop in the fast lane and pick their phone up and immediately drop down to 45 miles an hour. I always whip in front of em and proceed to do a brake check just to get their attention. I'm trying to be a better person, babysteps.

Lol. I dont ever use my phone while driving! Some 19 year old girl here was texting and speeding about 50km over the speed limit on a road, and she whipped around a curve, and lost control and her car was severed in two by a pole. IN TWO. Like the front end was 20 feet away from the back end. She was killed instantly. I feel bad for her family but not for her because she was being an idiot.

And people my age wonder why their car insurance is so damn high.

One of my friends likes to check his Facebook on his phone while driving at 140 kph on the motorway. To say I'm nervous being a passenger in his car would be an understatement