So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Edward]

That is simply the best thing about cats. The stupidest, most embarassing thing could happen to them and they walk away owning the moment as if it were planned or didn't happen at all. I suppose we could all learn from that.


But you want embarrassing - My dad was particulary, um..., gassy, one day when he and my mom were shopping. As he told it he looked all around him in the aisle, an feeling assured that he was indeed alone he let it rip. Only to turn around to find a lady standing behind him. So there you have it, a classic measure twice and cut once lesson.

There was a time another guy we didn't even know got blamed by his wife for one my dad dropped.... it was hilarious.

Best I've seen though was the time in the supermarket I patted Herself firmly on the rear.... two minutes later we heard an outraged child's voice hoarsely whisper from around the corner - "That man just smacked that lady on the bottom... and she laughed." It was clear from the tone the the disapproval was not aimed so much in my direction....

The things that happen when you think you have the aisle to yourself!

 

[MisterCairo]

The Oxford comma.

 

[1mach1]

The Oxford comma.

Indeed.

 

[sheeplady]

Why are offices cold all year round?

Seriously, I'm going to wear gloves in to work tomorrow.

 

[Haversack]

sheeplady wrote: "Why are offices cold all year round?"

1. Because office buildings tend to produce heat what with all the lights, bodies, and electronic equipment therein. Leading to,

2. Said electronic equipment tends to break when overheated and works better when kept cool.

If it weren't for the invention of structural steel, the elevator, air conditioning, and the fluorescent light, the modern office high rise would not be possible.

 

[sheeplady]

While I understand some of that, I think most of it has to do with poor design where I've worked. I once clocked my office at 61 F (northern exposure) while the office next to mine (southern exposure) was 85 F. Same heating/ cooling zone.

I work in a building built in 1890 (refurbished in 2015) and a building built in 1955 (refurbished in 2008). There's no excuse for not better balancing the zones when you gut a building.

 

[Stearmen]

The Oxford comma.

The Oxford comma does not bother me much, however, the Harvard comma, don't even get me started!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Keep comma, and carry on.

 

[Stearmen]

Man o man! Can't believe the cost of candy for Children's Extortion Night!

 

[tonyb]

Man o man! Can't believe the cost of candy for Children's Extortion Night!

Set me back $9.60. Had about 20 kids.They all left with handfuls.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Set me back $9.60. Had about 20 kids.They all left with handfuls.

I forgot. No excuse, I just forgot. So I got home just as it was getting dark when the doorbell rang. It was Darth Vader and an Imperial Storm Trooper, neither one much above four feet tall.

Oh, fudge! What to do? I said, "Hold on a sec." and dashed to my kitchen where I had a large expensive (I'd say that I bought it at Whole Paycheck, but that would be redundant.) dark chocolate, almonds, and sea salt chocolate bar. Back downstairs to the front door. I ascertained that they were siblings and would be willing to share.

I don't know if pint-sized Star Wars villains like dark chocolate, but I'm pretty certain it was the highest-priced treat the pair got that night.

I had to pick up my car at the shop after a brake fix, and stopped at the supermarket on the way back to get a more reasonably priced bag of candy. I got one set of kids after that, so I took the balance to work and put it on offer in the office kitchen. It was gone in a matter of hours.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Trick or Treating is starting to catch on in this neck of the woods, but it is inconsistent. Last year we had a handful of the little monsters.

This year I dressed-up as Ernest Hemingway (mostly because I wanted to show off my new beard). I was in Khaki from head to toe, complete with vintage safari jacket and long-billed papa fishing cap. I sat in the dark in our front room sipping a single malt and listening to 1940s UK Radio...

http://www.1940sukradio.co.uk/

I had a bowl of candy nearby and was prepared to brutally quiz the little goblins before giving them any loot. "Who am I? I won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. I liberated the bar at the Paris Ritz in July 1944. In 1938, I held the world marlin fishing record. Who am I?"

My wife walked in on me and almost jumped. "That's the creepiest thing I ever saw," She said.

Oh well. In the end, zero Tick or Treaters came by. Zero. "The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places."

 

[Fading Fast]

I forgot. No excuse, I just forgot. So I got home just as it was getting dark when the doorbell rang. It was Darth Vader and an Imperial Storm Trooper, neither one much above four feet tall.

Oh, fudge! What to do? I said, "Hold on a sec." and dashed to my kitchen where I had a large expensive (I'd say that I bought it at Whole Paycheck, but that would be redundant.) dark chocolate, almonds, and sea salt chocolate bar. Back downstairs to the front door. I ascertained that they were siblings and would be willing to share.

I don't know if pint-sized Star Wars villains like dark chocolate, but I'm pretty certain it was the highest-priced treat the pair got that night.

I had to pick up my car at the shop after a brake fix, and stopped at the supermarket on the way back to get a more reasonably priced bag of candy. I got one set of kids after that, so I took the balance to work and put it on offer in the office kitchen. It was gone in a matter of hours.

I'm glad that this stuff happens to other people too. While for the last several years, we've been well prepared, occasionally, this, that or the other thing will leave us scrambling and - like you - I'll end up handing out expensive some-kind-of-candy because it's all that's in the house.

My favorite story of an event like this happened to a really good friend of mine who gets a lot of enjoyment out of very good chocolate. With three kids, as you can image, he isn't buying himself high-end chocolate often, so for Christmas one year (we don't exchange gifts - do any guys?) on the spur of the moment, I bought him a really expensive box of champagne truffles.

It was one of those 16 or so pieces for way-too-much money boxes, but it felt great to do and he was very pumped. He took it home that night and found, to his surprise, that his in-laws (mother, father and two siblings) had shown up early for their Christmas visit and, well, "what's this," lead to him opening up the chocolates where everyone proceeded to dig in.

Now, the good version would be everyone appreciated the outstanding chocolate; instead, he said that the reaction was one of "these are okay," to "not my thing," to one kid eating half the box like they were M&Ms (and probably not even tasting them). My friend said he had, at most, two, and didn't mind sharing, but hated that they were not appreciated.

The one potentially good thing out of this, since that happened at least six or seven years ago, we've laughed about it enough that it has probably brought us more joy than if he had just eaten the box himself.

 

[tonyb]

It's the second Halloween in this house here in suburban Denver (we closed in late September last year). We've had about the same trick-or-treater traffic both years. Maybe a few more last year.

I was widely reported that Seattle, where I lived for decades, was second only to San Francisco among major U.S. cities in the lowest number of children per capita. When I was reporting on school issues there, 15-20 years ago, the number of kids in Seattle's public schools was less than half what it was in the mid-1960s, during the height of the baby boom generation's school years. And the overall population had grown over the intervening decades.

The cultural differences between here and there are subtle, but you can see them if you keep your eyes open. Parents at the supermarket with a couple three or four kids in tow is a much more common sight here. I hear talk here of how much more road traffic there is when schools are in session (anecdotal observation supports that contention). And we get trick-or-treaters on Halloween.

 

[LizzieMaine]

People who walk by on the sidewalk while you're on a high ladder and yell "How's the air up there?" Same as down there, only with more pigeon crap.

 

[tonyb]

People who can't resist, on encountering a person in a power wheelchair, asking something along the lines of "how fast does that thing go?" or "can you do wheelies with that thing?"

Most mean no real harm, thoughtless as they are. But if they bothered giving it any thought, it might occur to them why such commentary is offensive.

 

[2jakes]

People that call asking for
someone.

When I tell them "wrong number."
They hang up without a word.

Second time, same person asking
the same question.

I tell them, "You still have the wrong number."

Irritated, they ask,
Well.., what number is this?"

I answer them with...
"First, please tell me what this sounds like?"

I then hang-up!

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^^
Or, immediately after I say "hello" on answering the phone, the caller says "who's this?"

Provided I don't just hang up (which I have done on numerous occasions), I typically say, "Well, you called me. So who are you?"

Just today I got a call (from a political campaign; imagine that). The caller asked, after my "hello," "is this Anthony?"

That annoyed me as well. I replied, "may I ask who's calling?"

My habit on calling people who, for whatever reason, aren't likely to recognize my voice, is to identify myself and state my reason for calling. I'm taking up a person's time and attention, and it's only reasonable that I let them know who I am and why I'm calling before asking anything more of them.

 

[2jakes]

^^^^^
If the caller asks, "who’s this?”

I simply tell them "who do you want?”.

Usually, it’s a recording when it’s a call from telemarking.
But when someone is on the line, I ask them for a number I can call back
at a better time.
If they refuse or ignore my request, I simply hang-up & push the “block” option.

I rarely receive telemarketing calls as in the past.
But part of that was my fault when I used to sign up at the mall for give-away
prizes or sweepstakes.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Who's this?"

"I don't know, ya haven't told me!"