Humor me… this may stave off a full-fledged rant.
Poorly lit TV dramas. Why do so many TV programs under-light their sets these days? Do they think that a shadowed scene will add suspense? Make up for bad dialogue? Not only is it annoying, because it’s hard to see the actors, it strains credulity. I mean, how many police precincts look like they’re in the middle of a power outage every goddamned day? Similarly, how are we supposed to believe in the powerful competence of a SWAT team, when, upon entering a darkened house not one of them thinks to snap on a light switch?
Vocal fry — especially by female broadcasters. WHY this raspy affectation became a trend is totally beyond me. It is so annoying that I often turn off the news rather than suffer through it.
Telemarketers constantly (as in twice a day) admonishing me to act swiftly on an urgent opportunity to lower my interest rates. They always leave a fucking message.
Telemarketers who don’t answer when you do. How ripe is that? Sometimes, after seeing a certain weird town on caller ID three times a day for a month, I decide to answer so I can ask them to remove me from their fucking list and they DO NOT ANSWER. NOBODY IS THERE. Needless to say, if you call the number on caller ID, it connects to NOWHERE.
Telemarketers who discovered my last cell number and turned my primary iPhone activity into blocking random calls, until I took a risk by requesting a new number…. Knowing it’s only a matter of time before it happens again. Knowing that increasingly, the numbers on the ‘Available List’ will be people like me who were hammered unceasingly by telemarketers.
Password entry to every goddamned thing. The need for them to be different. My completely inadequate measures to stay current with myself, resulting in frequent requests for new ones. Some of my recent replacement passwords: “shithead108” and “GivemeaFuckingBreak##99”.
Upgrades. Why is it that they always seem to eliminate five terrific features? And the new ones aren’t even long-awaited fixes, they’re just switch arounds? My big grudges here are wordpress and flickr. Flickr just did another upgrade that makes it EVEN harder to see what I used to see instantly (two clicks and a pull-down to get to EDIT ugh ugh).
“Four Easy Step” Instructions to fix an annoying computer glitch that are never easy, generally beginning with the fact that you don’t have the very first necessary TAB or pull down menu. Also, taking the time to figure out a problematic feature and then FORGETTING what that workaround was the next time (think: how to delete a LINE that WORD inserted because you typed in three asterisks followed by a hard return).
Texting drivers. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE.
Development. It’s ruining my neighborhood… possibly my city. The ability to get around has changed so drastically for the worse in the last several years that if I were a first time home buyer, I would look elsewhere (which is a good thing, because we couldn’t afford this house today). My leafy couple of block surroundings experiences gridlock many times a week during the school year. My preferred route – Route 9 — is now ridiculously backed up for longer and longer periods of the day, EVERY DAY. And how being opposed to development turns me into one of THOSE people.
Strip club scenes in cop shows and movies. Do you know anyone who goes to a strip club? And if they do, would you know how to get to the place? Such shameless ploys at including tits and ass appear weekly, it seems.
Leaf blowers. You thought I forgot?!! Leaf blowers at any time of day. Solo or in concert. Even with noise cancelling headphones on.