Pet peeves: Travel edition

Travel can be stressful, but some behaviors can make it even more so.  In honor of the traveling season, here are my can't-stand behaviors for air travel.

1.  Going against the flow while boarding.  It takes long enough for everyone to shove their way onto the plane and stow luggage that won't fit into itty bitty compartments.  Let's compound the issue by choosing to stall everyone while your worshipfulness decides to edge backwards in the onboard line.

2.  Arguing with the stewardess when asked to change seats.  Planes have to obey the laws of physics and gravity just like everything else.  If you are specifically asked to change seats to balance the plane, there must be a reason.  Alternatively, if you are asked to change seats so a family/friends can sit together, will it really kill you to make the trip slightly more enjoyable for someone else?  Or must we all bow down to your grace?

3.  Not being ready to unload your bags for security slows everyone down.  It's not as if you've been standing in the line for 10+ minutes listening to the voice (and the tv) drone on about what is allowed by TSA and what is not, or the procedure for removing shoes and coats and placing them in tubs as well.  Arguing with security personnel won't get you through any faster.  Do everyone a favor and remove your shoes so at the very least we can kiss your feet as you walk through the checkpoint.

4.  Ignoring onboard safety instructions.  The flight attendants are required to explain the safety procedures for a reason.  A review is always helpful.  Plus, even a queen mother explains to her child that it is rude to not listen when someone speaks to you.  (On a side note, even Alec Baldwin needs to listen to the flight attendants when they ask him to turn electronics off.  I don't want to die so your highness can be an idiot.)

Pet peeves: Driving edition

We all have pet peeves...it's a part of life.  Its time for me to decompress by sharing with all of you folk.  Today, I bring you my driving pet peeves, courtesy of the morons who grace the roads.

1.  Turn signals.  They were placed in all cars for a reason.  You can speed, you can crawl, I don't care.  You might frustrate me, annoy me, or fly right on by.  But I can't read your mind to know what you're doing when you don't use the flashing lights built into your  car.  (And then turn them off.)

2.  Tailgaters.  My father is a big tailgater, of the "let me inch right up onto your back bumper while you wait for the light to turn colors" variety. But honestly, not only does it scare me that your eyesight is going and you will hit my car before you stop, it's annoying...not to mention unsafe...and if you're that close to a manual, how do you not get dinged when the car rolls backwards before shooting forward?

3.  Texters/Phone use.  You know it's now illegal for a reason.  Pull off to the side or have the decency to wait until you're stopped at a light if you're half cat and curiosity literally kills you for the five minutes you're driving with the text light blinking.

4.  Semi trucks.  Well, you see, I had this run in with two semis who were apparently racing...and bearing down on my wee little car.  That, combined with accidents of the "I didn't see the car beside me" variety where the only reason the woman survived the crash was that she owned a convertible that slid underneath the carriage of the semi...maybe it's less of a pet peeve and more of a fear...

So, what do you think?  Do these things drive you crazy on the road or does something else bother you?  Or, by the grace of God, are you able to ignore it all?

Car sale strategies

Photo courtesy of The Torque Report

The navigation system in the fiancé's car recently took a turn for the worse.  While we were nursing it back to health (alright, having aspects of it replaced), we decided that it was time for us to look to upgrading my car.  We had time to kill, were interested in the differences between the TSX and the TL, and the fiancé is bound and determined to get me into a new car.

I'm not sure why, but he's convinced the current car is a piece of junk.  It's a "piece of junk" that has lasted me 8 years and 90,000 (of my own) miles, with no baggage to drag me down into the pits of despair.  Even now, my Intrigue is nowhere near it's last leg and continually meets my high travel demands.  True, two of the windows don't open, but that's superficial when you get down to it.

My car still loves me.

However, I am now being seduced by the Acura family that my fiancé is introducing me to.  Hello navigation system.  How are you doing back up cam?  Hold me close, self-heating seats.  I can't find anything I don't like about these cars, and apparently consumer reports agree.

But.

But.  That's the key.  I have no intention of buying a car from someone who annoys me*.  Those cars are not cheap.  You want to comment on how the Russian fiancé has a Ukrainian accent?  We just think you're stupid.  Continue by feeding us inaccurate historical tidbits?  Sorry, I watch the History channel, too, and you got it wrong.  Tell me that my surname is Scandinavian and then get pissy when I say, yeah, Danish...you should probably know that Swedes and  Danes historically haven't gotten along before you keep lumping us together.  Also, lecturing me on my antecedents isn't too keen, either, as that is an area I unequivocally do know more than you.  Plus, really, every story you begin about your family as a ring of untruth to it...so maybe you don't want to keep going.

Now, getting back to actually buying a car...talk to us about it, explain it's features, give us a test drive**.  Don't assume that just because I just graduated college (with a masters degree, not a bachelor's like you keep spouting)  I am unable to afford a car.  Then, if you've spent the past hour basically lying to us, we don't feel inclined to believe you when you talk about pricing and how fantastic this car truly is.  Or the fact that the following morning you're pleading with us to buy it at what was the out the door price.

Thank you, but you're the perfect example as to why we are not buying a car from you...no matter the price.  Plus, "I'm not pressuring you" when we say for the nth time that we're not interested in buying a car today does not mean "sign on the dotted line."

*Establishing rapport comes from trust and communication - not from alienating those you are talking to.  Maybe you should build on the fact your wife works with autistic children and so do I, or your daughter is getting married two weeks before we are...not jokes that fall flat, like the "Finnish curse" (a flat butt).

**FYI:  Pretending that only men can unlock the new special door is extremely sexist, especially when I'm the one looking for the car.  Hand me the key and shut your mouth.  I know how "keyless" cars work.