Category: Annoyances

So, not to get too detailed, because that would be boring and unnecessary. 

I’ve got a small problem with the RO unit under the sink. No leaking or anything it’s just the unit isn’t producing the proper volume of water.

No problem. I looked at the calendar, and noted that the routine service was only a couple of months off. So I called the service organization starting at 8:00 AM with the intention of scheduling the repair and the routine service at the same time.

It rang & rang but never in the menu prompts did they list hours. Well, maybe they’re busy… I called again at 8:30. Still no answer. 9:00 still no answer. 9:30 finally an answer. The person asked if I could hold. Of course I can. 8 minutes later she came back on the line.

I tell her I’m trying to schedule a repair and since it’s so close let’s do routine service at the same time. 

She spent the next 8 – 10 minutes telling me about a special discount for long time customers where they’d replace the water softener control head I have, with the next newer version that has wifi connectivity and is supposed to use less salt and less water for regeneration.

It’s only 6K to get this new improved system.

“Uh no thank you. I just want the repair and routine service.”

She says, “Please hold.”

Then she wants to know if I have the carbon unit. What? 

She explains further that the carbon unit has a second tank full of carbon as either a pre filter or post filter. I tell her I don’t have a carbon tank.

“Please hold.”

Then she comes back with a date late next week. Great thanks.

Then I’m transferred to the RO unit people. They tell me that they’ll come up 3 days earlier and, “Oh have you heard of our new improved RO unit that takes up less space under your sink. For a limited time this new system is only $1800 and it can be financed through Home Depot!”

“Uh no, I just want to have the unit I have repaired. I have no desire to spent $1800 on a house I’m trying to leave.”

“Well if you’re moving out of state we have dealerships all over the country and in some of Europe and Dubai. Where are you moving? “

“Home to the midwest where the water is filtered through sand and limestone and is pure and tasty without a filtration system. Thank you very much.”

“Okay, we can be there on Tuesday. The repair and yearly service will cost approximately 300.00”

“Great… I’ve got you in my calendar.”

I’m standing there after hanging up the phone and wondering to myself WTF? Why did it take 35 minutes to schedule a repair?

I was also wondering why the price for their new improved RO unit seemed really out of line. Nearly 2K, as it turns out is on the high side but a quick price check says some units are 4K. I’ll tell you what, for that kind of money the RO unit better be dispensing water that’s better than Ponce de León’s fountain of youth.

What the hell happened to placing the call and hearing “Yes Sir, the unit is not leaking is that correct? Great. We’ll be there on Tuesday if anything happens between now and then please call us back to have the repair expedited.”

This shouldn’t have been more than a 10 minute call, if that.

If this is the future…

I’m terrified to make an appointment for car service. I’ll be on the phone for a couple of hours while they try to upsell me a new vehicle when what I want is an oil change. Perhaps if the ashtrays were full I’d consider a new vehicle.

That latter reference will sail right over the younger set.

It used to be kind of an insult. It was a way to point out someone’s frivolous spending. There was a time when some people bought new cars every year.

It was considered bad form and a waste of money. So if someone said, “Look, Andy has a new car. He must’ve filled up the ashtrays in the old car.” They meant it as an insult.

I’m becoming more convinced that the future is not the bright shiny cool life we were promised in The Jetsons.

I know, there’s a lot of really important stuff to be worried, or complain about.

This one has been growing to the point that I’m not sure if it’s just me being overly sensitive or if this is a real problem that all of us face and should be resolved.

Packaging! 

Everything we get is packaged in something. From the atomic bomb resistant packaging of a set of batteries, to the chicken pot pie we’ve got in our freezers. (It’s comfort food! So sue me!)

Everything is sealed and puncture resistant. But a fair amount of these items have “Easy open” strips or perforations that are supposed to allow us to tear along the perforation and gain access to the product inside. Hopefully this happens without requiring a thermal lance burning at 10,000° F.

But lately, none of the “Easy Open” features work properly. Resealable packages with the helpful “Tear Here” strips often don’t open, or when using the “Tear Here” strip, the resealable bit is damaged beyond usability. (This is why you’ll find frozen chicken strips, in their original bag prominently declaring the package resealable, inside a Ziplock Bag in my freezer.) 

Even the perforated pull strip on the butter doesn’t work anymore. It’s gotten to the point that I don’t even try. I’ll tear the end of the carton of butter completely off rather than frustrating myself with tearing a strip off.

Oh, I’d like to be able to pull the little strip, expose the little tongue & groove closure, and be able to use it to keep the butter closed and neat looking in the fridge.

However is shouldn’t take me 3 minutes of tearing the strip off, cleaning up the failure of the strip to open the package, working a knife into the carton flaps to neatly open the package, then still being unable to access the butter inside, from which I’ll have to peal wax paper too.

These days, my butter package looks like it was mauled by a bear.

Aluminum Foil and plastic wraps seem to be experiencing similar packaging troubles.

Microwave popcorn bags used to be easily opened by grabbing opposing corners and pulling. That method works about 65% of the time today. The remaining 35% of the time, popcorn gets blasted all over the kitchen.

I can do without microwave popcorn and have done for a while now.

Don’t get me started on the “Coin” style batteries. Opening the outer and inner packaging requires the sharpest set of scissors in the house followed by a blowtorch to get through the inner packaging, topped off by a sharp blade to scrape the protective plastic coating from the positive side of the battery prior to installation.

God help you if the batteries in question powered a pacemaker or something ‘cause you’d be dead on the kitchen floor!

It is for this reason that I never bring more than one coin type battery device online per day. If I had to change five “2016 type” batteries in a single day I’d probably end up stabbing myself multiple times, out of sheer frustration.

I have to say the Bubba Angus burgers cardboard zip strip does work as designed.

The thing is, all of these packaging methods used to work properly.

It’s getting harder to rip open the top of a bag of chips without having it explode all over the kitchen. 

That used to be a simple thing. Grab both sides of the bag, pull in opposite directions and the bag would open along the thermal seal.

Not anymore! Somehow the thermal seal is stronger than the surrounding mylar reinforced bag and I’ve found that instead of applying 100,000 Newtons of force (22,480 Pounds), it’s just easier and neater to use a set of kitchen shears.

Back to the pot pie. It has been literally 9 years since I’ve had a Marie Calendar’s pot pie open along the perforations. You’ve got to take the top of the carton off of one of these no matter how you’re heating it up.

There are very convenient tabs on either side of the carton that say “push here”. These usually pop as expected provided the cheap cardboard carton doesn’t collapse before the perforation gives way. The real challenge is after the tabs.

This is the long angled perforation on either side of the carton that never tears properly. It’s so near the edge of the carton that you can’t really use a knife to open it because the carton will most assuredly crush, leaving you with the need to reheat the potpie on a plate if in the microwave or on a cookie sheet if you’re using an oven.

The way these cartons are manufactured is obviously about them being only slightly more rigid than tissue paper. Hey, Marie Calendar’s why not simply wrap the potpie in nuclear capable plastic overwrap and forego the carton entirely? Why continue to frustrate people with a shitty carton that doesn’t work as designed?

Better yet, since we know that 99% of all this packaging is about preventing certain elements in society from spoiling or stealing the contents. How about we go back to the old packaging that wasn’t frustrating and simply shoot anyone caught screwing around with packaged goods?

“Cleanup on aisle 8, this one’s a bleeder bring two mops!“

We seem to be comfortable with suggesting or doing heinous things “For the Greater Good” these days. Removing the shittier parts of society would definitely be for the Greater Good wouldn’t it?

I’m in favor of the Chihuahua breed to be banned, and fed directly into a wood chipper.

Give me a Pit bull versus a Chihuahua any day. At least a Pit bull doesn’t wag its tail like it’s all friendly then start snapping.

Every freaking encounter I’ve had with a Chihuahua from boyhood to literally today. They wag their tail and act all friendly then when you, or in today’s case Jesse was close enough to bite they started snapping. 

Two of these little fucking dogs would not let Jesse and I pass on the road, during our walk today.

I was going to try to pass through them but they started snapping at Jesse’s feet and my ankles. I really did think about just fucking stomping them & kicking their carcasses into the wash. 

Chihuahuas are the only dog that has consistently bitten me throughout my whole damn life.

The only other dog bite I’ve ever had was from a half blind German Shepard who bit me coming over the fence into his yard. Poor guy probably just saw a dark blur and thought I was a threat. He didn’t even break the skin, a little bruising but no punctures. Afterwards though, we ended up being great friends. I think he really felt bad about it when he figured out I was a young human.

Much as I try to stay away from Chihuahuas and honestly their owners, (who more often than not are irresponsible pet owners anyway,) the little fuckers always seem to get a piece of me.

It wouldn’t be a problem if I could treat them like the annoying nuisances they are, and kill them like biting flies or mosquitoes. But there are all kinds of animal cruelty laws and I’m sure that I’d be the bad guy for popping a Chihuahuas head under my boot.

For years, I’ve thought the breed was probably okay, it was the owners that didn’t train them properly. Now I’m not so sure. They’re overly aggressive always. They’re loud, irritating, territorial beyond all boundaries for their size, and just fucking annoying.

One of the little fuckers bit Jesse today. Fortunately it didn’t have the strength in its jaws to draw blood. Jesse wasn’t amused in the least and once he realized these things were not wagging their tails in friendship he was very confused. Fortunately, he’s got really quick reflexes so after the first bite these two pieces of shit never touched him again.

For a moment or two I really weighed the risk/reward of letting him off leash. I don’t know if he would have simply led them down into the wash and left them trapped there for another predator, or killed them. I also considered trying to get them to follow Jesse and I across the bridge into the construction zone near the main road, or better yet into the wilderness area that Jesse has, of late, not wanted to enter.

His reluctance is probably due to a predator or predators. But two tasty morsels offered up might buy Jesse and I safe passage until next spring.

In the end we managed to back up to a point that they lost interest. They were 1/2 mile from where they live when they finally decided to leave us alone so that I could check Jesse to see if he’d been hurt.

Even then, 1/2 mile is a long way for such a small dog whose owners I’ve seen around. One owner is fat as a house and the other is on a walker even though she’s not that old, just obese. It’s not likely they’d come looking or would be able to come looking. But these days you never know who might be pointing an unwelcome camera at you for TikTok likes or some shit.

It was that last bit that prevented me from taking action.

I honestly think that Chihuahuas are dangerous. The danger is that people look at them as “Cute, silly little dogs that can’t do much damage.” They shouldn’t be allowed to do ANY damage, but since it’s minimal, people look the other way. A Chihuahua is unlikely to kill a human unless the human is an infant or toddler and the Chihuahua was part of a pack of Chihuahuas. 

That doesn’t mitigate the harm them biting someone, or another dog, causes. Had Jesse been injured I’d have been the one paying the Vet bill. Again, irresponsible owners.

Regardless of their size, they’re still dogs. In fact they were hunting dogs for, I think, the Aztecs? I forget what they hunted but it was something that lived underground and Chihuahuas could chase it from its burrow.

I guess part of the reason I hate the Chihuahuas so much is that even if they’re attacking you, you’re the one that looks like a cruel person if you hurt one. They’re duplicitous start to finish. They’ll appear friendly then turn on you, they’re small so kicking one or killing one make you the bad guy. Worst of all, they’re always loud, yappy, and poorly trained. I have yet to see a Chihuahua obey the commands of its owner.

They also demonstrate the ineffectiveness of the government.

I’m on the Do NOT CALL list. I’ve been on that list for literally years, possibly a decade or more at this point.

Yet I get this kind of thing at least once or twice a day. I’ve also noticed that I’m getting the x2 calls sometimes x3 calls because they’re trying to break through a do not disturb block on the phone.

DND on most phones will allow multiple rapid calls from the same number to ring through on the presumption that it’s an emergency of some kind.

Let’s see, why would someone turn on DND? Could it be they’re in class? How about work? Maybe in a meeting? How about at a funeral? Or in a job interview? Holding the hand of a dying loved one?

I get annoyed these moronic telemarketers or whatever they are, somehow think what they’ve got to say is so important that they need to override your need to not be disturbed.

Apparently however, their oh so important message is not worthy of leaving a voice mail.

This shit bugs the hell out of me. Just got another one while typing this blog.

There is one common element to all these numbers.

They’re owned by some cloud telecom company, Thus far the most prevalent is ONVOY, LLC and more recently someone called COMMIO LLC.

I don’t think these companies are operating under the same licenses as say AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, or Frontier.

COMMIO is based in North Carolina

ONVOY is based in Minnesota.

I think they both just rent numbers to whoever, via VOIP so God only knows where the actual phone call is originating from.

Both companies can wash their hands of any breach of protocol or laws because they’re just making VOIP devices available to their clients and have no idea or indeed control over how those services are used.

There’s probably some loophole about the “Do Not Call” registry that only includes copper analog landlines from traditional telephone providers and completely omits anything that was transmitted digitally.

I don’t know for sure but that would make sense. How the hell could the buffoons in Congress begin to understand what they should and should not limit.

At least one of the companies was founded in 1992 the other in 2012. Both are associated with SPAM calls & Texts so frequently they’re included in letter from the Federal Trade Commission to 19 Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers warning them that “assisting and facilitating” illegal telemarketing.

Thus far though, it looks as if the FTC hasn’t been able to sink their legal teeth into these companies.

On the two companies web sites, it’s interesting that they say they’re concerned about privacy. Uh Huh. Their own!

Commio llc searches are very strange. The data either starts to come up and then is wiped from the screen, or you get “There’s nothing to report” But if you look for information about other VoIP providers being in trouble with the FTC suddenly you get all kinds of information about Commio themselves. 

Super weird, but I don’t want to take the time to dig into why searches like “Commio llc Spam” are so weird. If I was suspicious, I’d think something was being done to hide their association with telephone and SMS Spam.

And people wonder why I like being able to run Windows on my Mac. It was using the Edge browser on Windows 11 that allowed me to see that something strange was going on. DuckDuck Go just kept telling me there was nothing to see or there was an error. I didn’t have to load another browser or use Google, on my primary operating system. Why? I have a viable Windows OS that I could wipe out and reload from my NAS drive in less than 10 minutes. I wouldn’t even care! There’s nothing to lose and nothing important in that Windows OS.

Nonetheless it leads me back to the question of leaving my phone sending ALL Unknown callers to voicemail or buying a subscription to one of the applications that compare the incoming call against a database of known spammers allowing only the non-spam calls to get through.

I worry, I’m missing calls that I’d otherwise be interested in receiving.

Say calls from prospective employers? Although I’d expect legitimate prospective employers to leave a message and a call back number.

I suppose part of this is election crap. There’s been an uptick in calls lately. I could attribute those to political solicitation. After the election is won, lost, stolen, or delayed indefinitely, I’m pretty sure the calls will slow down again.