BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Etiquette RANT WEEK - January 2006

Well, this is the first rant week of the year 2006. And since we didn't do this last month, I'm certain that many of you have been just waiting to yell at the top of your lungs about someone's poor etiquette.

So, you know what to do: If it's rude, crude or was said with an attitude, then post it here.

Now, HERE ARE THE RULES:

- No bashing! If someone posts something about etiquette that you disagree with, you can feel free to present your side as long as there is no belittling of the other poster.

-And remember, the general rules of the BellaOnline Forum MUST be adhered to.

Now let the rants begin...

My rant is call waiting - it is just plain rude. If someone (outside of a business) puts me on hold to answer another call, I feel like hanging up.

I understand. My mother is the call waiting queen and it drives me nuts when I call her for a quick answer and she puts me on hold so she can finish a conversation with her friends about dogs, hair or soap operas.

Well, here's my rant:
I posted this in another forum, but I'm still pretty heated about it.
I bought a book on ebay from a lady on 1/17/05 using a credit card (i.e. instant payment). I didn't receive the book until 1/27/05 when the book was coming from GA to OH, and should have only taken 7 days tops.

I left the lady positive feedback but made mention that the shipping was slow.

She in turn left me neutral feedback only because I complained about the shipping. I made immediate payment, but because I was upset about how long it took to get here, she left neutral feedback.

Now I really want to send her an email letting her know how completely childish and inappropriate it was for her to leave NEUTRAL feedback (which lowers my feedback score) since I did still leave POSITIVE feedback for her (which keeps her score optimal).

My parents don't have call waiting and they have dial up for the computer. So I am trying to call for 2 hours when my niece comes over and she plays on the internet. Or my mom forgets to turn it off and I have to call my brother to go over to their house and tell them. They don't have call waiting, but even when they did, my dad never used it. He watches TV when you are on the phone with him and he doesn't hear half the conversation. I have to throw in words like poision control to get his attention. They both have cell phones that are not on unless they are using them, which is never. When my dad's mom died, he was fishing and they couldn't find him because he didn't have his cell phone on.

BTW, some of the people on EBAY are crazy. I love EBAY and I use it a lot, but some of them are missing marbles.

I get irritated at people who DON'T have call waiting in this day and age. Then I have to keep dialing in to get someone, like I have nothing better to do. At least if they have voice mail I can leave my message. Some people don't have that either and I could not manage life without my voice mail! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

My rant is kind of a mini one, and may be totally personal - but it is in the phone theme.

Now that I have a cell phone, my mother has to be able to get hold of me all the time! She can't just call my house and leave a message, oh no! She must call my house, leave a detailed message, complain about why I didn't inform her I was going to be somewhere other than my house (hello? age: 34, married w/ 3 kids, kind of on my own now!)
Then she STILL calls my cell phone and repeats everything she just left as a message on my answering machine! And tells me she tried me at home but i wasn't there. Well i sort of know that. <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

If it was an emergency I would understand, but it never is! She just always has to know where I am and be able to reach me at all times! AAAAUUUGHH! The really ironic thing is; she complains when my grandmother does the same thing to her! <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Break the cycle..... <img src="/images/graemlins/computer.gif" alt="" />

These are great! My parents are just like Judith's. They have dial up and no call waiting. I tried to tell my Dad that he should get DSL but he says he is retired and he uses the time when the page is loading to do things like refill his coffee cup. He thinks DSL would interfere with his schedule..."When would I refill my coffee?" he asks me. Anyway, I call and get a busy signal and I try again a few more times and then I move on. Problem is that then I forget to ever try again and my parents are left wondering why I never call?
<img src="/images/graemlins/wall.gif" alt="" />

I have dial up and call waiting with message center. I have never used or owned a cell phone, guess I am in the minority. But I have survived without one and have a pager for school to contact me in emergencies and it costs $50 a year to maintain plus batteries here and there.

My rant is those emails from people representing foreigners trying to get you to give them money or some scam. They use all caps and are arriving in my email box more often, like 3 -5 a day now and I want them to stop......

Bonnie if I had a pager, I'd be pulling over every other mile to see what my mother wanted! LOL

Those e-mails irk me, too. Not the least because half of them I don't think are really foreigners at all - it sounds like people trying to sound like they don't know how to speak English. (Did that make sense?) <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

I complain to my mom about DSL too. All I do anyway is check my mail is what she says. That is because her brand new computer is so slow from the dial up. I told her it is like having a sports car and leaving it in the garage. Mom is one of those people that never cleans out her inbox. She have a thousand messages in there. Then you email her and it bounces back. I have made her folders and she won't use them.

My husband and I share a cell phone. I need one because I travel 4 1/2 hours to my parents with the kids. The ringer isn't on, but noone calls it anyway. When we had dial up (because DSL wasn't avaliable), we would leave the cell phone on in case someone was calling.