I Hate People

[Jimmy Cantiello]

I often say that but only barely "tongue-in-cheek. For the most part I say that out of exasperation. Having lived on this planet for close to 65 years it's been proven to me over and over and over again that this world has an over abundance of selfish, inconsiderate, self-involved assholes who care about nobody but themselves. I see examples of this behavior every single day of my life. It's mostly small things that, if taken one at a time, don't really make a difference in the greater scheme of things. However, these instances of assholeness are so prevalent it could ruin one's day. There is no doubt in my mind that most of the world's problems stems from this very real problem.

My wife, who is a very positive and patient person is not affected by assholes as much as I am. She just lets their bullshit run right off her back and she forgets about it. I think she's related to Ron Thorne. 

I can cite many, many small examples why this world is so fucked up. Here's just one example for starters; the assholes who decide that they're too special to park in a designated parking space at the supermarket. They park right over the stenciling that states: NO PARKING - FOR EMERGENCY VEHICLES ONLY. Why? Because it's closer to the store entrance. And if you call out these lazy pieces of shit they'll actually give you an argument. I got a million more instances of selfishness and inconsiderate behavior. How about you? Do you sometimes hate people or is it just me?

[A. Kingstone]

Jimmy. It's not just you. We are so full of self importance with little justification.

Examples of driving behaviour could be a subject unto itself.

Have a look at online comments on any news story for hateful vitriol for another instance.

I think I'll have a beer and glance at my thawing steak.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Speaking of driving, how about the knuckleheads that cut you off on the highway by pulling into your lane without benefit of a signal? Or...just as bad, cutting you off and once they get in front of you only then putting their signal on as if to say, "Yep, I just cut you off." I hate people.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Oh, and how about the entitled brats that pull into a gas station/convenience store and park in front of one of the gas pumps. They exit the car, go into the store, purchase a coffee, lottery tickets and some cigarettes. No, they don't pump any gas. They just want to have a closer parking space to the store because they're too god damned lazy to park in the spaces that are all of forty feet from the door. It matters not to these twits that maybe someone would like to use that pump to gas up. After all, it's all about them. Creeps.

[Gentle Giant]

I only like the people I like.

[mjb]

Wholly jumping Jimmy ... I am about the same age, have a similarly tempered wife and have the same jaundiced view of humanity.

Toronto has more that its fair share of really bad, dumb, inconsiderate drivers. I rant and my good lady wife (whose name escapes me for the moment © Peter Cook) will say "I'm sure they have a reason for doing that." Doesn't help.

And how about pedestrians? More and more often the sidewalks are blocked by groups of near zombies trying to decide the shortest way to McDonald's or Walmart. Rather than manoeuvre around them I usually walk up and say "excuse me." Typically, I receive an almost blinding "what is your problem" glare. Wastes of space all of them.

[A. Kingstone]

..........

And how about pedestrians? More and more often the sidewalks are blocked by groups of near zombies trying to decide the shortest way to McDonald's or Walmart. Rather than manoeuvre around them I usually walk up and say "excuse me." Typically, I receive an almost blinding "what is your problem" glare. Wastes of space all of them.

A fellow grumpy Torontonian!

I'm astounded by people and their gadgets. If I'm walking and being directly approached by these 'connectivity assholes' (copyright Woody Allen) I'll say "hey thumbs". That usually gets a glare.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

In Connecticut, like many other places, the law states that if you come to a red light and want to make a right turn you can do so providing you make a full stop before proceeding and there is no traffic coming from the left, since that traffic has a green light.

So what do you think happens 90% of the time. The dickhead that wants to turn right on red does not make a full stop. He doesn't even slow down. It matters not that a car might be approaching from the left because it has a green light. That car gets cut off and if the driver sounds his horn after almost being rammed, the dickhead gives him the finger and keeps going on his clueless way. Yes sir, many fuckheads out there.

[LennyH]

A few years ago I decided to stop getting pissed at other drivers. I used to flip people the bird sometimes when they cut me off or came flying up behind me and tailgated me very aggressively, but I decided it just wasn't worth it. One time a guy cut us off, my wife was driving, and I reached out to flip him off and managed to crack the windshield when I accidentally hit it with my fist. I almost got into a fight by the side of the road once also. Stupid shit. So I decided to de-stress by ignoring these assholes and it worked for me. I don't get pissed and I don't change lanes in an attempt to get places faster (unless I'm late). I just listen to NPR or podcasts and focus on that and ignore the bullshit going on around me and I have to say that my time on the road feels much better spent now.

My wife, OTOH, does not subscribe to this. So I don't let her drive and try my best to keep her from raising our stress level while I'm driving.

[mjb]

And 'connectivity assholes' on bicycles?

Toronto drivers can barely deal with other drivers. Pedestrians are a mystery to them (Though the ones that stop in the middle of the intersection to spell check a text message are fair game). Cyclists take huge risks just being on the road riding against downtown drivers.

So why are so many of them wearing full-size studio headphones but no helmet.

I saw one superstar wobbling along in heavy traffic on Dundas near Bathurst - lots of flowing linen clothing flapping around the wheels and chain. No helmet, full headphones and trying to extricate a mobile phone from a trouser pocket.

What is wrong with these "people?"

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Meanwhile, back at the supermarket. How about when you're standing in front of, say, the meat case looking at something you think you might want to purchase. There's maybe two feet between you and the case. All of a sudden some knucklehead squeezes in between you and the case and starts rummaging around looking for just the right package. Or worse, they run their grocery cart into that space forcing you to step back before you get rammed. It really doesn't matter to them that maybe you were standing there before they barged their way through. I usually say something like, "Pardon me, I apologize for standing here while you were getting in my way".

[mjb]

I haven't seen someone wearing full headphones in at least a decade.

We have them on most bus shelters. It keeps the tourists (Mr. and Mrs. Richard Ballspond) distracted from the fact that there is nothing to see or do.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

I'm tellin' ya, it always seems that not much time goes by before I manage to run into another mentally challenged dipshit. Why me? This unfortunate encounter happened to be with a twenty-something female.

I took a quick run to the local market here in Vermont to pick up a few things for dinner. On the way to the store the sky opened up and the deluge began. I parked my car in an empty space. There was a truck already parked in the space on the right side of my car. The left side was empty. I jumped out and ran to the store trying to minimize the soaking I was going to get. After I checked out I noticed the rain was worse than when I entered the store. I waited for my opening and made a beeline for my car. As I approached the car I saw that someone had parked on my driver's side while I was in the store. This young lady had parked in such a way that it was impossible for me to get into my car. I could not open my car door more than six inches. What the fuck? In the meantime I'm getting soaked. I look into her passenger side window and see that she's texting on her cellphone. I start yelling for her to move her vehicle so I can enter my car. She backs up and promptly straightens her car out so I can open my door. Then she goes back to texting. Thanks, bitch! I hate people.

[pig pen]

Wow, you guys run into a lot of assholes.

I find that most people are pretty decent. I see people doing stupid things on the road from time to time, but not quite as obnoxiously as you guys describe.

There is one thing that makes me shake my head though and now that school is back I'll be seeing more of it. University kids seem to have no fear of getting run over. I have seen kids step out on a crosswalk without even looking to see if traffic is coming. I guess maybe a natural selection process is at play?

[A. Kingstone]

Litter. Specifically cigarette butts. Everywhere!

I see adjacent neighbours flicking them off balconies.

Reprehensible. Buy a fucking ashtray.

[Ron Thorne]

I just want to go on record as saying that this thread has legs! I have a few scenarios to add to the mix in due time.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Here's one that burns my ass. You go to the "express" checkout because you only have a few items. The person in front of you has two apples and a can of baked beans. The cashier rings them up. Out comes the checkbook. Hmmm...can't find a pen. Oh wait, I have a bunch of credit cards. Maybe I can use one of them. And yes, I think I have a coupon for the beans. Let me rummage through my pocketbook. I know it's in here somewhere. In the meantime my pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream is melting.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

I don't want anyone to get the idea that I look for shit that annoys me. Really, I don't. I guess it just has a way of finding me.

Here's a two-for-one situation. The person that blocks the parking lot travel lane so that he can wait for the parking space that somebody is about to vacate. It matters not that he passed at least fifty spaces he could have chosen. But no, if he took one of those spaces he would have had to carry his fat ass an extra forty feet to the front door of the store. The person that is about to leave surely must have noticed that somebody is stopped and waiting for his space. What does he do? Yep, instead of exiting the space he purposely drags ass and putters around the inside of his car because he is either oblivious that there is another person besides him living on the planet or he is just busting balls because his sense of entitlement will not allow him to be anything but a rude piece of shit. There you go, two dipshits for the price of one. What a deal! And my ice cream is still melting as I wait for a clear path out of the parking lot.

[moldyfigg]

I people weren't idiots, there would be no religion.

An don't get me started on slow drivers.

[sozamora]

Why the hell do people insist on driving so close behind me? Are they trying to coerce me into speeding? Why don't they just pass me over?

[A. Kingstone]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWPCE2tTLZQ

[Tom Storer]

There's a saying they have in France: "If you meet only one asshole during the day, you're lucky. If you meet two or three, that's not surprising. If all you meet are assholes--then you are the asshole."

Not to say that anyone posting on this thread is an asshole, and certainly not Jimmy! But it's true that if one hates all the assholes one meets, one should remember that it is very rare that one is never an asshole oneself.

I too meet assholes. In particular... at my address, where several buildings are managed by the same management company, we have two kinds of garbage containers, one for rottable, unrecyclable stuff, and one for all kinds of recyclable stuff. The recyclable containers are yellow, the others are green. How hard is it?

Too hard for these assholes. EVERY DAY I see kitchen refuse in the yellow container and EVERY DAY I transfer these bags to the non-recyclable container.

You would think that the concierge fellow to whom we pay a wage would take care of this since it is his JOB. BUT NO! He is... an asshole.

I am mostly a Zen kind of guy but every morning I have my two minutes of apoplexy over this.

(I should point out that the garbage trucks regularly refuse our yellow containers because they contain non-recyclable garbage. They tape them shut with red and white striped tape, a badge of shame, and then the dumb guardian has to re-sort the container- anyway.)

[moldyfigg]

Luckily, I rarely come in contact with those I would consider assholes except for a couple of politicians I know.

Most of us here, IMHO, are anything but assholes, maybe pricks sometime.

[A. Kingstone]

Luckily, I rarely come in contact with those I would consider assholes except for a couple of politicians I know.

Most of us here, IMHO, are anything but assholes, maybe pricks sometime.

Hey! Unruly cretin, sure. Miserable curmudgeon, okay. Asshole, I don't think so.

[walto]

A good friend of mine just emailed me this impressive rant:

I'm not an informed football watcher. I have it on sometimes when I'm doing other stuff. Since I don't have cable, it's the only sport I watch when I watch anything.

There has been an awful lot of hype about the Patriots. I got a huge kick out of it when they got smoked by the Lions and the only discussion the next day was their roster, as if the Lion game never happened. Now it's true that exhibition games don't show much about teams, but I've had the distinct impression that the Pats are not that good and teams like Denver and one or two others, maybe including the Lions, are better. Welker looked good for the half I saw him, though he fumbled a kick off and was credited with a catch that was a drop. That looks like a really bad decision by the Pats. Manning looked a lot better than Brady has so far. I don't know, but the Pats don't look that great, and a lot of these other teams look better.

So this could be a big Walter year after a disastrous Red Sox year. The Celts will suck, and now Jared (another Jared) Sellinger is the latest athlete criminal.

You know, I was no stud in high school, but I had eyes, and I used to hate jocks and I also hated the women who hung around them. Both were obnoxious. This may not be PC but I find myself not feeling sorry for these women who are getting beaten up and murdered by their jock boy friends. What they hell do the expect? That Martell woman. Was she blind? Jered Remy looked like a gozilla monster from a Japanese horror film. People would go on about what a nice smart woman she was. Really? I'd say she was a moron. Sellinger's girlfriend was another imbecile. Fuck all of them.

And would someone tell the Globe picture page that enough Giselle Budshit or whatever her name is way more than enough. My god, every day, her puss is on that page. At least she's rich, so Tommy boy can't afford to beat her up.

As for Obama, six years talking about bipartisanship, refusing to crack down on Wall Street, screwing up in 2010 by not even trying to fight thereby creating a disastrous election that year, butting into the Syrian mess, and maybe appointing Larry Summers to the Fed. Enough already. How many ways can a guy fail in one life time? I thought I was a compulsive fuckup.

Oi.