Thread: Pet Peeves?

I have lots of pet peeves. I basically get annoyed at anyone and everyone who lacks the decency to act in a respectful manner toward the rest of the folks on the planet, whether it's driving, walking, talking, writing, or any other form of interaction.

Since we are on this forum, I will limit myself to writing.

Please write well, or at least attempt to do so. You don't have to use perfect grammar or spelling, but please make the attempt. That way, we all have a better chance of understanding what you are trying to say.
Don't use text spelling--the word is "you," not "u."
Sentences should not be a near-infinite string of words without any punctuation.
I don't care if you are writing on your phone. Sentences, with capital letters, a subject, a verb, and a period at the end are very much appreciated and necessary for respectful communication with others.
Paragraphs, or at least an occasional gap in a long succession of lines, makes it a little easier to read, so please occasionally hit that enter key.

And finally, for one special person, commas are not supposed to be random events sprinkled throughout sentences. When you do that, all I can think of is the passage from Flowers For Algernon:

“April 6—Today, I learned, the comma, this is, a, comma (,) a period, with, a tail, Miss Kinnian, says its, importent, because, it makes writing, better, she said, somebody, could lose, a lot, of money, if a comma, isnt in, the right, place, I got, some money, that I, saved from, my job, and what, the foundation, pays me, but not, much and, I dont see how, a comma, keeps, you from, losing it,
But, she says, everybody, uses commas, so Ill, use them, too,,,,

April 7—I used the comma wrong. Its punctuation…Miss Kinnian says a period is punctuation too, and there are lots of other marks to learn.
She said; You, got. to-mix?them!up: She showd? me” how, to mix! them; up, and now! I can. mix (up all? kinds of punctuation— in, my. writing! There” are lots, of rules; to learn? but. Im’ get’ting them in my head:
One thing? I, like: about, Dear Miss Kinnian: (thats, the way? it goes; in a business letter (if I ever go! into business?) is that, she: always; gives me’ a reason” when—I ask. She”s a gen’ius! I wish? I could be smart-like-her;
Punctuation, is? fun!”

― Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon

Aloha!

Not really a pet peeve but a concern about very basic grammar. As long as we're talking English skills here, the improper use of "You're VS Your" really alarms me. This is BASIC English. Third grade level stuff, yet I see it continually on Forums
.
You're is a contraction for YOU ARE, and Your is a possessive adjective that modifies nouns.

Your in trouble is incorrect. Obviously. It's You're in trouble. I see this all the time and think that either someone must have skipped breakfast in their third grade English lesson that day, or, they just don't care. Either way, you're not going to get to the bottom of it by spending all your time in a Forum!

Mahalo!

-Zip

Sorry Ron, Never Thought You Would Call Me Special, Ha

Originally Posted by Butzy

Just curious here. As a manager of those employees, who's responsibility did you think it was to instill this motivation in the employees beneath you?

As a member of the "younger" generation I find it painfully ignorant to assume that a group of people is just inherently flawed because they happened to be born between a certain time span. Speaking for a group that is perhaps even a little younger than the employees you described of 20 years ago, I entered the workforce at a time when the economy was at the lowest it had been since the 1930's, there was not a job to be had and the entry level positions that were out there were happily taken up by people who had been laid off after working elsewhere for some time. The housing market had crashed which created new requirements to get mortgages (which still exist) that are almost impossible to satisfy if you are under 30 years old and have a short employment history. And then the economy was plagued even more by multiple conflicts internationally that were draining any additional resources that the government may have had to help in any way. When looking for a job I was told that the education i'd been told all of my life that i needed to have was pointless because there were people with experience out there looking for the same job.
None of those situations were created by my generation. In fact, one could very reasonably argue that those situations were all created by the greed of a very different generation. But we as a generation live in this reality and try to navigate it as best we can.
I was one of the lucky ones. I got a job because of pure luck and timing. I also managed to work steady for long enough to get enough credit to buy a home, and a car. But for every person like me there are +10 people that didn't find a job and spent hours and days and months looking for one, constantly being turned down. These people worked no less hard than I, and yet they have to move back in with their parents or other family because they literally have no more money. And now work for minimum wage as a bank teller or convenience store worker, etc. Not because they're lazy or because they're mama's boys/girls but because they've exhausted their options.

It's easy to make blanket statements about groups of people, but it's important to understand that situations dictate our lives and ability to appear successful. I know of no one in my age group that would insult the work ethic of the generations before them. I think perspective is very important before making judgments about a younger generation that may very well be dealing with just as harsh circumstances as any previous living generation, albeit different. and then questioning their work ethic.

I'll get off this big ol' soapbox now. sorry for the long text, but it's an important topic to me

I agree with a lot of what you're saying; lumping everyone into a category based on their age isn't going to be accurate. In regard to your question about whether the employer is responsible for instilling a work ethic in each employee. I don't think it's the employer's job to do that at all. I am an employer and I employ/have employed age groups from current Millennials on up to a semi-retired person in her early seventies who has worked for us for 20+ years.

My parents instilled a solid work ethic in me. When I was young, I fought it every step of the way... Boy, did it pay off for me though. My first job other than paper route at 12 or whatever and mowing lawns was as a dishwasher at 16. Of course the job sucked. I never complained though and worked harder than the other dishwashers and got promoted to busboy in a few months.

When I moved to the "big city" with some friends I took a job at a temp agency with the first 3 day assignment being sitting in an office conference room with two other temps - all of us stuffing mountains of envelopes. I made a game of it perfecting my technique and going as fast as I could. One of my co-workers looked at me on the first day and said "What are you doing?" I was confused by the question: "Huh?" "Don't go so fast...we want to make this job last as long as possible!" Sorry pal....I continued to work as fast as I could, perhaps even faster. The client reported positive feedback for me and not the others and I got a longer term job at an architectural firm helping out with a whole bunch of different stuff.

I'm sure most all of us have similar stories, but my point in bringing those things up and my opinion is this: It's not an employer's job to instill a work ethic in an employee, it's the employee's job to have a work ethic before working at said job and.....it's the employee's PARENT'S responsibility to instill that work ethic in their children. If the parents drop the ball...ultimately each of us are masters of our own destiny. Another pet peeve of mine is the pervasive blame game our culture seems to be diseased with. That's always been human nature since the beginning when Adam blamed Eve and Even in turn blamed the serpent. A big problem for us today is that society has embraced the blame game and has even very much encouraged it.

As an employer, encouraging good work and acknowledging hard work is good for everyone. However, I don't owe any employees frequent praise, pats on the back, etc ESPECIALLY for what's expected of them. I did have a recent Millennial employee who lasted less than a month complain in her resignation letter that one of the reasons she left was that I didn't give her accolades for the work she was doing. For showing up and doing the same exact work as everyone else??? I don't bring in the marching band when my kids finish their milk or do some other activity of daily living and as an employer I'm not going to praise someone for towing the line and fulfilling the status quo. Maybe that's harsh.....but is life easy? I tell my kids, life WILL knock you down or try to knock you down in some form every day. We all have two choices: 1) Lose, give up and be defeated. 2) Get right back up, even if you feel like you can only crawl and keep going. No matter what.

Originally Posted by Addison

Sorry Ron, Never Thought You Would Call Me Special, Ha

Never did and probably never will.

Originally Posted by Butzy

Just curious here. As a manager of those employees, who's responsibility did you think it was to instill this motivation in the employees beneath you?

As a member of the "younger" generation I find it painfully ignorant to assume that a group of people is just inherently flawed because they happened to be born between a certain time span. Speaking for a group that is perhaps even a little younger than the employees you described of 20 years ago, I entered the workforce at a time when the economy was at the lowest it had been since the 1930's, there was not a job to be had and the entry level positions that were out there were happily taken up by people who had been laid off after working elsewhere for some time. The housing market had crashed which created new requirements to get mortgages (which still exist) that are almost impossible to satisfy if you are under 30 years old and have a short employment history. And then the economy was plagued even more by multiple conflicts internationally that were draining any additional resources that the government may have had to help in any way. When looking for a job I was told that the education i'd been told all of my life that i needed to have was pointless because there were people with experience out there looking for the same job.
None of those situations were created by my generation. In fact, one could very reasonably argue that those situations were all created by the greed of a very different generation. But we as a generation live in this reality and try to navigate it as best we can.
I was one of the lucky ones. I got a job because of pure luck and timing. I also managed to work steady for long enough to get enough credit to buy a home, and a car. But for every person like me there are +10 people that didn't find a job and spent hours and days and months looking for one, constantly being turned down. These people worked no less hard than I, and yet they have to move back in with their parents or other family because they literally have no more money. And now work for minimum wage as a bank teller or convenience store worker, etc. Not because they're lazy or because they're mama's boys/girls but because they've exhausted their options.

It's easy to make blanket statements about groups of people, but it's important to understand that situations dictate our lives and ability to appear successful. I know of no one in my age group that would insult the work ethic of the generations before them. I think perspective is very important before making judgments about a younger generation that may very well be dealing with just as harsh circumstances as any previous living generation, albeit different. and then questioning their work ethic.

I'll get off this big ol' soapbox now. sorry for the long text, but it's an important topic to me

What a Crock !!!

Mortgages were being handed out like candy 15 to 20 years ago; a major part of the problem in 2008.

The economy plagued by international conflicts was a crutch for the younger generation?

Here's a photo of my grandfather's house(on wheels) in WWII, he had "5" kids (my mother included) at the time living in that house, with my grandmother taking care of them while he served his time in the Army. He was in his 30's at the time.
He left that mobile home after the war & built his own house with his son's on a piece of land in South Florida. Forty years later he was the second biggest farmer in South Florida & head of the Carpenter's Union. He died with "7" kids.



You getting a job, when others your age did not, had nothing to do with luck. You got up on your feet & went looking for one & didn't stop till you found it. The others that you talk of have lost or never found their drive. You tried harder than they did & you wanted a job. This is what made you successful & I really respect this.

People your age that are living back with their parents, have not exhausted their options, they have given up.

Minimum wage is a crutch for them? Well, tell that to the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers that make minimum wage or less & still manage to put their money together & exist outside of their parents homes. They dream of being a bank tellers(AC & heathcare) & convenience store employees.

On the flip side, I don't bash your generation or any other for that matter; success lies in the individual.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

What a Crock !!!

Mortgages were being handed out like candy 15 to 20 years ago; a major part of the problem in 2008.

The economy plagued by international conflicts was a crutch for the younger generation?

Here's a photo of my grandfather's house(on wheels) in WWII, he had "5" kids (my mother included) at the time living in that house, with my grandmother taking care of them while he served his time in the Army. He was in his 30's at the time.
He left that mobile home after the war & built his own house with his son's on a piece of land in South Florida. Forty years later he was the second biggest farmer in South Florida & head of the Carpenter's Union. He died with "7" kids.



You getting a job, when others your age did not, had nothing to do with luck. You got up on your feet & went looking for one & didn't stop till you found it. The others that you talk of have lost or never found their drive. You tried harder than they did & you wanted a job. This is what made you successful & I really respect this.

People your age that are living back with their parents, have not exhausted their options, they have given up.

Minimum wage is a crutch for them? Well, tell that to the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers that make minimum wage or less & still manage to put their money together & exist outside of their parents homes. They dream of being a bank tellers(AC & heathcare) & convenience store employees.

On the flip side, I don't bash your generation or any other for that matter; success lies in the individual.

The mortgage crisis was precisely what I was referring to when referencing new requirements for loans and folks my age not being able to buy a house. A lot of the time I hear people complain about my generation renting instead of buying and how irresponsible that is without considering that many times that's the only option if you haven't put together 5 years of consistent and relatively high income because of the restrictions underwriters have to abide by now.
I never said the wars were a crutch for my or anyone else's generation. I should have been more specific. QE wasn't immediately an option for the economy because of the uncertainly of how a lot of things would turn out overseas. Wasn't a bailout for the millennial generation, certainly.
As for the story of your family. That is truly the American dream and something to hang your hat on without a doubt. Many of us have these stories passed down and they serve as real motivation for people who are fortunate enough to have families that stick together and can take pride in their heritage. Most of the people in my generation come from split families through no fault of their own. I'm not asking anyone to read any more into that than what I just said for fear of being accused of playing the blame game, but facts are facts.

I can say most assuredly that my ability to get a job after 2008 was a stroke of luck. I find it surprising that you have the confidence to state that it wasn't without having the slightest idea of my situation. There were people in my class that graduated with higher GPA's, interviewed for the same job, at the same time and were turned down. To this day I'm convinced that I was selected because I happened to be a Bears fan like the interviewer. Now if arbitrarily picking a sports team at the age of 6 to be a fan of and possibly getting a job because of that constitutes "hard work" then I'm a real hard worker!
I also said nothing about minimum wage or migrant workers. Generally speaking the arguments against millennial work ethic are limited to the US, or at the very least, developed countries. Migrant workers are an exception to this, and of course they continue to be the backbone of our country specifically because of their work ethic regardless of their generation. Though I will point out that many times migrant workers live in single houses with multiple generations living in the same home. I'm not sure how that's admirable, but when American citizens do it it's despicable. No one in my generation wants to live with their parents any more than anyone in your generation wanted to live with their parents. The very notion of that is somewhat comical.

I agree that relative success lies in the individual. But I would also say that it's really hard to pull yourself by the bootstraps when there is a foot on your chest and no bootstraps to grasp.

Stainless steel razors...

Sent from a moto x far far away

In my mind and at my keyboard, I am a silent punctuation and grammar Nazi, but my own punctuation and grammar aren't that great.

Drivers who change lanes to the left, and then do not accelerate to accommodate the faster moving traffic behind them.

I don't like reading articles that aren't about what the headline refers to.

Being presented with a food substance that I am unable to identify, and being expected to consume it without question. (Any married man will know what I mean.)

Bad breath.

Originally Posted by FWiedner

Bad breath.

I second that