Bakers Dozen, my top pet peeves of 2020

 

So my top ten pet peeves as we end 2020:

1) People who wear masks into a store, to take them off right after they enter.  While we are at it, those who wear the mask and show their nose, those who choose not to wear them at all, and those of all ages seem challenged by masks.  Whether you will be stricken very ill or not, the choice to wear a mask not only puts me at risk but everyone of all ages I may be in contact with, including my in-laws. 

2) The curiosity of Texas, at least driving in East Texas, why is using your turn signal too stressful? This impacts me as another driver and while walking the dog. Is knowing where you are going at an intersection asking too much?

3) The barrage of tweets by the president and his minions about the rigged election.  Especially as he takes credit for getting 8 Republican senators re-elected, since all candidates were on the same ballot, it can't be rigged for the president and not rigged for everyone else.

4) It is not reasonable to blame the pandemic for all lousy customer service.  I seriously appreciate the post office.  We shipped cookies from the post office, priority mail, on December 14th to 15 different family members.  Two of the packages are still in transit to the east coast, while the ones to Hawaii arrived by the 20th.  I understand these times are challenging, but I hope the cookies won't be ammunition quality when they arrive.  This complaint applies to other services, including Amazon and other retailers.

5) The tendency on Streaming media to put ads into programs when I already pay for the service.  One of the reasons I buy Amazon Prime is to get access to their videos.  To have them add ads means they are being paid twice for the program.

6) The expectation that everyone should be happy all the time.  This year certainly poses challenges, and one of them seems to be an expectation because we are healthy and safe, we should be all smiles all the time.  I wasn't all smiling all the time before, and I am certainly not like that now.  I am a realist, and I approach life with optimism and honesty in my feelings.  I am not one to fake it with a made-up smile.

7) There should be a new social network for the rest of us.  Not every recipe I cook is great.  Even with the little hair I have, I have bad hair days.  Not every day is a joyful one.  I have the cutest dog and cat, but I fail to share when they either misbehave or have an upset stomach.  The constant parade of everyone else's lives that appear perfect can challenge me greatly and may lead to some feeling depressed about their life challenges.  How about a new social network that people can share their real lives, and while we are at it, charge me a few $$ and no ads.

8) I hate phrases such as Merry Christmas "for those that celebrate.”  With all due respect wishing someone who doesn't celebrate a Merry Christmas is not wrong, and adding a caveat about celebrating seems disrespectful for those who enjoy the holiday. The same goes for other holidays such as Kwanza, Hannukah, or any other holiday.  If the person receiving the greeting is that offended, that is a shame.  I tend to wish people a happy holiday but not sure that is the right remedy here, especially in a country and town where most celebrate Christmas.

9) I hate the quizzes on Social Media.  First, the ones that are to determine your IQ seem mighty easy, and I am sure there is no scientific basis for them.  The quizzes and publishing results from one are a great way to sell more advertising.  We all would do well to remember that most posts on Social Media, except from me (or other friends), are to keep your eyeballs on their page and generate more ads.

10) Rush Limbaugh is not a national hero.  He is one of the founders of if I keep repeating this lie often enough people will believe me.  I remember early on listening to him while I lived in Jacksonville.  (For those of you that know me, you know how long ago that was! ).  I realized the more I listened, the more I started to believe the BS coming out of his mouth.  I am sorry he has cancer, but I can't say watching him retire will bring sadness to my heart, nor will I recognize him as a national hero.

11) I don't like the new Youtube music app.  I bought a fair amount of music through Google over the years.  To make me pay them a subscription fee to listen to that music without ads is not right.  It also seems it can't keep playing music in the App while doing other things on my iPhone if I don't pay the fee.  They do want to stream associated videos, but honestly, I just want easy access to my music as I had on Google Play.  

12) Software and cloud companies, making money on IT security services when they helped create the exposure in the first place.  If you can detect the day after how many customers are affected by a security issue, doesn't it seem that you should have done a better job protecting them in the first place?  People acting like IT security is a new issue that came with the Internet.  Security and IT has been an issue in the world of IT from the beginning.  In the early days, it was more about securing the room of the large systems, and their networks were proprietary. Still, security and securing access to computer-stored information is not new.  As an industry, we rushed from Client Server to the Internet era, and security became lax to speed up deployments and new applications.  Until we go back to planning for security from the beginning of a new system, operating system, or the next in computer solution, we will never be truly secure.

13) My last COVID rant. I hate to say this one, but I wanted a baker's dozen here, which bothers me.  Please, don't plead how isolated you are after posting a picture of yourself inside a restaurant.  We all have to balance the risk of COVID with our mental health, but hanging out in a crowded restaurant is not self-isolating.  I am most grateful for the dog, which gets me out of the house safely at least once a day, but we haven't seen the inside of a restaurant since early March to stay safe and protect our loved ones.

Finally, if these baker's dozen complaints don't jive for you, my greatest apologies, I had way too much coffee this morning, and these just came off quickly under a caffeine high.