I Don’t Tolerate Much

image from yessirmadam.com

I must be getting old. I’ve turned into a ind of curmudgeon. I’m finding that as I go along, I’m a lot less tolerant of stuff. Aren’t we supposed to mellow with age? Seems to be going the opposite direction for me. In my younger days, I think I was pretty happy-go-lucky overall. I think I still am, but things that irritate me these days seem to REALLY irritate me. Maybe I’m just more vocal about it.

Here’s a few examples:

• Grammar. I can look past the more technical boo-boos. You know, the ones that most folks would have to look up in Strunk & White’s to get it right. My intolerance is much more related to the your/you’re, lose/loose, too/to, there/their kind of stuff. Takes all I’ve got to not flame all of the Facebook and Twitter posters who announce to the world their ignorance with that stuff.
• Poor writing on major sites. In the last few months I have seen some horrendous examples of writing on a major news site. No grammar errors necessarily, but a writing style that was so obtuse nearly every sentence required a re-read on my part to try and get what the writer had intended.
• Overlay ads. Going to a website and within a few seconds a pop-up gray screen overlays the entire page with a cheerful, “Like what you see? Subscribe to our newsletter today!” I’ve been on your site for 10 seconds! I might of liked what was there if I didn’t have to have my experience ruined by your BS, obtrusive and annoying pop-up screen! Hey, I don’t care if these things “work” or not. They are rude and completely inconsiderate of any poor schmoe who happens across the site. Boycott ‘em all, says I.
• Video ads. Video links that make you watch a 30 second ad before the video starts suck. If I wanted to watch ads, I’d turn on the telly, thank you very much. I know it’s my own fault, but some of us have limited bandwidth availability every month and I ain’t using a single megabyte to watch a freakin’ advertisement.
• Spam. Last week I got on some spam from hell list. Over 100 spam emails in 24 hours. Heh. I got on the phone to one of the businesses that were being advertised and let them know that even if I were in need of the type of services they were offering, I would never patronize a company who used an email marketing business that blanketed the ‘net with spam. Also, I found the address for the spam company and have invoiced them to the tune of $750 for bandwidth usage and my time. I’ll let you know if I get a check.

Okay, so you get the picture. This is just a sample. Don’t get me started about driving. I could write a book about that one. Or the discourteous cretins who hang out at grocery stores. Or the people who… Oops. Almost got started again.