Pet hates part 1
May 28th, 2004
A phone call the other day reminded me that I’ve been meaning to write about pet hates. I picked up to a big "hello there!" and I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t recognise my own mother’s voice. Sorry Ma, but that telephone manner catches me out sometimes.
You’re not the only one either, and at least I caught-on quickly enough to avoid that uncomfortable conversation where my right brain keeps up the small talk whilst the left brain frantically analyses replies for clues to who it is.
So that’s my first pet hate: not announcing who it is when you call. Just say “Hi Rob, it’s [your name], how’s it going?”. Easy.
More:
Touching my screen. Fingerprints, especially on monitors with that pink anti-reflective coating seem to glow a lurid green. I find this incredibly, irrationally annoying and any blemishes prompt an immediate spray and wipe (robotperson recommends Magi-clean white board cleaner). At work I’ll generally put up with screen touchers out of politeness, but try touching my lcd at home and I’ll break your wrist before you get near. Use a pen, people! (non-ink end …duh) – or even use a knuckle. But keep your greasy paws to yourself.
The Gatwick Express. When you spend a lot of time on the trains you eventually get used to the slowness, the unexplained stops, and the general inefficiency of the service. What the Gatwick Express articulates very clearly to me is "we’re capable of doing it right if we want to, but we can make more money by giving a good service to frequent flyers who we can really rip off than making it a standard for you".
If we had a normal fast service through Gatwick which serviced commuters as well as travellers, and the express trains came off the schedule to free up the time slots, there would be a quicker and more efficient service for all. We’d see no Express trains with their two dozen occupants enjoying prairies of carriage space, and no cattle crush for the commuters. But no, London must have it’s airports "less than half an hour away" or it would feel like a loser when it got together with all the other capital cities.