What's your pet peeve in RL?

[Ufgt]

Re: What's your pet peeve in RL?

Dak: Yah, I have Photoshop CS3 on my system and you have to go through all sorts of backdoors and editing text files and such just so you can get the copy working. Although, the nice thing is that you can download the full version from the Adobe website and as long as you know how to jump over the DRM, you can get a working copy pretty quickly.

Murph: Yah, I totally get you on the indie bands thing. I suppose that's why I like iTunes. Lots of indie bands release digital copies only (since they can't afford to release physical copies) and I usually pick them up off there.

I'm not a big fan of digital copies though. I would rather have a physical copy for all the band art and liner notes and such. I'm materialistic like that.

[Murphie]

Re: What's your pet peeve in RL?

I like to be as clutter-free as possible. I am forever throwing things out or donating them. So album art and liner notes aren't high on my list.

Now if only iTunes would keep a list of everything I'd ever bought so that if for whatever reason I lost all of my digital copies, I could re-download them...

[Raydeus]

Re: What's your pet peeve in RL?

Yah, I've pretty much shifted away from pirating. If some artist puts out music, I'll buy the CD. I used to be a huge pirate, but over the last year, I kinda... stopped. Not sure why.

Probably because you realized nothing is free and that things require money to be made.

Even if some publishers/distributors seem to think they are doing you a favor selling you the stuff and over charge like it's 1950.

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And some of these people are so stupidly retarded they actually make things for Pirates, like some stupid DRM trash will stop them in any way. So in the end all those things accomplish is making things difficult for their paying costumers. Cause pirates are too busy getting new stuff to even bother laughing at things like Secu-ROM.

Take a look at region locked movies and games, they are supposed to be that way to protect distributors in specific regions. Most of which are so bad and so useless they don't even know what a game is or what a movie is about in the first place, leave alone knowing what to bring to their countries. They just treat these items like overpriced groceries and buy/sell them as such.

So you end up with 2 choices: Either you import (and pay a hefty surcharge) or you pirate it.

Import will cost you 20-50% more than the retail price in the main region, pirate will get to you sooner and cost a fraction of the price, not to mention pirates usually know thier merchandise extremely well.

Guess where most people on a budget will go.

And another fun fact is that in many cases importing is actually cheaper than buying from the official distributor in the region. Makes you wonder who the thieves really are.


And that's why I love services like Steam, Valve gets it. Unfortunately some developers do not, and ask them to include things like secu-rom and region locks on top of Steam's account system. As retarded as that may be.

[Ufgt]

Re: What's your pet peeve in RL?

Speaking of region locked blu rays... I have been waiting several years for City of Ember region A and I still don't think it's been released, or even have a release date. All the information I can find is for UK/Region B, which actually makes me a little sad.

Yes, the movie is a kids movie with above average ratings, but I still want to own it on BD.

[KingOfZeal]

Re: What's your pet peeve in RL?

And some of these people are so stupidly retarded they actually make things for Pirates, like some stupid DRM trash will stop them in any way. So in the end all those things accomplish is making things difficult for their paying costumers. Cause pirates are too busy getting new stuff to even bother laughing at things like Secu-ROM.

This is what I was aiming that comic at, not necessarily to any one method of production. DRM is ultimately only hindering legitimate users, both in terms of how the user can use it (IE, they can't if something bad happens or they do a routine and even expected hardware upgrade) and in cost (developing these "anti-pirate" measures does cost quite a bit). To that end and following that logic it could be seen by some as better to pirate than buy the legitimate copy.

[Raydeus]

Re: What's your pet peeve in RL?

Yeah, nothing like having them treat you like a criminal for buying their product, and making you ask them for permision to reinstall something you've already bought. If they even let you.

Then there's things like those freaking FBI warnings they force you (if you don't know how to disable/forcedly skip them) to watch with your legitimate copy of the freaking movie!

Pirate copies? Don't have them, and they already know all of this because it'sa part of the game for them. So why the heck force your legitimate costumers to watch them when they are the last people you should be bugging with this crap.

Retarded I tell you, all of them.

[NightShayde]

Re: What's your pet peeve in RL?

Kitten -- that sounds more like a flu than a cold. Have you tried Mucinex DM for your cough (if it's available where you live)? It lasts 12 hours, and also helps a lot with congestion. It's the only thing that helped me keep my sanity a couple of weeks ago when I was coughing my fool head off.

My newest irritation: my workplace has all of a sudden decided that they should start enforcing the dress code they've been letting get more and more relaxed over the past few years. I totally understand needing workers who interact with customers on a face-to-face basis to maintain a neat, clean, professional appearance. I totally understand wanting people to adhere to standards of personal hygiene so that their co-workers aren't distracted by wildly inappropriate clothing or choked by unpleasant or overpowering odors.

I don't understand why the fabric from which your clothes are made is so freakin' important -- and why it is presumed only to affect your work performance on certain days. Monday-Thursday, this place has been declared a denim-free zone. Fine - no jeans. Got it. Friday-Sun, jeans & other items made of denim are fine. If denim prevents me from doing my job (which involves exactly ZERO contact with customers in any way, shape, or form) properly on Monday-Thursday, why would my job performance on Friday-Sun not be equally affected?

A couple of items are sort of making me laugh. Skorts are singled out in the dress code as not being allowed -- yet skirts are fine. If you can't tell whether I'm wearing a skirt or a skort unless I bend over or spread my legs for you, why the hell does it matter? "Appropriate undergarments must be worn at all times." I don't think I've ever gone commando at work -- but why would it matter if I did? What the hell are "appropriate undergarments," anyway? Are they concerned about people wearing inappropriate undergarments? Again -- why does it matter?

On Fridays, I generally wear t-shirts -- almost all of which have either a character or a company logo (I'm a Disney nut & go to Disneyland a LOT, so I have a ridiculous number of Disney-related shirts). Now they're supposedly going to start making sure any logos or designs are small and discreet. I get not wanting people to wear shirts with offensive pictures or sayings on them. Why can't I wear Eeyore if I want to?

So .... random corporate bullshit is apparently my pet peeve for today.

[KingOfZeal]

Re: What's your pet peeve in RL?

According to my many... many... business classes, dress codes aren't so much about productivity as they are forming a team environment. Creating a stricter dress code creates a kind of uniform around the office, which builds people as a team.

"Appropriate undergarments" are more a curb toward sexual harassment: you may SAY you can't see anything unless you bend over, but sometimes that's not exactly true. Why tempt fate in those cases?

[Aksannyi]

Re: What's your pet peeve in RL?

At my last job I got bitched at - once - for having a blue lacy bra strap poking out of my shirt. Totally on accident, as those things can shift on occasion, but I was like ... dude. Would you rather I didn't wear one at all? I mean seriously. I tucked it in again and we were golden. People get so bent out of shape over nothing. And that was another job where there was no customer interaction. In fact, there was hardly any interpersonal interaction, truth be told.

At my current job we can wear pretty much whatever we want. Well, not really, but the dress code is "casual" and I've seen some serious casual going on. One woman wore sweat pants with a hole about a centimeter in diameter on her butt ... not that I really wanted to look at her ass, but white undies showing through a hole in hunter green pants is pretty noticeable. Dude. And I see ratty t-shirts all the time. I have a few t-shirts I know I couldn't get away with wearing (like the one with a picture of a hairdryer that says BLOW ME on it, fucking love that shirt) but the way some of these people dress like total slobs seems so much worse to me. I mean people don't even comb their hair or make sure they're not wearing something wrinkled or stained. And I'm over here making sure that I wear a shirt long enough so that you can't tell that I'm totally still wearing my pregnancy jeans even though my youngest child is nearly five, because I think it looks bad if you're not actually pregnant. (But they're so comfortable! And at least they don't have big holes in the butt!) But my point is, I make an effort to make sure I look presentable. And a lot of these people totally don't. I mean I bet some of them wake up and don't even change out of what they slept in to come to work.

It doesn't seem to affect productivity, but I kind of preferred having some sort of strictness in regards to what I wear. Especially since my last job was business-casual, and so that's what I would shop for, and now I really feel overdressed on days I don't come to work in jeans. Which is fairly often, considering I've only got three good pairs, and definitely can't afford more right this second (and hence another reason why I still wear my pregnancy jeans). I like to wear heels and skirts, and I feel ridiculously out of place in such things at this job.

Meh. Kind of rambled a bit. I just don't really get people who don't even care how they look at all. I mean, I get that way, to a point, but that's generally when I'm at home and I know I look like crap but it doesn't matter because not even a mosquito is going to see me. And my main "don't care" thing is my hair, it's such a pile of shit that nothing I do makes it look good, so it ends up in a ponytail most days because I simply can't be bothered to do anything with it. One of my friends said I should get up early and curl it every day. Get up early? To do my hair? And probably burn myself because I can barely see first thing in the morning? Yeah, I don't think so. I'll continue to get up, take care of hygiene, get dressed, and brush my hair in the truck on the way to work, tyvm. I do take the time to dye it because I like my hair being more red than its natural damn-near-black-brown (and some gray), but that's about all I can deal with when it comes to my hair, and periodic trims, which I do myself, because paying someone 15 bucks to cut an inch off of my rat's nest feels like the biggest waste ever.

Yeah, I'm gonna stop there, before I really rant. It's already late, and work beckons tomorrow. One more boring day to get through ... I really hope we have some work tomorrow, because I'm starting to go completely mad from the lack of anything to actually do. Although I am getting paid to sit there ... it just seems like hiring me was a bit pointless. But if they want to give me money to sit there and read ffxio and fanfiction all day, that works for me. Shame I can't bring my laptop and boot up WoW. Lulz.

[Feba]

Re: What's your pet peeve in RL?

Feba on the phone.
Feba: "So you said we should date sometime, right?"
"Noooope"
Feba: "eh?"
"Noooooope"
Feba: "er, I misunderstood something?"
"Oh, I mean, when I have time"

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What's your pet peeve in RL?

Kitten -- that sounds more like a flu than a cold. Have you tried Mucinex DM for your cough (if it's available where you live)? It lasts 12 hours, and also helps a lot with congestion. It's the only thing that helped me keep my sanity a couple of weeks ago when I was coughing my fool head off.

I get the two confused these days, mostly because I buy cold/flu hybrid meds for it and probably get the flu annually and colds are totally uncommon for me. I got some Dayquil AM stuff to deal with it. I think I'm ready for the world again. Good thing my work hours are kinda shitty right now anyway, because I would have had to take a few days off for this and with retail in December they're usually like "Day off? LOL NO!"

According to my many... many... business classes, dress codes aren't so much about productivity as they are forming a team environment. Creating a stricter dress code creates a kind of uniform around the office, which builds people as a team.

Wow, how out-of-date are those textbooks you have there? 30 or 40 years, maybe? Maybe they tell you this because they want to believe its true, but its utter bullshit in the real world.

Treating people like they're part of the team is what makes people feel like they're part of the team. A suit or uniform does nothing toward that. Accepting things like input and constructive criticism, rewarding and recognizing people for their contributions also goes a long way toward team building.

The simple truth, however, is that many companies don't do that. Management these days takes credit for the ideas from the people beneath them and the people beneath them are treated like they're in fucking high school. I've given such ideas to companies I've worked for and the best I've ever seen is results on my ideas - but positive feedback, a thank-you from the boss, a raise for this increase in quality and reduction of waste? Fuck no.

And that's why until a business goes out of their way to make me feel like part of the team, I refuse to share my ideas with them. I can put on a monkey suit, name tag or uniform, but it doesn't mean shit until I'm treated like part of a team.

[Murphie]

Re: What's your pet peeve in RL?

I certainly believe that depending on the office environment, some dress codes are more important than others, but when no clients come in, and you're basically by yourself day in and day out, it makes less sense. Still, I usually appreciate the fact that my co-workers aren't allowed to dress as complete slobs, because that's no fun to look at all the time.

Seriously, though, wearing jeans instead of khakis or dress pants isn't going to suddenly make me less productive, or cause me to behave any less professionally with the people I interact with. If anything, being more comfortable can only help. That said, if I were meeting with clients or customers all day long, I wouldn't bat an eye at being asked to present a particular image in terms of dress. We live in a culture of assumptions (be they good or bad), and people are going to assume an awful lot about you and your employer if you dress in a way that is outside their expectations. It's stupid, but it is what it is.

[Ufgt]

Re: What's your pet peeve in RL?

Rofl. You must work for some dead end companies in a dead end position.

I share my ideas all the time to help improve productivity, efficiency, and teamwork. I am rewarded for my ideas. I've never been in a situation where my superiors took my ideas as their own. In fact, because of my openness, I've been put in a management position. And I treat my staff with the same respect I would give my parents.

[Aksannyi]

Re: What's your pet peeve in RL?

I'm annoyed that for the second time since I've worked here, I've been excluded from something because I did not get the e-mail. How was it my fault that I didn't have an e-mail account set up when the thing was announced? And I'm going to go out to the break room for my regular break and feel like a dipshit for crashing this little party that I new nothing of.

I'm starting to dislike this job quite honestly. A lot of things, mainly the boredom and the lack of work, but damn. I will have to just hold on here until I can find something much more suited to my tastes.

[Takelli]

Re: What's your pet peeve in RL?

I'm starting to dislike this job quite honestly. A lot of things, mainly the boredom and the lack of work, but damn. I will have to just hold on here until I can find something much more suited to my tastes.

I feel the same when working at Big Lots. But instead of there being no work, its boring work. Just walk up and down the aisles, pull shit forward, and help the customers with their questions. Its boring, and tedious, but at least its a job.