[Annoy] What's something small that really annoys you?

Forums › Off topic › [Annoy] What's something small that really annoys you?

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Smpl Mnmlst
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#3100164 5-Jul-2023 12:29

kingdragonfly: You haven't experience bad service till you've tried to interact with the United States tax service the IRS.

Years ago the Republicans cut funding to them (by the way every $1 spent at the IRS returns $1.8 in tax revenue)

Because almost every US politician and bureau head is petty, the IRS massively cut the front-line workers, in a moment of "that'll show them"

The IRS boss head knew would create chaos and they'd get complaints from normal working taxpayers. Then the IRS boss could say blame the Republicans for cutting their budget.

So as a member of the unwashed masses, phone conversations with a human at the IRS are nigh impossible. I know because I couldn't set up a on-line access, because the IRS on-line form doesn't recognize non-US addresses and non US phone number. After 6 years, and many attempts, I still can't get on-line access.

Note the IRS has the ability to "attach" (meaning empty out) bank accounts for just about all countries in the world, including New Zealand.

It didn't happen to me, but a Chinese friend, with weak English, called me up and asked why the ATM was saying they had no balance. He called the bank, but he couldn't understand what they were telling him. Then he mentioned an IRS letter, and before I read it, I knew what it was.

At the IRS, you're guilty and punishment is metered out until proven innocent.

🎼 🎵 We don’t know how lucky we are. 🎶

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

frankv

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#3100513 6-Jul-2023 11:27

kingdragonfly:

Years ago the Republicans cut funding to them (by the way every $1 spent at the IRS returns $1.8 in tax revenue)

Or, from a Republican's POV, every $1 cut from IRS's budget is $1.8 I won't have to pay.

shk292

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#3100831 7-Jul-2023 07:35

Hoyts cinemas' online booking system. Charges $1.65 per ticket "booking fee", ie you're paying for the privilege of them needing fewer counter staff.

The email confirmation is sent in such a way that it goes straight to spam at my email provider (this is the first false positive spam I've had in maybe two years)

The link on the booking confirmation screen labelled "Add to Google wallet" takes you to a screen that says "Booking not found"

Then to add further hassle, the conditions of entry say:
Please bring the Credit Card used to make the booking along with Photo
ID, and present the ticket below to be scanned at the ticket tear point.
Only tickets purchased through hoyts.com.au or the HOYTS App will be
accepted. Tickets purchased through other sales channels will be refused
admission.

Seriously? Getting on an Air NZ domestic flight has less ID checking than going to see a movie

cddt

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#3100843 7-Jul-2023 08:17

networkn:

Customer: I need you to restore a file from backup.

Me: OK, sure. Which File.

Customer: I don't know, it's a big file, in one of my folders.

Me: How do you know it's missing, if you don't know it's name or where it is?

Customer: I am not sure, but it's important I get this file back immediately. Priority one.

After about 20 minutes I found said file, which was deleted or moved in Jan 2023.

Lost for words.

I had something similar yesterday. A user reported that a critical report was not functioning and we absolutely needed to get it working ASAP. On examining the link he was using to try and access it, I determined that the server it was sitting on had been decommissioned in 2019, and therefore no one could possibly have used this report in the last four years.

Handsomedan

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#3100849 7-Jul-2023 08:49

shk292:

Hoyts cinemas' online booking system. Charges $1.65 per ticket "booking fee", ie you're paying for the privilege of them needing fewer counter staff.

The email confirmation is sent in such a way that it goes straight to spam at my email provider (this is the first false positive spam I've had in maybe two years)

The link on the booking confirmation screen labelled "Add to Google wallet" takes you to a screen that says "Booking not found"

Then to add further hassle, the conditions of entry say:
Please bring the Credit Card used to make the booking along with Photo
ID, and present the ticket below to be scanned at the ticket tear point.
Only tickets purchased through hoyts.com.au or the HOYTS App will be
accepted. Tickets purchased through other sales channels will be refused
admission.

Seriously? Getting on an Air NZ domestic flight has less ID checking than going to see a movie

The booking fees really bug me.
Paying to not print and to order myself and not use any expensive staff?
If I go down the road to teh local Hoyts, a mere 5 minute drive away I get to use said expensive staff, have paper tickets printed and not pay a fee...and I get points added to my Hoyts Rewards too!

Handsome Dan Has Spoken.
Handsome Dan needs to stop adding three dots to every sentence...

Handsome Dan does not currently have a side hustle as the mascot for Yale

*Gladly accepting donations...

Geektastic

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#3101095 7-Jul-2023 21:44

Needed to mail a form back to the U.K.

Ideally, I’d have sent it tracked.

Cost to send untracked: $4.00

Cost to send tracked: $52.00

Handle9

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#3101121 8-Jul-2023 00:36

Arguments that make a false presumption of mutual exclusivity.

Don’t fix this bad thing until you fix this other bad thing first. Why not do both? If one’s easy let’s do the easy one while we figure out how to do the hard one?

Geektastic

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#3101195 8-Jul-2023 10:15

eracode:
kingdragonfly: You haven't experience bad service till you've tried to interact with the United States tax service the IRS.

Years ago the Republicans cut funding to them (by the way every $1 spent at the IRS returns $1.8 in tax revenue)

Because almost every US politician and bureau head is petty, the IRS massively cut the front-line workers, in a moment of "that'll show them"

The IRS boss head knew would create chaos and they'd get complaints from normal working taxpayers. Then the IRS boss could say blame the Republicans for cutting their budget.

So as a member of the unwashed masses, phone conversations with a human at the IRS are nigh impossible. I know because I couldn't set up a on-line access, because the IRS on-line form doesn't recognize non-US addresses and non US phone number. After 6 years, and many attempts, I still can't get on-line access.

Note the IRS has the ability to "attach" (meaning empty out) bank accounts for just about all countries in the world, including New Zealand.

It didn't happen to me, but a Chinese friend, with weak English, called me up and asked why the ATM was saying they had no balance. He called the bank, but he couldn't understand what they were telling him. Then he mentioned an IRS letter, and before I read it, I knew what it was.

At the IRS, you're guilty and punishment is metered out until proven innocent.

🎼 🎵 We don’t know how lucky we are. 🎶

The HMRC in the U.K. now expect you to pay whatever they demand then appeal it and get a refund if you win.

rb99

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#3101221 8-Jul-2023 12:00

I know, the post, whoever they are, again -

One day, thats right, one day after Rarewaves confirm they'll send a replacement for the movie I ordered not turning up (after 9 weeks), it arrives. So now I'm sending them a quick message, over the weekend obviously, asking them not to dispatch its replacement, and hoping they didn't pop it in the post on Friday.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

Behodar

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#3101309 8-Jul-2023 13:34

Sounds about right. Meanwhile I ordered five movies from Amazon US and they split the order into three packages. All have a delivery estimate of the 13th. One arrived yesterday (although Amazon says "delivered today") and the others still say the 13th. It'll be interesting to see whether they actually take that long or whether they all turn up tomorrow/Monday.

neb

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#3101558 8-Jul-2023 21:15

eracode:
🎼 🎵 We don’t know how lucky we are. 🎶

Most of us don't. A friend of mine had the misfortune to be born in the US, not by design. He left as soon as his mother was well enough to travel again and has never set foot in the US (he was on his back the week or two he was there so he really never has set foot there), but he pays US taxes, or more to the point the IRS pulls money out of his NZ back account every year and there's nothing he can do about it.

Gurezaemon

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#3101562 8-Jul-2023 21:29

neb:
eracode:

🎼 🎵 We don’t know how lucky we are. 🎶

Most of us don't. A friend of mine had the misfortune to be born in the US, not by design. He left as soon as his mother was well enough to travel again and has never set foot in the US (he was on his back the week or two he was there so he really never has set foot there), but he pays US taxes, or more to the point the IRS pulls money out of his NZ back account every year and there's nothing he can do about it.

He hasn't looked at renouncing his US citizenship? I know a couple of people who have done so—it sounds like a pain, but doable, and absolutely beneficial if they have no real connection with the country.

Get your business seen overseas - Nexus Translations

neb

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#3101578 9-Jul-2023 00:25

Gurezaemon:
He hasn't looked at renouncing his US citizenship? I know a couple of people who have done so—it sounds like a pain, but doable, and absolutely beneficial if they have no real connection with the country.

It's incredibly difficult to do, once people started doing it for tax reasons the IRS made sure it was almost impossible to do.

It's easier to get rid of syphilis than US citizenship.

Bung

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#3101585 9-Jul-2023 01:23

neb: It's easier to get rid of syphilis than US citizenship.

But at least once you're rid of US Citizenship you'll never get it again.

He may have a tax liability but there is an exempt amount over $100,000 and provision to get credit for tax paid elsewhere but his accountant would have that under control.

eracode

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#3101589 9-Jul-2023 03:41

neb: Most of us don't. A friend of mine had the misfortune to be born in the US, not by design. He left as soon as his mother was well enough to travel again and has never set foot in the US (he was on his back the week or two he was there so he really never has set foot there), but he pays US taxes, or more to the point the IRS pulls money out of his NZ back account every year and there's nothing he can do about it.

Do you mean he earns no income in the US (and never has?) but still has to pay US income tax on income earned elsewhere?

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

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