I wonder how the teacher described "buzz", "oink", "meow", and "murmur" without using the very handy word "onomatopoeia"....

For a couple years, I occasionally receive phone calls... it's always a local number (or appears to be) and a deep gravelly voice (sounds like a few decades of smoking three packs a day) asks for me by my first name. Then mister deepvoice starts in on his pitch about the policeman's benevolent fund or some such and how the money is used for training and support and the (increase serious tone) all-important death benefit... I usually cut him off there and tell him to stop calling. I got three of these in the last two weeks. The first two times, I just told him to take me off the list and stop calling. The last time, I stopped him and asked "how much of the money you take in actually goes to cops?" He said "after overhead and administrative costs, 12 cents of each dollar." I told him that was pathetic, and the next time I see a cop, I'll just hand him a five dollar bill and cut out the [bovine excrement].

Twelve cents of every dollar. I think in this state, that gets you de-registered as a charity.

Sheesh.

PJ, I get those same calls, police benevolent association. Somehow I can’t believe the NYC police dept. doesn’t have enough perks and incentives without further help.

Today, mine is ...Lampshades...

Who in their right mind decided that a decades long design that worked well needed to be changed?

There were two types that worked well, the harp, with a wire frame the shade is screwed to at the top top, sometimes with a finial.

The other is a dual circular friction clip that slides over the bulb.

Someone, somewhere, decided to make (and distribute to all the big box stores) a lampshade with a frame that includes a dip in the center with a circular ring..You are to place it on the lamp first, then put the bulb in. ...FAIL..

The stupid thing wobbles so that the shade is never straight and in my smaller lamps, now the bulb pokes up thru the middle of the shade.

Just trying to replace shades for older lamps has become a chore, not to mention expensive!

Stepping off soapbox..

My new pet peeve is big corporate websites that don't work on the weekend when you are trying to get your taxes together.

Pet peeve?

How about gym, which keeps trying to charge although we cancelled last year?

Or newspaper subscriptions, which make you wait to cancel, then try to talk you out of it, then claim they have cancelled but keep billing you?

quote:

Originally posted by Cindysphinx:
Pet peeve?

How about gym, which keeps trying to charge although we cancelled last year?

Or newspaper subscriptions, which make you wait to cancel, then try to talk you out of it, then claim they have cancelled but keep billing you?

I've had to issue stop orders to my CC company to keep them from doing that.