start a victory garden and ration your IRRATIONALLY ANGRY feelings, part 3

xp around me there are gated lots that have a farebox you're supposed to pull up to, put your money in (they're set rate rather than hourly), the gate goes up, you pull in. So many people I see have to open the door and get out of the car rather than just unbuckle their seatbelts and lean out the window.

sounds to me like your anger is irrational

About 10 years ago, the garage of the building I worked in put in one of those kiosk machines. The signs all said, TAKE YOUR TICKET WITH YOU and YOU MUST PAY AT THE KIOSK and such. Uh huh. Yep, got it. And every day on my way out there's like five people lined up in front of the kiosk being utterly perplexed by the talking machine, and not sure where to put the ticket vs. the money, and what to do if you want a receipt vs. not.

Meanwhile I noticed that the exit gate itself offers the opportunity to put in a credit card and pay there. In fact it takes less time and causes fewer delays to the people behind you. So that's what I do now.

You notice how in those YOU MUST PAY AT THE KIOSK places, the ticket is a familiar size? You know, kinda like the size of a credit card? Yeah there's a reason for that. Because the slot in the exit gate can also manage with a credit card, and it doesn't talk to you and it's perfectly easy to understand what goes where; there's exactly one slot and one button.

Feel free to be IA at me for this, but I've stopped obeying those YOU MUST PAY AT THE PAY STATION KIOSK signs. If I find one that doesn't take a card at the exit gate I will happily eat my words, but I haven't found that place yet.

Was reminded of one today: students who say they are studying the non-subjects of "pre-med" or "pre-law". You haven't been admitted to medical or law school yet. Just say you're studying biology or English.

My college had a graduate program in occupational therapy and offered undergraduate courses labeled "pre-occupational therapy."

There was a joke about how if the instructor asks you a question and you say, "Sorry, I was preoccupied," you should get an A.

Ha, yes, there are contexts where it makes sense to say you are studying a "pre-" subject. I don't think it does for most 'pre-med' or 'pre-law' students who are completing ordinary science or arts degrees, though.

the exit gate itself offers the opportunity to put in a credit card and pay there.

But why walk all the way back down to the exit when you're wanting to take the skyway to Mezzanine 3 in the first place?

takeout places that don't automatically include utencils/napkins. I'm a busy professional here!

This can be cross-posted in a thread called "Things you are rationally embarrassed to be irrationally angry about."

pplains, I don't understand - I mean that as the car is leaving, there's a slot where you are supposed to put your prepaid ticket (if you followed the directions). However, one can also skip the prepayment station and simply pay there.

Not to get too Kantian, but: If everybody did it, it might sometimes take longer to get out. However, the kiosk machines as currently practiced simply relocate the backup... to the machine.

In the gate it is literally as simple as: you put in the ticket and it says you owe $X. You put it in your debit or credit card. You can request a receipt, or decline. The gate opens and you drive away. Meanwhile everybody who obeyed the YOU MUST PAY AT THE PAY STATION sign is still standing in front of it trying to figure out what to do.

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This is distinct from the situation where you must prepay, print a ticket, and place that ticket in your car windshield. Those are a different kettle of fish altogether. I do NOT advocate gaming those systems.

xpost I always gathered that this thread was implicitly "Things you are rationally embarrassed to be irrationally angry about." That's my progression, more often than not.

So the price is the same whether you pay at the kiosk or at the gate? Then why doesn't EVERYONE do that?

If everybody did it, it might sometimes take longer to get out.

I mean, besides that.

Lol our garage at Pointe Orlando is like that.

What i hate is that there will be 2-3 "green" lanes open AND EVERYBODY PILES INTO THE SAME ONE just far back enough that you cant cut around

Did Facebook just change settings heavily?
I access it a lot on my phone internet or at least used to until this afternoon.
Now get message saying it's not supported. Weird.

The opposite of excel is also annoying, the way the Google keep thinks any number with more than 2 digits is a phone number and brings up the call dialogue when you try and edit it.

the leading zeroes bit happens on my files sometimes but since we often used it for batch files w/ SSNs, it becomes an easy problem to fix by going to "custom" and just putting in nine zeroes.

I lament that I briefly was learning how to become a fucking whiz at Excel and then our department dissolved, I lost that contact who was mentoring me, and now I suck at it again. but then again, don't really need to use it as often as I did then either.

Today I learned remembered: the US is a terrifying lawless place where you don't have to enter PIN to use a card.

Most places i go to require it for debit transacts, even with a chip (not credit tho)

My card was compromised twice this year tho lol

I've avoided getting a "tap and go" chip card for that reason, the idea a simple walllet loss could result in someone going on a cash spending spree on my dime is scary.

Problem is, theyve become so ubiquitous that I have had the experience of handing my eftpos (debit, uses a PIN) card to a foetal-aged cashier, who looks at it dumbly because they dont know about card swiping.

The other IA threads should be locked.

swipey cards can be cloned, though, and tappy cards cannot

those are the technical terms

Granted, but tappy cards can be used at 10 stores in 30 minutes and clean out yr account.

I guess! I never really use debit cards, just not enough of a net against that kind of fraud

when the news needs to show video footage, often portrait-ration stuff filmed with a phone, and they fill in what would be black space at the sides of the screen with distorted, blurry versions of the main footage, making an eye-aching mess

this sort of bullshit
http://media4.s-nbcnews.com/j/msnbc/components/video/201607/f_baton_rouge_alton_sterling_shooting_160706.nbcnews-ux-1080-600.jpg

In the UK there is a limit per store and a daily limit for contactless cards. I think the daily limit is something like £50. That said, what if it's a week until you realise your card is missing?

They supposedly do ask you for the pin from time to time but I can't remember this happening to me ever. Ideally it would be verified every time you used it somewhere new but I don't remember that happening either.

Not using debit cards seems common in the US? here, everyone uses them for everything. Paying by EFTPOS (direct cash from account, not credit) is a thing that s been around for years. I dont pay for anything with cash anymore.

koogs yeah I think the limit applies here too, or like you can even set it with your bank (daily max $100 or whatever).

I resisted contactless (tappy) for approx. 1 week and since then I have used it with gay abandon feeling like some sort of super-efficient paying ninja

I know there si a fee per transaction on a debit card not sure what the story is on credit cards.

Also not used a tappy card enough to be used to the process.

Did see that you could buy tappy card wallets that apparently prevent tappy thieves from coming up beside you in a crowded place and tapping on your tappy card with a portable money device. BUt if maximum is €30 then hopefully success of that would be fairly limited anyway.

reddit thread (sorry) suggests such a scam wouldn't be worth it https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/468zs9/guy_spotted_scamming_contactless_bank_cards_by/

I've avoided getting a "tap and go" chip card for that reason, the idea a simple walllet loss could result in someone going on a cash spending spree on my dime is scary.

Problem is, theyve become so ubiquitous that I have had the experience of handing my eftpos (debit, uses a PIN) card to a foetal-aged cashier, who looks at it dumbly because they dont know about card swiping.

My bank sent me a contactless card but I was under the impression that I had to authorise it with a PIN for the first contactless use so I was like, OK, I'll just never use it and it won't be authorised so nobody can scam me. <adjusts tin foil hat>

One day the cashier grabbed my card and paid contactlessly and it didn't ask for a PIN because it turned out that I'd already authorised it. Probably I swiped it once and put my PIN in because I thought I was paying by swipe but the cashier had actually pressed the contactless payment button instead, or however it works at the till side.

Oh well.

https://art.penny-arcade.com/Comics/Pa-comics/n-xmQS5/i-Z2VSPcG/0/2100x20000/i-Z2VSPcG-2100x20000.jpg

I didn't mean contactless so much as (by my failing memory) the last time I was there, a lot of interactions with a debit card simply needed you to 'dip' IE swipe it and nothing else? I know that pre- chip and pin there was the theatre where you had to sign for card use but it was considered rude to actually compare the signatures.

Yeah in the US I just used to swipe (this was pre-contactless) and felt really insulted when they didn't need a PIN. Bank security is shite over there though, couldn't believe it when I got there, you just need a normal login + password for your online banking. (Here in the UK I have a small device where I have to set up a code and type it into the device to generate a new code each time).

Hah, Co-op I think sent me one of those - I never received it and I just ring up if I need to send money (the rest I can do online).

is this where I admit I've been buying energy drinks at work because the machine says they're $3 but if you pay with apple pay it screws up and only charges you $1.50

how can I resist gaming the system?

It's Thursday, it must be time for another fucking Flash update

Oh your updater doesn't work anymore so I have to download it manually and do it all from scratch AGAIN, awesome

Why are we still using this fucking garbage ass program

We aren't using it anymore? Don't even need it for YT anymore. Said goodbye to flash a long time ago.

Driving behind someone who constantly touches the breaks, break lights flashing (npi), when there's no need at all to do so really rubs me up the wrong way and makes me AI. Serenity now.

All automated voice telephone customer service systems. Even ten seconds of having to give voice commands to one of these systems sends my blood pressure through the roof.

*brakes
(people using brakes/breaks is my IA thing)

I get annoyed at what I think are either/or drivers: they have to be pushing on either the gas or brake pedal at all times. imo ideal driving is when you touch the pedals as little as possible, or at least push them very little

How are you supposed to keep the car moving without pressing on the gas pedal?

you depress it a little and not constantly accelerate when you're already driving fast enough

also there are hills

mh otm

ppl who drive in the left lane and need to use brakes every few seconds often are idiots. causes everyone behind them to wonder if they are stopping. that reminds me i am going to make a complaint about a sears home services driver i saw yesterday. he only had a center brake light and almost caused a crash weaving in and out of lanes at 80 mph. wtf. i was thinking "oh good this guy deserves to crash" until i realized i would not be able to stop after he crashes in front of me.

that's how i get my brakes to last forever in good shape even driving in bad traffic every day. i make it a game of using brakes less.

If someone is brakelighting you a lot maybe you're driving too close to him? I have done it once to stop a shithead crawling up my ass to try and get him to back off. Probably not the best action to take but in some situations you can't move over or speed up.

nah, some people are just dumbasses

some of my noted either/or drivers are really old people who think they're driving an old car with a manual transmission and are driving with feet on both pedals. you can tell because the brake lights are on 99% of the time

def not following too close. that is part of my anti-brake practice.