This is something that really bugs me - we keep our radio here at work (the one we contact maintenance with) on the scanner so we can hear what's going on, when police or ambulance are called out to one of our apartments, etc. So we hear the dispatcher and the police and sheriff's officers all the time. Instead of asking the officers to call someone on the telephone, they say "So and so needs you to public service them." "I need you to public service me on your cell phone." And I love this one, "Please public service your wife." For pete's sake, why not just say, "Call you wife on the phone"? The other sounds somewhat.....shall we say, naughty?

We heard that some law enforcement agencies are cutting out the 10 codes, so instead of calling out for response to a 1050, they'll say that there is a vehicle accident involving however many vehicles, etc. Makes so much more sense. We have a perfectly good language, why not use it, instead of some code.

Not a big gripe, but it still gives me a chuckle when they want our cops to "public service" someone.

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Nita

Somehow that all reminds me of the Comedy Channel show, "Reno 911."

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Tom

That does sound strange..........................and naughty

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Kimberly

Here's another peeve - the girl who cleans our offices and MOVES STUFF! Ack! My printer sits right next to my keyboard, and I keep a small stack of papers on it, to remind me to get to them the next day. I had such a stack there on Friday. This morning I did not notice that they were moved, as was a rack I have on my table that I keep files on that I use every day. And, on top of that, the printer had been unplugged, and we had to fish behind my desk for the power cord! A couple of years ago she "cleaned" my desk drawers, and moved stuff around, rearranged stuff, and I nearly lost some papers that I needed soon because she had stuffed them at the back of the drawer. (I told the boss that she should NEVER have been allowed into my desk drawers, that she has no business in there, and I think she told her so.) I have some drawers in our old art room that I use to store things that I give to new tenants, and she "cleaned" those drawers, moving all the stuff into drawers clear on the other side of the room! Ack! But she won't clean the back of my monitor, or behind our computers. And I really like this girl, I've known her personally for many years, but I don't like the way she cleans. It's a good thing I don't pay her!

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Nita

"The girl"? If she's only a girl, maybe she's not old enough to have an office cleaning job.

On the other hand, if she's old enough to have the job, she's probably a woman, and maybe you could talk to her about your preferences.

Sorry, but calling adult women "girls" because they have subordinate jobs is one of MY pet peeves.

Aderyn

Oh, Aderyn, she's a woman, my age, but I'd never call her a girl because she cleans for a living. It's just how I refer to other women my age, that's just what I've always done. (I guess I'd like to be perpetually young!) It is not meant to be derogatory. I used to do cleaning for a living, too, and know how hard the work is! And, it's not my place to talk to her. I'm not her employer, I'm a fellow employee, she just works different hours, because she cleans the building after the office is closed. No, she just gets it into her head that things need to be "rearranged", but whether you are cleaning an office or a private home, you don't move stuff unless you are requested to do so. That's just the way it is. If there are papers somewhere on a desk or table, that's exactly where they should be when that person gets to work. I don't care if she lifts them to clean under, but they should be put back where they were originally. Papers should NOT be stacked, moved, or otherwise dealt with. Even if our desks look like the most disorganized mess, we know where things are, and if they are moved, we can't find them. Sometimes we are in the middle of a project when we leave for the day, and it's easier to leave things just as they are, to get right back to it the next day, but if they have been rearranged or stacked, then it's a matter of having to find, sort, and waste time trying to see where everything got put. Of course, sensitive stuff gets locked up at night, but other things, which are equally important, needs to be left where it is.

Now, we did have a girl, really, a kid, working the office on summer break. I had her put a bunch of files of "trouble" ex-tenants in some new file cabinets, told her to put them in alphabetically. I tried to find someone whose name began with N. The Ns weren't where they belonged. She put R after M, then P Q N and then S. Really. All the files are according to her own alphabet, I guess. I haven't had time to go back and fix them. Her mother kept hinting that we ought to hire her younger sister for a summer job. No, we decided we'll do our own filing, even if it piles up to the ceiling. At least we'll know it's done right if we do it ourselves.

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Nita

I am in complete agreement with your thinking on cleaning, and shaking my head in sorrow at the story of the girl who can't file. It makes me think of the other day when I was at a home show making a contribution to the Girl Scouts (okay, I confess, buying a box of cookies!) and the troop leader insisted that the scout make change the old-fashioned way -- by counting up to the correct amount. The girl clearly had no idea how (or why) it was done, and the look on her face made it pretty clear she thought the leader was just giving her a hard time.

Aderyn

I thought it time to resurrect this thread. Lately we all have a lot to complain about! High gas prices, our retirement shrinking right before our eyes, the value of our homes declining - you name it, we have a gripe about it!

My gripe today is about people who do not take the time to learn how to work their thermostat. We manage 180 units of public housing, all have central heat and air. We get complaints all summer about how their ac won't shut off, and maintenance goes in to find out that they have the thermostat set at 70 or 72, and it's 100+ outside. Of course it's going to run, a lot.

Now we're getting calls - does maintenance have to light the pilots on the furnace? No, they are automatic pilots, have been since we installed the units some 10 or 12 years ago. And we got one call today - send someone over to show her how to turn on the heat. It's just a matter of turning the thermostat to heat and setting what temperature they want. These are people who have lived here for years, should know how to work the things by now. I can understand people who have just moved in, have never had central heat and air, and need to be shown. But these are the same people, year in and year out, who ask these questions, and are just totally clueless as to how a thermostat works. And clueless as to what are recommended temperatures so that they don't have huge heating or cooling bills.

The Department of Energy recommends that we set our summer thermostats at 78 or above, and use fans to circulate the air. People don't like to sweat at all, some think it has to be frigid cold inside it it's hot outside. The same people wouldn't even think about setting the winter thermostat to 70 or below and putting on socks and sweaters. If it's cold out, you gotta be hot inside. Serves them right when they have to pay the big bucks for heating & cooling.

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Nita