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when i buy something for XXXyen and use a 10,000 yen note, it's freaking annoying to watch a clerk count, recount, count again, and re-count again 9 1000-yen notes.

 

i can see that they already frickin' counted the money before they count it in front of me!!!

 

so the other day, i happened to have 7 or 8 natsume sosekis in my wallet when paying my phone bill at the conbini. i counted the bills twice, you know once the regular way, and once the japanese half-fold the bills between your thumb and index finger way, just to see what would happen.

 

the lady behind the counter was steaming! fuming! for a few very brief moments.

ah, brilliant, brilliant!

 

(disclaimer: j-friends tell me that it's better to kakunin/confirm, check something as important as money, so that's Y peeps always do it)

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There are some truly disgusting notes in circulation here in England hey giggsy. Truly awful. I try to get rid of them as soon as possible.

 

Even with newer notes though, think of all the people and all the much on notes and coins. Horrid thought.

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What irritates me is at parties when I am almost forced to drink when I don't want to. I don't of course but it is always a strange situation. Not into paying the same as someone eating and drinking 10 times as much as me either.

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Why is that - people trying to force others to drink when they obviously don't want to.

 

A friend I have accepts the drink by taking the tiniest of sips (so it is still a full glass) and pushing his glass up when someone pours beer into the glass. Just to make sure hardly any goes in the glass. It's more like a ritual than anything it seems.

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Must be for you right now griller. Best of luck with all that.

 

Something that irritates me. "Samui desu ne" comment when it TOTALLY IS NOT samui and it's hot. Just slightly cooler than another hot humid stinking summer day.

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ah yes, samui desu ne and all the other robotic Japanese statements. Japan is so much more less irritating when you don't live amongst it every day.

 

I am irritated/amused by the expression on a Japanese woman's face as they wave little flies away from food. Sure, they need to be brushed away, but the expression doesn't help yet they all make it, every time. Its a kind of "I'm disgusted at these repulsive things being near food".

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xxx-san, you have opened my can of worms with this one.

 

I think the core of my considerable world hate is indeed bullshit marketing, brand imaging, public relations management etc. I hate it so much because I know that the easiest way to get rich is sell shit to stupid people, and there are billions of us buying it and a few pricks pushing it. The meaning of life is clearly impossible for any of us to resolve, so we get sucked into buying shit instead, it gives us fulfilment. Hollywood is a perfect example: home to the richest most useless people on Earth (banking comes in second as the most overpaid and useless cants that breath)

 

Man, it annoys me when I think how many hugely paid people spend there working time devising different ways to suck us into buying utter crap. Do they speak honestly about their game? For example, at a team meeting on Tuesday morning for a new product launch does the manager say "ok guys, we will sell this product by manipulating the lonely insecurities of the stupid common man. If we advertise just informative facts about the product, people will see it is sheer junk that they don't need and we wont sell one unit". Surely an honest public relations degree would start with the subject PR 101: People are stupid and are best manipulated. After all, it is at the core of their success. I have thrown spanners into the works before with spin masters in my company. They know why I raise my brow and question their fluff spinning, but to progress in their pursuit of Managing Director leadership they have to keep spinning the spin. So after an uncomfortable pause to observe the spanner I just dropped they all quickly pull together a stiffling blanket of spin that protects them from the spanner and maintains their appearance of cause, rather than reality. The clever ones know how to leave the spanner on the floor and me looking like a counterproductive upstart. But deep down they know the flavour of our gravy train and they know why I often piss in the gravy.

 

It equally irritates me how news papers jump on popular themes that appeal to the feeble millions that we are. Since effing when has an event on big brother required a story in a news paper?! Since it sold more papers, that's when.

 

I think bottom line is that I hate sales for the sake of selling.

 

I like tangible goods and services that we buy because we need them. There is nothing wrong with a supplier advertising that they exist "hey, if you need potato then FYI, you can buy them from me just up the road". But that is where sales should stop.

 

I also hate power Point Presentations experts who fluff up information with words and 'messages', including carefully crafted bullet points that talk shit yet everyone nods like they feel good hearing it.

 

"In keeping with Volkswagen's commitment to the safety and comfort of your family we include as standard a parking brake indicator light".

 

oooo thanks, lets buy one.

 

This links back to why I dislike flash sites: they expend with factual info about useful things for the benefit of froth.

 

Thank goodness for the joy of the mountains \:\) From the rocks up, they are real world things, no spin.

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I'm with you guys on that.

 

But does all the bullshit work? I suppose it must, meaning that more will probably do it and it will no doubt get worse rather than better.

 

The 2 biggest annoyances are:

 

- ridiculous and outlandish laughable slogans;

- outright lies that are told.

 

mad.gif

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 Quote:
Originally posted by le spud:
I think bottom line is that I hate sales for the sake of selling.

I like tangible goods and services that we buy because we need them. There is nothing wrong with a supplier advertising that they exist "hey, if you need potato then FYI, you can buy them from me just up the road". But that is where sales should stop.
It would be nice if it was that simple, but what happens when you have 10 blokes selling potatoes on the same street? How does bloke #5, for instance, ensure he gets more customers than bloke #8? Sure, he can lower his prices, but so will every other bloke on the street - pretty soon none of them will be making a profit.
This is why companies turn to marketing and PR firms. They have to make their potatoes sound like the best freakin' potatoes you've ever had in your life, just so they can compete.
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 Quote:
It would be nice if it was that simple, but what happens when you have 10 blokes selling potatoes on the same street? How does bloke #5, for instance, ensure he gets more customers than bloke #8? Sure, he can lower his prices, but so will every other bloke on the street - pretty soon none of them will be making a profit.
This is why companies turn to marketing and PR firms. They have to make their potatoes sound like the best freakin' potatoes you've ever had in your life, just so they can compete
I know sweet FA about communism. Or is it socialism...? But the more I contemplate the problems with humanity, the more I find an alternative to capitalism to be an amazingly elegant solution to all the shit. Just like playing on an inverted geodome, each time I explore the the logic of the problem it leads me slowly to this rational conclusion.

Imagine climbing on this thing turned upside down, like a cereal bowl. You would always end up sitting comfortably in the middle point where it is bolted to the ground.
geodome_large.jpg
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I was actually going to post a bit of a rant here earlier which, funnily enough, relates to this whole topic of marketing and advertising.

 

One company that I really can't stand at the moment is Apple. There has been so much hype about iPods the past couple of years... pretty much everyone I know ran out and bought one. I refused to, mainly due to the hype, and also because I had a perfectly good, albeit less fashionable, mp3 player.

 

Last week someone gave me an iPod nano, and since it was a gift I figured I may as well use it.

 

It is a total piece of shit. It's frustrating to use and ridiculously fragile. I'm handling it with extreme care yet it is already covered in scratches and the wheel thingy is stuffed - I took it into the Apple shop and they told me I would have to PAY to have the wheel calibrated.

 

They then advised me to purchase a plastic cover for it - the cheapest of which cost $50. **** that! I'm listing it on eBay in the hope that some sucker will buy it off me.

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Here's a generation gap rant. When I was an undergrad, some of my peers had first generation Walkmans. They took a cassette tape. I loathe wearing headphones because I don't like the headphone-disconnect from reality (I prefer different ways). Nothing has changed in 25 years.

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