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pet peeve thread


gwnn

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- so this train is late because the previous train was late. Very helpful.

 

 

 

- congestion? What, trains turning up unexpectedly? I thought there was something called a timetable.

 

 

One big reason for this is suicide by train. I know on the line between Los Angeles and San Diego this is a constant problem.

 

 

....Authorities say Juan Manuel Alvarez wanted to kill himself Wednesday when he drove his SUV onto a railroad track in Glendale, Calif., near Los Angeles. But he changed his mind and left the vehicle on the tracks, causing a chain-reaction derailment that killed 11 people and injured nearly 200.....

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One big reason for this is suicide by train. I know on the line between Los Angeles and San Diego this is a constant problem.

 

It's a problem in the Underground too. I wish they wouldn't announce that the delay is due to a "person under the train". This is more information than I require.

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It's a problem in the Underground too. I wish they wouldn't announce that the delay is due to a "person under the train". This is more information than I require.

It's called full disclosure (or full closure) :(

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Around here the MBTA delays usually are because of "signal problems". I never thought about it before, but now I wonder if that's a euphemism for something more serious.

 

It also reminds me of the earlier peeves about ambiguous numbers. When they announce transit delays, they'll say "The Red Line is running 10 minutes delayed." Does this mean that each train is 10 minutes behind schedule, or that it's taking trains 10 minutes longer than normal to get from one end to the other of their line? My assumption is that in the case of subway lines that run a train every few minutes, it must be the latter, since no one would notice the former problem; but for commuter trains that only have 1 or 2 trains an hour, it could be either.

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Around here the MBTA delays usually are because of "signal problems". I never thought about it before, but now I wonder if that's a euphemism for something more serious.

 

It also reminds me of the earlier peeves about ambiguous numbers. When they announce transit delays, they'll say "The Red Line is running 10 minutes delayed." Does this mean that each train is 10 minutes behind schedule, or that it's taking trains 10 minutes longer than normal to get from one end to the other of their line? My assumption is that in the case of subway lines that run a train every few minutes, it must be the latter, since no one would notice the former problem; but for commuter trains that only have 1 or 2 trains an hour, it could be either.

 

 

 

suicide by train is a huge delay problem here in the Usa.

 

you can spend billions for a fast train and suicides slow it down ......often to speeds of cheap old train...

 

 

I say this based on real life exp over years on this line.,..people die/hit all the time....

 

funny enough no one wants to talk about it since it is taxpayer money....

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Around here the MBTA delays usually are because of "signal problems". I never thought about it before, but now I wonder if that's a euphemism for something more serious.

 

Here we also have signalling problems. Often. When I lived in Moscow, there were never delays. The signals were apparently always working, and as for the people under the train, well, they probably just carried on.

 

It seems to me that if you are going to jump under a subway train, you should not expect your remains to de dealt with until the closing time of the line at night. You are not more important than millions of other people. In fact you are not as important as one single other person, because you are dead and they are not.

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Unfortunately, as I said, "you" *are* less important than one specific other person, but that one person is somewhat more important to the running of the system than "millions of other people" - because she's the driver, and she (from stories I've heard from LRT train drivers) ain't running no train no more, at least not today (frequently ever).
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Call waiting. Having a phone conversation with a friend (MIL actually) only to be put on hold while they take a call on the other line. Then to add insult to injury they come back and tell you that they will call you back later.....
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Call waiting. Having a phone conversation with a friend (MIL actually) only to be put on hold while they take a call on the other line. Then to add insult to injury they come back and tell you that they will call you back later.....

 

 

I have never learned how to use the call waiting feature, pretty much for the sensitivity you speak of. If I am on the phone, the person calling can leave a message(that's a very useful feature) and I will get to them after I have finished with the person I am already talking with. When I am put on hold so the person can take another call, it had better involve a fire or a baby.

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How can they know until AFTER they've put you on hold?

I want my phone subscription to offer this feature to people who call me:

 

"The person you are calling is occupied. If your call is an emergency, press # now to ask for your call to be given higher priority. Otherwise, press * (or wait for 15 seconds) and leave a message. You can also just hang up, the person you are calling will be notified once she completes her current conversation and can then call you back".

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How can they know until AFTER they've put you on hold?

 

Depends on who it is, of course. If someone says "My kid is calling from Paris" I imagine he should take the call.

 

Which brings me to another mild annoyance. The phone rings, I look to see who it is, and it says "incoming call" or, one that I got today, it says "phone". Well good, I'm glad it wasn't the stove that was ringing.

 

I roll with all this actually. But it's the peeve thread so....

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Depends on who it is, of course. If someone says "My kid is calling from Paris" I imagine he should take the call.

 

Which brings me to another mild annoyance. The phone rings, I look to see who it is, and it says "incoming call" or, one that I got today, it says "phone". Well good, I'm glad it wasn't the stove that was ringing.

 

I roll with all this actually. But it's the peeve thread so....

Easy, those are the ones you leave for the answer phone :)

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Call waiting. Having a phone conversation with a friend (MIL actually) only to be put on hold while they take a call on the other line. Then to add insult to injury they come back and tell you that they will call you back later.....

 

Last time someone did this to me, when they called back I said "sorry, I can't talk right now" and hung up.

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Heh, I had one like that, but backwards, this weekend. According to our local radio, the Calgary Flames were "not mathematically eliminated [with this loss], but will be on Monday." That's because they were 3 points out of the last playoff spot with two games (and 4 points) available, but that one of the other games was between two of the teams ahead, and one of them would win, and that would make the Flames 4 (at least) points out (and losing the tie-break).

 

No. You're "mathematically eliminated" when you can't get into the playoffs no matter what happens, and the schedule screwing you out of an otherwise sound possibility is part of the calculation. Idjits.

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