Pet New York City peeves

Wow, I agree with each one both of you have listed. I have been in the worst situations. I had one person try to cut in front of me and told the person to wait her turn. She looked at me with a snub look. The cashier apologized to me for the person's rudeness. I paid for my stuff, turned toward the woman, and in a sarcastic voice, said "Have a nice day."

She just sneered.

Some people just try my nerves. I was told that is just the New York attitude.

Anyone have any comments about that?

@Uraniumfish At least your man offered some form of apology, however weak the explanation? I just had to move out of the way quick before that yellow river moved downstream.

Anyway, that's the reason why I try never to come into contact with outside walls.

This is not the first time I have heard of sex escapades on the subway - I have yet to experience something first hand though many New Yorkers have - Flashers and Groppers seem to abound on NYC subways! http://www.nbcnewyork.com/station/as-seen-on/Subway_Flasher_Arrested_New_York.html

Dunno, BroadwayBK. Surely they do it for the thrill and danger of being caught, but I don't think suddenly having to really deal with a bunch of people pointedly staring at them is very sexy, or would be conducive to...um...finishing the sexual act.

Just speculating here.

@Everyone I just need to add one more peeve to this long list.. dog lovers in this city who dont clean up after their dogs. I know that the Park's Department has raised the fine for not scooping your pooch's poop to $250 but I dont know if it is ever imposed for there seems to be dog poop everywhere I look and the problem only seems more acute in the winters when snow often covers the sidewalks and provides an ideal camouflage for the poop. Don't get me wrong I love dogs too but I just wish their owners would clean up after them.

Now's the time to move, BroadwayBK. Rents are plummeting, and a couple of people who were trying to let rooms seemed bewildered that they had only gotten one or two responses for their craigslist ads. Which means in another week, they'll all be desperate and lower rents. I'm pretty sure this will continue into the summer.

@BroadwayBK: When I said it was legal for the lease holder to overcharge you, I met that if you share the apartment with him, and let's say the total rental price of the apartment is $1000. He could charge you $600 while he pays $400, instead of dividing the rent equally. It would be fair to divide the money equally, but if you don't complain about it, then you have yourself to blame for paying more than your fair share.

I had that situation happen to me once and I complained to the lease holder. He told me if I did not like it I could move out. However, I didn't let this guy take advantage of me. I went straight to the landlord about it, and he told me if I was going to live there as a roommate, I needed to have my name added to the lease. He did this and from that time onward, I got a copy of the monthly rent envelope and paid the landlord directly for my half of the rent.

@Sanschez: What do you mean by saying your quality of life was compromised to accomodate our quality of life?

I meant by walking : D

Whenever I take the bus here it seems like I never get a seat and I'm always surrounded by mass amounts of children who've just gotten out of school.

I certainly agree with you, @uptowngirl. I see Bloomberg's point, but his outrageous budget cuts and penalizing of those who can't help themselves (children, the elderly via schools, nursing home, etc., budget cuts) really don't endear him to me

@Uptowngirl and @Ajadedidealist: I didn't like Giuliani. But there is one thing I can say, when he was in office, crime was way down, the schools were in decent shape, and this city was better off financially. This is because he did not run it like a business, but like a politician. Actually, because he was a lawyer, he ran it like one.

Bloomberg on the other hand, only knows business. I wonder if the reason he wanted the job of mayor so he could be prestigeous and show up his friends. I had a friend who retired from a city job, shortly after Bloomberg took office. He told me that Bloomberg took the job as mayor to prove to his friends that he could run this city better than his own business. Frankly, that was a mistake on his part, and we are suffering for it now.

@BroadwayBK Chrome is cool! Make the change! It's streamlined and a little bit sexy, even.

If cars couldn't turn when pedestrians had the green light - or white light, I guess - then no car would ever get anywhere. I guess they could make a system where cars were allowed to turn on their own green light and then pedestrians would get there own go-ahead, but that would clog up roads with traffic for sure. Everyone would be waiting longer to get where they are going and we all know that no one in this city wants that.

And it is normal in other US cities.... what do they do in other countries? I thought that was pretty standard.

And as a driver I have to say, yeah - it is every man for himself. I don't plan on running anyone over but if I can drive around the people on the crosswalk I'm going to have to go for it, since our green lights coincide.

@hhusted: When I lived in ID, I thought it would be great to visit Boise, and while they have a great night life and fun recreational activities for families such as festivals (other than the Boise River fest, they don't do it anymore. Luckily, I got to go the last year it was open. Great fun.) I still wouldn't drive in Boise. Too many one way streets. In Bellingham, WA (where that greyhound almost hit me) the streets tend to be narrow, Idaho Falls, slanted streets which actually bugged me, and SLC is horrible. Utah drivers aren't great in the country. While living in Wyoming, they get yelled at a lot for their driving. I can't imagine how they would fit in with NYC. I'd like to see that. Speaking of which I have a cousin whose from Utah/Wyoming. She moved to NYC once for short while to be a . . . dancer of sorts and she called her dad up crying becuase she was lost. I just find it funny I guess. That's why maps are so good. I don't care for GPS's. Call me old fashioned.

I used to use Hertz when we had a house up in the Berkshires, but no car. We'd train up to White Plains and then hire a car for a weekend. It was pretty straightforward and easy - definitely worth it

@uptowngirl I am on the R, which I often switch over to via the N - and I have seen this twice in the past few weeks. I don't know what the deal is. The first time it happened a woman was just giving her baby the breast bottle right there in the priority seating for disabled people as she yelled a conversation across the car to her twin sister and other family members ten feet away. A real class act. The second time was on the 4th - the trains were crammed with people returning home from the beaches, and I could almost understand it that time because the mommy and baby had probably been out all day. Still not something I'm dying to see, of course.

@BroadwayBK I can tune out a baby crying - but breastfeeding I don't really care to witness. Ever.

Doesn't seem like such a big deal, although that class act lady with the shouting NeverSleeps described would probably bother me whether she was breastfeeding or not. Anyways, it's just breasts and we all have them more or less (my case, less...)

That was the only time I noticed other than when I was preggo myself. I know of one person that is preggo though.

I'm hoping to see a specialist soon. One of my doctors doesn't seem phased by it. The other told me to look for a specialist and he'll give me a referal. He agrees that what issues I'm having don't seem okay. On the other hand my husband just found out he has pre-diabetes and high cholestoral. All on top of his sometimes high blood pressure and triglycerides and needing a low-sodium diet. Gee, making dinner is going to really take some work. I Plan to change the whole families overall but then have to help myself individually because I need high fiber and calories. My husband needs to lose weight too. So, yeah. This is going to be tough. My cold is doing good though. He is also on the path to quit smoking.

On another note, my sleeping sucks. The baby wont stay asleep at night. Driving me nuts and he is fussy during the day. OI!

LOL You know, though I've been disowned by my father, step-mother and sister, I recall my sister saying one time, "I can't wait to have a baby." My husband and I looked at her and thought she was nuts. It's not so much her having kids, it's the thought that with her being so sexually active at her young age and finding out that she may be pregnant later in the future is not something I want her to glamorize. It's a big step. Though my first pregnancy wasn't planned, I'm glad I wasn't too young. I hope my grandmother, God rest her soul doesn't take that offensively. She was 14/15 when she had my Uncle. That was back in the mid-fifties. My sister always got so excited when she saw me preggo with my son this last time. I've never seen someone get that giddy over their older sister's baby bump. BTW my sis will be 17 this year. She started being active about . . . two years ago, I think. It may be TMI, but I was older than that when I began. Is 20 to old for a first? I always get people looking at me like I'm an alien when I tell them. I'm not religious and being married first was not an influence. Also, I think my sister gets too much in her head from celeb's being preggo and seeing pics of them all over.

They did it at fourteen in the olden days - your body gets ready for it at around 13, and they say that girls are hitting puberty much earlier these days, which may or may not have something to do with childhood obesity.

Also I think a lot of girls who get started with sexual activity early (by today's standards) often do so because they've been through a traumatic experience or come from a dysfunctional family. Maybe it's different these days, but when I was in ninth grade you didn't want to be that girl - so peer pressure wasn't a big factor in making that leap. Then again I suppose it depends on who you are trying to impress...

Hey guys sorry it took me a bit to get back to ya'll. Plus the website was being mean to me. It wouldn't let me log in. Anyway, I have been busy with appointments and school for both me and my daughter. My kid has strep throat, my husband has pre-diabetes and I have to have surgery on my uterus (which I'm scared but willing to do).

I don't know if my grandmother was pressured when she was young. I never asked. My mother says she was promiscuous. But who am I too judge what I don't know? As for my sister I think she did it for three reasons: One, she felt she needed to fill a void about being teased over her weight. She's not that fat. I think she's gorgeous. Dark skin and beautiful black hair and eyes. Two, she felt she had to fit in because most of everyone else she knew was doing it and three because she may have felt that that was the only way she'd get a boyfriend.

I can say that I've seen many teen parents slack n the parenting. One was fifteen when she had hers and now she can't take care of her kid because she is in juvenile detention. I don't know what for but I know she partied a lot. An old friend of mine took a while before she really took on the role. She used to just leave her kid with random people. But now she doesn't even act like that. Very different in that area. She is still odd to talk to. It's like some part of her thinking isn't there. She's always had that.

And yes there is a show titled The Secret Life of An American Teenager. It's still going. It's all absurd drama. Not to sound funky but Degrassi has more to it. They do do episodes that have a moral to them and on one they commented on guns in school and safety. Because on of the characters got shot and became a paraplegic. When it came to teen pregnancy, one girl gave her kid up for adoption because she wasn't ready. The drama had more of a reason behind it in my point of view.

What about Teen Mom? The reality series on MTV? I think that is a better one because it shows you how much having a baby at a young age messes with your life.

@uptowngirl You have a point about the in-your-face sexuality - I think that messes with kids more than most people realize. Especially when it comes to the body image most young girls have. And then on the flip side of that is the weird puritanical views on sex the Protestants left behind.... Our culture certainly has some warped views on sexuality.

@uptowngirl I mean, technically the world I grew up in wasn't much different - I actually used to read Cosmo when I was about 15, and the content was not exactly age-appropriate. I just thought it was cool to read when I was a young fool. Though now I realize it, well, isn't so awesome to portray women in scandalous dresses alongside headlines that scream SEX in capital letters on magazine covers every month.

I haven't read Cosmo in years!!! LOL I read Redbook now. It's like my tastes changed. Cosmo seems so. . . unchaste to me. even Teen Cosmo sends the wrong signals. That and Teen Vogue. WTH?! I began with Seventeen when I was about 14 years old then went to Cosmo at 15/16 um. . . . can't remember what I read after that. I haven't read Redbook either for a while but last I was reading them they had more concerns than just sex. They had worldly issues and talked "about" women not TO women. If you get what I mean. And Teen Mom is an interesting show. I don't know what message it sends I just hope more girls aren't wanting kids at the age of 14.

@uptowngirl @NeverSleeps If people would just stop buying that celebrity gossip crap, the media wouldn't care about it either. If only you could somehow make a nation take an interest in more intellectual things, or more political ones. Or just anything that actually matters.

I just read a study saying that teenagers have the highest rate of condom usage among the sexually active! So at least all that "unchastity" is promoting safe sex! That said, I sure wish there'd been a magazine for arty/creative/political teens when I was one...

@Uraniumfish: There is always social pressures on kids, whether it was a few years ago or today. There will always exist something to tempt the children of today, whether it is an old device or something new.

@BroadwayBK that's a sorry state of affairs...believe me I know I have a ten year old nephew who has now decided he will not wear fakes only originals if you please. This is with reference to his soccer jerseys. The official English Premier League jerseys usually cost an arm and a leg and since fakes abound , I used to buy him tons of those. He read somewhere that he should only wear originals and has informed me that I should only buy him originals from now on. Added to this is a periodic request for new games for his Wii at 50-60 bucks a piece they are not cheap. Consumerism at such a young age!

@uptowngirl I highly recommend buying wii games from Amazon. It's generally less expensive. I've grown to hate Game Stop, so I hope you haven't been giving them any business! Also I think NeverSleeps is right about kids that age - I remember what you wore becoming terribly important to other people in sixth grade. Sad, really, that a lot of kids can't shake off the opinions of their peers until they are much older.

@BroadwyBK: I didn't shake off the opinions of other kids. What I went through had nothing to do with others. It had to do with me and my family and our budget.