Questions of human nature
 

Well, maybe not, but habits or behavior. I'll be adding to this thread but at this very moment, I wonder about this one thing. Why do some people would lose their toothpaste cap and use the tube capless like that? Why? Why?? Why???? It's messy and dirty looking. I have a house guest, and it's a woman. She's driving me nuts. :thepain: I'm not being too picky here. This is the least thing that annoys me. Actually, I'm just wondering, it's not bothering me too much. She does lots of other stuffs that bother me. I'm gonna finish clean up and go to bed. I'm feeling tired and unhappy tonight. :(

toothpaste tube cap...

I can imagine this: The cap's been dropped and lost. Or worse, dropped in the toilet--never mind, found it, never mind... But, it's a new tube of toothpaste. I'd be inclined to keep using the rest of the toothpaste without the cap. Seriously, I don't want the cap back. No! NO THANK YOU!

My kids do that. But it's the 9yo who loses the cap. Every time. You use toothpaste twice a day -how nasty can it get?

Just use the one from your Preparation H instead :)

Even with a flip-top, which I prefer, it gets all gummed up and nasty. I usually clean it up once I get sick of it. Keep in mind though, I'm in a house with three males who don't care, so I don't waste a lot of effort on it.

We don't have this issue at our place. I don't know if it's just luck, but I can't remember the last time I bought toothpaste with a screw top lid. They all have flip off caps that stay attached on one side.

Max grabbing the toothpaste from in the bath if it's left on the wrong side of the basin is another thing though.

At least he smells minty fresh when he gets out I guess...

I dislike the flip top caps. They get dirty and crusty.

Wow, you lot must be messy. We don't seem to have a problem with them. They're awesome as far as I'm concerned, and my kids think i'm OCD about being clean! lol

Without a cap or substitute, the toothpaste in the neck of the tube becomes the cap which you can squeeze out and discard. The technique is called pre-pouring and has been used in medicine for decades. In this instance, we're not referring to pre-pouring in the sense of dispensing a single dose amount of liquid medication from a multi-dose container well in advance of administration; rather, we're talking about pouring off a quantity of something that's cream to ointment consistency which may have become contaminated where it comes into contact with the outside of the container or anything else.

Jeez, I should have such problems. I use the tubes with the flip back top. If they start looking grungy, I run 'em under hot water. Problem solved.

My late father swore by brushing his teeth with baking soda. He'd shake a little out of the box unto his hand, dip his brush in and presto - pearly whites.

Gel toothpaste gums up all over the attached cap area.

I run it under really hot water until it falls off. Bleck.

I thought about starting a thread about irrational pet peeves...here's one of my biggies:

Why oh why is it so hard to push your shopping cart all the way into the corral, mating it with the cart in front of it. You know, a nice neat line, all snuggied up...two rows. You can fit 25-30 carts in there that way.

But hardly anyone does that. Nice that they bother to put their cart into the corral, but they're all crooked and none of them are mated and you can get MAYBE 8 carts in there.

Sometimes I'll rearrange them a bit. :blush:

You must be a member of the Corral Cartel. :eek:

It's do-gooders like you who put the cart cowboys out of work. A lot of them are special needs people (that's short bus to you) who are glad to get this work. I hope you are happy shaving down their hours.
bitch.

I'm a card-carrying member of the Cart Corral Citizens Coalition for Careful and Correct Concentrated Control of Cart Cubbies.

Wanna see my card? ;)

Cart Cowboy always tips his hat and smiles at me. "Thanks ma'am, it's citizens like yourself that give hope to citizens like...myself."

While we're grousing about supermarkets, why are their car parks always sloped so that your trolley (= cart) rolls away from you while you're trying to get your shopping (=groceries) into the boot (=trunk) of your car.

We used to have minor issues with the toothpaste, but you know what? You can buy a tube for each of you. It doesn't go bad. It doesn't cost more. You're each still using the same amount, and you can do it however you want.

I got my own tube of toothpaste just because the door to my side of the medicine cabinet swings to the left, and it's easier for me to take the toothpaste with my right hand from my side. My wife uses the same brand, and on her side of the cabinet, the door swings to the right and she's a lefty. It's just slightly less awkward for each of us to grab our own toothpaste.

Si, si, senorita

Oh, and why do we say 'nother'?

As in "that's a whole nother ballgame"? Nother isn't a word. People use it as a liller (not a word either) :lol: version of another, I guess...BUT:

You wouldn't say "a whole another ballgame"

It's a whole OTHER ballgame.

So there.

Thanks for playing along at home. Now I must go stab someone in the aorta. BRB.

Aldi's 25 cent grocery carts that give you back your quarter if you place the cart back in the cart corral and hook the chain to the cart in front. All the cart Nazi's shop there ;) {I kid }

I get the concept of Aldi's and I know you can save money...but for one thing I am NOT buying meat there. Some friends of mine do. It might not be any different than meat anywhere else but it's like buying steak at Odd Lots, imho.

Also, I'm weird about buying brands I'm used to...local or not. Instead of Ohio Otto's Green Beans you might see Washington Wally's Green Beans. Wally won't get my money. I'm weird like that.

That's a completely different ballgame.

That's a horse of a different color. That horse is some nother color.

so the rain drains away and you can unload your cart without standing in a lake.

turn your cart perpendicular to the slope.

Don't look at me: I didn't nominate his membership in C C C C for C and C C C of C C.

;)

You have to think about where that 'whole' is.

It isn't 'A whole [a]nother ball game'.

It's: 'A-whole-nother ball game'. The word 'whole' is inserted into the word 'another' in between the 'a' and 'nother'

Bit like saying abso-fucking-lutely.

Ahhhh...could be. At the very least, it let's one get an a-whole in there, which also works.

Doesn't quite have the ZING of abso-fucking-lutely, though. It just sounds kind of dumb. ;)

I'd just squirt a little extra on the counter for Pete.

The best way to make money out of those coin slot carts is to troll the shopping centre for carts that people couldn't be bothered taking back just for 25 cents. Take 4 back and you have a whole dollar!

that sounds so dirty.

Yeah, but now we know that glatt's door swings to the left.

I do the same so my toothpaste tube opening is usually if not always clean. That's why it annoys me a bit when I see an exposed tube with toothpaste hanging out. My aunt (the house guest) used to stick it in the drawer under the sink with the rest of the toothpaste tubes and toothpaste would stick on the insides. I guess it's better that she now sticks it in the toothbrush cup on the counter.

That's irrational??? I wasn't hoping so because I feel the same way. :p: And yes, I sometimes would rearrange them too. :D

Well, if I don't rearrange them, I wouldn't be able to stick my cart in. And if I do just toss it in, the next person's cart wouldn't be able to stick his cart in the corral. If he leaves it half sticking out or just lying around, it may hit a customer's cart and get that "special" person fired. So, you see, I'm actually helping the cart cowboy keep his job. :D

We do have our own toothpaste. I just don't like the look of my aunt's messy and dirty toothpaste tube. :p:

Speaking of toothpaste on the counter, there would be bits of toothpaste in the sink after my aunt brushed her teeth. Uh...yeah, at least that seems less dirty than food bits stuck there after she rinsed her mouth after each meal. :neutral:

Thor is your aunt? There is apparently no limit on where that boy can get toothpaste...

What about the bit of human nature that makes these things bother us all out of proportion. What about the bit that even registers these things as "issues". What about the bit that keeps people from bringing it up if it really bugs us so much.

You're right Perry. Why do we even care about stupid things like this.

Let's see if we can solve it here.

I'm pretty sure UT could make millions if we did. ;)

Denial is not just a river in Africa.

I get that about the water but the slope could be less pronounced to drain the water and not whisk the trolleys away.
You can't turn your trolley perpendicular to the slope here. They have twirly wheels so the cart will roll down a slope however you've oriented it. I jam my foot under one wheel to act as a brake while I unload it. I do have a solution, I just don't see why I have to!

hehehe I just remembered how tiny and swivelly Brit trolleys are -American expats in the UK complain that they're completely unsteerable and you can't get anything like a complete shop in them! The carts here are like juggenauts in size and manoueverability. But you get used to it. And buying enough to fill it..... :lol:

(did you see how bilingual I was there? Maybe even tri-lingual as I can't be bothered to look up the spelling of that m word.)

That's like the kind they have at Ikea! They're super fun for the kids to ride in once you get the hang of steering them.

Steeringwise, not sizewise.

I've seen carts that have four casters instead of two casters on the front and two fixed wheels on the back. Four caster carts are practically unsteerable--stupid design. My favorite grocery store has flatbed carts but the casters are on the end with the handle, making them effectively pull toys, not push toys. Very frustrating.

Totally disagree with you V. I LOVE the carts which have four casters, like those at IKEA. There is no reason to have any other kind of cart. I can literally go sideways to avoid other people and/or objects. Complete mobility. As an added bonus they are fun to play with.

I don't care about carts. I've never paid much attention to them. They always work well enough.

Now what really grinds my gears are those reprobates that put every curly brace on a new line.

right.

I see you said sideways but completely ignored my point about actually steering them. You can easily spin them, but not easily steer them. I can get sideways in one and continue in a straight line as the scenery zips by from left to right--crunch--the left side of my cart bumps what I tried to avoid.

They're fun, but I don't see the steering benefit. The force needed to turn a fixed rear axle cart is less than a four caster cart. By putting a differential force on the handle, you turn the rear axle. Since it can only roll straight (fixed direction wheels, remember) the cart turns. In a four caster rig, the same force moves one wheel ahead of the other, but since the wheels are not fixed, they aren't forced to change direction. You can only "turn" by exerting a sideways force on the cart at its center of mass, not at one of the poles.

Anyhow, glad you like them. For light loads or for office chairs where the thrust and turning forces are exerted at the center, they're great.

You get a good workout in your core muscles with those 4 swivel wheel carts.

I'm serious - never had a problem at IKEA. Even with heavy furniture and whatnot loaded. BTW, that is the only place around here that I know has them.

I prefer 4 x casters, for maximum manouverability. You just want to tuck the cart in tight and push around the outside when doing a turn at the end of an aisle.

I don't mind fixed rear wheels, because you can swing the front pretty easily, but still get good control.

A local big-box hardware store has trolleys with rear casters and fixed front wheels. It is like conning a ship. Have to push the rear slightly left about 50cm before you want it all to go to the right. Is teh suk.

25 cents?! I guess Merkins are much more honest than Brits (or we are FAR lazier)
We have to pay £1 deposit!
They still have to adhere to laws for human consumption and labelling.
Although I'll admit I don't buy fresh meat there, but it's because I prefer to buy free range/ RSPCA certified.
I'll happily buy cured meats at Aldi or Lidl - they have a better selection of European meats than our smaller supermarkets. Which is a cop-out - I'll buy Serrano ham or Prosciutto without even questioning how the pigs were raised. And I know perfectly well that they're more likely to be factory farmed on the mainland.

I wouldn't shop somewhere if I had to pay a deposit to use a cart. I remember landing in Austria and having to beg strangers in German for 1 freaking Euro coin so I could get a cart to carry our mountain of baby gadgets and luggage while my wife wrangled the kids. I figured I'd have a chance to exchange money when I arrived, but this was in the sterile luggage claim area, and no such luck. What a hassle. I'd spend my money elsewhere.

I would not shop where they wanted a deposit on the carts.


eta buy you a coke

It's very common here.
At least I've encountered it in Bucks, Leicestershire and South-East & East London.

Deciding not to shop in such a place could be cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Many charities here sell tokens for £1 that you keep on your keyring. That way you are always able to use a gym locker/ trolley, without having to carry cash.

£1 coins are common; $1 coins are not (let alone $1.50). And if people are annoyed by having to come up with a quarter to get a cart, imagine if they had to come up with four or six!

I suspect our retail experiences are quite different and interesting. For a while I've wanted to take some pics of the local shopping locale which is the New American Way of shopping, mixing big box stores with smaller places to create a huge "town" of stores.

I think you would be offended by it Sundae. I know I am. But yet I go there every day.

How could I be offended by how Americans choose to shop...?
I get what you're saying though :)

I mourn the passing of individual shops in my own country, because I experienced and appreciated them. And because they still exist in affluent areas, which means they must have some value. Received wisdom is that we all miss them, but we'd never use them. I know it's untrue.

Please, please take pics Tony.
I'd love to know how it works elsewhere.
Just don't get arrested as a potential terrorist.

That's no problem, we only hire smart cops out here in suburbia-land. I will try to get over there while the light is still up.

As much as I loathe them, I wasn't comfortable living in England until I found the retail areas that are similar to what we have in surburban USA. Not sure why. Something anchoring about knowing that it's not such an alien place.

I agree. When I went to Japan, it was very reassuring to find a regular-type supermarket with aisles and trolleys and stuff. Even if the trolleys were dinky little things.

When I visited England, I discovered, to my horror, that people actually had to pay to use public bathrooms. Or was that in Prague? I can't remember, it was so long ago. Either way, I think I got myself a bladder infection due to the fact that I had no coins.

Also, when I discovered Tesco, I was enthralled. I suppose it is like Wal-mart or Target, here, but they had a WHOLE ENTIRE AISLE of European chocolate.