Steve from Cyberspace: Here's a big Grrr! and some advice to the folks that think they're the only ones in the security line at the airport. First, you don't need six bins to scan all of your possessions; it's OK to put your wallet and watch in the same bin. Second, please, please, oh, please remember you don't need to stand at the x-ray machine to repack all six bins worth of stuff!
J.T. from Cyberspace: Grrr! to the man at the table next to me at breakfast, loudly sharing your stories of how they put animals to sleep, and how it differs from a human execution. It really made my French toast better with those images in my head.
April from Columbus, Ohio: My Grrr! goes out to all those homeowners that don't rake their yards. Our neighbors have about six large maples among others in their yard. Their trees are now completely bare and the leaves blow mercilessly from their yard into our yard. My husband and I take great pride in our home and lawn and it irks me that, to no avail, every fall you can't even see our gorgeous green lawn due to all the leaves.
Ralph from Cyberspace: Smoking should be banned everywhere but in the privacy of your own home. Never mind that it's toxic and causes cancer and other health risks -- it just plain stinks! It's no more rude than if you were outdoor in public (or anywhere for that matter) and some
one walked up to you and passed gas. Then, there's the issue of litter. What do they do once they are finished? Of course, what else, they throw it on the ground no matter where they are. When has this become socially acceptable?
Ann from Illinois: Big Grrr! for the writers of my local paper. They recently ran a story that warned that we shouldn't get used to gas prices going down because the local stations have been "competing" for business and that we should expect prices to jump overnight because they aren't able to keep selling gas "below what they paid for it." They also had the nerve to quote someone in Springfield saying that prices at the pump right now are a kind of "blue light special" and not to get used to them. How dare they insult our intelligence this way! We all have heard of the record profits the major oil companies have just raked in, and this just confirms the price gouging that's been happening this summer. Hey, look out, a 6-foot wave is about to hit Galveston ... better raise the prices again!
Melanie from Cyberspace: I, for one, feel it is going way overboard for anyone to suggest this smoking ban. Honestly, I feel the Soviet Union has more freedom than we do. The personal freedoms that I as a citizen have lost in just my lifetime is astonishing. I am not a liberal, right or left anything, just a person who does not need any more laws telling me how to breathe.
Amanda from Cyberspace: The thing that ticks me off the most are people with these over-the-top stereos. I don't want to hear what you're listening to, and especially don't appreciate not being able to listen to my music in my car because you are behind me with your music up so loud that it's rattling my rear-view mirror.
Perry from Tennessee: My Grrr! is to retail businesses ignoring Thanksgiving to get Christmas started earlier. What kind of message are we teaching our children when we do not take time to give thanks for what we have so we can hurry up and get more? I refuse to do anything associated with Christmas before the Thanksgiving holiday. I love Christmas, but let's take time to say "thank you" for the blessings we have.
Mike from Jacksonville, Fla.: I do not understand why people feel the need to place their belongings on any available bench at the gym. Don't they know others may want to use it? Of course they don't, because they are oblivious. It's bad enough when people leave their sweat on equipment and their weights on the bars for others to remove, but at least remove your belts, bags and other items.
Liddy from cyberspace: I worked with a lady who would refresh her perfume often during the workday. Talk about chemical poisoning. I could taste her perfume in my mouth and feel the burning in my lungs. No amount of asking would make her stop. The company finally did ban her excessive use of perfume while I was there. Since being retired, I have heard that the excessive use of perfume by so many people has started again. How do you protect people who are chemically sensitive to perfume fumes, especially indoors? This seems far worse to me than outdoor tobacco smoke.
Jason from Pella, Iowa: You want to know what Grrrs the heck out of me?
1. The stupid advertisements we now have to have in the middle of the article we are reading, including yours. Why does it have to interrupt the flow of the article so I can read about the new Disney DVD at Amazon.com. Grrr!
Leigh in Cyberspace: Don't forget those gum chewers that spit gum on the ground only to have someone step in it! Do you think we should ban that too?
J Pinard in N.Y.: Thank you for a rare and unbiased view on the outdoor smoking ban movement. Claiming it is a public health threat, anti-tobacco extremists have now coined the phrase: "No one should have to get a lung full of someone else's smoke just to enter a building." If they are willing to claim outdoor smoking is a health risk, how honest have they been with us on indoor smoking? New York State has had a smoking ban for over two years, the Health Department has issued two studies of the smoking ban, New York City's Health Department issued one. Despite the length of the state's two reports, each more than 250 pages, there is no suggestion that the smoking ban has reduced deaths, diseases or health care costs. The same can be said of the city's report. While anti-tobacco groups can demonstrate a "statistical" argument for the positive health effects of a smoking ban, why shouldn't they have a burden of proving the same health benefits of a smoking ban, in the real world?
As a general comment; it is amazing to me that anything negative said about tobacco, its users or second-hand smoke can be published, regardless of its merit or accuracy.
Respond to Mike | Grrr! Lexicon
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