Old Man Rants

Things I've Grown To Hate

Last Edited: 2025-01-03 01:07:07

I get it! I'm getting older and I get it! I'm sure if you're a younger person you'd just make fun of me like I made fun of old people when I was younger too! Man there are just so many things that piss me off on my day to day. I'm going to rant about them.

HOAs (Home Owner Associations)
Ticketmaster
The entire state of California
Insurance Companies
Deceptive Advertising for technology products
Planned Obsolescence
Slower traffic keeping right
Finding anything for a wedding for less than elevendy billion dollars

This list is not exhaustive. There will be more. Oh, will there be more.

Home Owner's Associations

"How the hell did we let this happen?" I exclaimed to my wife as we were talking about it while driving down the road. The American dream still includes buying a house. There's so much risk involved in the process of buying a house. You have multiple organizations that risk taking away your house in the process. Firstly, the bank, of course. You probably have to get a loan and if you lose your job for whatever reason and you cannot pay the mortgage, you lose your house to foreclosure. That one makes sense, although very cruel. Then there's the government. I don't think there are many places you can go where you won't have to pay taxes for the rest of your life. There are other government organizations that you can get jammed up with for zoning or being out of code, but those aren't as obvious, but could still happen. Then you have mechanic's liens! This varies by state, but never knew how crooked this could be! Imagine you have a contractor working on your house and something happens and they don't get paid. In some states they can just take your house, so that's fun.

But that's not enough risk, someone thought. Or someone thought, or some "esquire" thought, how can we just have a stream of constant money forever and ever? Enter the HOA. Imagine you spend 30 long hard years paying off a property, and then you have to keep paying the HOA. Some of these fees are still incredibly high and rising. After 30 years of buying a house you may be 100 years old. So if you can't pay the HOA fees, the HOA could eventual take your house away. I hate that.

Ticketmaster

I went into this in another rant. and that rant is right here. That post goes into an article I read that was like, really, Ticketmater doesn't even make that much money! Of course it's on Ticketmaster's website, so who knows, right? As a software guy that works on the interweb all the time, I don't see any reason in the world that there should be a $20 per ticket "convenience fee". Especially seeing that some venues, it's not convenience that brings us to Ticketmaster, it's necessity. Some venues we've gone to just don't sell tickets at the venue anymore. Oh, maybe it's the venue's convenience. That makes more sense, just thought of that while typing.

It's much life "Lifetime Guarantee!" - that always makes me squint my eyes and wonder. Who's lifetime are they talking about? Mine? Yours? The company's? I bet it's the product - it's guaranteed for the lifespan of the product. That way when you bring the product to them, they can just say "well, it's past it's lifetime" :shrug:

Insurance Companies

Insurance of any kind. Obviously medical care and insurance in the country is completely out of hand - so far as to having someone cold blooded murder someone in NYC. The internet sees him as Robin Hood, but he didn't steal from the rich, and he didn't give to the poor. Or at least I didn't get a check. Anyway, the stonewalling and runaround that you get from health insurance companies is maddening especially when you're not feeling good. I believe we've gotten into this vicious circle of the hospital charging $40 for a cup of jello, billing the insurance, then insurance doesn't pay because jello was a pre-existing condition, so then they go after the "customer" or patient who then may not be able to pay. Then the hospital writes it off as a "bad debt" and can take some of the liability away when paying taxes. Tricky.

But car insurance too! They've rigged that so that whenever you even want to SEE if you can get lower rates from another company, they do a hard inquiry on your credit. I can see them doing a soft inquiry, but they aren't lending any money! I know the policy normally has a 6 month life for a certain price, and they allow you to make payments so you are upside down and it could be seen as a loan - however, if you don't pay that and they feel like you still owe money even after canceling the policy, they will be sure to bill you accordingly. And I'm sure, just like the hospital, if you don't pay, they'll write it off on their taxes. Tricky.

Deceptive Advertising for technology products

I must have waiting too long for this. I remember an item that was on YouTube ads quite a lot. It was some white plastic box that you would plug into your wall outlet and it promised something like cleaning your electricity or preventing viruses on your computer. Just absolute bullshit. I can't find it on the internet anymore probably because word got out that what they were selling was crap. I'll have to swing back around with other products I've seen that promise the world, but deliver nothing.

I know, this one doesn't piss me off because I fall for it an I lose money, but other people do. I really dislike when business and marketing practices target the weak minded that don't any better. Also, I cannot do it. My conscience will not [yet] allow me to rip off the dumb so I can get a bunch of money. Maybe someday, we'll see.

Planned Obsolescence

Things that die early on purpose

Slower Traffic Keeping Right

There are signs and everything

Finding Anything for a Wedding for less than Elevendy Billion Dollars

Prices are high