More Things I Shouldn’t Have to Put up With at My Age:

People who don’t do their job, then hide behind “procedure” as an excuse. Case in point, the Financial Aid office at my daughter’s college not processing her application form despite in person delivery, numerous phone calls and e-mails and then telling us the due date has passed and federal regulations prevent them from doing anything. They make the mistake, we suffer the consequences.

Companies and other people that one of the three adults in my household do business with or owe money to, who leave canned messages on the answering machine that don’t say who the message is for, what it is about, or even who the heck they are. Are we calling back? Not in this lifetime.

Cellular phone companies who tell you that your entire state is part of your local calling area and then bill you for local calls, telling you that your call went through an out of state tower – as if you have any control over where the signal goes. They then offer to solve the problem by giving you “free” long distance service, for $5 more a month and a year’s extension on your contract.
Large Swedish furniture stores who don’t tell you in their catalog or on their web page or in their kitchen design software program that unlike everything else they sell, kitchen cabinets can only be purchased through a special order placed with their kitchen design staff in the store. Trying to find out what the delivery time might be is a closely guarded secret, as the kitchen design staff only works 10-5 on weekdays and don’t answer their phone, meaning that even if you just want to know if ordering cabinets from them is even feasible, you have to take time off from work and then drive 25 miles to the store.

Home Improvement chain stores that are popping up every 5 miles but still don’t have stock of all the assorted pieces to finish a project. For example, selling a ready-made countertop in a certain finish, but not having the extra laminate pieces for finishing off the ends. Or, being the exclusive distributor for a certain pattern of floor tile, and not only don’t have it in stock, but are unaware of its existence. Or how about selling an unassembled cabinet with the wrong size doors in the box, and then telling you to return it, after you have put it mostly together then realized the doors were the wrong ones.

Non-custodial parents who cry poverty when asked to help fund their child’s college education, but ask this same child to continuously come over and babysit pets while they take vacations and overnight trips.