One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone has no idea what they're talking about, but pretends to be an expert. This happened to me this week in the hardware store.
I'm painting and doing some repairs around the house to get ready for the baby, which included buying some paint and other materials for the nursery. I have to patch some areas on a plaster wall - a new project for me - and was asking some advice. The person helping me walked me through what to do, how to do it, and the materials I was to buy. She spoke like an expert.
I did what was asked, and the process and materials were both completely incorrect. I was sold something specifically made for wood and was instructed to 'patch' the plaster in a way that was barely a patch. I knew right when I opened the materials that it was incorrect, but it was too late (in the day) to go back there, which set me behind.
I wish the employee would have simply admitted to not knowing, and sent me onward. It would have saved a bunch of time!
Speaking of time, I've spent a lot of time thinking about this, but I think I have the reason Americans are not into soccer.
It's the world's sport. Everyone loves it...except us. I think a major reason for this is that in soccer, flopping gets you a free kick. There's one ref on the field at the time of play. This person has a lot of ground to cover. Thus, you can fall and they assume contact. When they see contact, they often blow the whistle and give the other team a free kick. So, flopping is rewarded.
In American sports, this is not the case. Flopping, to us, is an insult. We're supposed to be stronger, tougher, and better than others. In some cases, flopping gets you fined. A 'flopper' is an insult, and synonymous with someone that is weak. I think this difference is why the sport hasn't totally caught on.
Why is it that two days of nice weather makes everyone forget how to drive in the snow?
From Dec-Jan, we've had about three nice periods, followed by a lot of snow and - Day 1 - people act as if they haven't seen the snow for a year. You see a ton of cars in the ditch, some people speeding and others going about 5. It was only two days, y'all.