Try a library!

You know what really grinds my gears?  People who choose to work and/or study in a public place, and then complain that it isn't quiet enough.  Ever since wi-fi became available in coffee shops, people have started camping out at their tables with their laptops, and hunkering down for the winter.  They usually nurse a single cup of coffee, and spend their day shooting dirty looks at any other patrons who dare to have a conversation and muttering about how loud the background music is.  Guess what? A coffee shop is meant for customers.  The couches are meant to encourage conversation and lingering.  The music is to allow people a relaxing environment. You need quiet?  Here's a thought: go somewhere designed for studying.  Like a library.  Hmm, if only there were some other environment where you could control the atmosphere.  Where you could decide whether music should be played and at what volume.  Where other people wouldn't be talking. Where coffee wouldn't cost so much, and refills would be freely available.  Oh wait, I know where you could get all that: YOUR OWN HOUSE.  I, too, enjoy studying, working, and reading at coffee shops.  The difference is, I don't get mad when the environment actually reflects the kind of business the owner intended to create.  If you can't handle the hubbub of a functioning coffee shop: GO HOME.

Put your knees away!

You know what really grinds my gears?  When I go to a nice restaurant (nice, meaning they don't have pictures of the food on the menu and the wine list has more than just Sutter Home) and the guy at the table next to mine is wearing shorts and flip flops.  When I'm eating decent food, I don't want to see your knees and feet, dude.  I know you own a pair of pants; this is the time to wear them.  In this economy, I'm sure restaurants probably feel like they can't turn away someone who is willing and able to spend money, so I understand the lack of dress code (or at least dress code enforcement), but what is wrong with men that they have no ability to assess whether what they are wearing is appropriate? Show a little respect for the restaurant and other diners.  Here are some good rules of thumb: Sporting event?  Wear your favorite shorts.  Beach? Rock those flip flops.  Restaurant with a decent wine list?  Cover your knees and toes. And if that isn't feasible, go to Denny's.  They're open 24 hours. And don't even get me started on women wearing lounge pants and pajamas in public...

Ruining things for the rest of us...

You know what really grinds my gears?  When you go to a restaurant that's busy and has a lengthy waiting list for tables, and you see a table full of people who have to-go boxes on their table, empty drinks, a paid check, and they proceed to sit at the table and chat for hours.  Tonight I went to dinner with my parents.  After waiting for a table for about 20 minutes, we were seated next to a full table of 4.  The diners at that table had foam containers in front of them.  Their sodas had watered down.  The signed credit card slip was sitting on the table.  My parents and I had dinner.  When we left the restaurant, approximately an hour after being seated, the people at the table next to us WERE STILL SITTING THERE. Talking.  And the line of people waiting for a table?  Just as long as when we had walked in, if not longer.  Look, I know that eating in a restaurant is a social experience.  I've had long meals too.  But when you're at a restaurant where there are only about 20 tables, there is a line of hungry diners out the door, servers are frantically trying to serve their customers, and you have completely finished and paid for your meal, take the conversation to the bar next door!  Not only are you taking up a table that other customers could use, you are taking tips away from your server who could have probably served 2 cycles of diners in the time you sat there talking in detail about your recent fishing trip.  If you want to have a 4-hour meal where 3/4ths of the meal time is made up of chatting, throw a dinner party.  Or find an empty restaurant.  The world is not your personal cocktail party.

It's meant to rove on the range!

You know what really grinds my gears? People who drive their Range Rovers over speed bumps as if there is an open pallet of eggs on the roof of the car and the driver will be executed if one egg falls.  Range Rovers are utility vehicles!  The ads show them scaling mountains!  The display at the dealership shows the Range Rover on a rocky incline to show its ruggedness!  The name itself tells you that they are meant to ROVE on the RANGE And yet, the drivers are too scared to drive over a speed bump at anything approximating a normal speed. I know the car is pretty to look at, and cost you a lot of money, but if you're too scared to drive your car, please stay home before you wind up in front of me on a speed bump-laden road.

This first one is easy...

You know what really grinds my gears?  People who register a domain name for a website, and never actually use that site, preventing anyone else from having that name.  I'm not talking about the people who register a domain name in the hopes that a celebrity or a large company really wants that name and is willing to pay top dollar to have the address.  I'm talking about people who register a name on a free blogger site, and never freakin' use it. And, in my case, the name was registered back in 2005, and yet the site sits blank.  Mocking me.  I guess the person had all sorts of blogging intentions, and then ran out of steam during the 10 second registration process.  It happens.  So, as you can see, because of one of these gear grinders, my blog is entitled "Grinds my Gearsf".  Why the 'f' on the end?  I have no idea.  Apparently blogger.com thinks that someone who wants the name "Grinds my Gears" but can't have that name will be equally satisfied with "Grinds my Gearsf."  And you know what?  They were right.  I'm going with it.