What are your biggest pet peeves?

[MXGratefulDiver]

One of my guilty pleasures in life is the website: Engrish

I have the deepest respect for Asian cultures, but it always gives me a laugh. Bob, don't let your wife catch you browsing it...

No danger of that ... we've been divorced for nearly eight years, and she's in Africa for the next 17 months ...

I've spent enough time in Asia to know that most of those aren't misspellings at all ... it's what they eat over there.

I have a strict rule when I travel. I'll try anything on the menu ... but I'll only ask what it is if I like it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Hank49]

Chicken sphincter....mmmm. I never had it until I lived in Iloilo, Philippines but it is really good. Fatty and tasty, especially BBQed.

 

[Jax]

 

[Nikki McAllen]

I do it in everywhere because I don't want to trash my fins and age them prematurely. Especially these fantastic new Seawing Novas (amazing fin). Not showboating, there's a reason for it.

Why would you retrieve their fin for them ? Let them learn, won't drop them next time.

 

[Beans2011]

As a new diver I found this discussion to be most entertaining and informative. I must confess that as I was reading the pet peeves I noted more than a few of them as my own behavior in past dives. At the same time several that I have not encountered and now know to personally avoid in the future.
Thank you all for being highly entertaining in your descriptions while still being informative, this is quite an amusing crowd of folks.

 

[Quero]

I do it in everywhere because I don't want to trash my fins and age them prematurely. Especially these fantastic new Seawing Novas (amazing fin). Not showboating, there's a reason for it.

Why would you retrieve their fin for them ? Let them learn, won't drop them next time.

You do what, Nikki? Is this about doing a giant stride while holding fins? I would guess that if the fins are damaged by a giant stride, they wouldn't be the kind of fins I'd want on my own feet.

And why would I retrieve fins? Why wouldn't I do so if I can? It would be pretty nasty not to. Here are three reasons why:
1) Because I'm nice.
2) Because I work as a dive guide and it's a service industry.
3) Because I don't really subscribe to the "tough love" school of "training" when it comes to scuba diving.

 

[Ze_Abron]

I can't stand when people say "Dived" insted of "Dove"
When did the people from Websters decide that "Dove" was not a proper word? I must have missed that memo.

Sorry, but Websters cannot be held up as the standard for English. (Webster himself was a bit of a loon)

In British English the standard past tense is dived, as in he ran past us and dived into the water. In the 19th century dove (rhyming with stove) occurred in British and American dialect and it remains in regular use. It is more frequent than dived in the US and Canada. In Britain it should still be avoided in careful writing. - Oxford English Dictionary. definition of dive from Oxford Dictionaries Online

 

[enviro_drew]

Hi all, long time reader, first time poster.
My pet peeve, is tank tapping DMs. I don't mind the occasional tap with a metal rod to get the groups attention. But I have been on a number of dives recently where I was sure the DM was going to knock a hole in his tank he was tapping it so much. I want a nice relaxed dive, where I can look at my own things, stray within reason. But not tap tap tap tap tap tap.
Particularly annoying if something has caught my interest and the DM is insisting I swim over and look at whatever he has found.

I've noticed it seems to be much more of an issue with local DMs? (i.e in Indo, Philippines etc).

Second pet peeve, also on fun dives, is dive shops who do not break up the groups properly according to experience/capability. I hate nothing more than ending a dive after 30 minutes because someone has sucked through their air ridiculously fast.

Third pet peeve, dives that feel like pack marches. Where the DM seems intent on going as deep as possible, and swimming as far as possible as quickly as possible. "no time for looking at things...tap tap tap tap....we swim!" These dives feel like underwater army pack marches.

Wow, grumpy old man much?

 

[diverkristi]

I have a few diving forum pet peeves as well.

At the top of the list are the drama queens. Why don't they take some responsibility for their own actions? Maybe they ought to man up (or woman up) and own their own ****, if you will. When you have a falling out with someone there is no need for public defamation and contumely. Furthermore, just because someone broke it off with you doesn't make him or her insane. We have to wonder about getting involved in the first place, but there is no DSM IV code for dumb ass the last time I checked.

You sound like a narcissistic man (probably with little man syndrome). Someone who just can't let go. There's also no way to fix STUPID. Just an FYI. Now since today is the day the world is going to end, perhaps you should get your foil hat out and get right with God. If we're here tomorrow, perhaps professional help would be advisable.

All the best,

Freud (the one and only)

PS, there is no excuse for mis-spelling with spell check. DUH. Guess being literate just isn't a priority.

 

[Nikki McAllen]

I would guess that if the fins are damaged by a giant stride, they wouldn't be the kind of fins I'd want on my own feet.

And why would I retrieve fins? Why wouldn't I do so if I can? It would be pretty nasty not to. Here are three reasons why:
1) Because I'm nice.
2) Because I work as a dive guide and it's a service industry.
3) Because I don't really subscribe to the "tough love" school of "training" when it comes to scuba diving.

Sorry if I came across as harsh, I'm really not that way in the water. Boards can be dehumanizing if not careful that's why 'the cast of smiles' on the right I guess.

Notice you're in Thailand, me too. Some of our boats here have a 2 meter jump to the water. That's not good for advanced fins like the Nova or Scubapro Sling. That drop stresses other fins too. I absolutely love my Novas, best fins I've ever worn. No reason to tempt fate and overstress lightweight travel fins. I also hold onto my mask as I jump -- some equipment needs management.

I've been in the service industry nearly 30 years from dogsledding to diving. Handholding is not a good thing when it comes to embarrassing behavior. Better to be supportive and let them sort it out. It's not tough love it's managing a mature ego. The time they sit bobbing helpless as you chase their fins is pretty tough time for them, don't you really think ?

One of my best 'raps' is after a crap-vis dive with a current is something like: "fantastic, you can now cross off things like claustrophobia and vertigo. You really grew as a diver today ! " I could see something like that as I escorted a fin retrieval. ("cool, you just learned how to swim with one fin, maybe important if you get a blister")

It's not like I would let them flounder. Instead I would involve them supportively.