Erin in Arlington, Virginia says this sign appeared in every elevator in her building during the D.C. area’s Snowmaggedon of 2010. “Apparently cabin fever requires drinks…and only people in their 20s and early 30s.”
related: no girls allowed
Erin in Arlington, Virginia says this sign appeared in every elevator in her building during the D.C. area’s Snowmaggedon of 2010. “Apparently cabin fever requires drinks…and only people in their 20s and early 30s.”
related: no girls allowed
Tags: neighbors · northern virginia · old folks
Joel in Glendale, California was raised in a religious Christian family, and apparently someone let it slip to his grandmother (bless her heart!) that he’s — gasp!— an atheist. Aaaaand…let the backhanded compliments begin!
Dear Joel, I have heard that you say you’re an athesis [sic]. I don’t believe that because you have so many Christian qualities. [...]
Tags: a little patronizing · family · jesus · old folks
“I live in a condominium building that is popular with the elderly,” writes our submitter from the Chicagoland area. Recently, he says, the building’s board of managers put copies of this note in everyone’s mailboxes and posted it in the lobby (so guests wouldn’t be spared the details, either.)
Adds our submitter: “I don’t know what’s [...]
Tags: CAPS LOCK · chicago · disturbingly detailed · old folks · shit · that shit is disgusting
Writes Ben in Snohomish, Washington: “We visit my aunt the same amount we visit the rest of our extended family, but for some reason she takes it personally that we don’t do so daily. She took the occasion of my son’s 11th birthday to take a shot at us.”
related: my condolences on your birthday
Tags: birthday · family · guilt trip · jesus · old folks · washington
While some old folks (and grandmothers in particular) are seasoned masters of the heart-tugging passive-aggressive guilt trip, there’s another breed of blue-hairs who’ve seemingly given up on all the social niceties and instead just give their unfiltered opinion on any subject at hand. their all-purpose excuse, as demonstrated by this example from Tacoma, Washington: “I’m [...]
Tags: old folks
Daniel is Montreal says his dear grandmother sent him this card in the mail for his birthday. The front of the card (which didn’t scan very well) says: It is not what is visible on the surface but what is deep inside that sustains us.
Well, says Daniel, “that and guilt.”
related: Dear Grandma — thanks, I [...]
Tags: birthday · guilt trip · montreal · old folks · signed with love
“We’ve had trouble with our downstairs neighbors since we moved in,” says Sara in Madison. “Well, really just one of them, a woman in her fifties.” This neighbor’s most recent dose of crazy appeared in the mailbox Sara shares with her roommate (“Little Buddy,” in crazy lady-speak).
I kinda prefer this note without any explanation whatsoever, [...]
Tags: CAPS LOCK · crazypants · neighbors · noise · old folks · wisconsin
Writes our anonymous submitter: “This was sent to my 6-year-old step daughter by her grandma. The birthday present in question was a pack of writing paper and $5 American. We live in canada.”
(The “did you get…” pretense combined with the oh-so-subtle post script is so classic “passive-aggressive grandma” that I cannot even handle it. Bonus [...]
Tags: birthday · canada · martyr complex · ohio · old folks · p.s. · thanks (but not really) · xoxo
This note — spotted by Erik in a break room at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism — takes me back to my days as a bright-eyed young reporter cheerfully slaving away at my college daily, where the grizzled old alumni “mentors” working at the Times or the Globe always seemed to have the same advice: [...]
Tags: chicago · kids today · thanks (but not really) · university · xoxo
I’m having a hard time deciding who in this group of geniuses most deserves a smack in the head first. To make it easier, I’m going to tell myself that Krystal is using some new kind of ironic dialect of homophone-swapping slang. And Jennalyn…well, her name is Jennalyn, and therefore I think it’s safe to [...]
Tags: breakup · ex drama · facebook · kids today · oh no you didn't
A busy working mom in Austin, Texas got this little love note on her BlackBerry from her sixteen-year-old son. (Michael is his friend, by the way, not the craft store.)
In the end, our submitter adds, he didn’t take the bus after all. Total bluff!
related: friends don’t lie 2 friends
Tags: austin · e-mail · high school · kids today · moms & dads · signed with love · spelling and grammar police
What to do after you’ve already written your daily letters to the editor, congressman and the local weatherman and you’ve still got hours to go before the early bird buffet? Well, you turn to the classifieds!
related: cloudy with a chance of hate mail
Tags: awk abbrev · comma diarrhea · excessive underlining · houston · old folks · you call that punctuation?
Writes Halley in Idaho: “Yeahhh, that’s my mom and my grandpa right there. (This is what happens when old people join Facebook.)”
related: busted by facebook
extra credit: facebook embroidery
Tags: birthday · facebook · idaho · moms & dads · old folks
Joanna from San Diego spotted this beauty in the public kitchen at her grandparents’ retirement home in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Writes Joanna: “I love it because it combines passive-aggressiveness with religious sanctimony. Delicious!”
related: no, He uses vaseline
Tags: "helpful" advice · CAPS LOCK · exclamation-point happy! · jesus · martyr complex · old folks · stealing · tennessee
writes ashley in thousand oaks, california: “a few years ago, my grandmother and i were sharing a bathroom, and sometimes i would use her towels. one day i opened the drawer and found this note. of course, i had to take a picture!”
and then…well, then there’s this.
related: how i “did” my grandma
Tags: california · die bitch die · family · not-so-veiled threats · old folks
Spotted in the basement of a New Jersey church where people play bingo all the time. Adds submitter Yamis: “I guess we know the demographics of the crowd.”
related: More like hardly working
Tags: CAPS LOCK · jersey · old folks · spelling and grammar police · temperature · your/you're
both of these signs would have gotten their points across perfectly well in just a few words…but the true passive-aggressive always knows how to convey his or her true meaning with just one more choice phrase.
exhibit a) from paula in logan, utah:
exhibit b) spotted by my pal brooke in savannah, georgia:
related: that means you, edith
Tags: lOWERCASE l · old folks · plants · pleasantries as afterthought · savannah · utah
Where do you suppose this “anomous” Tampa, Florida resident stands on the whole nature-vs.-nurture debate?
Interested? here’s a free preview!
related: your to lazy
Tags: "helpful" advice · CAPS LOCK · crazypants · dubious scientific claims · exclamation-point happy! · florida · gloriously redundant · irregular capitalization · kids today · moms & dads · neighbors · spelling and grammar police · tampa · the lawn · unnecessary "quotation marks"
courtney in california spotted this in the front yard of a neighborhood she happened to be cruising through today — one she says is “full of blue-hairs.”
adds courtney: “i may be knocking on this person’s front door sometime this week. i HAVE to know what melba’s letter said!”
related: you can do it. we can’t help
Tags: MYOB · california · crazypants · exclamation-point happy! · old folks · spelling and grammar police
the school in l.a. where anna works is under renovation, so a lot of the kids cut through the library on their way to and from the cafeteria. recently, one of these fine young scholars spilled an entire basket of fries…and kept walking. one of anna’s coworkers picked them up, but he missed one. another [...]
Tags: food · kids today · library · mcdonalds
“Vet school is a sea of studying, testing, drinking and most of all: DRAMA,” reports an anonymous vet-to-be in Ames, Iowa.
Of course, as New York magazine reports this week, Facebook is taking run-of-the-mill classroom sniping to a whole new level of micro-bitchiness. If you have the patience (or the Adderall) to follow it, our submitter [...]
Tags: facebook · group bitchfest · iowa · kids today · saga
writes an anonymous new yorker: “our neighbors hate us because we are the youngest in the building. thus, any malfunction that occurs in the building results in notes directed towards us. and yes, this note was a follow-up to another note (seen at left) also directed at us.”
happy st. patrick’s day, kids!
related: infinite note project
Tags: "helpful" advice · a little patronizing · kids today · neighbors · new york · opening/closing
Writes an anonymous submitter in New York City: “So, my mom bought me this doormat that says ‘leave.’ Ya know, haha, funny joke, like the ones that say ‘go away.’ Well, apparently my neighbor didn’t find it too humorous.”
Adds our submitter: “Some back story: the woman has lived in the apartment across the hall for [...]
Tags: CAPS LOCK · a matter of taste · crazypants · etiquette · kids today · more aggressive than passive · neighbors · new york
Danny snapped this understated little note at a senior center in Maryville, Missouri. It seems a bit futile, really. I know that no sign would stop my grandmother from putting in her two cents.
Tags: CAPS LOCK · missouri · old folks · unsolicited feedback