I grew up in the tropics, laid back, easy going. Nothing much phased me. But slowly it started creeping in. As every year passed a little niggle would appear. I never wanted to become "that guy", but I see it more and more.

I AM becoming a grumpy old man.

Could I have avoided it? Maybe, maybe not.

The first sign was the music... To paraphrase Matthew Reilly (a great Australian author) all good music died after the '80s. At least there are a few exceptions.

The next stage may have appeared during my foray into electrical retail. You spend the time and effort to find the best product to suit the customer's needs, and do they say "thanks for the great service, I'll take that one"? No, they say "What's your best price?" Why do they say this? because some mediocre journalist has told them not to accept the ticketed price. Forget the fact that the salesman has targets to reach, lets ask "what's your best price?" over a pissy $30 walkman. Yes, I know that salesmen are not always the most honourable of people. But if you are not happy with the price, make a counter offer. Don't just ask "What's your best price?" So many times I wanted to say "My best price is $50 more than the ticketed price, because then I might actually make some commission."

But those were the bad old days. I am very happy to not have to deal with those customers again. But, unless you live in a vacuum there will always be customers with unrealistic expectations.

And I digress... as much as I am enjoying life as a reasonably healthy 46 year old, there are a number of things that, well, let's be blunt... annoy the shit out of me. I can just let these things fester, or maybe, just maybe, it will be better if I share them with the random few people who may read this.

Coming next week... My number one gripe (and this will include a small number of my friends)..