1. I am that guy that will drop the weight when doing squat/power cleans. Getting the bar from the ground to resting on my shoulders is the less painful part, trying to get the bar off my shoulders and back on the ground with just my finger tips is a pain in the ass, and with a 50% compressed L5/S1 disc it's also a major pain in the back.
2. I use straps for pull-ups, because it takes 2 weeks to build a callous, and about 3 pull-ups to rip it off.
3. I hate chalk because that shit is deadly, having a foot slide out from underneath you at any point in a deadlift, squat, front squat, power clean, squat clean, jerk, snatch or numerous other multi joint moves can be hazerdous to you, and those around you.
95% of the ass hats that use it at the base gym I go to have it in a zip-lock bag, get a hand full of it then throw it around like a sumo wrestler leaving that shit everywhere.
I apologize if I'm one of those "gym noobs" that annoy you, but I'm not at the gym to make friends, I'm there to improve myself.