Things that irk the crap out of me

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Things that irk me

- Drivers who don't use their turn signals...I guess because it is so much work to lift the pinky finger. I understand drivers who don't use turn signals when there are no cars in sight, but it happens all the time when there are cars everywhere. Peeve no. 2, drivers who don't turn off their turn signals long after an intersection

- Drivers in little cars who move to the center of the road in order to make a right-hand turn as though they are driving a tandem tractor trailer

- Slow cars in the fast lane who refuse to move over to the right lane. Dittos with people on elevators or people movers who don't let others pass

- Amazon packaging that is absurd. I got a package this morning in a large box (big enough to ship an espresso maker) and it was super light. Inside was bunched up paper and a 2" long tube of 1/2 oz medicine. Two weeks ago I got a package and thought I must have ordered a new pair of skis, but no...it was a new keyboard for my computer

- Beautiful young women who call me "sir"

- People who are too lazy to return shopping carts or at least take them to a cart rack in the parking lot

- Cell phone overuse in public, especially when it's on speakerphone as though we all want to hear what you're saying

- Adhesive engineers who know nothing of the composition of glue; hence, a sticker that will never come off or an expensive item where the sticker comes off, but has left a residue on the item that will forever be part of the cosmetics of the item

- The new way to seal breakfast cereal by heat sealing the top of the bag together so you have to be a he-man to open it and when you do, it gives way and rips all over the place

- When someone replies with a complete medical report when you ask the rhetorical question, "how's it going?" or "how are you today?" Sorry you have all those pains and potential diseases...Don't Care!

- When someone has read a good book and want to tell you about it, except that it takes 10 minutes to share far more details than I ever wanted to hear about. If it's a good book, tell me it's a "good book" and what genre it is, and that's all that ever needs to be said about it. Dittos with movies

- "Name droppers" trying to impress

- Conversation monopolizers and rude interruptions while I'm talking because someone thinks what they have to say is so important that they cut right in the middle of a sentence while I'm talking

- People in front of you waiting to order and they haven't even thought about perusing the menu until they are finally at the counter

- A group of 3 or 4 people walking in a horizontal line on the sidewalk, hallway, or an aisle, completely oblivious to those walking towards them. One time at Binghamton University four people came at me like that. I got as close to the wall as I could and realized they weren't going to let me through so I stiffened my shoulder and gave the guy who refused to move a pretty hard shot. He was surprised and said, "WTF man"...oh well, move over ding bat!

Oh well - got that off my chest. Been wanting to bitch about drivers since my trip to Florida and back a couple weeks ago and then when I got a package from Amazon this morning, decided to go on a rant

 

 

[Ed Vette]

Man, you carry a lot of baggage don't you.   


That's pretty much my list too. In Florida they have old men in hats driving Cadillacs who can't hardly see over the dashboard. Then there are the Old Ladies who drive onto the highway and swing all the way to the fast lane doing 35. I remember writing a song about them called Blue Haired Bitch.

[squibber]

Good list, JBG.

What irks me are people that you allow to cut in front of you in traffic and they don't bother to wave at you.

The word irregardless bugs me.

People that say they would change their minds on a particular issue(politics or religion) if they were presented with evidence that they were wrong. I never seen it happen. You can give these people rock solid evidence or data and they will find a way to obfuscate.

people who don't listen to your argument. They are too busy thinking about what they will say next.

People who call you on the phone any time they feel like talking and would keep you on the phone for two hours if they could. During the same conversation, they would repeat themselves and talk exclusively about themselves. (Referring to former high school friend)

[MightyGiants]

Ric, that's a pretty good list.  I might have a pet peeve or two myself, although, to be fair, I might have enough to start a zoo 


1) Regarding the directional signal, what I find annoying are people at traffic lights that wait until the light turns green to put on their left turn signal.  I am talking about intersections where you would normally pull up behind them, but if you know they are turning left, there is more than enough room to pull up to the right of them.

2) All the political ads on TV right now.  I don't care if they are for or against a candidate I prefer, they are just so negative and toxic and annoying as hell.

3) Increasing daylight savings time by ending 2 weeks later and starting 2 weeks earlier.  These days, due to work, I am an early bird.  I miss the sun in the mornings

4) People who cut the lines in rush hour traffic

5) People who don't think or fail to use logic and reason

6) People who need to tell me their political views without being asked or knowing my own

7) Traffic lights that either malfunction or don't have timers for off hours, resulting in cars and trucks being needlessly stopped and forcing them to wait

8) Garbage trucks that make no effort to not obstruct traffic-  the bain of anyone driving in the early morning hours

9) Trucks illegally driving in or using the left lane on 3-lane highways (this is a NJ thing)

10)  "yes, but..."

I am sure I have more but these are the ones off the top of my head

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Ric, that's a pretty good list.  I might have a pet peeve or two myself, although, to be fair, I might have enough to start a zoo 


1) Regarding the directional signal, what I find annoying are people at traffic lights that wait until the light turns green to put on their left turn signal.  I am talking about intersections where you would normally pull up behind them, but if you know they are turning left, there is more than enough room to pull up to the right of them.

2) All the political ads on TV right now.  I don't care if they are for or against a candidate I prefer, they are just so negative and toxic and annoying as hell.

3) Increasing daylight savings time by ending 2 weeks later and starting 2 weeks earlier.  These days, due to work, I am an early bird.  I miss the sun in the mornings

4) People who cut the lines in rush hour traffic

5) People who don't think or fail to use logic and reason

6) People who need to tell me their political views without being asked or knowing my own

7) Traffic lights that either malfunction or don't have timers for off hours, resulting in cars and trucks being needlessly stopped and forcing them to wait

8) Garbage trucks that make no effort to not obstruct traffic-  the bain of anyone driving in the early morning hours

9) Trucks illegally driving in or using the left lane on 3-lane highways (this is a NJ thing)

10)  "yes, but..."

I am sure I have more but these are the ones off the top of my head

I think everyone is sick of political ads. Negativity wins, so for candidate a) a murderer, child rapist, and addict vs. b) a pedophile, crook, thief, and spouse beater

Once in a great while, there's a good political ad. My favorite:

[DaveBrown74]

1. People who complain about prices at the checkout counter at the super market and consume a lot of time with this process (seen this 3 or 4 times in the past 6 months now). It's typically people north of 70/75, so I appreciate they deserve some slack, but holding up a long line for this during a busy period is not ok. Don't buy the item if you don't like the price.

2. People who are excessively pushy and disrespectful of personal space after the plane lands and before people have started deplaning. I appreciate everyone wants to get off the plane and everyone is sick of being boxed into a tight space for a few hours. But that doesn't warrant being pushy and just generally selfish about space while standing in the aisle. I have low tolerance of this and recently said something to someone who was being ridiculously out of line.

3. People who never shut up about their kids. I get it - we're all proud of our kids. I am too. But there's a limit to how much you should talk about them with another adult. There are other interesting subjects in a conversation, too. At the very least, if you want to talk about kids, ask about their kids in more than a passing, superficial way, but maybe there are other topics that are worth discussing too.

4. People who are so insecure they can't help but perpetually lie. For example, telling people at work you're "about a 12 handicap" in golf and then failing to come close to breaking 100 on an easy course at a work outing.

5. People who are incredibly clumsy about email etiquette. Like forwarding emails you sent them that clearly shouldn't be forwarded. I've had a couple of minor but still embarrassing mishaps with this in my family. My Dad (turns 80 in a week), who is obviously well-intentioned, is brutal about this.

[MightyGiants]

@DaveBrown74's list reminds me of a couple of others similar to his:

1) Subordinates who won't admit they did something wrong (they will lie and make excuses).   As a boss, my job is to correct errors and try to prevent them from happening again.  You don't do that if you are spending all day arguing around in circles about the error being an error.

2) people who use reply all when they should be using reply (to DB's email comments)

[Jolly Blue Giant]

1. People who complain about prices at the checkout counter at the super market and consume a lot of time with this process (seen this 3 or 4 times in the past 6 months now). It's typically people north of 70/75, so I appreciate they deserve some slack, but holding up a long line for this during a busy period is not ok. Don't buy the item if you don't like the price.

Reminds me of another thing that irks me...and it's done by me, not someone else. If there is one item on the shelf that doesn't have the price sticker, I grab it. Then when I'm checking out the cashier sends someone to find the same item so he/she can scan it. I always apologize to the people waiting in line behind me. I don't know what it is, but I never remember to look to make sure the item I pick up has the dang sticker on it 

[MightyGiants]

I have never been happier than with the invention of self-checkout.   Almost non-existent lines and no need to engage in small talk or wait as the cashier engages in small talk with the customers ahead of me

[Sem]

Good list Ric as I share many of those annoyances.

But.....

Things that irk me

- Beautiful young women who call me "sir"

At my age I'm thrilled any time a beautiful young woman would even want to speak with me at all. 

[squibber]

I forgot a big one. Arrogant fans that enjoy trash talking or mocking fans of an inferior team. Vicarious living at its best. Did they put a uniform on and help their team win?

[Jolly Blue Giant]

I have never been happier than with the invention of self-checkout.   Almost non-existent lines and no need to engage in small talk or wait as the cashier engages in small talk with the customers ahead of me

Where I live, the local Walmart was a Beta site several years ago for self-checkout. It started with about 10 units in a corral with an overseer. Always an open spot to checkout. That was 5,6 years ago. So they added another 10 unit corral on the other end of the checkout counters. Then three years ago, they converted ten regular registers to self checkout...the kind with the belts and bagging carousels at the end for big loads. Now there's only about 5 regular checkout counters, and they are the only ones not being used most of the time as almost everyone self-checkouts and now you have to wait in line to self-checkout 

[LennG]

I could fill a book right now but I'll have to wait until I can get on a real computer.

But my #1 is traffic especially when there is no reason for the slowdowns just idiot drivers not doing what they are suppose to do like drive

[DaveBrown74]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QfbmPLnm-k

[GIANTS1]

people relying on their auto lights when foggy or heavy snow. they need to be turned on.