| Thirteen things that truly irritate me:
1…Fake British Accent
Nothing annoys me more than when I watch a tv show or movie and they have an American actress trying to do a British accent. AGHH! Fluctuates from Aussie to South African to Eastend cockney to Jamaican!
2…Drivers that pick their nose
You’ve seen them at traffic lights just digging for gold, totally oblivious to the fact the windows are see through. Eeeewww!!
3…Food critics
Not the New York Times kind — the guest at dinner who comments that this dish would taste better with gravy or that the pasta is overboiled or the potatoes could use a bit more salt and pepper or that they only buy top of the line organic vegetables and free range chicken. Yeah, well when you cook the food or bring something to the table you can talk, till then shut your trap and eat up.
4…Litter Bugs
Nothing disgusts me more than seeing people at a little leauge game who just leave cups and empty potato chip bags behind. So disrespectful and makes me wonder about how some children are raised if their parents are too dumb to pick up after themselves and throw their junk in a garbage bin.
5…Motor-mouth-know-it-alls
You know these people that just keeping talking and won’t let you get a word in edge wise. They know everything, even your own life and your career better than you do. And God forbid you should interupt their litany of prose weaving information because that just is plain rude…
6…Dog owners who don’t clean up after their dog
Umm, my philosphy is this: If you can’t handle a bag full of poo-poo then you shouldn’t own a dog because the dog ain’t going to stop pooping anytime soon. NYC has the best law ever! A $250 fine for those caught dumping and not picking up. Rightly so, walking on the sidewalk is like going through a minefield.
7…Cry babies
Grown up women or men who explode into tears for any reason. You know the weepy Will who cries because he can’t stand his boss, or sappy Sue who is sentimental over shoes, or emotional Emma who cries because someone looked at her funny and she believes everyone hates her or cry-a-lot Cassie whose boyfriend of 5 hours dumped her. Here’s a box of Kleenex, now go listen to Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me A River.”
8…Freeway drivers
You know. The ones who cut into your lane and then remember to turn on the blinker. Oh yeah, thanks as I almost eat my steering wheel. Better yet are the ones where the traffic has to merge and they speed up and then shove their way in to the front of the line. Times like those I want to drive a bumper car. Watch out!
9…Cash register karma
I don’t know about you but it never fails that I end up in the line that goes the slowest. The price tag is missing and so you have to wait while they call for it to be checked. Or there’s a problem with the person credit card or check in front and you stand in line forever while it gets resolved. You want to switch to another line but they’re long too and who knows, maybe the guy in toys will care enough about customer service to find the stupid price…sure he will.
10..Books that should deliver and don’t
I admit being a writer is no easy profession. And to produce book after book takes perseverence and dedication. But lets face it, bad books happen to good authors and ones who you want to scream “How did this possibly get past the editor,” while you add another rejection letter to the ever increasing pile. There’s nothing worse than the reader guessing the villain from page 1. You’d think that would be a no brainer. When it comes to romance, nobody likes a wimpy heroine or hero. You want your readers to fall in love with your hero and heroine, not gag over their personality defects. I could go on forever but I threw the book against the wall.
11..Bugs
Okay, I know they serve a purpose. Except I can’t stand the little critters. If they would be happy to stay far away from me, I’m sure we could co-exist quite well. But they persist in finding ways to get inside. Ever have a mosquito buzzing around every time you turn the light off? By 3am the game of kill that flying sucker turns the sanest person into a bleary-eyed lunatic.
12..Lousy customer service
Some places know how to give good service while others seem to be masters of the philosophy of “How to Make Your Life a Living Hell.” Last summer I helped my folks get their cable set up when they moved. We’d call and get put on hold, which was the equivalent of limbo. Forget talking to anyone. Like a nickel slot machine, occasinally I’d hit it right and get a live person, only to be told to call a different department that took care of installation. Called them and was told they couldn’t do anything until they got the approval from the first department. It was a game of Abbot and Costello’s “Who’s on First?”
13..The “Victim”
Do you know any of these? People who always seem to feel that life owes them. Everybody owes them. They’re never responsible for what happens in their life. Bad luck. The other guy. The hands of fate, whatever. I’m usually smart enough to avoid this type. ‘Course when they’re related to you…you have to start wondering about those hands of fate. I mean, “Why me?”
Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
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I’m not up yet; just saw you in my reader and thought I’d stop by to say hi early. I’ll be up tonight or early tomorrow — it’s book club night over here. The NERVE of having it on a Wednesday!
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I TOTALLY agree with number 10.
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I love pet peeve posts, they’re usually well written, b/c people are so passionate about the subject.
Amen on Customer service or lack of.
Good post.
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I always manage to get stuck in the slow line at the store, and then when I think it’s safe to jump lines to speed up, that’s when I get stuck with a slow cashier who has to price check everything. Bad karma, all right.
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Great looking site!!!
I’m Aussie, so I can tell if a non-Aussie is trying to do one of our accents because it sounds semi-pommy and it IS irritating!
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Ha! Great list of pet peeves. I agree with you on every last one of them. And the cash register thing: I’m plagued by that, too — seems like any line I get into, the person right in front of me all of a sudden has trouble cashing their check on the Bank of Slovakia or they decide to pay their $100.00 in pennies…
Happy TT, and thanks for visiting my blog!
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Great list. I have a few victims related to me and they drive me up the wall – but not as much as people who don’t pick up after their dogs. I’ll admit to doing it for them when I’m walking my dogs because I’d hate to have anyone think that it was left behind by our mutts. Honestly, it’s so easy to clean up what with the little baggies that attach to the leashes and all… And don’t get me started on people who brings their dogs into pet stores and don’t clean up after them if they do their business on the middle of the floor!
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Oh yeah, I agree with you on most of them. I enjoy these lists, might do a pet peeves list myself!
Thanks for visiting my food TT!
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As a completely undomesticated goddess in the cooking arena I am so pathetically grateful when someone else cooks, I would never complain.
Once told my sis she had a giant V for victim tattoo’d on her forehead, and she said I do not, while frantically scrubbing away…
And agree with Karen, the only people who can do Aussie really well, are well, Aussies!
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driver gold digging – bwwahahahahaaa!
And yeah – cash register karma can suck and it always happens when you’re in a rush.
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Pigs, bad service and lousy drivers seem to be international, unfortunately !
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I agree on all of these. I’m probably aging myself, but when I was a kid there was a commerical with an Indian sitting on his pony looking out over a valley that was full of litter, and a tear slid down his cheek. So when my kids see some trash along the side of the road or not picked up, we always pick it up so “the Indian won’t cry.” They love it.
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I especially appreciate
# 4 Litter Bugs
Not long ago I sitting at a stop light when the right rear door of a car in the next lane opened and a guy placed a cup from a fast food joint on the ground. I honked my horn and when he (and the rest of the passengers in his car) turned around I wagged my finger at them. Eventually, the girl sitting next to the litter bug had him open the door again and she said to me, “And who are you???” (typical). I responded with, “I am your fellow citizen who has to look at that.”
If I had more time I would have come up with something more brilliant. I know that same group will probably litter again. And they probably made fun of me for the next half hour. But I felt better. And if the light hadn’t turned green I would have gotten out of my car and picked up the cup.
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Hopefully you won’t experience too many of those next week and there are certain combinations I’d not want to see happen ever.
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Excellent list! I’m right there with you on these, especially #4 and #11! Thanks for your visit this week!
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Great list. I think my biggest pet peeve are know it alls. They drive me up the wall. Being an instructor I usually get a few of these guys every so often.
Grrrr