Random pet peeves.

[HYHYBT]

Since one of my pet peeves is people getting peeved over things that, seen from the other side, there are reasons for, I'll offer a couple of rebuttals:

--Friends who don't answer their phones, forcing me to leave a voice mail message, then call back later to find out what I wanted, without bothering to check the message.

I've done that for two main reasons (except for forcing people to leave a voice mail, since that's not even possible ):

1) my phone puts up a message box showing missed calls, and only after clearing that off do I see whether there are voice mails; if I want to talk to you, why shouldn't I go ahead and call you while the number is showing? Especially since I'm a bit absent-minded; if two people call and only one leaves a message, and I listen to the message first, I may well forget there was another call in there.

2) Most often this happens because I could not quite get to the phone in time. Maybe it was charging in another room, maybe it was under other stuff in my pocket, maybe I had to excuse myself and step out into the hall, maybe I was driving and traffic didn't allow, whatever, it doesn't matter; the phone company or maker or whoever decides such things ought to allow a longer ring before cutting off, SURELY I'm not the only person this happens to regularly. Anyway, if you leave a voice mail, during the time from when my phone stops ringing to the time I get the alert that you've left one, there's no VM to listen to. I've called people back only to find their phone is still busy, but also, sometimes, getting them on the line only to have it beep in the middle of the call to let me know I have to go and erase the now-superfluous VM that I couldn't possibly have listened to any sooner.

- Follows on from above, people who don't correct the people pronouncing their name wrong

Why bother, unless it's someone who will be saying your name a lot? The vast majority of people who mispronounce my name do so because they've never said it before.... and probably never will again, so the only thing correcting them will do is slow things up.

People who say "Don't take this the wrong way but...." If you have to say that there's a good chance the person most likely will take it the wrong way.

Of course: that's why we warn you first that the interpretation that would cause offense is the wrong one.

People who say "It don't matter to me" when deciding where to eat. Yet when you start naming off places, they say no to everyone.

I do this all the time, but will try not to in the future, because a more accurate answer would be "I don't have anything particular in mind." For instance, if you ask me where we should have lunch, I'm likely to say "it doesn't matter" because I'm going down the row of fast food places (KFC, Arby's, Wendy's, BK, Chick-fil-a, etc) and thinking I like them all pretty well. But then you pop up with Taco Bell, which wasn't even on my internal list as a possibility, precisely because I *never* want to go there.

[JoitheArtist]

People who say "It don't matter to me" when deciding where to eat. Yet when you start naming off places, they say no to everyone.

My ENTIRE FAMILY does this, and it drives me insane!! It did have the good effect of making me unafraid to simply state where I'd like to go, and yet be fine with going anywhere.

My peeves:

Chronic lateness: Ok, seriously, you are an adult, it is NOT THAT HARD to get places on time! If you are late to an event more than twice, just learn to leave a little earlier! Heck, I don't even wear a watch and I can get places on time. The world does not run on your schedule!

Pickiness: My younger sister was SO PICKY about food growing up--we generally couldn't eat anywhere that didn't serve a hamburger, and heaven help us if she didn't like her food on any given day! An irritating trait in a child, but absolutely infuriating in an adult. Seriously! You do not have to try on outfits for an hour just to go get some lunch. You do not have to pout because the bakery didn't have the scone you wanted. You do not have to spend ten minutes picking out your seat. ARGH!

[Magpie]

I do this all the time, but will try not to in the future, because a more accurate answer would be "I don't have anything particular in mind." For instance, if you ask me where we should have lunch, I'm likely to say "it doesn't matter" because I'm going down the row of fast food places (KFC, Arby's, Wendy's, BK, Chick-fil-a, etc) and thinking I like them all pretty well. But then you pop up with Taco Bell, which wasn't even on my internal list as a possibility, precisely because I *never* want to go there.

If I'm going out for dinner with people who don't know me all that well, I will make sure to give suggestions for the kind of food that I'm willing to eat. It prevents people from thinking that The Keg is a good option.


As for provocative clothing, how about women who wear such revealing clothing that I feel obligated to look completely away, while they're bringing me their order. And generally I go with the "if they don't want people looking they shouldn't dress that way" myself. It's when they're effectively not wearing a shirt that it gets awkward.

ETA: oh, and people who thinking that being smart and doing well academically are exactly the same skills. "Oh, you must be smart, look at your marks"

[ottid]

Hypochondriacs...
you know, the type that are always claiming they have something major wrong with them just because they sneezed? I know someone who's very good at that.. lets call them X. I also have a friend who has been suffering for weeks with bad pain & dizziness who has said on occasion "Well, could be worse, I could have X's problems

Oh yea, I know this one, have a friend who's Mum always took him to a doctor for a sniffle, so he goes too, and constantly gets extensions on his assignments (from HS through to now, an under-grad completing an honours degree) because he isn't "functioning at full capacity." I can't wait for him to get into the real world (which I'm not sure will exactly be for him, I'm sure it's not going to be in medicine like he first though) and see that not everything can be extended (test results) or have a lot of days of sick, you just don't get paid for all of them. That said, he decided it was going to be too expensive to take his wife to the after hours doctor (really, he could have taken her to ED) because she hurt her knee when playing indoor soccer. They live down a steep driveway and she had classes the next day at 9am. She couldn't put any weight on that knee. So it is ok for him to go to the doctors for a sniffle, but damaged ligaments in the knee can wait until the next afternoon (even though she can't exactly walk anywhere by herself...)

Why bother, unless it's someone who will be saying your name a lot? The vast majority of people who mispronounce my name do so because they've never said it before.... and probably never will again, so the only thing correcting them will do is slow things up.

This is more aimed at the people who constantly let the same people mispronouce their name, if they are only ever going to say it once, it's not so much of an issue.

I am guilty of this. My leg shakes a lot when I'm sitting. But in my defense it does it on its own. I have no clue I'm doing it till someone tells me to stop. I can't help it.

Yup, you don't know you are doing it, but some people KNOW they are doing it.

Chronic lateness: Ok, seriously, you are an adult, it is NOT THAT HARD to get places on time! If you are late to an event more than twice, just learn to leave a little earlier! Heck, I don't even wear a watch and I can get places on time. The world does not run on your schedule!

See the hypochondriac above, he is also always late because he think it will be fine, he was half an hour late to his own 21st party. Thankfully his best man was diligent in getting him to the church in time for his wedding. Being married hasn't helped him too much (though his wife is more likely to make him be on time). He's one of those people that you tell the time to be at a place as 15min prior to when you want him to be there.

[Aut]

Utah drivers Aut, dalesys and SmileyEagle (anyone else I missed?) can vouch for this I'm sure. On the freeway especially, drivers have this horrid tendency to change lanes without looking. I drive a red 1970s muscle car. It's not a Smart car. It's a battleship on wheels, and bright red at that. Look before you fucking leap.

Seriously! That's why I drove from SSL to West Jordan on surface streets last semester. I tried to avoid the freeway at all costs. Even Bangerter.

Other drivers annoy me period. Everywhere I drive, there's some suck going on.

People that whine about having nothing, then take advantage of those that try to help. Because of my postition at church, I get to see that a lot. Unfortunately.

[Mishi]

My biggest pet peeves:
Strangers feeling like they have the right to walk up to me and comment on my children/parenting/weight/age/marital status, especially because they assume a helluva lot AND they're always wrong! Allowing a well-behaved 3 year old to wear an awesome pirate outfit out in public because she wants to is better than dressing her like some of the other kids I see running around like lunatics.

Also, people telling me that I don't have a medical condition because I'm walking, talking and exercising without showing that I'm in pain.

[Andara Bledin]

My biggest peeve: Bigots. Bar none, bigotry is one of the worst traits a person can have, in my eyes.

And right behind them: Hypocrites.

After that, somewhere further down the list: People who are passive/aggressive about accusing you of wrong-doing. I have a co-irker who would regularly state that something I told her I had taken care of hadn't been taken care of. I'd always challenge her and ask if she was saying I was lying, and she'd always deny it. Then I'd ask her what she called it. It never ended well. I got moved to a different desk in another part of the building, which has worked out better for everybody involved.

- People who don't pronounce names right, and don't bother to try

My brother was having problems in a class, so my mother went to have a conference with the teacher.

After the teacher mangled our last name three times in a row (with my mother correcting her the first two times, and it being typewritten in the attendance book), my mother had had enough and pulled my brother from her class.

Yup, you don't know you are doing it, but some people KNOW they are doing it.

People with RLS (or who are just fidgety) tend to know they're doing it, but can't always refrain.

Nekojin is a fidgeter, and he knows it. When he really gets going, he makes the entire room bounce slightly, which drives me nuts because I can feel it through my desk.

It's worse in bed because we have an air mattress. >.<

^-.-^

[G-Radical]

--Women who are attractive, interesting, intelligent, seem vaguely interested in you....and then utter those two most vile of words: "my boyfriend." HATE that.

I feel like this is a matter of perception. I am nice to people, and if you strike up a conversation with me I will respond. I have been called a bitch so many times because I "lead the guy on". So if I ignore you, I am a bitch. If I am civil and talk to you, I am a bitch. There is no win. (Sidenote: I don't flirt, don't even know how, nor do a touch other people when I talk. I don't dress provocative either but I do have a nice figure. I usually just respond to be polite and if I am interested in the topic, say muppets, then I will smile and talk your ear off! lol But it always ends badly).

My Peeves;

New Jersey and New York Drivers thinking they don't have to abide by the road rules in my state.

groups of people that take up the whole sidewalk and refuse to move aside, forcing you in the street or on the grass.

People who think Meat Loaf was a one hit wonder! No!

People who pronounce "Ant" instead of "Aunt". . . if you pronounce the U in Uncle then you should also pronounce the U in Aunt. But my mom is from Boston MA so Im pretty sure only the New England area is the only place to still say Aunt.

Idiot's that reproduce. . . The Maury Show, enough said.

[sarasquirrel]

People who pronounce "Ant" instead of "Aunt". . . if you pronounce the U in Uncle then you should also pronounce the U in Aunt. But my mom is from Boston MA so Im pretty sure only the New England area is the only place to still say Aunt.

i say aunt

[Andara Bledin]

If you say "aunt" around here, everybody would write you off as being horribly pretentious.

I can't even hear it in my head and have it come out sounding like a normal word.

^-.-^

[Plaidman]

People who say "It don't matter to me" when deciding where to eat. Yet when you start naming off places, they say no to everyone.

I have that problem kinda. I do not care where I eat. Really. i honestly do not give one flying shit. I could find something to eat at a fish shop, and I hate fish.

However, my friend, who is the driver more often then not freaks out when I say that. He doesn't care ether, but freaks out. "JUST FUCKING PICK A PLACE!! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST PICK A PLACE!! I PICK THE WRONG PLACE OH GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!! WHIIIIIIIIIIIINE!"

Even worst when he driving a pack of us, and we're all laid back, we don't care. We honestly do not care. My friend, the driver, is a major fussy eater. To the point he freaks out if the subway gives one too many peppers. (i'm serious... he says he needs x amount of veggies, not one more, not one less, and starts to cry if they ruin it...). So yeah, we let him decide. He yells he doesn't care, just pick some place. So we randomally pick a place.

Him: "oh i just ate there yesterday...."

Ok, how about that place.

Him: "Ehh... kinda expensive.... (Your not even paying for your meal dude...)

So yeah. If we stay firm, he'll just pick some place stupid. Like Fred Meyers. "FINE! NO ONE CARES HERE! WE CAN GET CRAP!"

[sarasquirrel]

If you say "aunt" around here, everybody would write you off as being horribly pretentious.

I can't even hear it in my head and have it come out sounding like a normal word.

^-.-^

idk, for me its weird to hear someone say "ant"

but everyone says things differently

[Cazzi]

Also, people telling me that I don't have a medical condition because I'm walking, talking and exercising without showing that I'm in pain.

Oh yes, I know that one. Unless you have visible aides to help you or are grey haired with walking sticks then you are totally fit & well & how dare you sit in the seats on the bus/train/anywhere that are reserved for the infirm!

[SG15Z]

Chronic lateness: Ok, seriously, you are an adult, it is NOT THAT HARD to get places on time! If you are late to an event more than twice, just learn to leave a little earlier! Heck, I don't even wear a watch and I can get places on time. The world does not run on your schedule!

I hate people that are late. And they're always 15 minutes late even though they live 5 minutes away. Why is it so hard to be early why?! I can understand being late on occasion, but all the time! No just no.

People who pronounce "Ant" instead of "Aunt". . . if you pronounce the U in Uncle then you should also pronounce the U in Aunt. But my mom is from Boston MA so Im pretty sure only the New England area is the only place to still say Aunt.

I've said "ant" all my life. It's the way we talk down here. We say "y'all", "ain't", and so many other improper words. And we're proud of it! :P

I also usually don't pronounce the "g" in any -ing word.

[ottid]

Remembered another one when I was at work,

- people who use mobility scooters like wheelchairs, taking them into every little store they can, they are more dangerous than wheelchairs and are twice the size, and are not as moveable. I understand that you may need it to get from place A to B, but do you really need to take it into place B? Would you drive the scooter right into your friends house? You obviously have some mobility, otherwise you would have a wheelchair, LEAVE THE SCOOTER AT THE DOOR (even if you are going into a mall, leave the scooter at the entrance of each store you go into)

ETA: I'm also sure that there is a place on the scooter to put a walking stick or crutch if you need one of those.