I was having a little trouble thinking of what my pet peeves are.
But Lisey was in the room while I was writing this, and she reminded me of a few of them.
(The people that live with you hear about your pet peeves regularly!)
one
It drives me crazy when people take too long to tell me something.
I do not like hearing every single detail; I just want the gist of it. Give me the Cliff’s Notes!
For example, if someone wants to tell me the entire plot of a movie, I experience a sudden desire to disappear.
two
I feel annoyed when people do not use their turn signals while driving.
I mean, it takes almost NO effort to use it. You can use a single finger!
three
Because I’m frugal, I hate it when companies charge me more than they’re supposed to.
I feel especially annoyed if they give me a hard way to go when I try to correct it, and I have no qualms about politely insisting that they do right by me.
What are 3 of your pet peeves?
P.S. I’m gonna add a bonus one in here that Mr. FG reminded me of: sci-fi. I find the whole genre to be pretty irritating. Ha.
1) Open cupboard doors. If I sit down at the table to eat and see that any of the kitchen cupboard doors are open, I’ll get up just to close them.
2) Overused words or phrases. One I’ve been seeing a lot lately is “pivot” used to describe any sort of change of (non-physical) direction. Another is “soak up” in reference to enjoying something.
2) Unrealistic online people, mostly on Instagram. I saw one most recently that showed a mom with her son in their brand-new, raised bed garden. They were both dressed in spotless linen clothing, she was holding this twee little watering can and wearing heels. It was so ridiculous it might as well have been the punchline to a joke about Instagram.
Your third one: yes. I think there is a lot of that in the mom world on Instagram. So much filtered, curated stuff that is supposed to make you think it’s their reality.
#2, yes! The new phrase, “We’re all in this together!” grates on me, especially since businesses are using it. And the worst one, I think, is “It is what it is!” It’s an excuse, IMO.
#2: “You know” is a real annoyance trigger for me when it’s used as a space filler or verbal crutch. Mentally I’m responding “No, I don’t know” every time someone says it.
There are so many phrases that annoy me:
‘Extra’ used as an adverb.
‘Less than’…I always want to say, ‘Less than what?’
And I am starting to get tired of ‘lean in.’
Ahhh, so many I have!!
1) loud chewing (From little kids it’s ok)
2) open drawers
3) paper towel and toilet paper rolls facing underneath, if that makes sense. I like the roll to unroll from the top. Silly!
That is legit how toilet paper is supposed to be put on the roll! The patent shows it.
And I completely agree that that way is preferable. 🙂
Thank you! I’ll let my family know!
Toilet paper under, not over if you have little kids or cats! When they spin it it doesn’t end up empty and all over! 😂👍
*People not using turn signals
*Hearing gum smacking
*When people are consistently late
1. When people whistle a song. It can bring on a headache for this lifelong migraine sufferer.
2. Hearing people cuss loudly in public.
3. When someone points out unrealistic things in a TV show I am watching.
#2, yes! So tacky. And I have a similar one to your #3. I hate it when I’m watching a movie or show and something jarring happens in the show that pulls me out of my suspended disbelief and makes me realize it is after all only actors acting. It could be something like a bad casting choice or poorly written dialogue.
When driving I cannot abide slow turners. Not expecting a race car-like-speed turn but the super slow people drive me bonkers.
Another driving pet peeve is when people drive too close to the car in front of them. I try to maintain appropriate distance. When a driver cuts in front of me to take advantage of said space that is both rude and unsafe. When a driver rides my car’s bumper, well, I drive a SUV. I’m going to be a lot more protected than they are if I must quickly stop.
Wet sleeves. If I’m wearing a long sleeve shirt and the cuffs get wet, I can’t stand that. I don’t hardly ever change, though, I grumble thru it. Hrrrumpph.
Ooh yes, I hate wet sleeves. Remember when bell sleeves were a fashion trend? Those always get wet when you wash your hands!
1. People who feel the need to post their workouts online. I’ve noticed this so much more since the pandemic began. It IS possible to work out and NOT tell everyone. (I do it every day!)
2. People who assume that my kids are neglected or deprived because my house is clean and organized. (In my experience, these are usually people who just don’t want to clean their own homes!)
3. Bad spelling and grammar
As an editor, I heartily agree with your #3.
Oh, only 3 pet peeves? I could list a dozen!
1. When people bring their dogs into stores, especially Whole Foods where there are open buffets, and the management acts like they don’t notice. One time a dog in Walmart had … um, pooped on the floor… and people didn’t see it and were walking in it. Ugh.
2. People who text and drive. It’s a huge problem here in South Florida, against the law as well, but it’s rampant. Nearly every day I see a fender bender with as many as 4 or 5 cars involved at the stop lights. No wonder my county has one of the highest auto insurance rates in the country!
3. Telephone scammers. So many calls. AT&T has blocked quite a few and even has a warning that appears on the screen when a call is coming in, but I am tired of these calls. Often they use spoofed phone numbers with a local area code, so I’m tempted to answer.
1. Turn signal scofflaws ~ I call them blinker stinkers!
2. People who text and chat while hurtling down the highway. Way too dangerous!
3. TV commercials, they seem endless, the main perk of streaming not seeing them. 🙂
1. People who are late, I am pathologically early and that’s my cross to bear but lateness is such a peeve.
2. People who text/message me, I reply within a few minutes, they reply within a few minutes, I then ask a question and complete silence for hours, days even. It’s like walking away mid conversation, arghhh.
3. Echoing Jen as people thought my kids were deprived of fun and joy because I had a clean house, bedtimes, routines etc. My sons are 18 and 16 now and doing very well, they are balanced and well mannered. The children of my old friends …. I’m too much of a lady to comment on that!!
1. The use of the term ‘grandfathered in.’ Allows for people to change the rules and not have to explain why.
2. When people have to post good deeds they do.
3. People who interrupt.
So many! Specific public bathroom peeves.
1. The Xlerator – That extremely loud hand dryer. Your hands are dry but you’ve experienced significant hearing loss.
2. Those great big rolls of toilet tissue in a dark plastic container attached to the stall. Where’s the end? You can’t see it. You have to scratch around. So annoying!
3. Talking to you Walmart. Those paper towels that come out like a rope. You have to unroll them and by then the water has dropped down your wrist into your sleeves.
Thanks for asking. Needed to get that off my chest.
#1: I read an article that says those hand dryers just blow the bacteria all over the place. And like you said, they are LOUD.
#2: First you have to scrunch your hand down and under to find the hole and reach up into it and risk scratching your hand while trying to find some paper and hope it doesn’t tear off after 1 square. Ugh!
Kristen, I’m so with you on #1. I don’t need to know every “he said, and then I said” of a conversation. Just summarize it! Also, when it takes forever to get to the punchline of a joke. The longer it takes, the more forced and fake my grin becomes. I love jokes where the punchline sneaks up on you!
1. When people use it’s as the possessive instead of the contractive form. I am so obsessed by this that I have been known to carry a black marker in my pocket so I can correct signs that use not only it’s incorrectly, but make other apostrophe errors. My husband has been known to keep walking when I stop to do this. In fact, when I was so ill that even the doctor thought I would not make it, I wrote my own obit and managed to work the correct use of it’s into the piece.
2. People who talk on the cell phone while at the movies. We seldom go, only for things that seem like they need a big screen for complete enjoyment, but it is enough to make me reconsider going even for those movies.
3. People who use the stop light to excavate whatever is in their noses while waiting for the green light. It is disgusting. Do they not realize people can see in? Do they not care? Do they not carry Kleenex or the like?
And I feel the need to put in one more: people who do not return shopping carts but leave them blocking a spot someone might want to park in. My husband collects as many as he sees when he is on his way into the grocery store, bless his heart. (On the other hand, my BIL saw an older guy with a cart and took it out of his hands, saying, “I’ll take that.” He thought the guy was returning it to the store but realized later that the man was using it as a sort of crutch to get across the parking lot. And it was made worse by the fact that my BIL is a hulking, very tattooed, white guy and this was a very slim old black man. BIL was horrified and then too embarrassed to tell the guy when he saw him wandering around the grocery store, that my BIL had been trying to spare him a trip back to the store to return the cart!)
#2: At a movie theater a few years ago, the lady in front of us had a Bluetooth in her ear with a constantly blinking little blue light. It was so distracting! That was the last time we saw a movie in a theater. Big-screen TVs, DVRs, and cable are a godsend. I don’t miss movie theaters one bit.
1. Finding folded clothes in the laundry. Apparently someone did not put away their clothes the last time it was laundered.
2. Leaving cabinet doors, dresser drawers left opened. It doesn’t take much effort to close these things.
3. Finding empty boxes and containers in cabinets an refrigerator.
1. Improper use of apostrophes. Possessive, not plural!
That was the only one that came to my mind, but reading what others wrote made me agree with more…
2. Not using a turn signal.
3. Cupboards and drawers being left open. (My husband does this! I quietly close them because I love him. 🙂 )
Ooh staying to 3 is tough. Does that say something about me?
1. Running the water the entire time you wash the dishes. You don’t need running water to suds up, people!
2. Littering….just c’mon.
3. People who expect a cleaning crew of an office, school, sporting event etc. to be your personal maids. You can still throw your own trash away and pick up dropped items.
I think most people could easily list more than three!