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What are your pet peeves?
You know, something that, by all accounts, really shouldn't bother you that much but for some reason does. Like when the toilet paper roll is hanging the wrong way. Or when somebody doesn't use multiples of 5 on the timer for the microwave.
- What are your pet peeves?
- Why do you think they bother you so much?
- Can you get past them?
- When other people find out about them do they use them to pester you?
Also, feel free to think past IRL stuff and into online stuff and media. Maybe there's something authors do that rubs you the wrong way, or you're weirdly bothered by a particular TV trope.
You might be interested in reading about Socrates, one of the OG Greek philosophers. Supposedly, the Oracle of Delphi (a manifestation of the god Apollo, and said to always give true predictions) was asked if there was anyone wiser than Socrates; the Oracle responded ‘No’. Socrates was shocked by this, and seeking to prove the Oracle wrong, went around Athens seeking out people with expertise in various disciplines; politicians, poets, craftsmen. Clearly these people were wiser than him, since they had expertise in some discipline that he didn’t. But he found that all of them assumed their narrow area of expertise gave them license to talk about all sorts of things they knew nothing about. Therefore, he concluded, the reason Socrates was the wisest was paradoxically because he was the only one who really knew how ignorant he was.
As you’ve noticed, this is still common today, which is pretty funny because he lived 2,500 years ago!
I am trying to adjust my expectations in life and not be irritated by other people who are just living their life, making different choices than me.
I would sum my pet peeve up by it just being "people who leave places worse than they were before they arrived."
Why are you littering? Why are you making so much noise? Why are you incapable of returning your shopping cart? Why are you incapable of clearing your own table in a food court? Why are you not flushing the toilet or splashing water all over the counter and making no attempt to clean it up in a public place? Why are you yelling at the person manning the counter at this fast food place? Why are you screaming or honking at me on my bike when I am following all the rules? Just.. Why do you think you can move through the world like this? It hurts my HEART that people like this exist, people who think they are somehow more valuable than others.
That's a great way to put it. It honestly bothers me so much, especially if there's literally no benefit to the person. Like, someone not returning their tray, they're lazy. I dislike it, but I can see the reasoning. People who purposefully open unused butter to smear it on plates/trays/everything, so that the person cleaning up has an even harder time, why?!
I was searching for my pet peeve in my mind in order to post, and I saw your comment: you posted mine already.
I am quite particularly obsessed with noise. With the help of "beautiful" technology like smartphones and crazy ass speakers installed to cars, unnecessary and unanticipated booms of noise are everywhere (and then there is this new handheld bluetooth speakers that people are walking around with, bet the thing costs a decent multiple of a beautiful Urban Ears earpods).
Normal ambient noise is not really a problem, and even desirable at times. It does not make you jump in your seat, it does not mess with your attention. I find it even helps with it sometimes, say the blabber in a cafe when reading something or studying or working remotely, it is nice IMO.
But there is this pattern that there are new, momentary kinds of noise. Starting with smaller examples, there is the horrible Facebook/Instagram/Twitter browser that does not use any earphones or silence the phone. And it's like ".....-king the rear end of....[jingles jingles music music]....Good morning frie.....[jingly jingly jingle jingle].....[jazz bright fuzzy jazz]......In other neww....."; you have five-six seconds of silence, and an instantaneaous, spontaneaous, totally unexpected boom of a sound, and it repeats irregularly. There, all your attention gone. Even if it's no work, even if it's only listening to a friend talk about something, concentration fucked.
And then there are people playing games on public transport. Why not silence the fucking thing? Why do I need to hear your kintergarten noises, or fake ninja noises as you slice and dice fruits, or why do I need to hear you fighting a battle out on the smudgy, oily, noisy screen of your phone? Why not plug in a fucking headphone? If you can buy that latest-model phone, or any smartphone, sure as heck you can afford a pair of cheap-ass headphones. Better than nothing, ain't it?
And then there are cars with high volume music, and they come and pass by, adding an extra bit of sauce to the Doppler effect.
Again with cars, but this time parked, there is this: they are listening to music, and they have those high volume speakers installed, with an agreeable volume level. But they boost it for a few seconds........ good, beautiful silence...... BUT THEY BOOST IT FOR A FEW SECONDS......... some more good, beautiful silence..... rinse and repeat.
Still, with cars, there is bass music. IDK if these people are tone deaf, or if I'm very particularly good at perceiving bass sound waves, but they mess with my brain. I can't think of nothing but the beat, and it is kind of hypnotising.
Then the bikers with bikes that make more noise than a jet engine...
Could go on and on and on... I don't get why people do these stuff. If only you want to hear the thing, just listen to it with a pair of headphones. It is not like people can selectively hear things. Are there really people that are attracted to people that annoy the fuck out of everybody else?
Nothing, any more. Am approaching 50 (well, in 4 years time) and I've realised that pet peeves are something that isn't worth spending time on.
Misplaced apostrophes used to be a pet peeve, but who's got time to be angry about other people's grammitical mistakes?
I certainly get wound up about certain things but not sure if I'd describe them as pet peeves. What irritates me the most are unfounded comments in twitter feeds. Usually found following a tweet by Trump. I can easily avoid those though.
Beautiful bit of unintentional trolling :)
I'm leaving it there. That'll teach me.
Classic case of Muphry's Law.
As a new parent visiting family with my baby, the endless commentary. Depends on the specific comments, but I think it bothers me on two fronts - it's really close to being told to do something when I'm about to do it or already doing it (another peeve of mine) and rising/introducing insecurities. Thanks for telling me my baby is crying, I didn't notice him screaming in my ear. And yeah, thanks for pointing out every little possible physical flaw my child has, I was wondering if I was being paranoid about others judging him. Oh and many thanks for pointing out how spoiled my baby is with his carseat from this decade and little mitts to stop him from scratching his face raw (he has eczema). I definitely think some of the teasing is intentional to point out how "high strung" I'm being.
I think I'll get over all of it, once I'm back home. Just one more day.
A more day to day peeve is people making fun of me using my own reusable bags, travel mugs and such.
Ah, a chance to air my most curmudgeonly of opinions: that talking too quietly is downright impolite!
Depending on the social context, you have between zero and two chances to say "I'm sorry, I can't quite hear" before coming across as rude. Every time the other person drifts back down towards the inaudible, you're backed into a corner - either keep asking and make them uncomfortable, or smile along and hope that missing half the conversation doesn't come back to bite you. Nobody needs to shout, just learn to project, people!
Backing into a parking space.
Why does it bother me? Because most of the people I see do it make an 8 point turn trying to navigate the ass end of their car into the spot. I think maybe they think they are saving themselves time by being able to pull straight out of the spot but are just taking longer on the front end.
Can I get past it? Not in Northern Virginia. Its a fucking epidemic here. lol
Do other use it to bother me? Jesus I hope not. That would be SUPER petty. lol
I always back in. Started 18 years ago as a firefighter. Being able to pull out in an emergency was faster and safer.
But I can do it with one turn almost every time.
Shoot, speaking of parking lots:
Stalking people as they are walking back to their car so the person parking the car can wait 5 minutes and hold up all of traffic because they don't want to walk. Just park farther from the door!
Not putting grocery carts where they are supposed to go. Leaving them in the empty parking spot adjacent to where they parked.
Somewhere down the line these people lost their shame for appearing lazy.
EVERYTHING to do with shopping carts is my pet peeve! People leave them everywhere! They use them to block entire aisles and then wander into an adjacent aisle and just leave their cart blocking whatever it was I needed.
People steal them and then just leave them on sidewalks like some unknown person is going to return them to their store (that unknown person is me, I do return them if they are within a couple blocks of my walk anyways) They're really expensive!
People throw them in the river?
I sometimes talk about if I was the benevolent dictator of a country, and one of things I would abolish is shopping carts. (and motorcycles, and leaf/snow blowers - noise pollution is the worst.)
Is this an American thing? I've literally never seen anyone not return a shopping cart to it's place properly in my life.
It might be! I'm canadian, but for this kind of stuff I don't feel there's much distinction.
It's a thing that is much worse in the suburbs than it is more centrally here, for whatever kind of data that provides.
Parking lots here often look like they're for shopping carts rather than cars. You'll see them strewn about everywhere with the designated return carrells either empty or close to it.
You ever hear that story about the boy and the starfish? That's how I see shopping carts. I always take one random discarded one from the lot into the store with me, and, after I'm finished shopping, return it to where it's supposed to go. Am I making a huge difference? No. But I'm making a difference to that one!
We've had paid carts here for many, many years now where you get your money back when returned. How has this not been introduced i the US if it's such a problem?
We have those in Canada too, but it doesn't seem to stop people from leaving their carts everywhere. And if someone's already left a cart somewhere, then others will attach theirs to it and get their money back without returning their cart. Strollers that require a credit card are the only ones I see returned without issue.
Aldi does that in the US. Might be because they're German and this type of shopping cart is very common in Germany, and a few other mostly European I think) countries
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a non-paid trolley here in Ireland, and yet people still find ways to take them away and throw them into canals, lakes, public parks etc. etc...
Oh yeat, it absolutely happens too over here. But people hardly ever just leave them on the parking spot
Yes to both of those. If I see someone leaving a cart out in the open I make it a point to shame them.
It's mostly because it's safer. At least that's what I learned in driving school. Say you are in a busy parking lot with a lot of people walking around, pulling out with the road ahead of you is simply safer.
Especially with IRC, but also with other forms of text-based discussion, I hate when people respond with, 'What?' instead of actually stating their questions about the previous statement.
I will never get over this.
People who insert what they hope is a witty remark or joke into a conversation and then immediately chuckle to themselves.
I can accept that people (including me) sometimes tell a joke that's only funny to them, but holy shit, if it's not landing with your audience either shut up or get better jokes. Or at the very least stop trying to make every other sentence out of your mouth funny.