Pet Peeves and Irritations by Gloria Alden

Mostly I don’t have a lot of things that irritate me, but I’m human and far from being a saint so I do get annoyed at times with people and other things. Before I decided to write this blog, I Googled the Biggest Pet Peeves list – a list with at least 100 pet peeves. No way am I going to put all those down, especially since many of those mentioned don’t bother me. Here are some of those listed on that site: People who talk during the movie. Unflushed messy public toilets. People who act like they know about something, but don’t. People chewing with their mouth open. Loud cell phone conversations in public. Telemarketers. People throwing trash out of car windows. This is only a few of the pet peeves listed on the list, but ones I find annoying, too. There were a lot more about other drivers, too.

From a Top Ten List of pet peeves:  1. Mouth noises/chewing with mouth open. (I don’t know anyone who does this, but it probably would be annoying.) 2. Poor driving etiquette. (Yes!) 3. Not washing hands after using the restroom. (Especially if they’re working in a restaurant, I would say.) 4. People who use the word “your” instead of “you’re.” 5. Throwing trash from a car as seen above (And yes, I’m annoyed with that, too, especially when it lands in my yard.) 6. Bitchy schoolgirls. (This must come from teenagers. I don’t know any bitchy schoolgirls, but I can see that it would be a problem.) 7. The naming of celebrity couples or naming your kids after adjectives i.e. Desire, Happiness. (Doesn’t bother me. Not my business.) 8. When people copy you in every way. (Can’t think of anyone who copies me or would even want to.) 10. Cell phone drivers. (Now I find that extremely annoying as well as putting others in danger. That would be at the top of my list.)

From the first list above; telemarketers is high on the list. I don’t go to a lot of movies, but anyone talking or texting during movies are rude in my opinion. Filthy public toilets which are too often found when I’m traveling. Yuck!

So what pet peeves or annoyances do I have that weren’t listed above? Well, I get annoyed when my younger brother, who is probably only doing it to annoy me now, makes comments about how nice it must be to be retired and have all the time I have. Yeah, right! Even though others may not say that, they probably think it.  They obviously don’t understand how much time is put into writing if one is a writer as I am.

 

No that's not my SUV & no one advised me to park.

I really don’t like people giving me advice that I haven’t asked for; Advice such as you really should start getting rid of things and simplifying your life, etc. I’m nowhere near being someone the board of health would put on their list as being a senile hoarder. Yes, I have lots and lots of books, but they’re in bookcases and not in piles all over the house. And my newspapers are either used in the bottom of my bird cages or taken to recycling.

Speaking of recycling, I get extremely annoyed with people who don’t recycle; people who can’t take the time to take recyclables to a recycling center when they’re all over the place. I’ve been recycling for over 45 years now.

People, who are bigots, or those who feel they and their particular religion is the only one who God listens to, and that they, and only they know exactly the right answers.

Rabbits and groundhogs that eat my vegetables before they’re ripe, or even worse when they’re almost ready to ripen.

Japanese beetles, which fortunately weren’t very many this year. Maybe because of the severe winter we had, or that almost nonstop rain we had this past spring and early summer that may have drowned most of the grubs. 

At a recent book club meeting, I was told I should always read the book club pick before I read anything else, even if I didn’t like the book, and I didn’t in this case. Both of the women, who thought that, are retired and live alone. They don’t have any yard work like weeding, planting and mowing, as I do since they live in either a condo or an apartment. They also each have a cleaning lady coming in and cleaning every week. Was I ticked off? You bet I was. Did I argue over it? No. Maybe I should have, but I believe harsh words create anger that’s not easily forgotten, and I like both of these women. Incidentally, the woman who picked the book didn’t read it in advance, and not many people liked it even if they finished reading it, which not all did.

What are your pet peeves?