31 Day Blog Challenge, Day 7: Pet Peeves
First off, this is likely to be a long list; I get rankled by a lot of things:
1) People who walk around in public talking on their Bluetooth headsets: I don't understand WHY the Bluetooth was invented, except for people who just have to talk on the phone while driving or using a computer (I think you're not supposed to talk on even one of those while driving as its a distraction), but now I see people walking around in the street who at first appearances are saying random things to people they walk past, so they'll maybe say: "You need to sort your life out, SERIOUSLY!" as I walk past, and I think: "Okay, maybe I do and is it that obvious from looking at me? And what business is it of yours?", before I realise they're on their hands free; it's worse when they have blazing rows, because seeing someone yelling abuse apparently at thin air is pretty scary, and makes you wonder if the other person has a mental illness. I used to have a colleague who would walk around the office using his and once he was using his in the kitchen, and I genuinely thought he was speaking to me when he wasn't.
2) People who get in the way - either by walking in front of me in a big group really slow, or walk about three or four abreast on the pavement towards me and don't bother to move aside to make way for me, like they own the street or something.
3) Suitcases that you pull behind you on wheels; I find them hard to control, regardless of the obvious advantage that it's easier to transport something heavy; I hate it when I run into people with them in the street because it makes it harder to navigate round them, and sometimes I'll be trying to get through a train station and there will be a massive CONSORTIUM of people walking across where I need to go in what could almost be an official wheeled suitcase procession. When I try to cut through them they won't even slow down; I feel like I'm gambling with vehicular traffic.
4) Almost everything that cyclists do; thinking they're exempt from stopping at red lights, speeding at you on the footpath even though they're grownup people and then acting like they have right of way over pedestrians, bringing their non-folding bikes on the train and getting them in the way, propping them in front of the door and then not getting up to move the bike when it blocks access to or from the platform.
5) On a similar subject, any adult person who thinks they're really trendy by speeding along the pavement on roller skates, scooters etc.; you're not being trendy and they're for kids. I often see huge consortiums of people speeding around the streets on roller skates as part of organised events, but one time when one was on, they were running amok in the pedestrian precinct, speeding past me looking as emotionless as Arnold in the Terminator like they didn't even notice that there were people around who they were likely to knock down, speeding in and out of shops on their roller skates; if I was running a shop and someone sped in on roller skates, I'd tell them to take the skates off or get out.
6) People who get in lifts in front of you and promptly hit the "close door" button like they don't even realise there are people trying to get in behind them or think the lift is for them alone.
7) People who, when they are out with you, prefer to text their friends, or do other stuff on their phones and act like you're inconveniencing them by wanting to have a conversation; similarly when they jam their iPods in their ears so they can't hear what you're saying, and then react like listening to their music is so much more important. That isn't a way to make someone feel like you want to be with them.
8) People who have blazing rows in the street; I don't understand what sets them off.
9) TV talent shows like The X Factor; just a way of filling up TV schedules and giving people their fifteen minutes of fame, and then often the so-called "celebrities" just won't disappear off your screens. Also, any fake reality show like The Only Way is Essex and people somehow turning into celebrities for doing something that should really get them slung in jail; Charles Ingram cheating on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and appearing on Celebrity Wife Swap, and some "comedy terrorist" who broke into Buckingham Palace, who the BBC wanted to make a host of Have I Got News for You, and I'm so glad I never have to see or hear of Jon Tickle (the most over-rated Big Brother contestant ever) on the TV or other media any more.
10) So-called "celebrity" shows where the contestants are largely people nobody has ever heard of, usually for very good reasons.
11) People who look at me like they think I'm going to mug them when I'm just walking down the street minding my own business.
12) People who barge, like they're some high ruler who has the right to get somewhere before you.
13) People who say excuse me to get past, but in a tone that makes it obvious they're not in a particularly nice mood; also, people who use it as a way to push in front of others in a queue.
14) For that matter, anyone who queue jumps.
15) Short trousers worn with long sleeves; I have always found it to be a horrible look.
16) Older people who dress like they're trendy teenagers; just weird.
17) Kids who mouth off to grown ups or act like they're so much better and "super mature".
18) People working in shops who chat to their friends standing next to the counter while they serve you, or talk on the phone while they serve you. Even turning to someone else for a casual chat while they hand me my money makes my blood boil; how about focussing on the person you're serving for a change?
19) People who stare at me as I'm coming and going from my flat like I'm something alien they've never seen before in their lives.
20) People who walk around in the street spitting; WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE THESE DAYS?
21) Low slung trousers; it's a fashion among young people (and some people who aren't that young) nowadays that I just don't get; it's a fashion that makes you look ridiculous, yet I see lads walking around with their underwear in full view.
22) Text speak: As someone who is quite anal about spelling and grammar, I hate seeing people writing stuff like "CU L8R; THT WL B GR8". No wonder people nowadays can't spell.
23) People who stick the word "period" on the end of a sentence, as though to say, "That's it, end of story, I'm right, and that's all there is to it", because when people do that they just sound stuck up and full of themselves (it's something I usually see online), and adding the word "period" adds nothing to what you're saying. For example, "You can't do that. Period". It makes me want to give them a slap.
24) Parents who yell at their kids in public or use bad swear words in front of them.
I think I'll hit post before I think of anything else that bugs me.