Press On: What gets you peeved?
By Gary Dickson
Every few years I write a column about my pet peeves. I basically do it as therapy, since I know I can”t change the behavior of everyone out there who gets on my nerves by committing one of the acts on my list. We all deal with minor annoyances daily. Now, there are websites for the sole purpose of allowing us to vent our pet peeves to the world.
I find it interesting how my list has changed over the years. Items that used to be close to the top have now dropped below the surface. But, some items always appear near the beginning; like drivers who don”t use their turn signals.
I”m not as miffed by it as Clive Owen”s character, Mr. Smith, in the movie “Shoot”Em Up.” Upset by a driver not using turn signals to change lanes, he says, “I move my finger one inch to use my turn signal,” and then he proceeds to use his car to cause that driver to smash into the back of a parked car at a high rate of speed. I would never act out like that, but it really is annoying when people don”t signal.
Since my wife and I enjoy our Saturday date night movies, naturally a few peeves originate from our experiences at the theater. The primary irritants are disruptive youngsters, people on cell phones, talkers, snorers and people who, even when attendance is light, will sit right in front of us or right behind us.
I have never been one to walk into a restaurant 10 minutes before its scheduled closing time and expect a full-service meal. My kids have worked in food service and they”ve told me it happens all the time. What bothers me, though, is when I visit fast food restaurants within 30 minutes of closing and I”m told things like, “I just cleaned the shake machine, so you can”t have a milkshake,” or “We turned the deep fryer off, so don”t order French fries.” In these places, I expect to be able to get anything on the menu until the appointed closing time.
I don”t like to drive into a store parking lot and feel like I”m maneuvering through an obstacle course because there are shopping carts all over the lot. Almost all stores these days provide shopping cart corrals. It doesn”t take long to push a cart to a corral. Another source of displeasure in the parking lot is the discarded soiled diaper. Laziness seems to have no boundary.
Sticking with the theme of people not cleaning up after themselves, I cringe when I go to the office kitchen and find a sink full of dirty dishes. There is no dishwasher on duty. Everyone is expected to wash their own dishes, but some people evidently feel like they are at home, where they obviously have someone else to do their dirty work for them.
Modern technology has provided us with many wonderful products and applications of those products, but in some cases I feel like I have become tethered to electronic devices like to a ball and chain. It bothers me when the home office people act like something is wrong if you don”t answer their e-mails in five minutes or if they can”t reach you on your cell phone immediately.
I don”t fly very often, but when I do it seems like there are always a few special people who, when preparing to deboard the plane, believe that they have the right to pass everyone up and exit before those of us who are patiently waiting our turn.
I try not to be a whiner. That is why I only write a pet peeve column every few years. Writing this column, I suppose, will put me on someone”s pet peeve list, though; the person whose pet peeve is those of us who make our pet peeves public. Everyone is annoyed by something.
Gary Dickson is the publisher of the Record-Bee. Call him at 263-5636, ext. 24. E-mail him at gdickson@record-bee.com.
