These are some of my pet peeves. Annoying little things that just drive me CRAZY! I've also included a few things that probably don't fall so much under pet peeves as just things I really dislike!
PS: I grabbed the design/layout of this page from Tanya Foley. I hope she doesn't mind.
| Internet Peeves | Traffic Peeves | Entertainment Industry |
| Social Transgressions | Bathroom Fury | Legal System |
| Products and Packaging | Miscellaneous |
People who hit the <reply-to-all> instead of the <reply>!
me too posts. It's really annoying downloading email from a mailing list or newsgroup messages full of me too postings. I appreciate that you sometimes want to express agreement or somesuch sentiment with another poster, but PLEASE write something that adds to the group, or just send the author a personal note!
People who flood mailing lists with get me off this list! messages! PLEASE people, you somehow got yourself on the list, get yourself OFF!. In the few cases where maybe you were subscribed by someone else, READ the postings, they almost ALWAYS contain instructions for subscribing/unsubscribing!
"Please forward" email and URLs
SPAM EMAILS. I ignore them anyway. I don't open spam emails from people I do not know. But seriously, why should I waste valuable seconds hitting that delete button to get rid of spam emails.
People who send you spam and say it's not spam because you were in a chat room or posted a message on some messageboard. These people happen to see your email address in some public forum and they grabbed it and spammed you.
Emails that has been forwarded tooo many times. Some email programs will open your forwarded emails right to the real McCoy. But some email program will have you open it up the number of time it has been forwarded. I don't want to click on my email 10 times to get to the real McCoy. And on every page I have to click on, it shows all the other people's emails addresses.
Websites that lock you in. Now what does that mean ? It's when you click on the back button to go back where you orginated from but the website just keeps you on the main page of their website and you can't go back to where you orginated from.
Pop up banners ads. They don't bother me as much as long as they are LITTLE or like 1 / 4 of your screen. I REALLY hate places like Tripod sites where you get the popup, then you click on a sub page, get another popup, return to the original page and get the popup again!
People who TYPE IN ALL CAPS. Not only is it very annoying and difficult to read, but you also feel like you're being yelled at.
Drivers that speed up when they know that the lane is ending and it's solid traffic, expecting someone to let them in at the last minute!
People who use their signals but never turn them off
Gawkers - especially when people have to slow down and gawk at someone on the side of the road merely getting a ticket.
People that either are so inconsiderate or unaware of their surroundings or just plain dumb that they STOP, not only on regular streets, but on highways, because they realize they want to turn/exit and are in the wrong lane. Rather than going to the next street/exit and turning around, they just STOP and wait till they can get over right there.
People in left-turn lanes who seem to think they have to wait till the car in front of them has cleared the intersection and gone half way down the road before they can go ahead and turn!
People who indicate just as they are turning, as if it matters anymore at that point.
"Baby on Board" window stickers - like I'm going to think "gee, I don't want to have a wreck with that car, let me pick out a different one"!
People who park diagonally across two parking spaces
People who constantly apply the brakes for no reason
People who are quick to pull out in front of you, but slow to a crawl once they're in front
People who remain stopped several seconds after the light changes. What's the matter, don't you like that shade of green?
Able-bodied people who park in handicapped spaces.
When two lanes merge into one and the driver in the lane next to you tries to squeeze you off the road.
People who drive for miles in your blind spot. Either get in front of me or fall back behind!!!
People who keep rolling up at a red light, instead of remaining stopped until the light turns. Believe me, rolling up won't make it turn green any faster. I've seen some of these bozos roll all the way into the middle of the intersection and the light is STILL red!!
Entertainment Industry Peeves Back To Top
The practice of naming sequels with a number, e.g. Superman II, Superman III.
This seems to have started around the time of Superman: The Movie, which also drives me crazy - why in the hell does a "movie" need the words "The Movie" in it's title??? This is insane!
back to the topic, there used to be movie sequels but at least someone was creative enough to come up with a "title", such as the Planet of the Apes movies, Pink Panther movies, Bond movies, etc.
Someone in Hollywood apparently makes lots of money to come up with inane little changes, for seemingly stupid reasons. Some of my favorite examples:
Movies messing with institutions - In the first Superman movie, he levitates a bad guy by pointing his finger at him - where in the hell did that come from?? Why couldn't they have accomplished the same effect but explained it as using his super breath or something? Don't give him powers that he's never had!
Social Transgressions Back To Top
People who mill around outside of exits
Ever notice how, when people are leaving the theater or getting off an airplane, how they'll stride right through the doorway, then stop just a foot beyond, to search for keys, friends, inspiration, or whatever -- inevitably holding up everyone behind.
Guys who use stalls to pee. Worse - guys why use stalls to pee and don't latch the door! I don't understand why they don't use urinals unless they're embarassed, but if that's the case, why the hell wouldn't they latch the door?
people who don't flush the toilet. These people surely flush at home, why in the hell don't they flush at work, etc.?!
Institutional toilet paper. The way it comes off the roll one square at a time, so you have to fight with it to get a decent sized wad...
People who "sprinkle" on public toilet seats, then leave it that way. At least wipe it off.
Frivolous lawsuits! People who waste taxpayers' time and money and fill up our courts with frivolous lawsuits should be publicly hanged! Worse are the lawyers who take the cases!
Products and Packaging Back To Top
Product instructions and/or warnings. Do we really need car shades to say "do not drive with shade in place"???
Magazine inserts - I hate both the loose subscription cards that fall out, especially in a subscription copy that you get in the mail! and the still ones that you have to tear out just to make the magazine functional.
Whatever happened to "small" pizzas?
You're too
lazy to cook, and you're too lazy to go out. You call your local Pizza Hut,
and ask them if they can deliver you a small cheese and pepperoni pizza. "I'm sorry, but we don't have small - we just have medium and large pizzas."
Whatever happened to relative sizes? Is the "medium" pizza the smallest size
they have? If so, then call a spade a spade - it's SMALL!
People who call you and demand, "Who's this?"
"Junk" phone calls
Stopped up plumbing
Mold and mildew
Sweating
Getting up early
Alarm clocks
Preapproved credit card applications sent to people under bankruptcy
Roaches
Mosquito bites
Tape that sticks to everything except what you want it to
Celibacy
Being single by circumstance
Sacred cows
"Repairman's crack"
Weeds
Long waits in "fast food" drive-thru lines. EVEN WORSE: Getting home and discovering your order is wrong or incomplete
People who go into a 10 items or less line with a fully loaded grocery cart.
Pricing items at 3.99, 4.99, etc. It's not fooling anyone.
Pricing gasoline with nine-tenths of a cent in the price. I'd like to give them a penny with a sliver cut out of it as partial payment for a gallon of gas!!!!
The grocery clerk who puts the receipt in your hand, along with your change. I don't want to fumble separating it from my money, nor do I want to put it in my wallet or hold it.
Shorts that ride up on the insides of your thighs as you walk
Underwear with worn out elastic that keeps slipping down your hips as you walk
The way your nose begins to itch when you can't scratch...while washing dishes,etc
Your nose starts running when you have no access to a tissue
Confused shoppers who block store aisles while they make up their minds
The fact that the worst pro baseball and football players will make more each year than the best teachers and nurses.
EVEN WORSE: When such sport figures go on strike to get even more money
Blind conformity
Paper cuts
Hangnails
Copiers that jam
Smudged eyeglasses
Wearing glasses in the rain
Glasses that fog up when you go outside from an airconditioned car or building
Door to door evangelizing
Practices that exist long after the reasons for them no longer do, because "that's the way we've always done it."
People who expect to always hear, "Fine" as an answer to the question, "How are you?". If you don't want to know, then just say "Hello" instead.
Contrived spellings for common names....Krystle for Crystal, etc. I especially hate when someone adds an "e" to a name ending in "y" as in "Bobbye", "Cindye", "Nancye", etc.
Doing something simply because "everyone else does it."
When naming their child, people who give no thought as to how the name will sound with their surname. For example: Dick Hertz, Hugh Jass, Mike Hunt, etc.
Dress codes
Dogs who drool on you
Small dogs that hump your leg
People who think the word "family" is a synonym for "censorship".
Prostitution (and other victimless crimes) being illegal.
People who think day care and flexible job schedules are "women's" issues. Don't men have children? These are family issues.
Non-fiction books without indexes
Fiction books without a summary of the plot on the back or flyleaf.
Getting stuck in an endless labyrinth of phone menus when calling a business. "If you are calling from a touch tone phone, press 1"......etc.
Heartburn
Having no money when you finally see an item you've been looking to buy for a long time
Job hunting
People who promise to return your phone calls and never do
"Get rich quick" pyramid schemes
People who think that being a good father is just providing money and leaving everything else to the mother
Men who refer to caring for their own children as "babysitting"
People love to blame something or someone else for their own lapses of responsibility. A very sad and tragic story: A man was suing a lawn dart company cause one went through his son's head while he was playing with it. Could the man not have looked at the lawn dart and said "Ooh! Sharp and pointy! Dangerous!" Does the box really need to say this? Apparently so.
Getting cut off on people's answering machines
Prejudice
People who hang up on answering machines. If you're not going to leave a message, for heaven's sake HANG UP before it starts recording!
Fat women in white stretch pants with no underwear
Someone with abundance telling me "money doesn't buy happiness"
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Last modified: Sat Feb 17, 2001 - dan
dan@kypris.com