What are your top pet peeves?

[ikol]

People who shop for groceries by stopping their cart on the opposite side of the aisle from where they are browsing, thus forcing them to block the entire aisle while they shop.

[Lammycat]

I never, EVER recline if there is anyone behind me. (Well, now that I'm a nervous flier, I remain in the brace position for most of the flight.) I won't ask people to return their seat to the upright position after they recline it, unless they start bouncing for some reason; generally, the reclining seat rests on my knees, which doesn't hurt if they don't move. Or, my legs will fall asleep, by which time my neighbor is also asleep.

 

My legs are disproportionately long, which is a real bummer when it comes to buying pants and commercial air travel.

So you won't recline your seat but also won't requet the dude in from of you to have the same "courtesy?" I kind of figure that the seat reclines for a reason so I usually recline it. I usuually look behind me first to make sure it isn't a really big.tall person. If asked to put it up a bit I will. But really, do i need to fear putting it back the way it was designed to go? Maybe I do....

[Sir Stewart]

I wish I had a bumper sticker that read USE YOUR FUCKING BLINKERS.

[bleedorange]

I don't recline, but I don't mind people that do. The only thing I ask is that the person not treat the seat like a La-Z-Boy and throw his or her body into it.

[Guest Ordinary Beehive]

Sticking with the elevator theme:

 

People who are waiting for the elevator and try to get on as soon as the door opens before letting people get off the elevator first.

 

Yes. I usually say (yell?) "off before on" to those people. No one has ever understood what I'm talking about. Or they just don't care.

[Guest Speed Racer]

But really, do i need to fear putting it back the way it was designed to go?

 

Well, consider this: the seat was meant to be reclined that way back when airlines provided considerably more legroom. The seats were built with specific space parameters in mind, most of which have long since been abandoned in favor of stuffing a plane like a brat casing.

 

I won't recline it, because it bugs the shit out of me to sit for a flight with a passenger on my knees, and I aim to treat people the way I want to be treated. That being said, sometimes I just want to relax; I understand that other people feel that way too, and if reclining their seat on my knees helps them to relax then I would like to accomodate them, barring any intense pain on my end.

 

As for checking if the person is tall: I have to buy my pants AND shirts online - my shirts because my torso is freakishly small, and my pants because my legs are unusually long. I appear short when seated, but my hip bones are a full two inches higher than my sister's, and she's only an inch taller than me.

[Guest Ordinary Beehive]

As for checking if the person is tall: I have to buy my pants AND shirts online - my shirts because my torso is freakishly small, and my pants because my legs are unusually long. I appear short when seated, but my hip bones are a full two inches higher than my sister's, and she's only an inch taller than me.

 

I bet you can run like the wind. Everyone I've ever known with long legs and a short torso was fast as fuck. And fuck is fast, people.

[Winston Legthigh]

And fuck is fast, people.

Try thinking about baseball next time.

[Guest Speed Racer]

I bet you can run like the wind.

 

If you mean steady and indefinitely, then yes. If you mean, like, fast, then absolutely not. First time I ran a 10k on the track (= 25 laps outdoors), all of my 400m splits were within two seconds, for the whole race. For my marathon, my mile splits after the first four miles (which are a total clusterfuck) were all within five seconds of each other.

[The High Heat]

I wish I had a bumper sticker that read USE YOUR FUCKING BLINKERS...

BEFORE YOU HIT THE BRAKE!

[Nobody Girl]

People who don't tape their boxes before they get to the counter at the post office.

[sonicshoulder]

Doctors who demand or even prefer to be addressed as Dr.________ in casual situations. We were vacationing in Destin, Fla. last year for a week and a guy staying in the same hotel was wearing a scrub with his name embroidered on it around all week, I even boarded the elevator once and he was in mid story with a stranger about saving someone's life after an elevator accident...I felt I owed him at least a handjob or something but we I was only going up three floors.

[austrya]

 

As for checking if the person is tall: I have to buy my pants AND shirts online - my shirts because my torso is freakishly small, and my pants because my legs are unusually long. I appear short when seated, but my hip bones are a full two inches higher than my sister's, and she's only an inch taller than me.

 

You're like the opposite of me. I have a freakishly long torso and short legs. My husband is 5'10.5" and I'm 5'6" and when we're sitting, we both appear to be the same height. Which is a pet peeve of mine since I have to adjust the mirrors in the car after he drives it...

[cryptique]

I'm a short-legged, long-torso'd person also. I'm 6'1" but when I'm sitting it's like I'm 6'4" or taller.

 

This isn't really a peeve of mine, as such, but it explains why people behind me at seated events sometimes get a bit pissy, which is related to a pet peeve: people who seem to think that because I'm tall, I should sit or stand in the back. Sorry, I can't help being tall, and I like having good seats as much as anyone else does. Ticketmaster doesn't give me the choice to buy last-row seats, and I wouldn't even if they did.

[jff]

Escalator blockers. Standers on the right, walkers on the left. What kind of brain malfunction do you have to have in order to think it makes sense at a trasit station where people are trying to catch the next train or bus to prevent people from getting up or down an escalator quickly?

[gogo]

One of my happiest moments ever on an escalator:

 

I always say to people "stand to the right, please". Not snarky (well, a little bit snarky), just a request. Once, a woman who was blocking the entire escaltor full of people turned around and yelled at me "I'm sick of people telling me that... since when is that the rule?!?" Right at that moment, an announcement came over the loudspeakers: "On the escalators, please stand to the right..."

 

Ahhh... that almost never really happens in real life, but there it was.

[jff]

One of my happiest moments ever on an escalator:

 

I always say to people "stand to the right, please". Not snarky (well, a little bit snarky), just a request. Once, a woman who was blocking the entire escaltor full of people turned around and yelled at me "I'm sick of people telling me that... since when is that the rule?!?" Right at that moment, an announcement came over the loudspeakers: "On the escalators, please stand to the right..."

 

Ahhh... that almost never really happens in real life, but there it was.

 

 

bowing to the loudspeaker gods.

 

Another pet peeve of mine: People who feel entirely justified in being inconsiderate just because there is no RULE that prohibits their inconsiderate action.

[gogo]

Ha! Exactly. We have this conversation with the kids a lot, about how just because you're allowed to do something, doesn't mean you should do it. We tell them you can call it the social contract, the golden rule, whatever, just try to be considerate and thoughtful.

 

(The kids have decided that the "golden rule" needs to be re-written, to just: "don't be a dick".)

[jff]

 

(The kids have decided that the "golden rule" needs to be re-written, to just: "don't be a dick".)

 

[u2roolz]

With all this talk about airplane seats and escalators it made me remember an older incident from my Community College days a long time ago in our galaxy.

Somehow it's an odd combination of both of them.

 

I decide to show up early to my Calculus II summer class for the final test. It's still light out and I'm enjoying studying in my car right up until class time. Out of the corner of my eye I see a pretty big van trying to back into the spot next to me. After a few minutes of trying to back in right, I saw an obese woman walk out with her school bag and not once did I see her notice me. Then I took a look at the van's proximity to my car and I said "You've got to be kidding me?!" She left an inch from her van to my driver's door. I thought "great, I'm not going to be able to take the test. I'm going to be stuck in here." So I had to maneuver around in my car to get to the passenger side which was a bit tough in my '96 Honda Accord. They have those high arm rests in the middle that I couldn't get over easily. Finally, I get to the passenger side and open up the door and check how she left me for the wolves. Her passenger side to my driver's side: Not even 1990's Macaulay Culkin could fit in there. Her driver's side to the other car: Plenty of room. I was pissed and felt like I was invisible. And it robbed me of 20 minutes from studying.

 

Edit: RE: the description of obese woman: Well, I thought that maybe she would have had a hard time coming out of her car if she parked head first. If she did, it would have been the normal space between two spots. I don't think that justifies screwing someone else over with your selfish parking decision.

[austrya]

When one group tries to tell another group not to be offended by something.

 

Example:

 

School mascot is a Redskin. Native Americans say it's offensive and stereotyping and want it changed. People (who are not Native American) telling the Native Americans that it's not offensive and they're not stereotyping.

 

That's like me going up to some black guy and telling him not to be offended when I call him colored, negro, or n****r.

 

People irritate me.

[Guest Speed Racer]

The specific incident you cite, regarding Native American-named mascots, infuriates me. I drafted 8 or 9 comments to your Facebook status that I never submitted because they were long and not very charitable to people who might disagree with my opinion. Even people who think they have been educated about "Native American history" (that's like saying you understand Icelandic people because you had a European unit in a high school history course once) have no fucking clue about the systematic cultural genocide the United States waged against them for centuries. Jeesus. And here I go.

[Guest Ordinary Beehive]

People that act like their problems are bigger than everyone else's. They always talk about their problems, and more importantly, they always try to trump your problems. "You think you have it bad, I...". They're also the same people that respond by telling you all of their problems when you greet them with a simple "how's it going?"

 

Also, on that note, people that respond to "how's it going?" with some really cheesy, overly emphatic phrase like "I'm so happy, I can't stand it!" or "If I were any happier, I'd be twins!"

 

I also completely concur with the escalator comments made above. I like to use "It's not a ride people!", which I ripped off from Seinfeld.

 

 

[cryptique]

Finally, I get to the passenger side and open up the door and check how she left me for the wolves. Her passenger side to my driver's side: Not even 1990's Macaulay Culkin could fit in there. Her driver's side to the other car: Plenty of room. I was pissed and felt like I was invisible.

When I was a younger, angrier man, I kicked a few sizable dents into the sides of vehicles whose owners did this kind of shit to me. Can't say I feel too bad about it, either.

 

I wouldn't do it today, mostly because I wear flimsier shoes and there are surveillance cameras everywhere.

[tinnitus photography]

people who eat in grocery stores