We all have them -- pet peeves. They are usually things that would cause no one else the slightest concern, but they can drive us completely over the edge. I started to think about this yesterday when I went for lunch with a friend of mine. This is someone I love dearly, and she often invites me for lunch, and just as often I decline. Why, you ask? Well, my lovely elegant friend has a habit -- every time we have lunch together -- of blowing her nose and then leaving the offending Kleenex on the table. It's disgusting, and I have no way of telling her that I find it offending. Am I crazy? Would anyone else be put off their lunch?
Bad haircuts. If you pay $60.00 for a haircut -- plus tip -- shouldn't it be reasonable to ask that the left side of your hair be the same length as the right side? Is that asking too much? Or perhaps it might actually have, oh, I don't know, some style? I have invested in a good pair of scissors, and I now cut my own hair. I can't count the number of times I have had to come home and even up the straggly bits that don't match. It's enough to make my tear out my hair.
Not paying attention. The longest escalator in Vancouver is at the Granville Sky Train Station. It is one of the longest escalators in the world, and it is always packed with people exiting the Sky Train. And invariably when I ride this escalator, there is a group of people clustered together at the top, chatting and looking at their phones. Escalators can often be dangerous, and can cause nasty accidents to toes and other appendages. Here's an idea -- when you reach the top of an escalator, keep moving. There are people behind you.
Vancouver is known as a city of awnings. There is a reason for that. It rains here -- a lot... It's possible to walk along any commercial street in Vancouver and not get rained on, as long as we stay underneath the awnings. The only problem is, all the folks with umbrellas are walking under the awnings, and all of us folks without umbrellas are trying to jostle for a position ... under the awnings.Argh...
Some of my other pet peeves are: people who cut the crossword puzzles out of the newspapers in the coffee room; people who cough all over the fresh produce in the supermarket; people who leave their dirty dishes on the table in the food court -- there are recycling and trash bins everywhere; throw out your garbage.
Oh, I'm not really as grumpy as I sound today. The past couple of weeks at work have been sort of ... trying. But I prevailed and now it's Friday, it's pay day, and I have two days off to do nothing but sleep, shop, read, paint, sleep... I might even have time to visit your blogs. I have missed visiting you. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and do something fun, fun, fun...
I have a list of peeves too... I hope you have a nice weekend, peeve free!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about the awnings, I will be so prepared when I get to visit.
The phones on the escalators and the people with umbrellas who also walk beneath the awnings. THOSE are two for me. Alas, no one's tissue habits would put me off my food. NOTHING puts me off my food. Sigh... Cell phones in restaurants and, most especially, in the grocery store. People in a rush in the grocery store who NUDGE you from behind... just a friendly reminder one guy said. Ugh. However, I think your idea of having a good weekend works. Jo, NO ONE thinks you are someone who complains about pet peeves a lot! Take care.
ReplyDeleteMy pet peeve are people who don't realize that elderly persons need a little longer getting thing organize after paying your grocery bill.
ReplyDeleteOh I am very good at giving haircuts Jo. From my dads :( to my bro's and then my hubby and daughter. And not bad ifI may say so myself.
ReplyDeleteUgh these are bad habits-my neice leaves her kleenex all over the house..be glad you hadnt had to 'sit'atop one of those soggy ones :)
hoping you come visiting my Fb page too and wishing you a great weekend dear.
Snotty tissue....... gag! I have a friend who smacks his food and talks while he eats. I am tempted to do the same to see if he notices, but am afraid it is a habit I will pick up and continue to do even when I am not in his presence.
ReplyDeleteRelax and enjoy!
I have spent a lot of time in my life being p'd off about my pet peeves. I finally decided that I was wasting my energy.
ReplyDeleteHowzabout offering your snotrag friend a beautiful little gift bag as a trash receptacle. "It would make me SO MUCH MORE comfortable if you'd put that in here." She'll be embarrassed at first, of course, but then it'll be something to laugh about.
All good peeves to have. I hope the woman who leaves her tissues on the table will read this. That's unbelievable she'd do that.
ReplyDeleteAs to the haircut - I'd be changing hair-stylists pronto.
I have a bunch of peeves too and some even match yours! Have a good weekend!
ReplyDeleteI have these little rants often. I guess I have lots of pet peaves. I just wish there was a book on life ettiquete that we all have to read.
ReplyDeleteI get angry in grocery stores. Stay to your right people. Just like driving a car. Main isles are major highways and the food isles are side streets. You must yeild and look before entering the highway.
Well, one thing I've got to say: your peeves made for a VERY entertaining post. The haircut thing is so true, I've paid a fortune for a haircut that isn't even the same length on both sides! I've gone back to the offending person for correction.
ReplyDeleteWhatever the challenging work situation is, I'm glad you have some respite for now. You deserve some relaxation. Thinking of you as the cold air moves into our part of the world today. I've enjoyed the warmth.
Jo, I'm with you on all of those pet peeves, and I would like to add one - automobile drivers in adjacent lanes who accelerate their vehicles as soon as you signal that you'd like to move into their lane - even when they are several car lengths away. Grrrr.
ReplyDeleteI involuntarily said "Ewwww" as I read about your friend with the Kleenex, so you are definitely not alone. I share your annoyance with bad but expensive haircuts, and with inconsiderate people in general.
ReplyDeleteI am afraid to compile a list of my pet peeves because there are quite a lot of them. It would make a very long and angry post which no one would read.
We are on the same team about these, Jo
ReplyDeleteAloha from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
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I can't seem to find someone to cut my hair the way I want it. Although I think my problem might be that I don't know how I want it :) But you're right - I've had those cuts where I go home I "fix" it right away. Sigh.
ReplyDeletePeople who brush their teeth and/or floss at the office gross me out. I just peed. I need to wash my hands, I don't want to stand next to you while you spit in the sink. Sorry... take that dental hygen somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteOne of my pet peeves is drivers that cut you off only to stop at a stop sign or stop light right in front of you. I also have a pet peeve about bad haircuts. How hard is it to have both sides the same?
ReplyDeleteGood post, Jo. I share all of your complaints. I guess I would sum up my pet peeves with one all encompassing one: People who show no consideration for others. That covers most all of 'em.
ReplyDeletePeople who follow your car too closely in rush hour traffic. Teenagers who talk down to their parents and parents who let them. Co-workers who think that telling you every minute detail of their life is more important than letting you do your job. Products that are "new and improved" and you wish they had left it "Old and wonderful". Wow, and I thought that I wouldn't be able to come up with any pet peeves of my own...lol.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of close family members who quit smoking ten years ago and still chew Nicorette gum. Neither of them, to my knowledge, has ever thrown away a wrapper in my house - or a piece of gum when they're finished with it! When I remind them, they apologize and laugh. Usually these people are quite easy to get along with. It baffles me.
ReplyDeleteJO just tell her about the tissue! Go for it! lol! Great post JO!
ReplyDeleteThe hair thing was so peevifying that I didn't cut it at all until it began to sidle into my butt. And people who leave used Kleenex on the table should be tarred and Kleenexed. Also if they make lots of smacky noises when they're eating.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read this post, I came up with several peeves, but not one big one that really bugged me, and then yesterday I was at the supermarket check-out -- the express register -- with my 12 items, behind a woman with a full basket of groceries, working very hard not to make eye contact with any of us behind her.
ReplyDeleteYup! That's the one.
I definitely wouldn't be able to go out for lunch with that woman either and I have spent the last two weeks moaning about my current haircut.
ReplyDeleteI have just spent an hour outside my building at work cleaning other people's cigarette butts because I honestly can't look at them anymore... That SERIOUSLY peeved me!!
Ah, Jo...glad to know we share so much more than our names!
ReplyDeleteThe kleenex lady? Yewww!
The hair cut peeve is my favorite. And may I also ask why he/she thinks it's alright to carry on a conversation with every other person in the place, while cutting my hair? I'd appreciate some attention being directed toward my head at some point. Maybe that's why the two sides don't match! Grrrr.
Hope you have a better week this week, Jo!
Aha! The dead of winter is the perfect time to go ahead and feel a bit peeved, Jo. Honestly, it is the perfect time of year to just vent a bit, heave things off of our chests and lighten the load a bit :-)
ReplyDeleteI don't have a bunch of peeves but we do share one: I think it is horrifying when people blow their nose at the table, regardless of where the tissue ends up. It's much worse with what you're describing, but anything that involves having to actually blow ones nose is the stuff of excusing oneself from the table. It's just not an appetizing sound.
It's good to see your screename, our Lady of Vancouver :-)
If you don't like the escalator thing you might want to stay away from China. Blocking paths is a national past-time.
ReplyDeleteWhat a day! I tripped over some guy as I was trying to get off the escalator.
ReplyDeleteHe had fallen down since he was looking on his cell phone of a picture he took of somebody's beautiful umbrella.
But he could not see the umbrella since the big awning it was under obscured the view.
I wonder if he took a picture of me skewering him with his umbrella as he coughed on the apples.
Oh .... never mind. I was lost in a bit of fantasy!
Well, I think you just found a way to let your nose blowing friend what bugs you. :>) Or doesn't she read your blog?
ReplyDeleteOne of my pet peeves are people who change lanes while driving without using their signal lights.
ReplyDeletehttp://ficklecattle.blogspot.com/
I have a list:
ReplyDeleteMy kids sitting on my kitchen counters (yuck).
Barking neighborhood dogs at 6am.
Believe it or not, people who stop at the top of escalators or just outside elevator doors.
People who text when they are talking to me!
Have a good rest of your weekend!