Pet Peeves…

Johnny-on-the-Spot … by John Foster …

The 2nd week of October is “Pet Peeves Week”.

What’s a pet peeve, you ask?

It is something that a particular person finds especially annoying; generally a minor annoyance that you find particularly irritating.

We first saw “pet peeves” in print in a single panel comic strip between 1916 and 1920.

Frank King called it “The Little Pet Peeve” and he’s the same guy known for “Gasoline Alley” in the comic strips years ago.”

A “pet peeve” can also be known as a “bugbear”, “complaint”, “grievance”, “groan”, “hateful object”, “personal vexation” or “pet aversion”.

If something drives you crazy and you feel compelled to “yap” about it, guess what? It’s a “pet peeve”.

But “pet peeves” are typically connected to minor matters.

Terrorism, murder and wars are normally not “pet peeves”.

I saw a national survey recently of some “pet peeves” and how many shared them.

At the workplace;

Leaving common spaces messy (63%).

Colleagues complaining about their work and/or another colleague (53%.

Managers or bosses that don’t give your credit when it’s deserved. (50%).

Colleagues late for meetings (33%).

Talking too loudly on the phone (24%).

Taking food without permission (24%).

On the home front;

Neglecting to take out the trash.

Bedmate who moves too much or takes all the covers.

On the phone, TV or computer late at night.

Music too loud.

Unflushed toilets.

Leaving lights on.

Toilet seat always left up.

(I grew up with 3 sisters so I was pretty much housebroken at an early age).

Bad manners.

Poor hygiene.

Some couples fight over the thermostat.

It’s never been an issue for my bride and I.

However, in the fall, when the weather gets cooler, I like to wear hooded sweatshirts and cargo shorts.

When do I know it’s time to adjust my fashion?

When my wife tells me I’m making her cold wearing that outfit.

I’m not quite sure of the actual science behind that.

One of our ongoing “pet peeves” is around mealtimes.

Neav will ask, “Where do I want to eat?” or “What do I want to eat?”

To there first question, I used to quickly respond, “White Castle” which I’ve been to once in my life.

For the 2nd question, my typical response is, “Oh, I don’t care. Where do you want to go?”

The only exception we have is every Friday morning, I come home early and we have breakfast at Cracker Barrel.

Those pancakes are tough to beat.

Now, there are things that get my dander up.

People who abandon shopping carts in the middle of parking lots.

It shows how lazy and inconsiderate we’ve gotten as a society.

You mean to tell me you can’t push that empty cart a few more feet to that shopping cart corral?

Gum/cigarette butts carelessly discarded and littering in general.

It’s there anything more fun than stepping on a fresh wad of grape bubblegum?

Now, my youngest sister Jerry once pried a piece of grape bubblegum off the bottom of a restaurant table because she wanted a chew.

There’s a time I wish that gum had been properly disposed of!

In basic training, we had to police the parade grounds for cigarette butts.

The non-smoking airman that I was asked my drill instructor why I had to do that.

“Because I said you had to!” was the response from the “Smokey-the-Bear hat-wearing NCO”.

Made perfect sense to me.

“Sir! Yes Sir!”

People exceeding the item count in the express checkout lanes.

Maybe that explains the poor math scores we got in school.

Diners being seated and they don’t like that spot.

Why don’t they just say, “Can we get a table near the such-and-such?” before the hoist or hostess winds them through the eatery?

Four way stops.

It’s obvious, many driver either didn’t take “driver’s ed” or they forgot what they were taught.

Recently, I had to navigate my town after power had been disrupted by high winds.

It was a real crapshoot going through intersections with no traffic lights working.

Construction ahead sign ignorers.

Travelling the interstates you see signs miles in advance indicating a certain lane will be closed.

But there’s always the NASCAR dropouts who think that means they should stay in the soon-to-be-closed lane and then screech to a halt just feet before the actual lane closing with the turn signal flashing.

Bad use of English is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

I guess what I learned from Miss Dottie Baker in 7th grade English is to blame for that.

And, speaking of public restrooms, why does that make some people think that waste cans work as long as what you toss gets close.

By the way, is all public restroom toilet paper made out of recycled wax paper?

Those Charmin bears would probably turn violent if they had to use it.