That Really Annoys Me!
I’m sure that there are a lot of things that annoy you. There certainly are a lot that annoy me (probably too many). It’s seems like some little thing comes up every day – and those that come up frequently are particularly annoying. Just be assured that you are not alone. So, in the interest of mental and emotional health, here are some examples as lessons to learn from. Get on with your life! You can't afford to dwell on these things - or in most cases, even take them seriously. (Easy enough for me to say – they still annoy me!) Perhaps you can relate to some of these.
I Hate Hassles!
Maybe I’m unique – or perhaps a little paranoid – but it seems to me that there are “hassles” everywhere. Sometimes you can’t even spend your money without getting a hassle about it. Like when I have to say “You mean that when I want to give you money to buy this, you are going to give me a hard time about it – filling out unnecessary forms or following some kind of stupid procedure or going out of my way to get it. Don’t you want my money??” For example, have you tried to buy a box of Sudafed® at a Pharmacy lately? Because there are a lot of screwed up kids on methamphetamine around the country, every little box of this non-prescription decongestant must be picked up at the pharmacist counter – not on the store shelf - with a photo ID, then a handwritten log filled out with your name and address – and your signature. I mean, how much methamphetamine could I produce with 10 pills?
I Hate Commercials!
I know that broadcast networks have to pay for the production and delivery of their programming, but why do they have to have all those repetitive and inherently annoying commercials on the TV and radio? Do they think we are all stupid? Why do they think we would buy their products? Especially the ones that get repeated not just frequently, but over and over - sometimes right after it was just played. And where do they get these car salesmen who think that I’ll like them if they yell at me? And the local commercials with the owners of these small companies – especially the car dealers. Who ever told them that they should be on TV? How about those pharmaceutical commercials? What makes them think that someone would take the risk of life-threatening reactions (like death) to take their drug – especially to treat a non-life threatening disease?
It also makes you realize how much of what you pay for is actually for advertising and promotion – not for making the product. And why does the volume always seem to increase when a commercial comes on? Personally, I would rather pay a little more for a cable TV subscription than continue to listen to commercials – which typically make up about 20% of the viewing/listening time. How many times do they think you can watch a commercial before you get to hate it – and their product?
Thank god for the mute button and DVRs!
Crazy drivers
I think of myself as an experienced and relatively good defensive driver. And I have to be defensive, because I think of all the other drivers on the road as potential “crazies”. Unfortunately, I am often right. Why are there so many of them? Why can't THEY get caught or have accidents? Here are a few of the things that really annoy me about bad drivers:
- SUVs that think they can go anywhere and do anything
- Cell phones - who is driving the car? You can usually spot them because their speed and movement is erratic.
- Not signaling when they turn - or even turning the opposite direction. “I’m here alone on the road, so I don’t have to tell anyone which way I am going.”
- Yielding to others that do not have the right of way - even stopping on a main road - or letting another car in front of you in a line - like there is no one else waiting! Isn’t it nice to be polite?
- Snow and ice left on the top of cars - so it can fly off into someone else's windshield while they are driving!
And, of course, the worst are the super aggressive speeders who cut in and out of traffic to get ahead of everyone. I’m not a slow driver – usually going about 10 miles over the speed limit – and I often get passed by crazies driving 90 mph on a busy highway. Don’t they realize that there are a lot of other cars ahead that are not going that fast – and they will just have to slow down again? Why don’t these guys (and gals) get the speeding tickets?
I don’t know if there are any specific factors causing this phenomenon, but I have made a few informal observations:
- Younger drivers are often the fastest drivers. You would think that the older drivers should be in more of a hurry!
- Women seem to like being "macho"? Many are very aggressive and impatient drivers. They also often seem to be distracted (especially on cell phones).
- Really old (or acting really old) drivers can be very dangerous. They tend to drive very slowly and have poor reaction times. You need to stay away from them.
My approach to driving is to treat every other driver as potentially dangerous and try to keep a clear path of separation from everyone. That’s not paranoid – just safe.
I’m Too Big to be Invisible
I’m a larger than average guy. I can usually look over the heads of people in front of me in a line. So, why is it that sometimes people just walk up in front of you when you are waiting to be served – or the clerk asks the person behind you if they can help them? I know that I am too big to be invisible (and I usually say that), so there must be some other reason why they seem to see through me. Or, perhaps they really don’t want my money? I think a lot of people are oblivious of others. They don’t know or care who else is there. These people need to be put in their place. It’s not impolite to tell someone that they are out of turn – or that they are ignoring you. You are not invisible!
There's nobody out there!
I do a lot of communicating – every day – by phone and email especially. And in business, responsiveness to communications can be important. So why is it sometimes (actually frequently), it seems like there is nobody out there? Your question or request or comment just goes unanswered – sometimes for long periods or at least until you try again. Obviously, people have different priorities, but in business at least there should be some kind of professional courtesy or sense of mutual respect to prompt a response – even if it is just an acknowledgement that they received the message. The ones that really annoy me are the situations when someone ignores several messages and then all of a sudden has an urgent request that could have been addressed in response to the initial communication. When I challenge a situation like this, I often get the response – “Oh, when did you send me that message?” I sometimes get hundreds of messages a day and I think it is part of my job to keep track of them and respond to those that are requesting a response.
It’s not that they are disinterested parties. They include clients who are paying you to do things. So they should want to be responsive. And especially people who you pay to do things! I don’t get it. Are these people just inconsiderate or rude or distracted or disorganized? YES – that’s what annoys me. I hate feeling like I am all alone!
There's got to be a better way!
I’m not considered to be particularly “handy” – but I can build and fix things like most guys (and many if not most gals). But I am not patient, so I don’t enjoy trying to do something that is just more difficult to do than it should be. So why does that happen so frequently? The most fun is trying to assemble something you bought that has minimal instructions that were written by 15 year-olds whose English is not even their second language! Or trying to install some kind of electronics hardware or software, where you just know that they really want you to pay for a professional installer. Some things are just unnecessarily complicated – there’s got to be a better way!
Telemarketers
I thought the “do not call” laws would take care of these people, but I still get a lot of telemarketing calls. I am especially annoyed when you answer the phone and there is a delay in their response – because they are just auto-dialing from a call center. If I have the patience to answer the call and there is this delay in their saying “Hello, Mr …”, I will usually wait a while for them to respond again just so they know how annoying that delay can be. But then you have to contend with the background noise/chatter from the call center – and their scripted message – as if someone would really be interested in listening to this! The worst are the automated calls. Who thinks that someone would actually want to talk to a computer?
Yellow Pages
The traditional, printed Yellow Pages® are archaic, stupid - often useless. Who thinks up these categories? Did you ever try to find a bar (or a sports bar)? Or parts for a small appliance - like a food processor? Where do you look? How many pages do you have to sift through to find what you are looking for? I can now go to the online “Yellow Pages” and actually search for exactly what I am looking for – anywhere. And it is logical – by category as well as location. Why do we keep getting those big hard copy books of useless information? What a waste of paper.
Refill Fairies
I think some people are destined to be “refill fairies”. Who in your house is expected to refill the ice cube trays, toilet paper rolls, water filter pitcher, etc.? And don't forget the "Bill paying fairy"! It is annoying to me that some people in a household (partnership?) assume that someone else will do these things. As if someone assumes that a “fairy” will magically show up to refill everything you use up. If you use up something – like the toilet paper – should you assume that someone else will take care of it? It’s annoying to me that I have to always be the “refill fairy” that keeps everything full and available. What’s wrong with refilling something when you use it up – for the next person? I think it is called being “considerate”.
Junk Mail
It seems like most of the mail I get is junk advertising. I know that the U.S. Postal Service is losing money – and, in fact, is probably more dependent on junk mail for income than regular postage. Because of email and efficient alternatives for package delivery, the Post Office is just not competitive. Even if you pay for a Post Office box, it gets stuffed with junk mail. The Pony Express had to change – so maybe it’s time for the Post Office to change again?
But why do I have to sort through all this junk every day? Especially my phone and cable companies. They are so “customer-friendly” that they communicate with me every week – sometimes it seems like every day. It’s not like they are selling new products or trying to attract new customers. They’re just trying to steal the same customers from each other! It makes you wonder how much their advertising costs. Why not just reduce the price of the service?
And now that almost everyone uses email, junk mail has invaded that space too. Even with relatively good spam filters, I still get a lot of junk mail – advertising, spam, phishing, and potentially harmful email. I think there is actually a higher proportion of junk email to real email than the junk “snail mail”.
Just think how much time (and annoyance) you could save if there was no junk mail. At least I can recycle the junk paper mail!
Income Taxes
Nobody likes to pay taxes. But we, by choice, are citizens of a country that costs money to run – and hopefully provide important and useful services for the public (of course, this is sometimes debatable). So, someone has to pay for that. If you are a member of a “club”, you have to pay dues. So who actually pays all the bills around here anyway (for the government)? Sometimes I think there are only a few of us who pay most of the income taxes.
The fact is that relatively few individuals pay most of the federal income taxes – and almost half the households in the U.S. pay no federal income tax. According to an Associated Press report, “credits for low- and middle-income families have grown so much that a family of four making as much as $50,000 will owe no federal income tax… (and) “the top 10 percent of earners paid about 73 percent of the income taxes collected by the federal government.” Of course, there are also some very rich people who pay no federal income tax – due to big tax credits, deductions, tax-free earnings, etc. And there are a lot of multi-billion $ companies that pay little or no federal income tax. The system is just not equitable.
I don’t understand it. Everyone gets a vote and receives these services, so why don’t we all share in the expense? Who do you think does most of the complaining, protesting, advocating about government policies – the people paying the taxes? I don’t think so. There is something wrong with this model!
TV Commercials
“What crap!” - the commercials on TV, both local and national. Most of them are asinine. Do they think everyone watching is an idiot? Why would anyone be motivated to buy any of their products? The worst of are the locals - small business owners, like car dealers, furniture salesmen, and personal injury lawyers (“ambulance chasers”). What makes them think that they can be effective TV spokespersons? Most are amateurish, annoying and even embarrassing. And in many cases their products or services are not much better. Does anybody ever look at their own commercials? The ones that really annoy me are the cable music channels, where if you pick “oldies” they post ads about catheters, knee braces, stairway lifts, and reverse mortgages. They also put these kind of ads on cable news channels. Obviously anyone who listens to this kind of music or watches news shows must be “elderly”. It’s bad enough that I have to pay for an expensive cable TV subscription, but to add insult to injury I also have to watch these annoying commercials.
Paying Bills Online
It’s convenient, and usually easy, to pay bills online. But, every once in a while it doesn’t work - and turns into a nightmare! This can even happen when you’re dealing with large companies - like the Phone Company or a major bank. One day the website changed or isn’t working. Something you have been doing every month - for years - now, all of a sudden, you get error messages or can’t access your account. So, you call Customer Service, go through an annoying menu and then sit on hold for 15 minutes or more. After explaining to them the problem, they say they can’t help you - you have to go to a “different department” (e.g., “tech support”). So they transfer you and you wait again and, if you get the right department, someone may try to help. But first they put you through a stupid, and in some cases wrong, drill to verify your identity. Then they don’t understand your problem - it must be on your end. “You should delete your cookies and browsing history and change your browser”. So you humor them, do those things, and it still doesn’t work! They refuse to admit that this is a problem with their website or tell you that you “can’t do that anymore” and have to “re-register your account” or something else you shouldn’t have to do, etc. These experiences are not just annoying, but they raise your blood pressure.
DVDs
You subscribe to a DVD service or purchase a DVD, and when you play it you are subjected to a long series of previews, which in most cases you don’t want to watch. And when you try to skip them, you find that they have disabled the “top menu” and the “skip mode”. So if you want to skip these previews, you have to fast-forward through each of them - often up to six. And then when you finally can play the movie that you purchased, you have to watch these stupid messages about “pirating”. Why do you have to pay to be forced through this annoying process?
“Fresh” Fish
I love fish. We usually have it once a week at home for dinner. But if you count salmon or sardines for lunch, I have fish even more often. And when I go to restaurants for dinner, I will more often than not order fish. We even occasionally have sushi, sashimi, or poke if we know the fish is fresh and “sushi grade”. So we try to buy and order only fish that is fresh. I always ask if the fish is fresh even if the sign in the store or on the menu says “fresh”– because I’m skeptical. We live near the ocean and a major fishing port, so we know it’s possible to get fresh fish locally. And when we travel, we often go to cities that have ocean ports – like New York, Boston, San Francisco, etc. But I think it’s still difficult to get truly fresh fish. Many commercial fishing vessels go out to sea for multiple days before they come back to port, so the catch could be a couple of days old by the time it gets to shore. But, I’m sure it is well refrigerated. However that’s just the first stop in the journey of the fish. The catch may be sorted and processed at the port and then loaded onto trucks for delivery to distribution centers, which from there will deliver to markets, stores and restaurants. So by the time this “fresh” fish reaches your shopping cart or restaurant dinner plate it has to be days old. I’m not saying that the fish is not good. If it’s properly refrigerated, processed, and packaged it may be perfectly fine and even taste good. But it’s not really “fresh”.
What really gets me annoyed is when fish from another region – maybe far away – is called “fresh”. For example, a lot of salmon comes from Norway, where even farm-raised salmon are good. But if it has to be shipped thousands of miles, it can’t be “fresh”– even if it’s shipped by air. I remember once when I was at an Italian restaurant on the West Coast when I asked as I often do – “What fresh fish you have today?” And the waiter replied “Branzino”. Now I know Branzino - it’s also known as Mediterranean Seabass. It comes from the Mediterranean – six thousand miles away from this Italian restaurant. Even if they had their own private jet supplying them with Branzino, it couldn’t be “fresh”. I even saw an ad for Branzino, which was being sold “fresh” online by Seattle's Pike Place Market. That’s just ridiculous – give me a break! I don’t mind as long as the fish I eat has been handled properly and is high quality. But it’s not the same as if it just came off the boat. So I will continue to be skeptical and careful until the market is more honest about “fresh” fish.
Sex Scandals
I guess there has always been a public interest in sex scandals. But it seems that in recent years there is either a media obsession or a significant increase in the scope and frequency of them. They have become a major part, if not the lead, of every daily newspaper or newscast. Perhaps a lot of people can’t get enough of them, but to me it’s overdone – and I am getting tired of the focus on them. Not that I am diminishing the fact that these are scandalous or illegal, but there are other important things going on in the world that should at least get as much of our attention.
These are just some of the frequent stories:
· Pedophile Priests – sexual abuse of children by the clergy. This was secretly hidden by the Church for centuries – only now being revealed in large numbers.
· Sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace – including government, industry, and entertainment. In response we got the “MeToo” movement.
· Sex trafficking – captive prostitution.
· “Sexting” – technology enabling sexual harassment.
· Adultery by famous people – including Presidents.
Obviously, they are all concerning, but I think people are more interested in sex scandals than other important issues facing the country – e.g., violent crimes, wars, terrorism, and even the economy. How about some balance in media coverage?
Gender Neutral
Our youth are being corrupted/brain-washed by the liberal establishment and academics in particular. They are being taught when formally introducing themselves to state their “personal pronouns” – like “Hi my name is Sue and my pronouns are she, her, hers...” Why is this happening? Why all of a sudden is your birth gender irrelevant - or even offensive? Our kids are being encouraged to decide for themselves what gender they identify with - or even none. There was a recent article in the New York Times about why we should use gender neutral pronouns – like “they” or the new made-up pronoun – “Ze”. Unbelievable! And who decided to invent “non-binary” people? Birth gender is what makes humans, and all species, survive. It takes a male and female animal to reproduce. What’s wrong with that? The alternative is not good! We shouldn’t let these messed up people anywhere near our kids.
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