Monday, October 28, 2019

All the Annoying Things Part II

Here we are to resume our list of annoying things that some rando website has decided is thus.  Click here for the article and click here for my more important blog post with responses.

26.  Sniffing loudly instead of blowing your nose.  Sometimes blowing your nose is annoying, no? Sometimes it's like, just do a quiet wipe with a tissue and save the big business for later.  I will sniff if I have no tissue, but that is unlikely. Would you rather I just let it drip freely? "Sorry, it's rude to sniff."  I have no idea if I do it excessively. I guess I'll pay more attention to that. Maybe.

27. Taking up both armrests.  No, not if I don't know the people next to me. But if I do, I will totally sneak my elbow until the person comes to claim what is, i admit, rightfully theirs.  If I'm on an airplane, however, I do all I can do to not touch the other person/any object at all, at any time. 

28. Eating loudly.  The article mentions soup-slurping and big bites of salad.  I'm not sure about this one.  I really don't know. I'll have to ask someone to monitor this. I bet I take big bites of salad. Sometimes it's like, what you want me to cut up my salad? It's not my fault they didn't shred the lettuce better. Except Sean totally would and does cut up his salad. I'm laughing at this article blip though:  "And if you're a person who smacks their lips or kind of moans when something's really delicious, someone out there is definitely annoyed..."  ha ha ha.  I'd like to think that I obviously don't do these things but if I'm eating something really good, I can't promise I won't make my feelings known.  Also, what does smacking one's lips even mean? How do you do that? Is it like loosely making a kissy sound?  I just practiced this aloud (in various ways) and the cat gave me the worst death stare.  So I guess it is annoying. 

29. Biking without obeying traffic signals.  I think I've done this once or twice but I don't bike often these days. People def do this in NYC and I'm torn about it. Cyclists are crazy though. Definitely the rogues of the road.  I do love seeing the hand signals though.  I was out on bikes with Julian a few weeks ago and tried to teach him all the signals.  I saw a teen boy do it whilst riding a one-wheel and was like, yeah!

30. Blocking the sidewalk to get a photo.  I hate myself a little bit if I do this.  I will loudly apologize and get in and get out.

31. Typing in all caps. WHAT? HOW COULD THIS BE ANNOYING? Exploded the volatile blogger.  This is another archaic practice from the time texting and emailing were first introduced. I would hope people have learnt by now.

32. Texting while walking.  Definitely.  But, as the article mentions, there are no "fellow pedestrians" where I live, sadly.

33.  Somehow making every conversation about you.  This is super annoying and I try not to. If I do I will acknowledge what I'm doing, apologize, and then continue with what I was saying about myself. But at least I acknowledged, right?

34.  Trying to add to a line from the side instead of getting in the back. First: "add to a line"? Just say "get in line," weirdo.   I basically follow all these kinds of rules but once in a while, when I see there's no real order or rhyme or reason, I will smoothly worm my way in and take what's mine. I think in these instances, if it is noticed, people are less annoyed at me and more mad at themselves that they didn't do it too. Is what I tell myself.


35.  Putting your bag on the seat next to you. Only if there's no one nearby. So many of these are meant for crowded scenarios and again, I am conscious.

36.  Standing too close to other people in line.  No!  Especially at the supermarket where you need some space to take care of your transaction. I have had eager beaver shoppers right on my heels and I'm like, oh did you want to see my pin? I'm sorry, here.   That said, my bubble of personal space has definitely widened since moving to the 'burbs. Sometimes I miss the closeness.

37.  Clicking a pen.  Just for fun? No. I'm not terribly fidgety.

38. Leaving read receipts on.  Heavens, no. Would never turn this on in the first place.  Why would I want people to know this bit of information? Keep them in the dark as much as possible.

39.  Not letting people off an elevator before you get on.
No. Again, city living teaches you manners.


40. Starting a sentence with "no offense."  Ha ha! I hope I do.

41. Running late.  Well, better than walking late, no?  I am pretty punctual, though I think I've relaxed about that over time. I think I've followed others' examples and been like, oh maybe it's not such a big deal to be late. I try to text if I will be, if it matters.  However, there are times when I definitely do not want to be on time and I will take my time walking late.

42. Posting vague status updates on social media.  Never!  Also: posting status updates: never!

43. Snapping your gum.  Gross, no.  I don't chew gum and, no offense, but watching Julian do it reminds me why. I used to wonder why it was offensive when watching or reading about Violet Beauregard.  And I get it now. I get it, Roald.

44. Using overly-familiar nicknames.  Define "overly-familiar."  The article references "sweetie" and "hon" and aghast, I would never in a million years.  I might use "pal" or "friend."  But mostly not.  Now, do I want to automatically shorten people's names who insist on the long version when there are clearly nickname options available? Yes, I do.  But I won't if you ask me not to. Probably.

45. Bringing pungent food to work.  Yeah, this is gross.


46. Not wiping down the machines at the gym.  EW. This is a reason why I don't go to gyms. Nasty. Also, exercise: gross.

47. Talking incessantly about your diet. Oh, this is something I truly find annoying. I'm not opposed to talking about it in general but I am very bored by others' obsession with diet/weight/etc. Only bring this up when it's in some way solicited.  When you KNOW the other person is into it.  Know for SURE. 

48. Gushing about new relationships.  Ah, if I know you well and care about you, chances are that I'm very excited about this as well.  Let's hear it.


49. Keeping your phone's sound on.  For the most part, my ringer is always turned on. And I feel like I'm doing a service to those around me because my ringtone is Take On Me and it is awesome every time.  Texts, however, are silent.

50. Not being ready to order when you get to the counter.  I recognize it's annoying to wait for someone to make up their mind. I try to do it quickly. But also? Don't have 5,000 options for me to choose from. No one asked for that.  This is a peeve of mine.  I will do my best to hurry but I also won't be pressured so if I need a few more seconds, I'm going to take them.

And these are all of the annoying things!  Truthfully, if I were to guess what my most annoying habits are with certain kinds of people, they would be:

1. i can appear cynical
2. irreverence
3. my straightforwardness/outspokenness/brazenness.  
4. I have strong opinions. For some, this is threatening. 


I think I can actually tell when someone doesn't like me. It's so rare that I'm like, whoa, something is different.  JK but really.  And when that's true I either don't care or I think, I'll win them over eventually. They'll see...

How'd you do with this list? Alanna, I want to hear it. 

3 comments:

Alanna said...

I am so IN for this continued conversation!

26. Totally guilty of doing this. This drove my dad NUTS when I was little (my sisters all annoyed him this way, too), but I didn't understand that just blowing my nose would probably solve the problem! Now I will happily go blow my nose, BUT, I have this weird issue left over from my mission, where I hate to blow my nose in front of people (It's considered incredibly rude in Japan). So I'll have to be able to excuse myself to an empty room or bathroom stall or something to take care of business. My husband thought I was SO WEIRD when we were first married I would hide to blow my nose. I got issues. So yeah, if I can't leave the room, I might to sniffle as discreetly as possible. It's complicated.

27. Never. I don't want to touch strangers. If I'm sitting next to family, then we'll probably share.

28. I probably do this. Stuff like this doesn't bother me so I never notice if I'm doing it (which means I probably am). Again, Japan made me weirder, where you can pick up your bowl and shove the food into your mouth, I feel like I never went totally back to American manners and the longer I'm away from the dating scene and less on my best behavior, the more I think this kind of thing is probably getting out of hand without me even noticing. I'm a slob, I'm sorry!!!!

29. What's worse, to me, is pedestrians walking in the street. We have sidewalks on one side of some of the streets here (really nice, paved sidewalks!) and when I see people walking in the shoulder instead where they're 100 times more likely to get run over, it ENRAGES me. Why would you take a risk like that???? Use that lovely sidewalk!!!!!! Bikers, whatever they're doing, don't bother me as much. Except for on this stretch of road close to the DC temple that's a favorite biking spot and they all ride three across and you can't pass them. That drives me bonkers too.

I'm getting really tangenty, here, aren't I? So many things to rage about!

30. That's not really much of a problem here. A lot of these are big city problems, I feel.

31. YES THIS IS ANNOYING. IT'S ANNOYING TO DO, TOO, THOUGH, SO I DON'T KNOW WHY ANYONE WOULD BOTHER???

32. I'm much more bothered when I see someone texting and driving. At least texting and walking you'll probably only hurt yourself, and not very badly at that.

33. I'm terrible about doing this. I'm sorry. I try not to. I'm doing it right now, just talking about it!

34. If I can see the line clearly, I'll follow the rules.

35. If it's getting crowded I'll move my bags. But again, in suburbia this isn't usually a problem.

Alanna said...

So this is embarrassing-- I wrote SO MUCH that blogger said it was too long to be published! So I had to cut and paste and stuff and break it into two comments. What a loser! But here's the rest:


36.  NOPE.  I have major personal space issues.

37.  I LOVE clicking pens.  So much so that I won't let myself buy them because that's all I'll do is sit around clicking.

38.  I do this and then feel stress-- Oh no, they know I read their text and that I didn't respond!  Must respond, quick!

39.  Still trying to teach my kids this one.

40.  BWA HA HA HA HA!  Gotta love the passive-aggressiveness!!!!  No, I don't do that.  You're not fooling anyone when you pull this!  (In the south, I've learned we add a, "Bless her heart" when we say something nasty about someone!  This mitigates being a jerk!)

41.  I am insanely on time.  I've been known to apologize for showing up five minutes late to PLAY GROUP.  NO ONE CARES if you're late to play group.  I have issues.

42.  Those people should be shot.  Vaguely.  I unfollow people who pull this.  (Who am I kidding, no longer on social media, either, but I couldn't stand those types!)

43.  Chewing gum makes my jaw ache, so I gave it up years ago.  

44.  I love nicknames but I'm terrible at coming up with them.  I tend to use outdated ones like Dear or Bud.  I don't know why.  My kids' nicknames (if they have them) don't make any sense and are just dumb but I keep using them: Ryder-Pyder.  Camille is Pumpkin Patch.  Kendra is Kennawee (because that's how she said Kendra Lee when she was little).  What are you gonna do?

45.  Nope.

46.  Double nope.  And, gross.

47.  I really struggle with this.  The worst was when I started exercising and I wanted to tell my husband all about each workout and I KNEW it was SO BORING but I was so proud of myself for doing it I had to tell SOMEONE.  Now I listen to his workouts and try to be as nice about it as he was to me (and we only make fun of each other a little bit for this).

48.  I want to hear all the relationship details.  The only people who are down on this are unhappily single, and who can blame them for not being interested?

49.  This isn't okay???  What if I'm home 90% of the time?  Then it can't matter, right?

50.  This is only a problem when I'm trying to figure out the order for five kids.  Cut me some slack then!!!!


I feel like I have more to say, but I've probably rambled on long enough now...

Thanks for putting up with my novel-lengthed comments!

)en said...

yay! Thanks for this! So entertained.