What Ticks You Off?

What ticks me off?

10 Recent Pet Peeves:

1. "Over abundance of remotes"
Story time: Over the Easter holiday, at my parent's house, I was attempting to have a peaceful afternoon and watch a movie (How Do You Know... not recommending... very unbelievably slow and not the best ending.) Yes, this might sound like a very uncomplicated task, but don't be fooled. Not only did it take me 10 minutes to figure out which of the 6 remotes (not exaggerating) turned on the TV, but once I finally got the TV turned on... it took another 20 minutes to determine which remote actually turned on the DVD player. Don't celebrate too soon... I then ended up having to yell for dad to get the volume to come on... who knew that there were 10 different speaker options. "Where is your touch screen TV remote that combines all of your other remotes into one?" You may ask. Welp... It's definitely collecting dust and has been used once since I've lived in my apartment... FAIL!

2.  "Bad grammar "
(note: I do not mean bad spelling because I am a self proclaimed awful speller... thank you Mr. Inventor of Spell Check.) I'm talking about college graduates that cannot form a sentence on paper or in conversation without sounding empty-headed. I never overly noticed good/bad grammar until I started teaching. I'll admit that it used to be a pet peeve of mine when people would openly correct my grammar mid-conversation. But, yes, I've ironically been sucked into the world of the grammar critic. So I apologize ahead of time if I at any point openly correct your grammar... feel free to call me out.

3. "Black socks with shorts"
(I hope my brother is reading this because he is the #1 suspect of this heinous fashion crime. The only thing worse is socks with sandals... unless you are retired and living in Florida... then I will put aside my opinions for your fashion fopas.)

4. "Haughtiness at Harris Teeter"
Rude people in the grocery store really get me upset and in a tizzy Today I was glared at by a woman because, heaven forbid, I take a few seconds to choose what kind of chips I want and then to top it all off the guy behind me in line bumped me with his cart... on purpose and without regret... because I obviously wasn't moving up to the register fast enough for him. Come on people... I know you're hungry but give a girl a break!

5. "Downtown Pomposity"
Pompous, big shot bankers who think they can walk across a busy road downtown when the red hand is obviously well lit in front of them and I am seconds from running them down. Sometimes I like to speed up just to see if they'll run... And of course they don't because that would ruin their recently polished Hugo Boss Loafers.

6. "Public Transportation"
City buses. Enough said. They continue to make me 10 minutes later to work every morning and "NO, I will not wake up 10 minutes earlier just to avoid you... you will not get that satisfaction!"

7. "Coffee Spillage"
Coffee spilling out of the little hole in the top of the cup when I'm driving.
If you haven't seen the "pluggers" as I like to call them (supposedly called a splash stick?). You must look for them next time you're at Starbucks! Bless the soul of whatever genius invented my new best friend. It's such a feat to be able to carry my coffee to the car... unlock the door and get in... put my drink in the cup holder while starting the car... make it to work, out of the car and into my classroom... all without spilling one single drop of coffee. The simple things in life make me oh so happy.

8. "Dirt in the Kitch"
That's right... a dirty kitchen makes me cringe.  My apartment might be a wreck (which as previously posted, never happens because I am the Queen of "hiding") but my kitchen is SPOTLESS!! Counters clean. Everything facing the right direction (just a tad bit OCD) Cook books all stacked by size. No clutter what-so-ever. Oh and don't worry... I like to clean other people's kitchens... whether asked to or not... so be forewarned.

9. "Starbucks Snobbery"
Some mornings are just the type of mornings when I wake up and know that I'm not going to get through 7 hours of teaching plus tutoring and meetings so I decide to treat myself to one of the finer things in life... Starbucks.

Today (being one of those mornings) I realized a very big huge peeve of mine:

People who have outrageously complicated coffee orders.

Sometimes I have to agree with Joe Fox (You've got Mail): "The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino."

This morning, the woman in front of me in line beat all levels of haughtiness when she sauntered into the building and requested "my usual grande with soy today..." If you're waiting for the "please"... keep on waiting. I mean, seriously, this innocent barista has at least 25 other people who walk in every morning (before 7am) and ask for their "usual." Please save this is poor girl from having to remember yet another order because you're too lazy to say 5 words.
On top of being lazy... said woman had to pick a drink that take 15 minutes to fix (mine taking 2) and now I'm going to be late for work.

*note: by late I mean that I'm not going to get a prime parking spot behind the top building... a deal breaker of a good day for me. I'd compare this necessity to that of getting a senior spot in the parking lot in high school. There are only 10 spots and they are gone before 7AM so you have to wake up extra early to get one of those plots of gold..... even if you're going to sit in your car for 15 minutes facebooking instead of actually going into work.

10. "Gas Prices"
Need I say more. When is the price of gas going to get back to normal? That is if you can even remember what normal is. This weekend (after filling up my gas tank... curse) I was ranting and raving about the outrageous price of gas and I caught myself saying... "If only they could get the price back down to $3.00... Hold On... the price of gas should be around 2 dollars!"
Gas prices need to drop... now yesterday.

Please comment and share "What Ticks You Off?" because I know every one of you has a special pet peeve of your own!