Pet Peeves

I have no idea how many pet peeves I've had over the years, but recently (in early 2013) I started thinking I should compile a list and put it online. Of course, I knew I couldn't think of anywhere near all my pet peeves just by trying; I'd have to wait for them to occur to me naturally, which could take time. And occasionally, one would occur to me, and I'd fail to write it down, and by the time I got around to starting this page, I'm sure I couldn't remember all the ones I'd thought of. Some have surely re-occurred to me since then, though. And others shall no doubt do so eventually. And there are far more that haven't yet occurred to me since I started thinking about it than the few that had. So I don't expect this list to ever be complete. But it's a start, anyway....

• Not being able to remember all the things I wanted to put on this list.
• Not writing things down when I know I won't remember them if I don't.
• FarmVille.
• My computer constantly telling me there are software updates to install when I already have the latest version installed.
•• What's even worse is when a website refuses to load because it says I don't have the most recent version of Flash, even though I definitely do. (Usually I think it's because the website is using an older version of Flash and the site hasn't been updated.)
• My computer's internet status indicator saying I have internet access when I clearly don't.
• When I click on a link that should open in a specific tab that's already open, but instead it opens a new tab.
• My pants being simultaneously too tight and too loose. How is that even possible?
• When clothes or shoes have the same size number, but are obviously different sizes because I already have something that fits perfectly, but when I get something new in the same size, it's too damn tight (or, in theory, too loose).
• People leaving the sponge in the sink after washing dishes, instead of squeezing it out and putting it on the sink.
• When I put peanut butter on the bread, then put the knife in the sink, then realize I forgot to put jam on the bread.
• When my stomach's bothering me, and I can't tell whether I'm hungry or queasy.
• Static electricity, whether it's producing static cling or static shocks.
• When I mean to open the microwave, and instead open the fridge (which is right next to the microwave). This happens all the time.
• When my favorite commercials get deleted from other people's YouTube pages, due to copyright violation, but the companies the ads are for don't put those ads on their own official YouTube pages. Seriously, guys, what's the point in even having an official page if you're not gonna use it to its fullest potential?
• When I'm checking my Amazon wishlist and discover "this title is no longer available," and I have no idea what it was. Dammit, I keep that list to remind me of things I want to get. There are plenty of things that aren't available that they don't erase the title of, why do they have to erase the title of anything?
• People saying "intergalactic" when they mean "interstellar." It's even worse when they actually mean "interplanetary."
• I see a DVD in stores for like $10 or $20 (maybe more if it's a box set), and think "I want that, but I can't really afford it right now. I'll be responsible and wait til later." Later comes, and the DVD isn't in stores anymore, and I'd be lucky to find it online for less than $100 (which I would refuse to pay on general principle, even if I was rich). Patience, my friends, is not always a virtue.
•• This is most notable with The Disney Vault. ZOMG, I hate that so very much. Though at least with that, I know the movies I want will be re-released, eventually, unlike some other things that become unavailable.
• When using two pillows feels too low and using three feels too high.
•• Actually, I have a lot of Goldilocks-type problems, such as one shirt button being too low and the next being too high. Why is nothing ever just right?
• When people credit God with causing something good in their life that just as easily could have happened without His intervention.
•• When people blame God for something bad in their life that just as easily could have happened without His intervention.
• When a beer bottle has not been jostled at all, and there is absolutely no reason for it to overflow when I open it, and it doesn't. And I set it down. And it's fine. And then I look at it like a minute later, and it has overflowed. There are two things wrong with this: one, it should not overflow unless it has been shaken; two, if it's going to overflow, it should do so immediately after being opened, not wait a minute before deciding to do so. I mean, damn.
• Those rare instances when for no apparent reason, my website's domain name temporarily stops working, even though the site still works using its angelfire address.
• When I see commercials for a new product I'd like to try, long before that product ever shows up in stores (at least stores near me). Assuming it ever does show up.
• When people pronounce the name of the store Target as "Tar-zhay."
• When people say "prego" instead of pregnant. Prego is a pasta sauce, people! The correct slang for pregnant is "preggers" (if you absolutely must use slang; but preferably, just say "pregnant," okay?)
• When the text prompt on my computer just randomly jumps to a different point on the screen while I'm typing. I understand that sometimes this happens for a reason, and that's... acceptable. But I swear to you, sometimes it happens with absolutely no cause whatsoever. That is not acceptable.
• Stores that only give you a discount on sale items if you have a "rewards" card. I mean seriously, stores have been having sales every week for decades and decades without needing a card. I'm certain the cards don't make sales any easier for the store or its employees, and they don't make the company any money- in fact they cost the company money to produce, since customers don't pay for them in the first place. So the only possible reason for the cards' existence is to needlessly waste resources and make shopping a nuissance for customers.
• The death of expiration dates. There may still be some products that use them, but most things these days either have "best by" dates or, worse, "sell by" dates. That's all well and good for the seller, but what the hell does it even mean to the buyer? It's definitely not meant to be interpreted as "do not use this product later than this date," so how are we supposed to know, before buying a product, how much longer it'll still be good? The worst offender is milk, I think. I've gotten milk that was still good for maybe a week after the sell by date, but I've also gotten milk that went bad by that date, and even some that's gone bad before that date. (Though to be fair, this may well have happened back in the good ol' "expiration date" days, as well.) It definitely shouldn't go bad before the sell by date, but it's not unheard of. So... I just wish all foods would have actual expiration dates printed on them. (Some don't even seem to have "best by" or "sell by" dates, which is especially irritating, unless the maker is suggesting they will never go bad under any circumstances. Which I very much doubt.)
• When stores- whether selling products firsthand or secondhand- put stickers on items that are practically impossible to remove, without either peeling off part of the actual package or leaving residue behind. (This mostly applies to things like DVDs, and most commonly in secondhand stores.) There are stickers available that peel off cleanly, so I don't know why they don't just use those. (I can't imagine they're dramatically more expensive.) Note: Goo Gone helps with this problem.
• When magazines I subscribe to have address labels printed on the magazine, instead of using a sticker. (Some magazines these days have a blank space for such labels, even for the copies sold in stores, but those spaces can still cover up part of what should be pictures and/or text, which just makes no sense.)
• When a TV series that was cancelled after one season, months ago, comes out on DVD and it says "the complete first season" when it should really say "the complete series."
• There are so many things that bug me about my reviews of movies, TV, etc. Like being less than certain about which category/genre to put my reviews in. Or what to rate them. It especially drives me crazy when I rate a movie, then look at my review of another movie... and find that its rating is lower than the rating I just gave the movie I just watched. Even though I'm sure I like the other movie more. So I'll think about changing the rating of one of them. But I can't bring myself to do it. I am certain I like movie A this much and I am certain that I like movie B that much (be it more or less than movie A)... but my ratings just don't match my feelings. Or rather... I can't explain it because it makes no sense. And come to think of it, there are countless other situations besides ranking stuff that make no sense about how my brain works. It's really confusing and irritating, dammit.
• When I dress lightly because it's hot out, then I go into a store (especially a supermarket) and the air conditioning is so cold it makes me wish I had a coat on. (It's bad enough that my Asperger's makes me pretty much always wish I had a coat or jacket on when I leave the house; I don't need my efforts to put my physical comfort ahead of my psychological comfort punished by stores making me physically uncomfortable, anyway.)
•• When I dress warmly because it's cold out, and then I go into a store and I'm sweating like crazy.
• When I bang my head on low-hanging stuff in other people's houses. Especially pots and pans they've got hanging from the ceiling. I especially especially hate it when I do this repeatedly in a short span of time.
• When people- or menus- say "chicken parmesan" but actually mean "chicken parmagiana." I like parmagiana when it uses mozzarella, but I hate parmesan. But there are plenty of people who talk about chicken parmesan even when the dish doesn't have any parmesan in it. This is especially annoying when restaurants do it, because they should know better. It should only be called chicken parmesan when parmesan is used in the dish.
• When I'm on the internet, and suddenly I hear an ad start playing, and I check every single inch of any windows that may be open, and there is absolutely nothing to be seen that could possibly be producing the audio. So there's no way to stop it, other than to just mute the computer. Which is fine, unless I'm trying to listen to something else. And even if I'm not... it still drives me crazy because it makes no sense that this is even possible.
• When I hit the "back" button on my browser, and it takes me to the page I was on before the last one. It just refuses to acknowledge I was ever at the actual previous page I visited. WTF?
• Public rest room sinks where you have to hold down the faucet lever thing constantly, or the water stops. Which means you have to rinse each hand one-handed. (And what the hell are people who only have one hand supposed to do?)
• When I can hear a fly buzzing in those quick, short bursts that they do when caught in a web or lying on their back... but I can't find where the fly is, so I can't do anything about the incessant, repetitive buzzing, and it drives me crazyyyy!
• When a search box on a website has some text in it (like "search"), and it doesn't automatically disappear when I click on the box, so I have to delete the text myself before entering my own text.
• When I click on a song sample at Amazon and it starts to download instead of streaming, because I didn't notice the player hadn't loaded yet.
• When lights fluctuate in intensity. I'm sitting there trying to read a book or play gameboy or whatever, and for awhile the light is a decent brightness, then suddenly it's dimmer (still sufficient, but not as satisfactory), a bit later it's good again. This goes on and on. It really shouldn't.
• When one or more of the mp3s on my computer have their artwork automatically switched to the artwork of some other mp3. And often, if I manually switch it to the proper artwork, that becomes the artwork on some other mp3s.
• Rooms without overhead lighting and a damn light switch on the wall. In my day, every room in the house would have a light where you could just flip a switch. But in recent years, I've seen a tendency in houses to not have such lights in the living room, and it never ceases to baffle and annoy me. I cannot think of a single reason for houses to be designed that way. And it is a major hassle to try and find a lamp on the floor or table or wherever it is, and try to turn it on in the dark, often needing to stumble around and over furniture before you manage to do so.
• When I go out to eat with people, and at least one of them (most likely my mother or sister) ask what I'm going to order. It is not within my power to comprehend how anyone could even care what I'm going to order, since I cannot possibly care what anyone else is going to order. (I'm pretty damn sure they're not thinking of basing their order on mine, or on asking if they can try my food. But even if they did want to try it, they could very well wait until after I've ordered or after all our food has actually arrived.) Even assuming- as I do- that there really is no actual reason for them to be interested in my order, I don't understand how they can be so impatient as to need to know before I've ordered.
• When I'm in a car with someone (usually my mother or sister or possibly my grandmother) and they take off their seatbelt as they turn onto the street of their destination. Really? You can't wait until we've actually arrived and stopped the car? There is actually a very small part of me that genuinely wishes we'd have an accident and they sustain minor injuries or at least their car sustains minor damage, when they do that. It's not like removing it early actually saves you any time at all, nor any serious discomfort. What's worse is when they put their seatbelt on after they start driving. This doesn't just fail to save time, it actually wastes it, as well as being way more dangerous than removing the seatbelt early.
• When I see something on facebook I actually want to reply to, but that's not an option.
• When I set the DVR to record only new episodes of a show, but it records reruns, as well. (Actually, there are lots of things DVRs do that annoy the heck out of me.)
• The back of my left slipper constantly getting underfoot, so I have to keep pulling it back up.
• Customer reviews on Amazon that appear on every version of a product, instead of just on the specific version the review is about.


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