Angry Pedestrian

I wouldn't say I'm a person who is easily angered, but very specific things get to me. One of these is when I'm crossing the street (with the walk light) and some jacka$$ makes a turn into my path either stopping me dead in my tracks or forcing me to jog back a few steps. I try to avoid this by assuming cars will not stop, but sometimes you're halfway across the street by the time a car way behind you is suddenly turning into your path.

Well, in the last year or two I've gotten into the habit of... slapping some cars that do this . It started out of sheer frustration, and it's now practically instinct (only in very public places). Most people just keep driving and some people yell at me about how they had a green light to turn and blah, blah, blah - having no idea they were totally wrong. The ones who do it maliciously I leave alone for fear of getting shot or something, and because I feel sorry for the micropenises for which they're trying to compensate (it's almost always men - sorry guys...).

Yesterday, I was about to cross and a woman was slowly making her turn, but not stopping. I have this thing about not dashing into crosswalks, even when I have the right-of-way, in front of a moving car, so I just sort of threw up my arms in a 'do-you-see-me-and-are-you-going-to-let-me-cross?' gesture. She made the same gesture back to me, and continued to move through the crosswalk and into my path.

BEEEEATCH!

As she rolled past, I slapped the back window on her passenger side, hard, and she rolled down her window and yelled at me "I was letting you cross!" Could have fooled me! I just said "Well, then you should have let me cross!"

Today, 4 of my 5 fingers are bruised and I've decided that this is one pet peeve I need to just let go, it's also a real sore point between SO and me. But it is REALLY proving to be difficult! I need to stop thinking about the incident and all the clever things I could have said to her. It's over, she's a stranger, I'll never see her again and am not going to change the way she drives by engaging her this way. I'm having a lot of difficulty convincing myself of all this.

What pet peeves have you gotten over with a little perspective? What haven't you gotten over that you wish you could?

[DCJenn]

Littering for me. It's so bad that I travel with garbage bags and force my dog and my child to watch me pick up litter every single time I walk the dog. I can't help it. I HAVE to pick it up. I also travel with anti-bacterial hand wash on the stroller.

At least it's noted and appreciated by others, though.

As for the pedestrian thing, I walk with the dog and the baby stroller and if the drivers are really pushy, I tell Petey to sit right there in the middle of the crosswalk and we take up all of the time. Yes, I could get killed but it amuses me so damned much in the meantime.

Jenn

[fluffhead]

Ooh that stupid driver thing used to really get to me. I also used to slap cars, and one lady took some offense and really let me have it. Called me some pretty rude names and told me not to touch her car.

People tossing cigarette butts out their windows. I've very nearly picked them up and handed them back a few times. I think that would probably be a mistake.
Oh yeah - y'know what else? When I stop before entering an intersection so as not to cause gridlock, and the light turns red, and the people in back of me honk. I put my brake on, get out of the car, and go talk to the person in back of me. Several times they've had a look of sheer terror as they close the window and lock the doors.

Here you go, Fluff:

[Vanquisher]

You are all going to probably throw stones at me, but my two biggest pet peeves are:

Smoking

...and...

dog lovers - especially those that treat their dogs like people. I do not like dogs, and I hate it when I have to hear endless stories and anecdotes about other peoples pups, and I REALLY hate having dogs forced upon me because they are "members of the family!" I hate going to peoples houses who own dogs. I have a fear of dogs, and I just plain don't like them. I have no desire to pet them, have them jump on me, lick me, or have it explained to me how smart they are. It's not going to win me over.

You may commence the stoning now.

[DCJenn]

I wouldn't bring my dog to other people's houses, period. I don't want to be responsible for the inevitable disaster!

My other pet peeve- SUVs. (Sorry, Sally!) the Denalis, the Excursions, the Hummers, the Escalades, the Suburbans. I'm sure they're great when you have a large family. However, the majority of people that have them DON'T seem to have more than one or two people. HATE THEM.

Jenn

My pet peeve with SUVs is people who don't know the dimensions of their cars. If you know how wide it is and where your bumpers are, fine.

But don't glare at me when you have enough room to get by but are uncertain about how much space you need. Get a smaller car or learn to drive it. (This happened at DD's school a few days ago ).

[fluffhead]

I always thought SUV and minivan drivers should have to have special licenses with truck driving training. During my wife's internship a kid died in her ER - his mother ran him over cause she couldn't see him over the dashboard of her large vehicle.
Alas, once our third arrives, I don't see how we can get by with the hatchback anymore, depriving me of my main reason to look down on those who can run me off the road.

[mommax3]

No offense taken about the Suburban. I used to feel the same way, and I still kind of seethe that it is *only* me in it, driving around running errands during the day.......but when it is full, it is FULL. We will drive it until it dies (and it already has 130K+ miles) but I don't know what we will do next. I *am* cognizant of the size of it, at least.

My biggest pet peeve is customer service (or lack thereof). I don't expect to be treated like royalty, but I do expect to have questions answered thoroughly with more than just "I don't know".

Profanity in public places where there are lots of children also bothers me.

Sally

We've been trying to get three carseats across the back of our car and it is nearly impossible. Actually, the problem is the booster and needing to buckle and unbuckle every time (can't reach). There is rumored to be a skinny or skinnier Britax booster out there. I might try that.

We wanted to wait until post-residency for a different car but a Honda Odyssey might just be in my future. They are a lot easier to see out of, especially the rear window, than an SUV. IMO.

Dayisme, I can relate to the pedestrian rage. I've tapped cars before and have said expletives. But I can't claim to have bruised anything in the process -- yet.

Heidi - I think I'm currently living in your personal hell. Unlike you, I generally like dogs. And I rarely ran across people who talked to their dogs like persons -- at least in public.

But....there is this girl (I say that loosely as she is ~ 23 years old) who lives in our community who is driving me nuts. The girl got two pups in the last year or so. DW and I don't remember seeing her out much prior to the pups.

Our best guess is that prior to the pup "parenthood" gig, she had an indoor-related obsession such as the computer. Anyway, she is outdoors 24-7 now with those pups. But, that's not exactly the problem.

She loudly talks to and about the dogs for everyone to hear -- CONSTANTLY. Everywhere you turn, she is there -- outdoors in your way talking loudly to the dogs as if they were humans.

Anyway, I wish I had a video (with sound of course) to share because I feel my rant is not doing the annoyance of it justice.

Maybe an example will suffice. Around 9 pm the other night, I look out to see our community pool is empty. Sweet! So, I grab a towel and head to the pool to swim some laps. Great, my own personal pool. About fifteen minutes into my swim, I hear this loud yammering in the pool area. Confused, I thought it was weird because I knew I was the only person in the pool. At the end of the lap, I stop to adjust my goggles and figure out where the prattle is coming from. At the gate to the pool, I see the girl standing there with her dogs. Then, she proceeds to command me to splash. She said, "hey, make some splashy noises."

Perturbed and confused, I mumbled that my stroke would indeed create some splash and resumed my swim. Luckily, a few laps later when I looked up under the moonlight she was gone.

WTF! She came to the pool to interrupt a neighbor's swimming so she could "entertain" the dogs. Oh, yeah. The dogs were barking or something so I surmised she thought something was fun for the dogs.

[houseelf]

Kevin's posts got me thinking...My pet peeve (and Kris will appreciate this):

Crazy Neighbors!

Kelly

[Vanquisher]

Yes, Kevin, that would truly be annoying.

Far worse for me though is going over to my friends house and having her dog jump on me throughout the entire visit whilst her owners are shouting no at her. They are convinced said dog is the smartest dog on the planet though and failed obdience school only because she knows how to test them. She "knows" how to behave, she chooses not to. I detest dogs jumping on me! Then, if I do get a chance to sit without being mauled I get to listen to stories about the dog's latest show or hunting classes (though neither of her owners actually hunt). They put her in these classes because she is a hunting breed. They take her on outings to Pet Smart because she likes to be around other dogs. When my friend got pregnant, they bought books on how to prepare the dog for the baby's arrival. Who will prepare the baby? She let the dog lick her tummy to "feel" the baby and get used to it. The dog "knew" that she had to be gentle with my friend.

Fast forward, my friend had her baby, and I hear far, far, far less about the dog. :> However, it still jumps on me when I am over there.

Pet Peeves, hmmmmm, I'm just so easy going, I can't say that I have any!

Grammar issues: me/I in particular, but there are others.

Thoughtless / selfish people

That's all I can think of now.

[Sheherezade]

I'm on board with the pedestrian thing. I have been hit twice by cars making right turns on red. Bleh. Luckily both resulted in minor scrapes/bruises only.

My current pet peeve is landscaping. Specifically, perfect lawns and beds. We don't have those. We get lots of dirty looks from neighbors. Oh well. I am NOT spending a large portion of our income to eliminate dandelions or make the grass grow in out totally shaded yard. We also do not have mulched flower beds. I hope this doesn't make everyone *here* think I'm a total loser. I'm also totally against those weird circles of dirt/mulch that are around all the trees in housing developments now. Why can't the grass go UP to the tree edge??

Which leads me to .....new housing developments. Total pet peeve. I just don't like 'em.