A peeve from Sherry.

A peeve from Sherry...

My pet peeve is that throughout my town there are several
"FOR RENT" houses that have either been burnt down,
abandoned, or let go! What is the problem for someone to
keep up this house? Don't they know that it depreciates the
value of the house right next door? Just because they get
a tax write off doesn't mean they get to keep it looking like
crap. A little paint and a lawn mower goes a long way!
There ought to be some sort of law that has "guidelines"
about what is required from the owner in order to keep "renting"
(or even owning) this house! Come on Landlords/Landladies,
get with it!
______________________________________________________________

Deana submits the following...

What really gets to me is when someone goes to take
a bath... after they finish they leave their clothes on the
floor right by the dirty clothes hamper. Is it so hard
to bend over, pick them up, and put in the hamper... or are
people just too lazy?

[I'd put my money on lazy...]
______________________________________________________________

A TV sports peeve from Gary...

My pet peeve will step on the toes of all fans of Monday
night football. We are not football fans but understand
those that are. We enjoy our nightly half hour with Wheel
of Fortune. For the last three Mondays that I noticed and
probably more than that, the regularly scheduled program
of Wheel of Fortune has been taken off for the all mighty
Monday night football. I know there are a lot of football fans
out there, but lets be fair about it. There are some who
cannot stand it and hate to be pushed aside all the time
for it. This is not thirty years ago. There are all kinds of
sports channels now for this kind of thing. Why ruin things
for someone who has other interests?

[The network makes more money off of Monday Night Football.
Anyway... there's always the Game Show Network.]
______________________________________________________________

From Jeanne...

My peeve is related to phone machines answering when
you call and having to push all kinds of numbers to actually
talk to a real person. I hate that! But how about when you're
in the middle of doing something important and your phone rings?
You get up and go answer it and it's a recording, "Please hold
for an important message." If it's so stinking important...
why don't they have a live person dial the number? I'm not
gonna stand there and wait till they get good and ready to talk
to me! They called ME! I NEVER wait. I just HANG UP!
______________________________________________________________

From Juliet...

The other day I was driving down the road and I saw a
house for sale. About four days later, I drove by it again
and noticed that the sign out front had a SOLD tag on it.
Why can't they just take the whole FOR SALE sign
down? That irks me!! Does anyone know why this
is?

[My guess would be advertising for the real estate firm.
It looks good for them if all of their signs have "SOLD"
on them. That would be my personal guess, anyway.]
______________________________________________________________

An unusual/unedited one from Branda...

Ok im a body percer so i guess this wont apply to too
may people. But my pet peeve is that because there are
not that many female percers (at least in our area} no body
thinks that I compedent to do a good percing. Or because
i dont have a lot of facial percings Im not a big enough freak
to poke a hole in them. News flash its all in the training
! male or female I am one of the best! and my ten percings
are all covered unless I CHOOSE to let someone see them.

Another pet Peeve I have is stupid people that get anal
over small things like the difference between "sented"
and "flavored"!

[Want to be considered competent??? Learn how to
spell your profession!]
______________________________________________________________

From Clarissa...

My peeve is people who are afraid of dogs. Don't get me
wrong, I have every sympathy for them. But sometimes their
behavior is a bit bizarre. I have a very large mixed breed dog,
and every morning I walk him. When other pedestrians go by,
he gets eager and excited. (He's not vicious, he's friendly, but
at his size there's not a lot of difference.) He is only eighteen
months old and I am still in the process of training him, so I
shorten his leash, pull him as far to the side as possible, and
hold him while the pedestrian goes by. People who like dogs
have no problem with this.

But people who are afraid of dogs tend to do something rather
strange: They stop dead in front of me as I struggle to keep
hold of the dog and ask me questions. Does he bite? I hope
not. I'm afraid of dogs. I got bitten real bad once. Are you
sure you can hold him back? It's for them that I do this!
Can't they edge past and get it over with?
______________________________________________________________

From Lonnie...

My peeve is that when I use AOL IM, I sometimes put up
an away message and actually walk away from the computer.
Well, a friend will write and get the message in response.
But... she won't stop! It says I'm not there, but she keeps
talking anyway... like I'm listening. C'mon! It said I'll be back
soon... so wait until I get back! I hate those people... those
back-talkers to away messages!
______________________________________________________________
This peeve comes from Tom...

I hate when I go over to someone's house and they're
serving dinner... but they touch all of the food. Come
on, at least do it where I can't see you! I was at my
neighbor's and she was putting ice cream in bowls
for everyone... but she kept touching it to push it from
the scoop into the bowl. Then she'd lick her fingers!
I don't wanna eat off of your fingers... ewww!
______________________________________________________________

From Peter...

My peeve is when people so much gum that they have to
practically open their mouth over and over again. This means
they spit all over you. It's really quite disgusting. My friend
does this and it forces me to sit a few feet away from him.
I should put some plastic matting down!!
______________________________________________________________

From Dianne...

I hate it when I get on a site to view something only to see
that the writing is the same color or is lighter than the
background. How do these places expect us to read what
they have to offer when their lettering is the same as the
background. Please either put your background dark and the
lettering light or vice-versa.

______________________________________________________________
This week's first peeve comes from Alex in Australia...

My pet peeve in Aussie land is the BANKS... they are so
greedy. In the last few years they have increased profits
enormously, they have laid off many thousands of their workers,
they continually increase existing fees and introduce new ones
and then they provide poorer and poorer service to customers.
They have no commitment to customers, only to the great god
PROFIT. They must be the greediest institutions in existence.

[I don't think that's just an Australian thing... <g>]
______________________________________________________________

From Jenn...

My peeve is all these new holiday commercials. Particularly
the Amazon.com ones with these horrible singers in these
terrible looking sweaters. What is Amazon thinking? Why
would that make me want to buy a book??
______________________________________________________________

Lisa's lemon peeve...

My peeve is when you go to a restaurant and order a soda
with lemon -- or an iced tea with lemon. Usually they forget
it altogether the first time, but what REALLY peeves me is
when they bring you a refill, and don't bring you a fresh slice
of lemon!!! What do they think -- that I only want the lemon
in my FIRST beverage? That any subsequent ones don't
need to have the lemon in it? I mean COME ON!!! Doesn't
it just make sense that if I want lemon in my FIRST drink that
I want it in ALL of them! Let's use our heads!!!!!
______________________________________________________________

Steve's peeve...

I hate when I turn on the water in the tub to heat up the water,
only to find when I step in to turn on the shower, it gives me a
taste of freezing water. I mean why did I take 10 minutes to
warm up the water, if I'm going to freeze? Is the water from
the tub different from the water of the shower? Does the shower
want my nipples to get hard, does the shower want me to say,
"ARGHHHHH???"
______________________________________________________________

A peeve from Amber...

My peeve is the show MTV is running now called Model
Mission. This show is a gross display of little sixteen year old
girls wearing outfits that don't match trying to be "sexy".
I saw one on there that looked like a fish - and she was a
semi-finalist! They always pick the ugliest one as a winner,
too. This is just the latest in MTV's long line of crappy shows.
______________________________________________________________

From Conrad...

My peeve is people who get irritated by things they
don't understand. "Pushing the envelope" is jargon used
by the pilots of high-performance aircraft. The "envelope" is
a visual metaphor for the technical limits of the aircraft. A pilot
who stays "inside the envelope" is probably safe. A pilot who is
"pushing the envelope" is risking a crash. (See the movie
"Top Gun.")

______________________________________________________________

From Brook...

What frustrates me beyond anything is when somebody is
drinking something that they find to be terribly gross or to
smell terribly bad, and they tell you to smell it. If they said it
smells gross or tastes bad, why would I want to smell it?

[Because it's funny to see you gag, too.]
______________________________________________________________
From Marcia...

In response to the pet peeve from Cathy about the word hateful,
mine is about the phrase "pushing the envelope." Who came up
with this stupid phrase? It sounds totally ridiculous. Why can't
they just say that it is "pushing it to the limit"? I hate that phrase
and just want to grind my teeth down to nothing every time I hear it.
______________________________________________________________

Here's a peeve from Lisa...

My peeve is about the misuse of the word "them." So many
acquaintances of mine use that word very loosely. One way
that drives me up the wall is when people say "them are or
them were." What is that all about? My boyfriend does this,
and I just want to slap him upside the head.

Another language peeve I hate is when people say "We was
doing, etc." The bad thing about this is, I hear people doing
this in the workplace! These are educated people who
should know how to tak like and adult....

______________________________________________________________

From Sam...

I just saw the new James Bond movie and I have a peeve!
The whole movie peeved me a little, to be honest. First off,
why was the nuclear scientist played by a bimbo who almost
giggled every time she said the word hydrogen? And... why did
the master villain have to be a female? You can't properly kill
a female. Like, in the last movie when they ground that guy up
into tiny bits! They couldn't do it to her... they just shot her.
And finally, the guy who could supposedly "not feel pain." If
he couldn't feel anything, he wouldn't live very long. He
would probably find it very hard to stand up, in fact! He
wouldn't be able to tell if he was upright, even! But... that's a
Bond movie for you, I guess.
______________________________________________________________

A peeve from Cathy...

The word "hateful" is really, really
annoying and should no longer be used. The people who use
it are annoying, the sound is annoying, the meaning is annoying.
Just say hate, people!

______________________________________________________________

Christina's anti-AOL response to the other day...

I'm sorry, but AOL is NOT the best ISP out there - and
guess what dear: Microsoft Internet Explorer is ONLY a web
browser, not an Internet service provider. AOL is not only
slower than molasses in January, but it also ties up your
phone line. And if you're in an area where the dial-in number is
not a local phone number, guess what - there goes your
"one payment" argument, because you have to pay your
regional calling phone bill. And if you get another phone line,
you have that payment as well.

The best way to go in regards to an ISP is either a cable
modem or ethernet. Why? First, they do NOT tie up your
phone line. Second, connection speeds are a thousand
times faster (for all you AOLers out there who are used to
1kbps or maybe if you're really lucky 5kbps - just IMAGINE
a connection/download speed of 60kbps or higher - blows
your mind, doesn't it?). Third, the cost for a cable modem
or ethernet ISP is usually less than the cost of a second
phone line. A friend of mine actually had an ethernet ISP
in his apartment complex that was included in the rent for
$10 extra a month. Another friend of mine used to have AOL...
had the second phone line, and the whole bit. Then, he
discovered Road Runner - the local cable modem ISP, decided
to try it, and now he can't believe he EVER wasted his time
with, and I quote, "that piece of s**t they call AOL." With
Road Runner, you get Web access, 5 email accounts, space
to create a homepage, you can download ICQ for FREE
(which takes all of 5 seconds with a cable modem) and have
online chat capabilities, file transfers, everything... you
can even use AOL Instant Messenger which comes with
Netscape to send messages to your low-tech AOL friends.
You can even have more than one computer online at the
same time!!! All you have to do is buy (or borrow) a
hub.

So quit preaching that AOL is the best thing out there...
because as I have just proved - there are some things
that are better. Much better.
______________________________________________________________

From Toby...

Why do people love those stupid "ergonomic" keyboard
so much? They're almost impossible to use... and when
I can't type fast on them, people treat me like I can't type
at all. I can type... but gimme a REAL keyboard to do it
on!!!
______________________________________________________________

Joleen sends in this peeve...

My peeve has to do with these
clamp-on desk lamps that never actually stay clamped. In fact,
whenever I hook one of these beasts to my desk, it fall off no
more than a week later! C'mon!!! It's really irritating to have to
constantly reattach this unsteady light source.
______________________________________________________________

This peeve comes from Marc...

I hate it when the gas cap on my car is soooo hard to get
open. Sometimes I turn it and it just clicks or scrapes.
I guess it's my fault for driving an old car... but it's still very
annoying to have to fight with it when I go to get gas. Even
my friend noticed it when she tried to put gas in my car the
other day.
______________________________________________________________

Our first peeve comes from Cody...

My peeve is the way places just up and close before their
hours say they should. I tried to go to Wendy's the other
day in Atlanta at 11:00pm. They sign said that the place
closes at 11:30pm. Guess what? They were closed, the
inside gave a "sorry we're closed" gesture and walked away.

I remember when I was young... people couldn't away with
this type of thing. You can't close the store before it's
supposed to close up. And I wouldn't even mind that much
if the guy would have realized what was going on and let us
in when we knocked.
______________________________________________________________

Lisa's peeve...

Mine is about Caller ID. I might accidentally misdial a telephone
number when trying to call a friend and I realize it and hang up
before anyone answers. A short time later I get a call and
someone says "Who's this?" without identifying themselves and
so I say "You called me, who is this?" and they get this attitude,
"Well your number showed up on my caller ID" and yeah, so?
Then I say I misdialed your number by accident, blah blah.
They don't believe me or think I was trying to talk to her
husband or just whatever to aggravate me and ending up I am
getting harassed! What has happened to people's manners?
*Note- If I don't realize it until after someone picks up I don't
just hang up in their ear, I do say excuse me I dialed the
wrong number.
______________________________________________________________

Barry's peeve...

I'm 21 years old and only look 18. I hate it when people
selling stuff knock at the door and ask is my mommy there!
I mean, come on people! What gift do these people have that
they can assume my age! I'd hate to see it happening when
I get to 30!

Thanks for letting me air my grievance, because I am sure
I'm not the only one out there with the same problem.
______________________________________________________________

An unedited peeve response from an AOLer...

Your internet service (whichever it may be) can NOT offer
in ONE payment everything webTV and AOL offer. You
don't get email, chats, WWW access and all that. No if
you go with Microsoft Internet explorer you have to get an
on-ramp provider, and a different email account. I actually
quite enjoy signing on to AOL 5.0 and seeing Welcome
So-and-So, and its really easy to use. And everyone who
slams it either is jealous of the money AOL is making,
or they are just so completely computer illiterate they don't
know software from the mouse. (I'm not THAT computer
literate myself, and I can figure it out.) And for the webTV guy,
stop whining about Microsoft not telling you everything, I mean
any major long distance carrier can "slam" you and unregister
you from your long distance carrier and charge you for using their
long distance phone and you won't know anything about it till
you get a bill from them. STOP WHINING!!! i'm sick of it.

[While I'm not a huge fan of AOL myself, I do see that they give
the non-nerds <g> an easier route online. But, this guy is a bit
over the top.]
______________________________________________________________
From Australia...

My peeve is much like the one from the girl in Canada.
When people from other countries actually think we have
kangaroos hoping around the streets (mind you they also
think we don't have streets, just dirt roads) and koalas just
hanging around for everyone to have a hug. Come on, really?!?!?!
The funniest question I ever heard was from a pen friend who
actually wanted to know if we had electricity or television for
that matter! I think some people have seen Crocodile
Dundee too many times!!!
______________________________________________________________

From Lisa...

My peeve is about people who do not know the difference
between voice mail and an answering machine. Our company;
like millions of others, is equipped with AUDIX, an automated
system. Too often when I check voice mail, I get messages
from people who are shouting, "hello? is anyone there?" into
our voice mail! Or there are the people who keep right on
talking to whoever they're talking to in the background while
the voice mail prompt beeps to leave a message.
______________________________________________________________

From Khudeja...

I am from Pakistan and what pisses me is that people all
over the world look down at us. I mean it's not the fault
of the people that each government brings with it corrupt
party men. The government does nothing to improve the
economy of the country instead they are just after power
and money. Thus, we end up being a poor downtrodden
nation with no clue as to what is going to happen to us next.
______________________________________________________________

I liked this one from Steve...

What's the point of rhetorical questions? Who needs
them? Why would I want to use any in, say, a peeve?
Don't we all agree that they're really useless, and
there are far better ways of expressing our ideas than
by using rhetorical questions? Can't one simply state
facts augmented by detailed modifiers, without trying
to make every sentence into a question? For example,
what if I were to bring an argument against hypocrisy?
Couldn't I go all into how it is extremely annoying for
someone to critisize a concept on one hand, while plainly
doing the same thing at the same time, without asking
questions that aren't going to be answered? What is the
world coming to, when we must use interrogative sentences
at every turn, but not expect an answer?

______________________________________________________________
From Stephanie...

The crossing arms at most railroad tracks are really unsafe.
There's only those two arms and some lights; if they were to
screw up, you're dead. I've seen them malfunction before,
and just start blinking and waving up and down with no train
at all. So if they're that unreliable for no reason, when a train
comes, what's the possibility that they could stay up and not
warn anyone? It doesn't seem like it's too much trouble to
reinforce them somewhat against cars and the people in them
getting destroyed like eggs because "Oops, a screw broke."
______________________________________________________________

This peeves comes from Dave...

Why does my CD player take so long to spin up? Does it have
to meet and greet the CD, which it's seen a million times before,
and reintroduce it to the tape player and radio??? It's not a big
production, CDs are shaped like a wheel, and the thing doesn't
have to reinvent it or anything. Just get going with the music,
and stop wasting my time!
______________________________________________________________

This comes from TJ...

I hate it when people write in blue ink, especially on
yellow legal pads. What's with yellow? Is white an illegal
pad color? Yellow notebook paper isn't common. Blue
pens with yellow paper looks green, and if my eyes weren't
confused enough, there's a red line shooting down the side!
ARRRRGGHH! It's like an ink circus, orchestrated entirely
to give me a pounding headache.

[OK, now... some of these peeves are getting a little crazy.]
______________________________________________________________

From Jacob...

My peeve is people like that person from earlier this week...
those who have WebTV but complain about it. Same for you
AOLers! Go on, get a real Internet service provider! Stop
fooling yourselves with that crap.

[I didn't say it... don't send the hate mail to me. :-)]
______________________________________________________________
From Teresa in Canada...

I don't know about all the rest of you but I must be a clean
freak because my peeve is when someone is in the kitchen
and leaves the cupboards wide open and leaves the drawers
open and then keeps cooking like nothing is wrong. I have a
small kitchen and when I watch my boyfriend cook it drives
me up the wall because he leaves everything he opens just
that way....open. The same goes for the bedroom with the
dresser drawers, it makes me crazy to come home from work
and walk by the Kitchen and find the cupboards open but
worse I go into the room and all of his dresser drawers are
open. I don't see how this can be a hard concept????
______________________________________________________________

From Domi...

Recently Webtv Network did an upgrade. It offered us more
options and all that bull, but what ticked me was they did
something and did not inform the customers of this new option.
I mean they informed us of everything else, but not this one thing
that I find to be very important. If you have webtv and you have
been receiving a lot of junk mail there is a reason for it. If you go
to your home page and click on to acct. Go to Privacy. If you
read it you will notice there are two things that are new and
marked without your knowledge. The first one is for webtv
to give out our email address to certain businesses, that also
includes our home address and phone numbers and the
second box that is marked is so they can see what channels
we watch with our webtv. Make sure to go over to your acct.
and uncheck those boxes, unless you don't mind Webtv doing
this without your knowledge.

The only reason I found out about this is, because a friend
told me. I mean come on Microsoft if you can notify us about
these upgrades and let us know what is included don't leave
out certain information that could affect us and were you can
profit from.
______________________________________________________________

My name is Scott and I know this has had to of happened
to all of you at least once. I'm just about to put the moves
on this girl that I REALLY like and I know she likes me and all
of a sudden, one of my other female friends runs between us
and starts talking. Obviously she ruined the mood.
AAHHGGGGG!!!!
______________________________________________________________

From Hardy...

I work for one of the popular tourist boards in the United
States, and I cant stand some of the questions we get asked
by the average American tourist, like is it possible to drive to
Europe? what is that thing that goes under the sea to get to
Paris? or a travel agent asking for the number of a hotel,
and when we ask them if they have a booking agent guide
and they say yes, and then we have to tell them the full
details of the hotel are in the guide. This leave's foreigners
thinking where are all the intelligent people of US.
______________________________________________________________

Colin's peeve...

My pet peeve has to be the 18-25 youth of Belgium who
work in Quick, Belgium's answer for McDonald's. The name
of the restaurant Quick is a gross deception at any rate, they
are nothing but Slow. When you eventually get to the front of
queue, you are eyed up by an inane idiot, who acts a if he is
doing you a favour by letting you purchase food from his
employer. We have never, ever bought anything in Quick
without them forgetting at least two things we have ordered
or changed our order to whatever was to hand. It is
incomprehensible how anyone can mistake 'Maxi Frites'
(Large Fries) for a Fanta and Donut, with mayonnaise.
But somehow or another, they do it. Now as for Belgian
shop assistants...
______________________________________________________________

Maria from Canada...

My pet peeves is those drivers that cut out in front of you
and then drive SUPER slow. You know the ones, all you
can see are their hands on the steering wheel and they can't
even see over the dash board. I've been driving almost daily
for over 18 years with no accidents (touch wood!) and have
had this happen to me almost every day. Unlike some of
these drivers, I have too many places to be, too many
things to do than to waste my time driving 20 km under the
speed limit meandering around town.
______________________________________________________________

From Amanda...

My peeves involve movie theaters. I took my boyfriend's
son to see the Pokemon movie today. (That's a peeve all
by itself.) The movie theater was freezing! Why do they
do this? And then there was the kid sitting behind me who
apparently didn't want to see the movie (imagine that). He
kept getting up and walking back and forth down the aisle.
Between him pulling my hair, and his Mom constantly
telling him to sit down, I didn't enjoy the movie at all. (I know,
it's Pokemon, what is there to enjoy?) If your kids are too
young to bring to a movie, leave them with a baby-sitter!

______________________________________________________________

From Patrick...

I drive a pickup (I'm from Texas originally). When I ride
downtown Heidelberg, Germany, the Germans stare at
my truck like it is an alien ship. Come on people... trucks
have been around for a VERY long time.
-______________________________________________________________
Brad...

I have a couple peeves.

First, I'm Canadian, and I do not say "eh" after every
sentence. We're assumed to only be idiots like that...
that's only mild, though.

Second, this is the big one, I'm a huge wrestling fan.
People tell me constantly that wrestling is fake and
predetermined. Well, DUH! Do I actually believe that
any human being would powerbomb another through a
flaming table? Not unless they're really twisted...
I mean, the worst part of being a wrestling fan is the
"wrestling has gone too far!" shows and letters. People,
you claim wrestling goes too far. Well, sure it's very sad
that kids kill other kids with wrestling moves. But there
are bigger problems! One person gets injured and one
gets killed. But here's the thing: Wrestling officials take
EVERY POSSIBLE PRECAUTION!! It isn't just "all right,
you go here." They set everything up. And all this about
it causing too many deaths and promoting violence, well,
it doesn't promote serious stuff. When did Steve Austin
teach the kids in Littleton, Colorado, to build a pipe bomb?
It didn't happen. People, stop blaming wrestling and start
looking at the way you raise your own kids and the like
before you decide on what the cause is.
______________________________________________________________

Tammy in Canada...

I'm living in Canada (I was born and raised in the US) it
boggles my mind that even in this day and age
(TV/news/cable/internet) most people that I have contact with
who live in the US think that we all live in igloos! While in
grade school in California we studied Canada and were told
that one could snow ski anywhere in Canada year round.
Even when I told my teachers that this wasn't so, that I had
visited here during the summer months, even brought in
pictures of my trips, they would not believe me.

What is wrong with most of the world! Can you not believe
what you see in pictures, or what others tell you?

Until that time, I guess that my children will continue to
tell the others that they meet on the net what they want to
hear....that, yes we have a nice little igloo, it is blue as we
use food coloring on the outside walls, and that Snoopy,
our pet polar bear, is just fine. No Snoopy doesn't eat a
lot of fish, he likes Polar Bear Chow much better.

Come on people get a clue, we have electricity, televisions,
pavement, sidewalks, computers...oh and yes, we even have
running water and bathrooms!
______________________________________________________________

Brandi's peeve from Germany...

My peeve is that the Europeans don't know the meaning
of a line. I've lived in Germany for six years and traveled
around Europe during that time period and it seems to be
a European thing. They push and shove through the crowd
to be the first at everything. Come on you can show a little
respect for the other people around you and wait. They have
not yet learned what patience is!!
______________________________________________________________

Brigitte's peeve...

I live in Malaysia, and I hate the way the government
treats people. The government controls all the TV
channels, all the radio channels, all the major daily
newspapers, the judiciary, the police, the army,
everything except the Internet basically. So they can
broadcast blatant lies about anything they like, and
there's no way to 1)check if it's true unless you have
access to the Internet; 2)answer; 3)comment about it.
That's because they also have a very interesting set
of laws: The ISA (internal Security Act) that allows
them to detain anyone without trial, reason or proof
for an indefinite amount of time; the OSA (Official
Secret Act) which also allows the same thing as the
ISA if you discuss anything sensitive; and the Press
and Printing Act which prohibits anyone from printing or
publishing anything jeopardizing the government.
They really think the public is stupid! The (former)
deputy prime-minister refused to resign when asked to,
and he is now rotting in jail under a ridiculous
accusation of sodomy! They have bought themselves a
"sodomee," medical experts, etc., and they think
they can prevent people from supporting the ex DPM
this way.

The latest joke here: elections have been announced.
Nomination of candidates is on Nov 20th, and elections
on Nov 29th, which corresponds to an electoral
campaign of 8 DAYS!! Of course, the government has
full use of newspapers, TV, radio, and public
buildings such as schools for their gatherings. The
opposition has nothing! What drives me so crazy is
that all this is so obviously unfair and undemocratic,
but they claim the opposite, and will throw you in
jail to prove it!
______________________________________________________________

A peeve from Amanda in England...

You don't understand just how much this beef thing pisses
me off, I mean, if they can feed their poor animals human
waste and think they can get away with it they are seriously
wrong. I have and will boycott all their produce and if the
apple farmers don't think it's fair then they should stand up
and do something about it on their end, protest, don't just
sit on your arses and whine, make a stand.

______________________________________________________________

A common, and very good one from Jonathan...

One of my pet peeves is tech support people that assume
the customer is stupid. We have all seen the funny stories
about callers that make dumb mistakes or show that they
have no technical knowledge at all. That's fine, those people
are out there. When I call with a problem, I have already done
extensive troubleshooting and give good tech info about the
problem, symptoms and attempted fixes up to that point.
It never fails that the first person you talk to is working from a
script and doesn't know what to do if you deviate from it.
I don't need to check my connections again and I have
already verified that the disk is in the drive. If the caller has
more technical knowledge than you, pass them on to a senior
tech. It recently took me three months to get to a tech
that listened to me and fixed the problem (on their end) that
I had identified three months earlier. Tech support needs to
listen to the customer before deciding the person on the other
end is stupid. Although most of the time they are probably
right, sometimes we could all save a lot of time if they just listen.

[I know, Microsoft is pretty bad about this. You'd also think
Microsoft could afford a stinking 800 number! Last time I had
a problem with Windows I must have spent $50 on calls to
Washington. Sheesh! That penguin started to look pretty
appealing!]
______________________________________________________________

A peeve from Scarlett...

I just have a quick pet peeve to get off my chest. It severely
irritates me when I'm introduced to a man and he extends a
handshake to me that it's weak and limp. Just because I'm
a woman, doesn't mean I don't know how to give a handshake
and make it mean something.

______________________________________________________________

Mike has several peeves...

I have a couple of pet peeves. One is when people stretch
the collar of my T-shirts so they are all big and make me
look extra small. Another is when I am walking and my
pants either tuck into the back of my shoes or they go
completely underneath my shoes and get all dirty. I also
strongly dislike when people wear jeans skiing or
snowboarding or have that little space of forehead between
their hat and their (usually) oversized goggles (which are
usually meant for people with glasses, glasses they DON'T
have). You must know these things!!
______________________________________________________________

Finally, this peeve from Jane...

My pet peeve involves ice cubes. YES, ICE CUBES.
My husband, and now my granddaughter are always sitting
around chomping on ice cubes and it just sends me clean
through the roof! I can't stand it any longer. I constantly
ask them not to do it and they do it even more. I had heard
once that chomping on ice cubes was a sign of sexual
frustration, well, he isn't and she's only 7! Stop, please,
I can't handle it anymore!!!!!!!!!!
______________________________________________________________
From Stephen...

My peeve is the homecoming events at my school. We have
this stupid thing called "switch day." Students apparently feel
the need to dress up in clothes characteristic of the opposite sex.
Thus, many of the male students end up looking like prostitutes
(as they somehow assume that this is how girls normally dress),
and the females don UPS uniforms and fatigues (because, of
course, the UPS and military work forces are specifically
100% male).
______________________________________________________________

From Freddy...

My peeve concerns Hot Pockets. Why do they make the
actual "hot pocket" wider than the pouch you're supposed to
microwave it in? You just wind up getting crumbs on everything
and making a big, huge mess!
______________________________________________________________

I work in a retail showroom and answer the phones frequently.
I am always amazed at the rudeness and stupidity I hear from
the other end (usually a salesman). This is an example of a
typical stupid phone call:

"Thank you for calling 'such and such.' How may I help you?"
"Thomas Ratterstein, please"
(First, how about a: "may I speak with? or "is he there?"
Sometimes I do not even get the "please" on the end. Secondly,
if they ask for the boss using the full name, it is a big tip off that
it is a salesman on the other end and not a customer.)
"Yes, he is in, may I ask who is calling?"
"This is Mary"
(No last name, and they get irate if you ask them for their last
name. This is a retail establishment, don't they realize how many
Mary's there are in the world? Can they not fathom that perhaps,
just perhaps, THEY are not the ONLY Mary the boss knows?)
"May I ask what company you are from, Mary?"
(This is usually where they hang up right in your ear, however,
there are a bold few who continue. Some of the more nervy ones
actually get ticked off at you for even to dare ask them such a
question.) "He is not available right now, may I help you?"
(Now, if this doesn't give you an immediate click right in the ear,
not even a "no thank you" or "good-bye," then, it is on to the
next challenge, getting a return phone number.)

I just do not understand why people can't leave a message,
return phone number, or even a simple name. Many times the
questions these self-important people wish to ask the boss are
questions that he doesn't even answer, I do. I simply love when
they insist on speaking to the owner only to have him give the
phone back saying "Connie is the one who takes care of that.
She can help you." So salespeople, when you call, give a name
and a company name, because if you don't, you will NEVER talk
to the boss. It is my job to weed out sales people. I HAVE to
ask these questions so that my boss isn't aggravated all day
(like I am) by senseless, pointless, rambling, idiotic sales people!
Deal with it!

One last peeve, for contractors who think that because I am (gasp)
blonde and young that I have no clue how to design, price, or write
a contract. I, myself, am one of the top salespeople in our city
(and I don't do it by being pushy or stupid). I may look young, but
I have been designing for 10 years now. And, if you ask to speak
to the owner because he is a MAN and not a WOMAN, he will
return your phone call to ME.
______________________________________________________________

Another eBay hater...

I have won several bids on that service and never received
the items. About $100, down the drain. After being burned 5
times in a 2 week period, I decided that was enough and
canceled any outstanding bids. Then E-Bay sends me a
dirty e-mail warning me my membership would be canceled!
Can you believe it! It seems the sellers have a recourse but
not the buyers. The sellers require you to send in the money
first but when you don't receive your items, there is nothing
you can do unless the item is more than $25. Why would
I purchase something that cost that much, when I can't get
the $10 item???!!
]
______________________________________________________________

From Whitney...

I have a lot of peeves, but my main one is about "fantasy
lives." For instance, people that drool over famous people
two times there age when of course they don't have any
chance in life with them. Sure I have dreams and it's great
that others do too, but this is ridiculous! I am thirteen and
almost all of my friends are very down to earth. If they start
talking about some really hot guy/girl, I leave. I don't want
to put up with other people problems. I have my own which
I can deal with by myself.
______________________________________________________________

From Alan...

My peeve is the mispronunciation of iced tea. It's ICED
tea, people! Not ice tea. There is no ice tea... the tea is
ICED!!!! Man, that really drives me nuts. It happens all
the time at the restaurant I go to. I really wish people
would think about what they're saying!
______________________________________________________________

A peeve from Gary...

I hate the way people just abandon old vehicles on the side
of the road. What is with this? I drive to work every day
and must pass a new one once or twice a week. Can't
these people have them towed away or taken to the
junk yard? I know people who would tow it for free just
to get the scrap. These people are just being irresponsible.
______________________________________________________________