Annoyances

There have been a few pretty heavy discussions around lately, which have made for some interesting reading, but for a Friday I felt like something a bit lighter, so just for fun I’m starting one.Annoyances, inconveniences, irritations, pet peeves, whatever you may call them they are those little things that simply piss us off. Everybody has them, whether they are big significant things or silly little things. So, let’s hear ‘em! I want to hear the things that really get on your nerves.I’ll start with a few of mine. When answering a phone, and I’m not the person the caller intended to call (eg. when it’s a wrong number, or if I’ve answered someone else’s phone in the office), so they hang up without saying a word after I’ve answered. Utterly rude! How difficult is it to say something like Sorry, I have a wrong number, or I was looking for Bob, I’ll call back later Bald men that do the comb-over thing. How could they possibly think it is a good look?? I am bald and proud of it, so I find it particularly distasteful. The common practice of tv chefs, recipes and restaurant menus using the term ‘caramelised’. It sounds pretentious. Doesn’t it just mean ‘browned’? Australian Idol (local version of American Idol, oddly enough). I recently saw about 15 minutes of it when there was nothing else on tv, and I was amazed at how awful it was. I swear I could feel my jaw slackening and brain cells committing suicide as I watched it. Big Brother (refer above description for Idol). Telemarketing. I was under the impression it was universally hated, so why does it still exist? Unimaginative, mass-produced, mainstream pop music.So let's hear some of yours...

That could be correct, I've often seen caramelised onions in recipes and menus. There's no sugar involved, just onions done in a pan until they are softened and browned. It still annoys me, why not just say 'browned'Now i'm hungry

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On the 7th day, God was arrested.

I do know that effect only too well.It reminds me of another interesting phenomenon that rates highly on my piss-me-off meter. I've often wondered if there exists some kind of magnetic anomaly that may occur in very localised points, that cause some people to momentarily lose their orientation or bearings. The prescence of this effect particularly came to my attention when people, normally right in front of me on an escalator, get to the end and take one step off the moving part, and just stand there not knowing where to go (like away from the escalator would be a good place to start to prevent all the people behind from crashing into one another in a cartoonish-slapstick manner). These mysterious anomalies have also been seen to occur at places such as busy doorways and exits of lifts.

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On the 7th day, God was arrested.

Yes, word peeves could be a whole topic in itself. yes, hit the nail on the head, that's been one of my personal favourites for some time. Another one is the American practice of dropping the second "i" in Aluminium. No disrespect intended to our American friends. But they don't say Calcum, Magnesum or Strontum, so why pick on Aluminium??

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On the 7th day, God was arrested.

I can't give a sugesstion for the password itself. However, a degree in mathematics may be of assistance in working out future passwords.Or a more drastic idea, find a job in another company where you don't need to be a Rhodes Scholar to think of a usable password.

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On the 7th day, God was arrested.

I wholeheartedly and emphatically concur with your succinct summation of this particular phenomenon. It is exceptionally unfortunate when superfluous verbosity is incorporated into a person’s conversational and/or literary repertoire, for no discernible purpose other than the maintenance of a faade of intellectual credibility.In other words, I agree. It’s annoying when people use a lot of big words just to look smart! Not something I’ve dealt with myself, but my Dad once ended up in that situation. So he just refused to talk to anyone in India and demanded to be put through to someone in Australia. (sigh) I guess that is the sad truth. I wish they would at least refrain from calling during the time period when most people in the world tend to be cooking/eating dinner. Yeah, any kind of customer service job is a great way to see the dark side of human behaviour. I’ve spent a lot of time in such jobs, and I’d say one of the things I hate most are those people who have a (very undeserved) elitist attitude, and any rules, requirements or restrictions that everyone else must abide by, are somehow beneath them and should not apply to them. Often, it’s not from the people you’d expect. I used to be a security guard in a major library, and I recognised very senior executives from major companies, who I’d have thought would be quite arrogant, would actually come in very cooperative and happy to abide by the rules. Then some scruffy unemployed git would come in and kick up an angry fuss over some minor rule, as though it was cutting into their valuable time. Some people just need to get a life. Even worse are those who read and send text messages while driving. I personally wouldn’t have believed that anybody could be so outrageously stupid, but I read about an accident recently that was caused by exactly that! Well, I have to say in defenCe of Aussies, that we do pronounce Don Quixote in the right way. Oh, and that’s Aussie with a z sound, not s.But on to other mattersHeard an interesting new word on TV last night, dangerousness. That sounded a bit questionable to me, even though it was a documentary, and was used by medical and legal professionals. It certainly annoyed me.I was also reminded of another classic pet peeve when I was confronted with it this morning, and that is people who fart on crowded trains or buses. Those who do so in elevators should probably be included here too.

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On the 7th day, God was arrested.