Gosh, I'm sorry if I started something. I'm a former professional driver who has attended driving school after driving school. I have a Class 1 license. My parents were both professional drivers and I was raised with all the lectures and training. Driving is in my blood.

Another pet peeve: people poking me with their hair while I'm shopping.
Specifically, while at Wal Mart

{{gwi:1500297}}

(photo courtesy People of Wal Mart, and incidentally, taken in South Carolina, my home)

I second that one Bumblebeez!!

Natal, do you have anything better to do with your time?

And Polly, go back and read your whole reply with the "LOLOLOL!!!" (mocking me) to Bumble. The whole reply is hypocritical.

Bumble, I've seen those WM pictures and I think they're all staged.

LMAO, that is hilarious BB!! Great way to start a new day! LOL

Oakley, I have no idea what you are talking about.
I thought she was referring to the word "little" and the other thread. I found it funny. What's the problem? We weren't mocking you at all.

Let me clarify-

When Bumble asked if she were little, I took it to mean were she actually little, like the other thread that Auntjen started.

If you take it as mocking you, I apologize- that was not my intention at all.

This is exactly what I'm talking about with bickering. These threads are supposed to be light hearted and fun. But they seem to always turn ugly. That was not my intention at all. I think I'm done with posting.

That is what I meant, Polly. THanks!

No way are those photos fake, Oakly. Maybe a couple here and there, but overall, the photos generally involve people : who forgot their pants, those who think they are much younger, prettier or thinner than they really are, unusual clothing/ hair/accessories, unusual vehicles.
And the site makes fun of them in a not nice way.

There was a guy recently who had beaver pelt hair. It looked like spiders and rats lived in it, it was real.

I got you Polly. Maybe Oakley didn't see the "little" thread. As usual, this kind of thread gets out of hand. Please don't stop posting, I enjoy your input.

Anyhoo, I'm getting a headache and can't think of a pet peeve right now. I really need to adopt my husband's mindset, he decided not to sweat the small stuff, and honestly some how he sticks to it!!!

tina

Golddust, I'm not a professional driver, but I do know the laws and respect them. They exist for a reason.

Is showing up at WalMart looking weird getting to be a fad like Planking or Tebowing? There is a whole web site dedicated to the People of WalMart. I never go to one because it's not close by. I went once and couldn't get out fast enough. Yuck.

I got the "little" joke and got a laugh from it.

Around me there are four lane roads (not highways) that I drive frequently. There is so much traffic that you have to get into the lane from where you intend to turn. If I need to turn left, I have to get in the left lane whenever there is a chance. If I'm in the right lane, I may never get a chance to change lanes for my turn.

The Wal Mart is the big store in my little town and nearly everyone shops there. It is new, huge, clean and the cashiers are generally friendly/helpful if not always the brightest.

I have no complaints although they only carry about half of what we eat foodwise.

However, I will say, I could easily find a candidate for the People of WalMart nearly every time I shop! The idea of it being a fad is really too sophisticated.

But initially, I was just trying to bring some levity and fun back into what is a light hearted thread.

One of my top pet peeves, which I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before: "Are you still workin' on that?" No, I'm not "workin'" on it; I'm eating my meal. So go away.

Not to mention, "How is everything?" asked, more often than not, while I (a) have food in my mouth, or (b) am in the midst of conversation with my dining partner(s). I have no idea how "everything" is. Where would you like me to start? Greece, and how Germany feels about it? The 2012 election? My dinner? My dinner had been fine, but now that you've interrupted it, I'll have to rethink that one. In the interim, go away.

I'm sure I'm in the minority, but I hate Walmart, I mean China-mart . . .

There is one fairly near me but I don't think you'd necessarily see the kind of people shown in the web-site pics . . .I'd think it has to do with location, etc. Now if it was near our local big city college campus . . . LOL

tina

Oh Lynxe, now you are into a subject that can drive me apoplectic - the first forkful hasn't entered your mouth and the server is inquiring how the food is. And then when I am halfway through my entree, the server asks if I will be having dessert. I'm sympathetic to people who are new to the workforce and I feel I should be saying something that explains that their appearance at my table is ill-timed. But how to do that without sounding like an old biddy? I have tried, "Oh my goodness, I have no idea. I haven't finished my entree yet." Based on the responses, that apparently is too subtle.

And should I tell the young person who is running down the list of specials that the L in salmon is silent so she doesn't sound foolish for the rest of the evening?

Gray, it took me five years to get my husband to not pronounce the L in salmon!

I'm bugged by the people who leave shopping carts in the middle of the parking lot. Either park your car closer to the return area so you can easily return it OR, at my local store at least, use the Helping Hands service and have them wait with your grocery cart while you pull your car into the area designated for that service. A pox on all their houses and may all their cars be dinged by the carts they leave in the wrong places.

I'm also bugged by the people who pull into that service area and wait, with their SUV running, while someone runs in to the store to get something. Park in a d*mn spot and turn the polluting car off. It's a big, busy store, they will not be out in a just a second. And now you're clogging up the way for the people who know enough to use the Helping Hands service and not leave their cart in the middle of the lot.

And while I'm on a grumpy roll about supermarkets, check writers can fill in all the other lines of the check while waiting to hear the total. Don't wait for the total and then decide to get your checkbook out.

Polly, I'm sorry, I didn't relate to the thread Jen wrote. But the ladies I'm referring to generally are little. :) They just creep right up to me and stand by my shoulder.

Many stores just take the blank check, so all I do is record the amount, then give it back. Takes two seconds.

There's a website showing all those people in WM, and it got to the point where it did look staged. I've never seen people like that in our WM. But our WM isn't in a large city either, it's in a nice town with very little poverty, and in a central location for residents of nearby farming communities. It's not trashy at all.

HH, last year when I was leaving WM, there wasn't a car in front of me so I pulled out going straight instead of backing out. THUMP!! Yep, I hit a cart. It was hidden by the front of my car.

As far as driving in the left lane, don't make a negative comment until you know how much traffic is on the highway or what type of highway/speed limit we have. I only do it on a four mile stretch.

And thanks for clueing me in about OK. driving laws. Uh, golly, I didn't know! LOL!

Lukki - if you are in the left lane and the car next to you, in the right lane, is going the same speed, will you just continue driving next to that car? It drives me CRAZY when I am blocked from passing a car because cars in both lanes are going at the same speed!! If this happens, you should definitely move into the right lane. The left lane is for passing.

Same here Gail. And I think that good driving is a lot more than following the law perfectly.
If I am in the left lane going what I think is fast, and someone comes up behind me faster, I immediately get over even if I have to slow down and be stuck in the right lane or even if I have to speed up really fast to get over.

i heard the left lane drivers issue being talked about the other day while trying to find a station on the radio to listen to---talking about how the police are being asked to start cracking down on those who drive without the intention of passing in the left lane---creates a huge hazard on the highways by having people zipping in and out passing in all lanes.
the only time i stay in the left lane is when the traffic is really heavy and i know i'll be passing every few seconds---at those times i make sure i keep up with the speed of the car ahead of me.

ugh- pesky, that drives me crazy too-i have a brother who used to do that all the time-not so much now that his kids are growing up i guess...

and... that walmart photo looks photoshopped to me! :)

Okay, here's one. Does every major supermarket do this now? After I pay, I get my receipt plus a whole bunch of printed coupons that I didn't ask for. It's like 6' of paper that I don't need or want. Or how about the receipt with the web site on the bottom -- "If you go to this web site and fill out a survey, you might win $20" Does anyone really do this? While I'm at it, how about the cashier who says absolutely nothing -- no hello, can't be bothered to tell you the total of your purchase, etc. AND, finally, I always find myself saying "thank you" to the cashier or the salesperson, and they'll say "you're welcome" but then I think -- hang on, aren't THEY supposed to be thanking ME for shopping there?

I also hate self checkout. And I have a feeling all of our chain stores are moving in that direction. When I go to our local CVS now, there are 3 self checkouts and just one human cashier.

Phew. Now I feel better. Thanks. (Or should YOU be thanking ME? just kidding.)

Or how about the receipt with the web site on the bottom -- "If you go to this web site and fill out a survey, you might win $20" Does anyone really do this?

Don't do those, but I do login and fill out the questionnaire from Bonefish Grill to get a free order of Bang Bang Shrimp next visit. ;)

We've had the self checkouts for a few years. Last year Albertson's did away with them. More often than not they're nothing but a hassle. If there's any glitch you have to wait for an employee to come unlock the system.

Gotten slightly OT here but - The two grocery stores that I go to both have self-serve check-out and they are seldom used. People will still line up at the manned (peopled?) check-out lines.

I could go an entire day and do all of my errands without speaking to a single person. Filling up my car is self-serve, Going to the library is now self checkout, ATM machines at the bank, Wal-mart is self checkout, drive-through and talk to a machine for my coffee, and so yes I do use a manned check-out at the grocery store. At least someone will say hi to me.

I like the self check outs! I like bagging my food myself. When I go through the line with a real cashier, i sort my items so the frozen are all together, fridge stuff etc. Hoping they'll logically bag it in the order it comes down the belt.

Sometimes it happens, but most of the time it doesn't and occasionally I'll ask they bag all the frozen stuff together etc. and they will, but other times I admit to seeing if they're smart enough to get the logic of my grocery sorting.

Since it's not world hunger, I resist speaking up and making them rebag things and just root through the bags when I get home to put all the fridge items away first.

So, I guess my latest pet peeve is grocery baggers who do not bag like items together. I also hate when they put 1 thing in a bag - really? Couldn't find room for it in any other bag?

So, for all of the above reasons, I like to check out my own groceries!

I like have a choice between self checkout or going through a regular register; especially at Costco or some of the busier stores.

My grocery store pet peeve is people who feel it's okay to have a telephone conversation while checking out. Why can't they just tell the person on the other end, I'm ringing out at the register and will call you back when I'm done?

Please don't get angry with me ~

My biggest pet peeve is people who use self-checkout..
I'll ask them if everyone they know is employed right now.
I only see it as a bonus for the store in reduced payroll and health benefits.
Perhaps if the store offered a discount I would understand.
So if some strange person preached at you while you were in the self-checkout~
I'm sorry !

And yes,the service clerks who bag just don't care or have
never been trained.
I like to tell them that I prefer to bag kind-of kosher.
Meats with meats,dairy with dairy,veggies with veggies.
Many times I find myself in the parking lot re-bagging !

It's not all the baggers fault~
The set up at the register does not allow for having several bags open to pick and choose what goes where.
I place similar items together to be rung
hoping that it will end up close in the bags.

And yes~ I still need a life!

I like self checkout when I only have a few items otherwise, it usually don't save much time b/c you can't bag while checking out - everything goes to the end of the counter and piles up. But I HATE my local Safeway b/c they never have enough cashiers and do not have self checkout. I don't typically shop there but occasionally will stop there when I just need a couple of things. It never fails that they have 1-2 cashiers and long lines. It is an ongoing joke b/w dh and me b/c it always seemed to happen to me but never to him. It finally happened to him so now he knows what I'm talking about. I don't mind if I'm not in a rush, but usually when I'm stopping there, it's because I just need 1-2 ingredients and then I am forced to wait while everyone ahead of me has completely full carts! Forboys, I certainly agree that have automated checkouts could harm the economy IF in fact it meant they were replacing people's jobs. However, my Safeway doesn't have them and could certainly benefit from having more cashiers but they don't. So in the end, they lose my business b/c I rarely shop there knowing that I almost always end up waiting in very long lines (I know I"m not the only one b/c I've had conversations in line with other people who say they always wait in line too - one day the cashier kept calling for the manager and w/o prompting from me said, "I don't know why I bother - this happens all the time and they won't call for any cashiers to come help.").

Caroleoh, I am totally with you about keeping frozen things together. I mostly shop at Trader Joe's and while most of their cashiers keep like items together, I always bag my own groceries there. Why? Because it saves time for the next person behind me in line if I help to bag. It always surprises me that more people don't help bag their own groceries - they even have the pull out shelf at the end of the counter specifically for someone else to be able to bag besides the cashier. But I love bagging my things, not just my frozen stuff, but usually when I go there, I have at least 5-6 bags of groceries. I like to group things according to how I have my kitchen organized.

forboystoo, I'm glad you feel that way about self-check. I do, too. When a clerk tries to direct me from waiting in line to the self check, I say, "No, I want you to have a job in the future, so I'll wait for a clerk."

I feel the same way about shopping at Walmart, the dollar store and most big box stores. My take is that the more we shop at places that mostly sell cra* from china, then the fewer jobs there are for people here. And quite frankly, I can live without most of the stuff that they sell, or can find it at a locally owned business, where the $ will stay in the community. If it costs more, I'd rather buy less and try to ensure jobs for our kids and grandkids. I don't understand anyone with unemployed family members buying stuff from china if they have another choice.

I can get behind the issue with people who wait to pick people up (at school, I'm thinking), moms or dads who just sit there with the SUV idling for, like, 15 minutes! A whole darn line of them! I remember one school sent a paper around asking people to turn their cars *off* while waiting in line. Don't see that it made much difference. I will say that I see it happen more out here in the suburbs than in the city (the city being Portlandia, don't you know : ) -- low tolerance for willful pollution).

One more...

People at fast food restaurants .
Long line~
You've been there 7 to 10 min.
Why wait until you get to the register to look-up
at the menu board ?

I sometimes get annoyed with people who are exceedingly forceful and boisterous on their lack of tolerance with others who do not exactly follow their own very set standards of beliefs or thought processes. I get annoyed with this equally on far and opposite ends of the spectrum. I think it's the arrogance that gets me. Let me re-word... I know it's the arrogance that gets me. I'm not talking little pet peeves here but mostly things to do with the political times. I guess it's just the curse that comes with being moderate.

I'm sorry another one..

People (youngsters) who slowly cross the street paying more attention to their IPhones then the light.
Pick-it up !!
I know you have the right of way.
But really ..I'm trying to turn right on a green light...

And jterrilynn , I follow all my own set of standards upon myself as I do upon others.
It might be easier to deviate from my own standards for my own comfort.
I don't see how that will open the gates !
I guess I have tolerance for old ,week,unknowing. But I understand what you mean about arrogant.
Common courtesy is my biggest pet peeve..

(Did you like the use of my word "youngsters" ?)

HI forboys, Yes, I agree people should not necessarily give up their convictions; I have a lot of respect for people who have strong convections that they live by regardless if it's for me and my way of living. However, it might be unrealistic to think everyone on the planet must think one way. To me that is like only watching news channels that only fit your beliefs. How can you have a well rounded view and an acceptance or at least a basic understanding of different views? Absolute convictions are fine as long as you are willing to a least understand that people are different. My peeve posted above are for those people from both ends that think they are absolute in an arrogant way that does not include acceptance of others.

How could I forget this pet peeve?!

When magazines start their renewal campaign 2 years before your subscription even expires. Every notice is your last chance - act now!! And then they want you, an existing subscriber, to renew at the highest possible rate. Don't ever pay with a credit card and agree to automatic renewal. You can always get a better rate by checking what they are offering new subscribers and requesting that or using one of those magazine services.

I'm sure many people just go ahead & renew without checking that they really have years left on their subscription. I realize that the magazines want people paid up far in advance so they can tell advertisers that we have X million subscribers for the next so many years. But that doesn't mean I have to pre-pay for the next hundred years at a high rate.

How does the renewal thing work with on-line magazines? I like a real paper issue that I can pass along to someone else so I don't have any on-line subscriptions.

Hhireno, I just cancelled O Magazine today. It was the "last and final invoice". The last two issues I've gotten are half the size now too and mostly ads. It's not worth the hassle.

I've been cancelling all who are automatically renewing my subscriptions without my permission. Even House Beautiful got the ax after they pulled that on me. First time in years I'll be without that one.

I cancelled HB for the same reasons Francy. I was really upset when they did that to me as well.

My latest pet peeves:

Wet towels in the hamper - yuck.

Sick kids at optional children's outings. There were some terribly sick (cough, runny nose) kids at the library yesterday, and I kept trying to keep my kids away from them.

Restaurant managers who stop to ask how everything is. I want to say that it was a wonderful conversation until you came and interrupted us. I usually just say, "fine, thank you."

Limp handshakes.

I'll stop now. :)

Well, this string might have started off with pet peeves, but it's turned into something that made me really laugh!

Lynxe -- for the simple "Go away" lines -- both of them! -- when there's a hovering waiter (except when you're ready to get the check!) Maybe it's funny to me cuz I'm picturing many ways of delivering that line!

and Bumblebeez -- WalMart people "who forgot their pants" (the 'visual' imagining is gross -- I've seen that website! -- but reading that cracked me up!)

and Graywings -- wondering if you should casually tell the waitress that the L in salmon is silent... (I can just picture your eyes going back and forth to your dining companion!)

Thank you for the laughs!

Pammy, I told mt husband, increasingly not nicely, over years, the correct way to pronounce salmon.

The waitress might not believe it!

Dh's mother still says Chicargo.

People whom I've never met who feel the need to hug me. What's that all about?

Grocery baggers who throw my unbagged meat and/or poultry in with my produce. Yuck.

My sister just sent me this saying and it made me think of this thread:
When all the little things really bug me, it's because there's a big thing I'm not facing.

I'm not pointing fingers at anyone but myself. It is something to think about when I'm being, shall we say, a bit unreasonable? intolerant? peevish about things.

People saying these ones..........like nails on a chalkboard.

I agree, hhireno, but I have big things in my life I haven't shared here, as others might have too, I'm sure, but even though those things are huge, I am still annoyed when someone with 73 items goes through the 20 item checkout and apologizes to me that they didn't know they had so much.
(And I smile and laugh along with them but inwardly I wonder, how could they not know?)

People who don't pick up their dog's poop.

And a woman in my neighborhood who is convinced I am letting my dog use her yard as a bathroom and has said so to me more than once.

Oh, and people that let there dogs run loose. I have new neighbors and they let their darling little shih tzu run wild. I can't tell you how many animals I have seen hit on my road and in my area. He is a Dr. and should know better.

Or the person who just lets their dog sit outside for hours on end in any kind of weather and bark. It doesn't matter what time it is 5 am, 5 pm or any time in between. woof, woof, woof.. If I can hear it through closed windows and I'm not even next door, then you KNOW he can hear it. It's not fair to the dog and it certainly isn't fair to the neighbors who would like to just once wake up to something besides the sound of his dog barking.

Pets, or so called pets goes beyond pet peeves, that's abuse not something that just annoys me. It grips me with ferocity for pain and suffering for those abusers I can't hardly stand it. I want them to rot forever.
My heart aches for those poor animals.

Self-involvement and rudeness to others always irritates me. But, I guess I'm not as nice as you, Bumblebeez. Recently, a lady literally ran to get in front of me, as I was walking down the aisle toward the check-out, cutting across another lane (it was at Walmart, where the check-outs are two per aisle). She then turned and smiled and said, "Oh, I didn't mean to cut in front of you." I said, "Yes, you did." She then said, shocked, "Oh, my God." I said, "That's okay. I'm sure your time is more valuable than mine."

OTH, I think that Wal-Mart site is despicable. My SIL sent out a mass email with several of those pictures attached. One was of an elderly woman, naked from the waist up, with her breasts tucked into her pants waist. I cried at that picture because I could see my mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's doing the same. Of course the posters don't see any other explanation for such behavior other than the woman chose to appear in public that way, and hah-hah, isn't this funny? I responded to my SIL to please not forward any more of those emails to me.
Dee