I'm glad I live alone. Because that means I have no bad habits. It's like when a tree falls in a forest...

Ain't I funny?

Okay, when I was married I used to make my husband clean up whatever project we were working on at the end of the day every time. Isn't it silly to put all the equipment away only to get it out again the next day? Who cares if sawdust is on the floor when you go to bed, because when you get up the next day you're just going to put more sawdust on the floor? Apparently, I care. And it drove him nuts. Mind you, we did some pretty awesome work! At the end of the day he was glad he had somebody who was able as he was to work on projects. That's what he missed whenever we parted ways. The workers he hired didn't do drywall as well as I did. Aw, poor thing to have to suffer that. Hey? I wonder if it bothered him that they left messes at the end of the day? That's funny to think about.

I talk too much. I talk too much. I talk too much. I talk too much. I talk too much. I talk too much. I talk too much.

I don’t understand why that bothers anyone.

My bad habit that drives my DH crazy, is that I interupt him while he is talking. There are a few reasons for this and you would think after almost 40 years, he would let it slide.

Some people have accused me of "having no filter" because I say bluntly what I think. I do not always do this, but I guess I have on occasion, without thinking. Often what I say in these cases could be considered funny or amusing, but I guess others do not see it that way. Anyway, some people do not like it when I say something unexpected. I am not nearly as bad at this as my ex-boss, and I may have picked this up from her.

I know a habit that drives hubby crazy is my disagreeing with him when he states his subjective opinions as irrefutable pronouncements. He hates it when my opinion contradicts his - and being corrected 😀

To be fair, we pretty much agree about all the important stuff, and I don't do this in public. I guess I can honestly say his habit of making faulty assertions can sometimes drive me crazy 😉

Perhaps it's about how one is raised - I grew up in a family where kids could argue with adults, he was never allowed to do that as a child. I also think it's a personality thing. Some people just need to feel like they're in control. Also, lots of males hate it when females contradict them.

And I think in the past I've driven some coworkers crazy when I asked questions and made comments at staff meetings, workshops, etc., since I've noticed over the years many people seemed to want to get out of there ASAP, and never, ever piped up about anything. Mgmt appreciates it, tho, and has said so.

P.S. I have to wonder are those cabinet doors on hinges? I've banged my head plenty on cabinet doors left open, so now I try to be diligent about closing them.

P.P.S. I've also noticed behaviors that drive some people crazy can be things they do themselves, but seem oblivious to 😏

I also mute TV commercials and always appreciate when watching with other people that they mute also. I read while watching TV and find muted commercials a handy time to get in a couple of pages. I don't think most advertisements are entertaining enough to listen to, although there is one currently running that looks very amusing and I'm trying to catch it unmuted when it comes up again.

Forgot to mention I don't think muting commercials is a negative at all - especially with obnoxious earworm music or jingles.

amylou -- You're just being efficient! You can eat faster that way. You could try eating European style, not moving the fork from one hand to the other after cutting a bite. Now, to me, that's unappetizing when you see a fork packed up with everything on the plate -- meat, potatoes, veggies -- all smashed onto the back of the fork. Maybe try it only for meat -- cut, consume, move the fork to eat the other things with tines up.

I also talk too much. I chatter when I am nervous. It drives ME nuts.

I am very critical in that I tend to take every thing apart and look for logic fails. I do the same thing to anything I say or think but it annoys my DH to no end. He says I think too much. Oh well. He really hates for me to talk about the plot fails in shows that he is watching even if it is a show he doesnt like. He takes it personally which I think is odd but then again I think too much and then talk about it.

I mute commercials all the time, mainly because I hear the same ones over and over and over again. But they also broadcast them at higher volume than the shows so I would need to turn them down anyway. Easier to hit mute. I find DH is doing that as well.

Re interrupting, women have been taught not to do that and so we never get much say in a conversation with men. At work, I had to learn how to interrupt -- just as the men do to each other -- in order to be heard. Funny how among the men, it was more accepted, but not so much among women. But I did find it effective in getting to speak.

Now I find I have to unlearn it again when I'm with my GFs as they don't appreciate it. Also, I find myself doing it more as my memory has deteriorated, and often if I don't say it right away, it evaporates not to be retrieved again.

Patriciae -- We need to watch these shows together. I'm another person bothered by plot fails. We could roll our eyes together in harmony! DH is very patient with me, remaining silent while I sighed in frustration over the lengthy takes in "All Creatures". (I could just hear the director saying, "Now hold that clinch while I count to five.")

carolb I think your husband posts on this forum!!

re: cabinet doors they are hinged but the ones adjacent to the stove are mounted high enough that I don’t hit my head. The ones that reach lower are out of yhe way and I don’t pass under them. The utility room is another matter. I’ve bonked myself good and so now temind myself to close what I’ve opened in there. But I’m not usually concentrating on multiple things there, as one does when cooking.

Ha! Oly - hubby only gets mad at ME for contradicting him, nobody else, AFAIK 😄

I used to be a very quiet, meek person. However, as I get older I will just blurt out something in public while out with my kids. My kids will hush me, especially my daughter. I can't seem to help myself these days. The older I get the less tolerant I am, apparently.

I also annoy my daughter and apparently my game night peeps. Apparently I am ruthless. My daughter will make comments if I make a move in my favor, say in Catan, that blocks her or if she sees me heading toward the same area. I thought the object of the game was to win? When playing with both my kids they find it hilarious to gang up on me, so why show any mercy? My game night friends have accused me of memorizing Pictionary cards, even though it had been many years since I had played the game before that one time. Last week one of them made a comment while playing Catan that she would love to see me try and play against her kids. lol. I basically let her win, helping her out with trades and giving advice on where to move to, because she and the other player were just learning the game.

Also - re; cutting all of one's food up on the plate before eating it, I don't do that when dining with others, as it is considered poor etiquette, but I definitely do that when nobody's watching 😁

carolb, my husband also states his opinion as fact…but after almost 54 years he will usually add ”I could be wrong”…..aaah, music to my ears.

Ha - not to take this too far off topic, but I recently learned of a research study that concluded males tend to be much more confidently wrong than females 😏

I also mute commercials when watching regular tv, which I don’t watch a lot of, but I am usually on my iPad and do something there while the tv is blathering on.
My bad habit is I tend to talk loud when I get excited, upset, or angry….. drives my DH crazy and scares the cats!

debra

" a research study that concluded males tend to be much more confidently wrong than females "

I think the research study missed the boat. In my experience, males can more predictably tend to be confident in situations when that carriage is important. And sometimes in other situations too. Females, much less so. Women can more frequently be diffident and lacking in self-assurance in situations requiring gravitas and confidence. And, similarly, sometimes at other times too.

Confidently wrong!

my husband also states his opinion as fact

In our house this is known as 'male answer syndrome'. We both do it, but much less often than in the early days of our marriage.

My bad habit is wanting everything to be organized and done just the way I like it. I wouldn't say I'm OCD, but I am a neat freak. I'm well aware of my tendencies this way, and have tried, somewhat successfully, to moderate them.

I don't tighten the lids on jars.

" Confidently wrong! "

I can assure you that you wouldn't have been on my list of people I would expect to get an honest and unbiased reaction from for the comment I made. Perhaps the opposite.

My career was spent in a profession that historically had not been welcoming to women. It was a Catch-22 situation, the male domination of its ranks discouraged women from pursuing college majors viewed as pre-reqs and so the supply of female qualified graduates was small.

Enter serious efforts to implement hiring priorities and then for those hired, special ongoing mentorship, training and coaching programs to help female staff develop more confidence and the ability to be comfortable presenting a more outgoing personality. Both female and male staff displaying too much shyness and showing a lack of self-confidence were given the training needed to develop needed skills and those programs continue to this day, at least in my firm and likely in others. Gender balance is different today and is where it should have been all along.

I guess all the programs and effort expended were unnecessary and a waste of time and money.

FWIW, I understand companies nowadays are providing etiquette training for employees, as it seems to have declined severely since the pandemic.

I was about to demonstrate but I think I'll refrain.

I don't like wearing jewelry, perfume gives me migraines and I am very picky about clothes. I truly dislike receiving gifts and usually return or exchange things. My husband's previous relationships all involved him buying lots of stuff and taking them shopping. (Did I mention that I hate shopping? I have to look at everything and then usually don't want any of it.) He wants to give me gifts and I am impossible to buy for. Sometimes I'll wear a gift around him once, put it in the back of my closet for a few months and then donate it. Fortunately he doesn't seem to notice. I also try to come up with experiential gifts, like prepaid classes. Last birthday I asked for money to make a sizeable donation to a small charity, and then told him many, many times how much I enjoyed being able to write that check. I know I'm a pain in the butt. I also enjoy giving gifts. But I really hate receiving them.

" companies nowadays are providing etiquette training for employees "

We did that too, and in particular a session on how to eat with proper table manners. In advance of when the new staff would be having meals with clients.

Whether the fare was sandwiches or a meal with more formal table seating and eaten using utensils. All the way down to knowing which was your bread plate and how to take and butter bread, which were your glasses, etc. It was shocking how many of them lacked proper table techniques and manners.

The lesson included what to order in a restaurant (nothing difficult to eat or food that drips) and the reminder to eat as if not hungry so as not to be too fixated on the food.

Females are not more diffident or lack confidence in their opinions they were acculturated to act as if they were because too many men did not like "pushy" women and therefor female opinions had to be buffered in a way men found acceptable being all to often making the man able to pretend the idea was his. Inefficient of course but it was the thing as women broke those glass ceilings-one at a time. Doing that could be called a bad habit but breaking into the world of good paying jobs that use your abilities might just excuse that.

IIIRC, the study was about students' preconceptions about male vs. female math ability, and the idea that males are supposed to be better at math, while females are assumed not to be. Interestingly, the females who expressed less confidence in their answers had correct answers more often than the males who expressed confidence about theirs.

IMO, culture-wise, females tend to display modesty/humility more than males, which is no indicator of ability.

Which reminds me of one of my female cousins who has a habit of saying 'I'm sorry' way too often. It's a bit bothersome, but doesn't drive me crazy.

There is a real reason that 'mansplaining' and 'male answer syndrome' have become a part of our lexicon.

This conversation reminds me of this clip from Cheers.😄

I'm always in awe that people can remember clips/scenes/dialog from old movies and TV shows! I loved this show.

" There is a real reason that 'mansplaining' and 'male answer syndrome' have become a part of our lexicon. "

Of course. It's because of the unfortunate prevalence of misandry among women. Often those whose poor choices and life misadventures lead them to look for something external to themselves to blame it on. A type of bigotry most would deny having.

My point made!

" Females are not more diffident or lack confidence in their opinions they were acculturated to act "

patriciae, I'm going to guess you have not raised male and female offspring. Individual children (just as adults) are different and unique from one to the other, of course. But most parents who have raised sons and daughters (I'm in that group) have witnessed a degree of the different innate personality tendencies between them that can go in the direction of the long-overused stereotypes. Both with their own children and with their peers as the years go on.

There are always exceptions.

Cultural or ethnic practices/teachings in the home can play a role. Proper parenting involves coaching children of both genders enough so that both leave the family homes enroute to adulthood with similar feelings of personal ambition, self-confidence, self-image, self-respect and respect for others. It's a parental failure with female children when that doesn't happen, and it often doesn't happen. THAT, in my opinion, is the problem. Not only with my generation of post-war boomers but also with their children and kids of my grandkids' generation.

I do feel sorry for you.

Well I have warned people that I talk too much-just saying-but because learning how to safely negotiate a world where speaking up can get you beaten, imprisoned or killed I dont think it is maladaptive to teach girls how to do that. We had seemed to be socially evolving past the point when females had to be taught deference to men but I am not so sure. Hopefully just a bump in the road.

"There is a real reason that 'mansplaining' and 'male answer syndrome' have become a part of our lexicon."

I’m sure. But it’s become a crutch, by some. There’s another forum that I frequented (a few here may or may not still be on it) where although I generally agreed with the predominantly female, left-leaning majority and my agreement was broadly well-received, the moment I disagreed I found I opened myself up to accusations of mansplaining. From a select but vocal few to be sure, there were others with whom I had pointed but civil disageeemwnt with, but enough to drive me away from the nonsense. These women would let it be known that they considered themselves “strong women,” to which I say “LOL.” Pathetic, really, when people come together under the guise of exchanging thoughts but then feel so threatened by the exchange.

Well...this thread took a turn off the tracks. :( It WAS fun reading about people's weird quirks.

Good point, AR Girl! Perhaps those participating in the discussion who have not yet fessed up to some of their quirks, could add to the intended subject?

Well lets get back on track then, shall we?

This topic reminded me of my sister who basically disagrees with just about everything I say, and often says, 'let me talk!' when she's the one who interrupted in the first place - which also reminds of a lady I met once, long ago who started every sentence with the word 'no'.

I think it's easier to think of behaviors that drive me crazy (even just a little bit) than things I do, because only my SO ever lets me know what those things are. I guess I hang out with mostly polite people.

food, when people get called on having offered obviously wrong, biased and indefensible opinions, all that's left for them to do is throw insults.

Perhaps those participating in the discussion who have not yet fessed up to some of their quirks, could add to the intended subject?

Like Outside Playing, I have a family member (my son) who is driven crazy by me leaving lights on when he visits. I turn a living room floor lamp on when I first wake up and it (and sometimes other lights) will stay on all day long. But the light helps with my poor vision, and the bulbs are LEDs so not a great expense.

I'm sure I'm annoying but I don't really know what I do that's annoying. I can guess that probably one thing that drives a lot of people up the wall is that I clear my throat all the time. Since I was a small child I have had sinus drainage. The doctors said it was from all the Refineries in my town. I honestly don't think that's it, I think it's the humidity. When I was able to live in a low humidity area, it did not suffer with it. Where I live now has no such refineries but is very high humidity. I am constantly annoyed by sinus drainage. UGH!

I also speak my mind. If I don't like something or think it's wrong, I will say something. If I know something to be wrong that someone is saying, I will say something. Just as a for instance, as I've said several time, I am a daily dog park visitor. I hear all sorts of things people do with their dogs and one thing that stands out is a lady that used to be a regular would give her dog a doughnut (yes, a whole big doughnut!) every day. I told her that she should not be feeding a dog a doughnut! She took great offense to my comment but I know that I am right! Dogs should not be given high sugar/carb foods like that! Her dog always acted like he was all hyped up too, probably from the sugar high he was getting.

I despise the color yellow. I have my whole life. There are no yellow items in my house. Not a flower, towel or an item of clothing. Not even a tiny dot. It annoys my chilfdren with the occassional "Geez Mom". DH just takes it in stride.

@ arkansas - our vet once told us you might as well kick your dog in the stomach as give them sugar...

It's BAD! It's bad for humans too but worse for dogs. The real kicker (no pun intended) is how angry the woman got when I told her not give her dog doughnuts. What I should have told her is to ask her vet what he thinks about giving a dog a doughnut a day!

I feel sorry for the dogs when I see how many obese ones there are out there nowadays. And I also notice they often resemble the people walking them...

@Elizabeth I could have written your post about yellow, but substitute in pink! I feel the exact same way about it as you do yellow.

Another thumb down for pink.