A mild peeve collection

Here is a collection of mildly peevish things. Nothing to introduce a bill in Congress over, but enough to stop you and make you notice and make you wonder what the heck is going on.

1. I'm noticing AN AWFUL LOT of people who don't watch the stoplight. They are probably checking text messages or something, and I'm invariably stuck behind them. The light turns green and they sit there, obviously not looking forward. I try not to honk in the nanosecond I'm capable of, and I try to allow them to discover their own error. But when I know it's a short light anyway and they're jeopardizing my chance of making it through, I let them know. The other day some goofy lady sat and sat and sat some more and I finally honked at her. She gave me a wave that was not in the least apologetic or even an acknowledgment of her error. It was more of a "Hold your horses, I'm visiting here" kind of wave. Made me even more peevish. And I had to run the light.

2. Graphics and subtitles on news broadcasts that have typos. For heaven's sake, don't let the college intern set up the graphics without a spellchecker! And by spellchecker, I mean someone in the organization who has been writing (not IM-ing or texting) for at least 30 years. A local commercial for an eye doctor that was obviously put together at great expense misspells the name of one of the major thoroughfares in our city. And it's been on the air for months! I should call them. That would officially make me an old coot.

3. I apologize for this one, I really do. I'm a very tolerant person. But I do the systems management for my office so I spend a fair amount of time on the phone with tech or customer support. And every time I call and get someone with a thick accent, whom I can barely hear, and who needs me to repeat what I say several times while I ask the same of them, I get a knot in my shoulder. My instant tension barometer. I can actually feel the patience leaving my body. And the "hold" music is invariably awful. One company, I believe it was a merchant services company (credit card processor), had the absolute worst canned music I ever heard. It was computer generated and played on a loop. And I had it memorized. I can still summon it in my head and my hours spent dealing with them occurred over a year ago. Dang, my shoulder spasmed just thinking about it.

4. Clerks or checkers who are too busy visiting with coworkers to start or finish your purchase in a timely manner. I'd just like to finish up here, and I don't care what you're doing on Friday. Funny story: A few years back, we had an absolutely over-the-top annoying checker at a local department store. She talked too much, too loudly to us and the other clerks, and noticed too closely what we were purchasing ("I have a bra exactly like this! But yours is bigger!") and was just too, too much. R and I left and even he (and he's nice) commented on how grating she was. (Helpful citizen that I am, I toyed with letting the manager know she wasn't doing the store any favors. But I didn't.) Not too much later, our middle son told us he had began seeing someone he met at school. Turns out she worked at the department store. And had the same hair style. And voice. And DNA. I almost threw up thinking down the road of family gatherings where that voice would carry through my plaster walls and wood floors like an siren in an echo chamber. Fortunately that was over in a short period of time and we never had to entertain her.

That's all I've got for now. I think I'm officially an old coot anyway.