It doesn’t get any better than this for those of us that enjoy venting our frustration! I would like to think that my promotion of the category of Pet Peeves on my blog site here has helped pave the way for this type of national recognition.
For the most part, I don’t pay attention to all these phony national “weeks” that are always being trotted out.
No, you can have your National Up With Poetry Week and your National Appreciate Pasta Week and your National Bald is Beautiful Week, and who cares about any of them?
But National Pet Peeve Week, well, this one’s right up my alley. In fact, I have so many pet peeves stacked from floor to ceiling in my brain, it’s like a Sam’s Club of peeves up there.
Dan Majors of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette offers some humorous slants on this same topic:
National Pet Peeve Week is “a time for people to gripe about those little annoying things that drive them crazy throughout the year.”
We need to set aside a week for that? Most of the people that I know are always griping about little annoying things. In fact, most of the people I know are little annoying things.
I could really combine this Pet Peeve blog with one of my Top Ten articles to give you the hit list that bugs me right now – I will stick with just phone related subjects to give you a taste for the depth of my displeasure on only one topic:
10) Cell phones that go off at inopportune times – like when you out at a restaurant, in a meeting, church, etc.
9) When my malfunctioning phone system (because of the heavy rains … something went haywire in our outdoor wiring) keeps dialing “911” at odd times of the day and night – causing the police to send out a squad car to check things out. (This is a major inconvenience at 3:30 AM. The wife says things are fixed now … we will see … it only took Verizon 5 days … “medical emergencies”?! apparently pushed us down on the priority list … so much for customer service.)
8) Cell phone bills that cannot be deciphered; that double bill; that fail to record your last payment; that add on illegitimate charges …. You can fill in the blanks here …
7) People that inexplicably try calling me during the Ravens football game.
6) People that leave such long voice mails or have such a lengthy recorded message that you lose track of why you called in the first place or what message they are trying to communicate. “Get to the point!” (By the way, some of those cutesy answer machine messages can get old real fast.)
5) Automated business answering systems that are designed to shield you from ever talking to a live person. This is especially vexing when you are requesting some form of critical service. “If you are experiencing a heart attack, please press 1.”
4) Cell phone ring tunes that border on the ridiculous. Just stick with the basics and answer the phone quickly.
3) People that are ignorant about proper speaker phone etiquette. Do not put me on the speaker phone without letting me know who is listening in; otherwise be considerate and pick up the receiver to protect the privacy of the call.
2) Telemarketers who just won’t take “No” for an answer. I have my own pet methods for frustrating them in turn. “What did I win? … Nothing … Oh, that’s too bad but thanks for calling.” (Some people would call this rude … but I’ve trained my youngest daughter to be a very effective telephone screener.)
1) Anybody calling anytime! (Sounds pretty extreme, doesn’t it … you should see the scene at our house when the phone rings and I holler out “I don’t want any!” The kids and I have a good time with this. The wife doesn’t always see the humor.)
Hopefully, this focus on National Pet Peeve Week will help prime your own pump about what really ticks you off and gets your blood pressure rising. Of course, we must keep our Christian focus and remember to “do all things without grumbling or disputing” (Philippians 2:14). I trust you know we’re just playing here…