Stupid Pet Peeves

So we all have things that bug us.  Drive us batty.  But I'd like to share with you a few things that bug me for (seemingly) no good reason. 

Again, let me note that this is my silly list.  That I want to clarify is not a list of big time offenses, just things that occur daily that, for whatever reason, get my goat.


* Not picking up your feet.  Oh my word, it takes every ounce of my willpower not to scream at you when walking past me to PICK UP YOUR DAMN FEET if you don't walk normal.  That I'm too lazy to lift my entire foot up so I am just going to shuffle on down the road business makes me go nuts.  And is 33% of the reason I avoid all malls whenever possible.

* Wearing inappropriate shoes.  If we (total strangers) are at say a county fair and you show up wearing heels, it will drive me batty.  And that makes zero sense.  I am in sensible and appropriate shoes to walk around for many hours in dusty, dirty, rocky, crowded pathways.  If you trip and fall and break something, that's your own fault.  But I will see you and think about you and worry about your footwear choice all afternoon.  I will mock you too.  But also secretly worry. 

* Labeling something as special when it was never anything to start with.  Making a big sign to say that this pint of farm fresh strawberries (straight from the freshest farm thousands of miles away in a country from which we forbid humans to enter but welcome your berry-tastic gifts) is Gluten Free or Fat Free is ridiculous.  A little like stealing.  Dishonest.  Now if you want to make a big sign to say that your now seedless strawberries are sans seeds, you get down with your bad self.  Not sure what those itty bitty seeds did to you, but knock yourself out.  You are advertising that something every other berry peddler out there has, is inferior to your newly perfected thimble of seedless juiciness.  But if said berry never contained gluten or fat or cave people (Is that PC to say?  Are the cave folks going to come back to correct me if it's not?) have always eaten them, you should not be able to make a claim that this is something new and improved. 

* Vintage and antique.  Do not even get me started on how over the top I react (entirely in my head...none of this is an out loud reaction) when I see people label their Lilly items on ebay and etsy as vintage when they are only three or five years old.  That is not vintage.  Vintage what?  Vintage yesterday?  Stop it. 

* Not putting the toilet lid down.  Especially in photos.  Especially, especially in real estate photos.  If I were in the market to buy a house, I am completely serious when I tell you that I might stop looking at your house online if the toilet seat and/or lid were up in the photo of the bathroom.  That's how much it bothers me.

* Magicians and illusionists.  And their skimpy dressed assistants.  I find the whole kit and kaboodle to be sleezy.

* Anyone in the Baldwin family.  They all annoy me greatly, but for different reasons.

* The label Christian.  (Note that I said label and not faith.  Like seriously note that.  I just know someone is going to get on me for knocking down being a Christian.  I said label.)  I just cringe when people say things like "my Christian dry cleaner" or she is a "good Christian" or "we do/don't do/like/dislike/fillintheblank because we are Christians."  Here me out.  I know a lot of people who never see the inside of a church on a Sunday morning who are filled with God's love and high morals.  And plenty of folks who go to church every week and wear the right clothes and say the right things and belong to the right groups and are far from living any teachings of Jesus in their heart of hearts.  I just feel like that word is so over-used and honestly, very often empty.  In politics and the media, the label has even become a weapon, excuse for poor or hate filled behavior, and emotionless blanket statement to insinuate being better than.  Oh and let's not get started on the public debate over who really is and is not a Christian.  And so the value has (to me) been lost.  If you live your life in a way that I also esteem (yet regularly fail) to live my life, I will know.  Your heart will be visible.  Your standards and codes will be clear.  And you will be valued.  In my opinion, actions speak louder than words.  And any word that takes up as a part time weapon, is not a word I kindly employ very often.  As Nike preaches, just do it.  Just live your life and I promise those around you will know to whom you pray.


So there you have it.  A few of the things that bug me for no good reason.  They bug me just because.  If you do those things, please do not go convincing yourself that I am writing this post to condemn you.  Because you know that you too have silly things that irritate you for no real reason.  These are just mine.  I mean seriously, how in the world does a toilet seat up in a photo harm me?  It doesn't.  But it works my nerves all the same.

In fact, go ahead and share.  What is one of your no-good-reason pet peeves?