Day 11

Describe 10 pet peeves you have.

1. People being rude to me on the phone: I work in the customer service department for BYU Independent Study (we provide online school courses for middle school, high school, and university students), so we get a lot of calls from frustrated students, parents, and school counselors.  Frustrated students, parents, and school counselors become angry.  I know this happens quite a lot with any customer service stuff, but I am here to speak for all the customer service reps out there--when customers are mean to customer service reps, it really gets to us.  I cannot tell you how emotionally draining it is to have call after call after call of people just taking out their frustrations on you.  So just remember that we are people too.  I've been in the game long enough that I can distance myself so that it doesn't make me so emotional, but it is still SO annoying when I say "Thank you, have a great day!" and the customer just hangs up, without saying anything to me.  Really?  Could you be anymore rude?
2. Crazy drivers: The worst is when some guy drives right up to my bumper and then whips around me at the first opportunity.  I would understand that a tiny bit better if I was an eighty year old grandma and going 50 in a 65 zone (and yes, we do get those old drivers), but I always go the speed limit.  I may not be going 85 in a 65 zone, but, hello!  We are on an American freeway, not the Autobahn; and just because you are a maniac pretending to be a race car driver on the last lap does not give you the right to put my life in danger by whipping around me.
3. People talking over me (as in over my head, not louder than me)/ignoring me: I don't mind when people have conversations without me while I'm still around.  That's fine.  I don't have to be part of every little thing that happens.  But when you take the time to actually talk around me, that's not ok.  If you're conversation is that important, go find a spot where you can chat together.  Also, if the conversation is about general stuff, and I am literally sitting in the middle of it, I feel like it's ok to put my two cents in.  Don't stare at me with one of those weird stares that says "Who are you?  And why are you talking?" and then ignore my two cents completely while continuing on with your conversation.  It makes me feel stupid and insignificant.  And it's really rude.
4. Commercials that play twice in a row: Or just when a commercial plays again really soon after it played for the first time.  I don't know if that made any sense, so I will demonstrate.  Let's say a car commercial played.  Then a restaurant commercial played, and right after that the same car commercial played again.  It's just really annoying to view the same commercial over and over again.  I think, "Ok, ok, I get the message.  I'll go buy your car!  Stop harassing me about it."
5. Not answering the phone, even though you just called me two seconds ago: I am not perfect.  I do not always get to my phone before it stops ringing.  But when that does happen, I always call that person back.  I drives me nuts when I call someone back literally two seconds after they called me, and they don't pick up the phone.  What, did you throw the phone and run away when I didn't pick up?  What is happening?!
6. Cutting in line: There's a line for a reason.  I'm sorry you didn't stay with your friends when they got in the line, but you can live without being next to them for a just a little while.
7. Asking a question and then moving on to a different question before I've answered the first question: If you ask me a question, I assume you want to know the answer.  If you don't care about the answer, don't ask the question.  If you think of a different question while I'm answering the first question, that's great!  Ask me after I'm done talking.  Also, don't ask me a question, interrupt me with a different question, and then ask the first question again five minutes later.
8. Bad parking: I do this too, so I get really annoyed with myself a lot.  It's just so annoying when you find the perfect parking spot, but you can't use it but the guy to your left thought his giant SUV needed one and a half parking spaces.  It's also annoying when people park diagonally.  Then you're forced to maneuver around the guy-who-can't-see-straight while at the same time trying not to hit the car on your other side.
9. Never returning my letters: I like hand-written letters.  I like hand writing letters.  I think they're awesome.  Yes, they don't get to the recipient as fast as an email, text, or phone, but isn't that feeling when you open the mailbox and find a letter for you just the greatest in the world?  It makes me sad that I've taken the time to write someone a beautiful letter, and they just won't take the time to respond.
10. Complaining about how fat you are:  Stop it.  Just stop.