I’ve determined that there’s a group of people in the world whom I do not understand AT ALL. And I think I’m a pretty understanding person! I give people the benefit of the doubt, I try to see things from their perspective, I preach love and acceptance to my children (someday I’ll rant to you about how “tolerance” is a troublesome word that should not have a place in talks about equality, but that’s a discussion for another day), and I try to extend grace to others because I know how much I need it myself.
But there appears to be a percentage of the population that is either obliviously or purposefully annoying, and I don’t understand. Person who doesn’t use his/her turn signal, I’m talking about you. Sure, some people might forget to use their turn signals once in a while, but not always. And I guess I don’t even understand the “once in a while” thing, either (see how I just talked myself out of that bit of grace I was willing to extend to those offenders? No more!). You see, driving, in many ways, is a series of memorized actions. When you reverse, you crank your head and scan all your mirrors. When you shift, you depress the clutch, let off the gas, change gears, press the gas, and lift off the clutch. You don’t have to think about it every time you do it. Same goes for turning. When you are going to turn, you use your signal. It’s rote, I tell you! So WHY do some people not use their turn signals? It’s ANNOYING to the rest of us! Not to mention that by not using a turn signal, you are compromising safety by not signaling your intentions to other drivers in advance. I just don’t get it. They are either terrible, oblivious drivers or they are annoying others deliberately.
Or what about people who walk along the sidewalk in a big group that spreads out and takes up the whole sidewalk so that no one else can get past? This frustrates every other normal, sane sidewalk user out there! How do you, group of six people walking along and talking to each other, not notice that the people around you would like some space to walk, too? And not just the people behind you! No! There are usually people walking toward you, people whom you SEE, and for whom you do not move or bunch up to let by until the very last second when it becomes apparent that the oncoming person does not choose to step off of the sidewalk and into traffic to let you continue to monopolize the whole sidewalk! It’s preposterous that people behave this way, and yet they DO. I just don’t get it. Are they rude in nature? Totally unaware of their surroundings? Or, as Tony believes, just so sure of their own importance and everyone else’s inferior agendas?
Oh! Here’s another (that is annoying to most everyone I know but that doesn’t so much affect me or have direct consequences to my life): young men who wear their pants waist under their butt cheeks. And then walk funny to keep those pants from sliding down their legs. I do not understand this at all and I really don’t think (or I choose not to believe) that it’s a generational thing. After all, boys did this when I was in high school, too. It was called “sagging” back then, though I’m not sure there’s even a term for it now. It would appear that it is just how the majority of teenage boys wear their pants. Based on my time as a teenager, kids that age are more concerned with looking good than with anything else. Has no one explained to these young men that they look truly ridiculous with their pants like that? What’s more, it is the opposite of attractive. Ladies, even teenage girls, would rather see a guy’s butt encased in a pair of well-fitting jeans than with a saggy pair of diaper-like pants falling off of him (Justin Bieber, I’m talking about YOU). You don’t see male models or movie stars sagging their pants, do you? You don’t see them walking like they’ve soiled themselves just to keep their pants from falling off, do you? Sheesh, get a clue.
You might have specific pet peeves – maybe you are annoyed by loud chewing, or the fact that I allow my children to maintain top running speed at all times, everywhere we go – but I think we can agree that some annoyances are nearly universal. So what in the world is wrong with the people who perpetrate them?
