Pet Peeves

I'm on a list binge all of a sudden. I'm not sure exactly what put me on such a tilt, but since I've already listed my NFL predictions for the new season, I've been inspired to also list my biggest pet peeves in the world. These are far from being limited to the world of sports (though a couple are sports-related), but I wonder how many of them are shared by other people out there.

1. Passenger seat drivers. This is, by far, my biggest pet peeve. My father is a classic textbook example of a passenger seat driver. I loathe driving with him in the car next to me. I'm driving too slowly. I'm driving too fast. I'm tailgating too much. I'm changing lanes too often. I've actually entertained the idea of actually pulling over to the side of the road (even if we're on a busy highway) and offering him the chance to take over driving responsibilities if he wants. I can barely concentrate on driving if someone is sitting next to me and telling me how to drive.

2. People who wear baseball jerseys and/or hats to football games and vice versa. I was at Opening Day at Camden Yards in April - APRIL! - and had to use the men's room at one point. I saw another man standing in line in the men's room wearing Ravens gear head to toe. Okay, you're a Baltimore fan. You want to show your support for Baltimore. You obviously love sports since you're clearly a die hard Ravens fan, covered in a Ravens hat, jersey, and sweatpants. But this is APRIL. It's baseball season! Do you think in New York you'll find people wearing Giants stuff to Yankees games? I didn't really care that he was a fellow Baltimore fan. I wanted to knock some sense in the guy even though we were mutual Baltimore guys.

3. Celebrities who feel the need to stick their noses into politics and other social causes. I'm all for volunteering one's time for a cause to support change or offer assistance. When the earthquake struck Haiti earlier this year, I thought it was great that so many people donated whatever money or resources they had in order to send relief to the battered country. But I really detest celebrities who involve themselves in matters like politics or social issues. Maybe it's my own cynicism, but celebrities just don't come off to me as genuine when they campaign hard for these causes. I see them as getting involved in order to serve their own agendas instead of actually caring about whatever cause they are working on. I'm particularly annoyed with actors who discuss possibly running for political office, as if they somehow possess the necessary qualifications (and yes, I am fully aware of Schwarzeneggar and Ronald Reagan having had careers as actors prior to their political careers). Personally, I believe that actors and other celebrities should not get involved in politics at all, regardless of their political affilliation.

4. Reality television. All of it. I despite reality and unscripted television. There's no creativity behind it. There's no drama to it. There's no intelligence to it. I have to admit, though, I understand why networks love it so much: it's insanely cheap to produce. And reality shows almost always get huge ratings. People like watching regular folks compete since these programs show that anyone can make it. My beef with it, like I said, is that there's no creativity to it. Reality television really boils down to one of a couple different categories: an elimination competition; a dating show; or throwing a bunch of random people and have them live together, a la The Real World or Jersey Shore. It's the cheapest form of entertainment, and any time I've ever watched even a couple minutes of reality television (the most recent example of which was the godawful show Jerseylicious), I can literally feel myself getting dumber. I could only bear a few minutes of Jerseylicious before nearly wanting to throw my television out the window, so I chose to change the channel instead.

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6. The misuse of words such as ignorant, irregardless, and your. I'm not sure at what point most people thought the word "ignorant" meant "rude" or "cruel," but that's not even close to what "ignorant" really means. And since when did people even think "irregardless" was even a word to begin with??? "Irregardless" and "regardless" aren't interchangeable the way "inflammable" and "flammable" are. And it really pains me when I see "your" used in place of "you're," or "it's" instead of "its." I realize I'm being more than a little anal about the proper use of grammar, but when I see work emails where VPs are misusing words like these, I shake my head in embarrassment.

7. Noticing my number of friends on Facebook drops and I'm left to figure out who had deleted me. I wrote a blog post about this subject several months ago, and it continues to be a pet peeve of mine. I just would like to know who has deleted me when I notice my number of friends drops by a number or two. I'd be perfectly happy with getting an email notice that says something like, "Frankie Bobby thinks you're a tool and has deleted you as a friend on Facebook." Okay, fine. I have no problem with Frankie thinking I'm a tool. I'd just like to know that it was Frankie who thought that and not being left in the dark.

8. The ever-continuing process of the dating game. The concept of the dating game defies all sense of logic and order to me. I'm never fully certain of when to call a woman I meet for the first time, or when to call her after a first date, when to move in for a kiss, how to suggest a date idea, etc. I'm also too accommodating as a person, and I know enough about women to know that most women want a guy who will take charge (within reason, of course) and make decisions. I, on the other hand, am much more concerned with making sure a woman is happy, even with something as relatively menial as where we go out for dinner. To call it frustrating would be making a colossal understatement.

9. Nicknames like A-Rod, K-Rod, S-Jax, B-Rob, J-Lo, CarGo, etc. I've come to believe the fine art of the nickname for professional athletes is dead. The days of players such as Air Jordan, The Unit, The Rocket, or even King James seem far behind us. Now it's all using a players initials (e.g. T.O.), or some blending of the first and last name together. What kind of stupid nickname is that? Should I declare my nickname now to be R-Tch?

10. Eating while talking on the phone. I'm really particular when talking on the phone with friends or family members while I'm cooking dinner. I've had to end phone conversations abruptly sometimes because my dinner is almost done cooking, and I could tell sometimes that the person I was talking to at the time was caught off guard that I had to get off the phone to eat my dinner. The thing is, I think it's horribly rude to eat while talking on the phone. I don't ever talk on the phone while I'm eating lunch or dinner, and I've been on the other end of phone conversations where the person I was talking to was eating while talking to me. In fact, back in my days of working in customer service I once had a conversation with a customer while he was sitting in the drive-thru at a McDonald's. He put me on hold so he could order his breakfast. It's difficult to hold a conversation with someone while they're chomping on their food, and I honestly try to think of ways to get off the phone if I am talking to someone while they're eating.