I am talking about things that other people do that are really not their fault in any way, and therefore you cannot rationally blame them for it or get angry at them, but you still have this nebulous, undirected anger that has no outlet.
For example, sometimes when MrWhatsit sneezes, it’s this loud screamy kind of sneeze that could wake the dead, and it scares the crap out of me for a split second before I realize, oh, that wasn’t someone being murdered in my front yard, it was my husband sneezing. But what am I going to do, tell him “Don’t sneeze, it bugs me”?
I also hate it when people drop loud, clangy things, for pretty much the same reason. But again, it’s not like they meant to do it. And anyway, I’m a klutz enough that I’d be a huge hypocrite if I got irritated with people just because they accidentally dropped something.
I too have a strong dislike of sudden loud noises; it startles me and then makes me mad because I don’t like being startled.
And most of the time nobody did it intentionally. A car backfired, somebody dropped something, the car radio volume was turned up too high the last time it was on, somebody sneezed or coughed…
And I get all adrenalized and I want to hit something. :smack:
Folk who get onto internet terminals at the research and study part of the library, and then treat us to tap-tap-tapping of keys as they compose lengthy emails and what-have-you during their half-hour session. I don’t mind the sound of touch-typing in an office situation. Incessant tapping in the library where I’m trying to concentrate gets on my nerves. They do it there because it’s free. Dammit.
I’ll second the loud sneezes. The spousal unit and his friend (who both come from the same town–I’m beginning to think it’s something in the water when they were growing up) have these incredibly loud and sudden sneezes that scare the crap out of me, and I have to fight an irrational urge not to swat them when they do it. It’s not like they’re doing it on purpose.
The other one for me is people who take eight years to open crinkly packages. Crinkle. Crinkle. Crinkle crinkle. Crinkle. Crinkle…
By this time I want to rip the thing out of their hands, tear it open, and shove it back at them.
My mom has a very explosive sneeze and I have to steel myself not to jump or complain about it–she can’t help it! My father on the other hand must hurt his eyes, he rolls them so hard :rolleyes:
My annoyance? People who walk by my office and turn their heads to peer at me, but don’t say hello. Frigging say hello or just walk by with no acknowledgement I’m in here, please. But then I catch myself doing the same thing sometimes. :smack:
Folks moaning about their aches and pains and medical problems in the office are starting to make me angry, irrationally angry, to the point where I have to get up and leave the area when someone starts in.
In my defense, I’ve recently gone through my mother’s terminal illness and I’ve kind of had my fill of hearing about horrible symptoms. I’d like to have a respite from medical horrors, but co-workers are seemingly hooked on public airing of things which they really ought to save for their doctors.
That goes for relatives, too. Knock it off already!
A friend of mine has a habit of punctuating her sentences with the phrase “quite frankly,” as in “I bought a gallon of milk and, quite frankly, the price has really gone up!”
I gotta confess something. My nutty side has always suspected that there was some kind of psychology going on behind those loud sudden scream sneezes.
I noticed my daughter doing it when she was about 6 or 7. Had never noticed it before, but I told her in no uncertain terms to cut it out. I said to her, “There is no reason that you have to lay into that sneeze with all of your being. Attempt to stifle it a bit.”
Heaven help me if there is some kind of health risk involved in stifling a sneeze, because my daughter has been sneezing at a much more reasonable decible ever since I told her to cut it out.
Grrr…that reminds me of my father when I was a kid. We had a silverware drawer with divisions in it and he would put the silverware away by tossing each piece into its section. Just loud enough to be really annoying.
The clinking of the spoon against the bowl when he eats cereal, usually while sitting at the laptop four feet to my left in my office when I’m trying to work. Clink. . . . Clink. . . . Clink. . . . STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT!!!
And he likes to pick at his fingers WHILE HE’S DRIVING. Doesn’t take his eyes off the road, and doesn’t do it until he bleeds or anything. I suppose he finds rough spots and is trying to smooth them off. It doesn’t make any noise or anything, but it drives me up the friggin’ wall. I have to look away until he’s done, or else I just know I’ll explode.
People cracking their joints on purpose. Now, if you get up and go “crunch!” that’s one thing. But doing it on purpose…that’s different. My little brother used to do this on purpose to drive me crazy, if he had a joint he could pop it, it seemed. I don’t know if he still can, but I’m not going to ask, in case he decides to try in front of me.
Until quite recently, there was a girl sitting outside my office who squeaked. Nice girl, hard working…she just had this weird, constant hiccup or something, and at least 10-15 times EVERY GODDAMN DAY, she would emit this high pitched, brief and loudsqueak!
At first I was like “Huh, that’s weird.” After a month, I was like “Wow, that’s kind of annoying.” And after three months I was ready to kill the poor girl. I had to wear my headphones all day 'cause it bothered me so much. But once again, what are you going to do? Tell her to stop hiccupping?
Thank Christ they moved her at the beginning of this month before I could do her bodily harm.
When I’m jogging in the park I’m sticky from a mixture of sweat and super-thick sports sunscreen, waving flies out of my face, my legs are tired, my bangs are wet and sticking to my face, and the weather is so hot it feels like I’m breathing through a wet cloth. But I’m fine as long as I don’t see other people strolling or sitting or generally relaxing - that’s when I get irrationally mad. Part of me is insanely jealous and the other part is just insane and mentally yells “bitch, I’m killing myself here. You do NOT get to sit down!”
My theory is that these are people who crave attention (sorry to all of those who love a loud sneezer). If you know a yell-sneezer who is also a yell-vomiter, then my theory is rock-solid. Sneezing and vomiting do not require the assistance of the vocal chords. Learn to sneeze like a spy.
Mispronunciations can drive me nuts. I saw a commercial this weekend in which they used the non-word “samwidge” and I pointed at the TV and vowed a boycott until I saw that it was an ad for Quiznos. Oh, delicious and sweet Quiznos, why do you defy me so?
I get irrationally mad at people who don’t know how to make an unprotected left turn at a green light or won’t make a right-on-red. If I had a roof mounted chaingun, these fuckers would be toast.
People, you don’t know, who talk to you in the elevator!
If this was actually a social situation to meet new folks, as you must believe, I bet it wouldn’t have been planned for an 8x8x8 steel box, numb-nuts. Didn’t you get the memo? The one the rest of humanity read and understood at about age 10?
Just shut the hell up and look up at the shiny numbers and be glad I’m not kicking you in the ass on the way out!