Things that offend others, but not you

We´ve had plenty of threads in which we have discussed the various things other people do that bug the hell out of us, or outright offend us.

I think it´s time to do the opposite. Not encouraging bad behavior by any means, these are things that might offend others, but not me.

[ol]
[li]Not recieving phone calls from family members on my birthday.[/li]
[li]Politicians or news anchors swearing on live TV.[/li]
[li]Seeing someone break or curse at The Bible[/li]
[li]Recieving Second Hand Smoke[/li]
[li]Not talking to my friends for entire months at a time[/li][/ol]
Well, that´s enough for me. So, what things offend others, but not you?

All of the above plus:

“bad” table manners. As long as you’re not getting any on me, you’re fine.

People reclining their seat on a flight

Hmm… yeah, pretty much everything else bothers me.

Board moderation and performance. No tellin’ how many times I’ve scratched my head and wondered gawd, what the hell are they bitchin’ about now?

I laugh at jokes aimed at atheists, liberals and myself if they’re good enough while most of my friends are howling with outrage instead of laughter. People telling me that they’ll pray for doesn’t bother me in the least, and either does the use of the word ‘Christmas’. Being told that I’ll burn in hell doesn’t offend me although it does make me laugh. I’m not easily offended and if I am I usually hide it and think about it for a while before responding.

Porn.

Waiters and waitresses who don’t say’ thank you’ or don’t add a bunch of phony fluffy niceness. It doesn’t bother me at all, provided they take care of me. That pretty much applies to most experiences in stores, etc. Just be efficient and effective and I don’t need the phony customer service we all think is so rewarding. I know in other non-U.S. cultures, much of the phony sweet customer service is seen as insulting anyway.

Be good, efficient and effective and I won’t be insulted if I don’t get the phony customer service you were trained to provide.

  1. Reclining seats on planes

  2. Almost everything people bitch about related to other people’s weddings, especially as it relates to gifts/registries. The only thing that offends me is publicly complaining about gifts received-especially when overall the couple have made out like bandits. But online registries, registries as a whole, money registries, honeymoon registries, requests for cash, registry cards in the invites…DON’T CARE. Until we hit the point of a birthday registry I really can’t get worked up about it.

  3. Also add in the issue of spending money on a wedding/bar mitzvah/special events. I really really don’t get my panties in a wad about how much money other people want to spend/don’t spend on events.

  4. Diamond rings

  5. Declawing cats: I don’t like it and would never do it to mine but I say it’s better for them to be declawed and have a home than be euthanised.

  6. Having to take my shoes off in other people’s homes. We’ve always had a no-shoes home so I don’t care. At the same time, we never press people on it once they make it clear they don’t want to take them off-I wear my high heels around the house. Moderation in all things etc…

  7. Thank you notes. I don’t care.

Cunt.

Disturbing or disgusting conversations over meals – My family had emergency room workers, farmers, and people who worked in industrial food processing; our meal time converstations were at times contests to see who could get the last of a favorite dish, my dad or my uncle always won.

Insults – The more you try to get a rise out of me, the funnier I’ll find it.

Clutter – As long as you/your place doesn’t stink and there’s a stable place for me to sit and put down my glass, I don’t care how much crap you’ve got piled up.

Jumpy animals – I like to jumped on by dogs or cats.

Brusqueness – short and to the point is awesome

Public Displays of Affection – be as kissy and cutesy as you want, just expect the same from us “old” people.

Foul or vulgar language – swear early, often, and blasphmeny well. Expect to get graded.

  1. Letting the grass go to seed before that first cutting in May. The Lawn Snobs on my block rant and rave when I do this. But, I don’t spend hours dethatching, aerating, reseeding, and custom-watering bald spots because I have none.

  2. Letting “volunteer” wildflowers–sunflowers, goldenrod, wild violet, daisy fleabane (a plant with small, white, asterlike flowers), etc. grow in my lawn. The neighbors seem to think that flowers belong ONLY in flower beds and that volunteer flowers are weeds.

  3. Ferrets

Dirty jokes and cussing.

It’s not unusual for a guy to tell a dirty joke or cuss in front of me, and then apologize because he’s afraid he offended me. It happens often enough to make me wonder if there’s something about me that makes me seem prudish (I’m really, really not).

Poop. I’ve changed thousands of diapers; saying “poop” or referring to messy diapes is like discussing the weather to me. Go on, run out the door waving your hands above your head. It’s just poop and it washes right up.

Smoking. Go ahead; light one up right next to me. I won’t care. If I have the mildly asthmatic Whatsit Jr. in tow, I might move so that I’m not downwind of you, but I won’t even give you a dirty look. It simply does not bother me.

Noisy children in public places. Again, generally doesn’t bother me. I just finished working on two chapters of the book I’m indexing, at a completely jam-packed Panera Bread filled with small, yelping children and at least one crying baby. I tuned it completely out without a problem.

All of these. A couple that start trainwrecks here:

Picky eaters- Why should I care what you refuse to use for fuel? Just don’t make a scene about it.

Ethical vegetarians/vegans who think they are better people for their choices. Makes sense to me, even if I disagree.

People using cellphones in places where it’s okay to have a face to face conversation.

Smoking.

Sex on TV.

Annual Christmas letters bursting with boasting. :slight_smile:

Smoking.
Drinking.
Cursing.
Gay marriage. As the sage Kinky Friedman says, “they have every right to be as miserable as the rest of us”.

Seeing a (capable) woman doing physical work. Myself and a few ladies at my last job - in a warehouse - used to try to one-up each other and see how many boxes we could move in a set amount of time. Invariably, one or more guys would come over and shove us off the heavy stuff, and point us towards the smaller, lighter boxes. (That’s far too heavy for you; let us men do it.) If I know you are okay with your workload, I’ll leave you to it. (Now please kindly do the same for me.)

not much offends me. poor overall manners will make me think less of you, but it won’t offend me.