# Tiny, Insignificant Things That Tick You Off
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 27, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205 "2010-07-27T17:32:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@Tehanu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tehanu)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/61 "2010-07-28T12:52:53Z")
Heh. I have a number of these pet peeves myself, and am glad to see from this thread that others share some of them.
One that drives me particularly crazy is people in the grocery store who consume their purchases before they buy them. Can they not wait until after they have gotten to the register and paid for them? Compounding my aggravation is when said people are eating their unpaid-for salad which is sold BY WEIGHT. That is effectively theft.
Generally speaking, these are young twenty-somethings from the nearby university, and I try to write it off to their “culture” or lack thereof. But recently I saw a well-dressed middle-aged woman (40’s or so) gnawing on an unpaid-for bagel in line. Having to watch her chew through it and leave her bite marks all over the surface made me sick.
The only thing that saves me from beating these people (or otherwise getting in their face) is averting my eyes and struggling to remain calm until I pay for my own purchases and get out of the store.
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### Author:  [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/62 "2010-07-28T13:06:40Z")
I cringe at noises which sound uncannily like gratuitous dubbed-over sound effects such as the ear-splitting crack of the first bite of an apple, the overly luxurious sound of red wine glugging from the bottle, or the hyper-efficient rattle of someone ostentatiously hard at work on a computer keyboard.
And just a little nicotine would cure this I’m sure.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/63 "2010-07-28T13:09:44Z")
> [@Silver\_Fire](#):
>
> I have to say, some of the stuff in this thread isn’t really “tiny” or “insignificant”.
>
> Anyway, I can come up with a whole list of shit that just is not important to anybody but will still get me ranting like somebody just… did something not insignificant? Anyway…
>
> (snip)
>
> - that movie, Overboard
Broke your own rule so soon, huh?
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/64 "2010-07-28T13:48:52Z")
Men who don’t wear shirts.
It drives me batty.
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### Author:  [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/65 "2010-07-28T15:25:50Z")
> [@tdn](#):
>
> > [@Silver\_Fire](#):
> >
> > I have to say, some of the stuff in this thread isn’t really “tiny” or “insignificant”.
> >
> > Anyway, I can come up with a whole list of shit that just is not important to anybody but will still get me ranting like somebody just… did something not insignificant? Anyway…
> >
> > (snip)
> >
> > - that movie, Overboard
>
> Broke your own rule so soon, huh?
Ha, Overboard matters?
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/66 "2010-07-28T15:46:56Z")
> [@Snickers](#):
>
> People who walk in the street instead of on the sidewalk! Gah!
[You might not do so well in the Netherlands.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woonerf)
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### Author:  [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/67 "2010-07-28T15:54:00Z")
It really irks me when people say “less” when they mean “fewer”. If you can count it, use fewer. If you can, use less.
ex. Fewer cars on the street mean less exhaust. Not less cars = less exhaust.
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### Author:  [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/68 "2010-07-28T15:55:36Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#):
>
> If you can count it, use fewer. If you can, use less.
You’re so confusing! 😛
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### Author:  [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/69 "2010-07-28T16:04:09Z")
Being the only one in this thread whose pet peeve is attacked by logic and reason.
☹
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### Author:  [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/70 "2010-07-28T16:24:59Z")
> [@DragonAsh](#):
>
> Foreigners in Japan that insist on calling their kids ‘doubles’ because they don’t like the Japanese word that sounds like ‘half’.
What’s the Japanese word that sounds like ‘half’? Why would someone not like the way it sounds?
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### Author:  [@Engineer\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engineer_Dude)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/71 "2010-07-28T16:31:41Z")
Sports announcers, and when they say things like, “that’s right, [other sports announcer], if [the losing team] wants to put some points on the board they really gotta focus on ramping up their offense”.
I wish I could get paid six figures to come up with as many ways as possible to restate the basic, obvious idea that whoever scores more points wins the game.
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### Author:  [@The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bith_Shuffle)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/72 "2010-07-28T16:47:58Z")
I get annoyed when people use phrases like “don’t take this personally” or “no offense” or something like that. They don’t get a simple fact: _human social interaction is personal_. If you think I’m not a good singer, that’s your belief about my personage. If I am rejected for a job, they rejected me (this is obvious, people) because of certain things they believe about _me_. Sometimes people take the notion of impersonality to such an extent that it seems like they believe that nothing should be taken personally.
I think we should take _more_ things personally. We are persons. We base decisions on our perceptions of people. I take things personally, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. If I criticize you in some way, or kick your out of my rock band, or reject you for a job, or favor Anthony Hecht’s poetry over your own, or dislike your fashion sense–feel free to take it personally yourself.
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### Author:  [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/73 "2010-07-28T17:04:52Z")
When people say “Oh” rather than “Zero”
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### Author:  [@Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Mockingbird)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/74 "2010-07-28T17:18:39Z")
I used to hate it when people would walk off and leave their shopping carts willy nilly the store while they ran to get something else.
Now I just add strange things to their carts as I push them out of my way. Hemmeroid cream, a single bagged frozen shrimp, a can of potted meat…whatever’s close by.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/75 "2010-07-28T17:23:08Z")
> [@Engineer\_Dude](#):
>
> Sports announcers, and when they say things like, “that’s right, [other sports announcer], if [the losing team] wants to put some points on the board they really gotta focus on ramping up their offense”.
>
> I wish I could get paid six figures to come up with as many ways as possible to restate the basic, obvious idea that whoever scores more points wins the game.
I suspect that might be harder than we realize (and any sportcasters with half a brain struggle with it).
Oh, thought of another insignificant thing that drives me crazy - people popping their joints around me. It gives me the heebie-jeebies.
ETA: Your post reminded me of another one, **Tequila** - when people leave perishables on a shelf in a supermarket. That jug of milk you put on the shelf by the bread is garbage now - you could have just opened it and chugged it for virtually the same effect. If you got it from a freezer or fridge, it has to go BACK to the freezer or fridge.
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### Author:  [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/76 "2010-07-28T17:31:04Z")
> [@descamisado](#):
>
> Although I don’t have a car any more and couldn’t do anything about this when I did, but I get livid when I see someone park in a asinine or selfish way, _i.e._, parking exactly in the middle of what could be two parking spots, or parking too far forward (or back) while other cars are “off,” without realizing if they moved a lilttle bit in one direction, adjustments corrections can be made by later drivers to get the maximum number of spaces. Drives me bananas. I don’t need the spot and, like I said, I can’t do anything about it, but there you have it.
Whenever I see some douchbag’s nice new vehicle parked in the middle of two spaces to avoid any other vehicle parking within several feet, I want to vandalize it. Makes no difference if there are plenty of other spaces available or not.
And this: “I know, huh?” GRRRRR. :mad:
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### Author:  [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/77 "2010-07-28T17:48:08Z")
> [@Moonlitherial](#):
>
> > [@Gordon\_Urquhart](#):
> >
> > Along those same lines, it drives me really, really, really nuts when someone thinks it’s necessary to state “Knock knock” every time they come to my cube or office. It was annoying the first time it happened; it certainly hasn’t gotten less annoying in the last 500 times it’s happened.
>
> Oh god I wish they would. The silent looming behind me waiting for me to notice I’m being watched makes me crazy.
I should have written that I pretty much face my door, so I can see people when they need to get my attention; it’s just the point of having to listen to someone think they’re being creative by saying “Knock knock.” Even if I didn’t face the door, I’d much prefer “Hey, \<\\>-head” or perhaps having a brick thrown at my head, as a way of getting my attention, to “Knock knock.”
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### Author:  [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/78 "2010-07-28T19:33:46Z")
Getting on an airplane -
There is always some mom aged lady carrying a bundle of 3 foot long decorative squiggly sticks that she has difficulty with finding a secure place to stow.
Why? You had to buy squiggly sticks in Frankfurt to transport all the way to Minneapolis? They don’t have squiggly sticks in Minneapolis? You really need to take up a whole overhead compartment that no one else can use now with your squiggly sticks?
Ladies I ask, in all seriousness, is it a menopausal thing to gather squiggly sticks and transport them long distances? Sorta like shoe gathering is linked to estrogen? 😃
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### Author:  [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/79 "2010-07-28T20:07:40Z")
> [@Icarus](#):
>
> Ladies I ask, in all seriousness, is it a menopausal thing to gather squiggly sticks and transport them long distances? Sorta like shoe gathering is linked to estrogen? 😃
I have to ask: what is a squiggly stick?
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### Author:  [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-insignificant-things-that-tick-you-off/548205/80 "2010-07-28T20:28:54Z")
Restroom doors that you have to pull open to exit. I just washed my hands. What’s the point if I now have to touch the same door handle used by all the idiots who didn’t wash their hands after peeing and pooping?
It’s doubly aggravating when I see this in new buildings.
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