By “innocent” I’m not talking about serial killers or child molesters. Or even the radical anti-abortion picketers I’ve talked to sometimes. I mean the everyday groups of people you run into that really set your teeth on edge.
I positively hate the “helpless.” That group of people who expect everyone to do things for them because they can’t do it for themselves, and they are not willing to try. The ones who come to my register, ask me for something, and when I say “It’s in aisle 7,” ask “Can you go get it for me?” (no, I cannot leave the register when there’s a line on it). Or bring a loaded cart to the register and say “Can you unload my cart for me?” (Who put all those items in there?) They are always so apologetic, and simply cannot do for themselves. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I can’t find my credit card.”
Yes, these people are not bad people and are not breaking any laws. But I have such a hard time dealing with them without screaming “Try doing it for yourself, idiot.”
Slow people. No, not the mentally challenged. The people who seem to be a human/sloth hybrid. And not the slowish people. The SLOW people who aren’t just taking it easy, because hey I like to do that too. The SLOW people who can’t do anything fast if their life depended on it.
I don’t hate them. But at some point I just have to leave the area till they are done because I can’t stand to watch it anymore.
Lazy. Not so much those who have an off day now and then but those who actively plan how not to work when they are at work. Dude, you’re making it tougher for everyone around you and in this economy I can name 20 people who would like to have your slot. Move on already.
People with high in-demand skill sets that insist on becoming “stay-at-home” parents. I’m not sure if I would define them as “innocent” though. My mother-in-law regularly has difficulty filling her nursing slots because too many people decide they would rather change diapers than save lives. If they didn’t plan on making a real career out of it their spot in the classes could have been used by somebody who did.
People who volunteer to do things as part of a non-profit or other group, but then never follow through. It’s why I stopped volunteering for our local women’s retreat. You know you have physical or mental health problems. Why make it worse on yourself and others by pretending you don’t? The group is understaffed as it is and when the volunteers decide at the last minute to bail it puts the rest of the staff in a bind.
“Animal rights’ activists” who only care about cute animals, but not ugly ones. And folks who are outraged at the death of an animal, but don’t even blink when hundreds of people die from starvation or disease, etc.
Also, people who screech and lose all composure at the sight of a spider.
People who pray in loud voices as a form of pre-meal blessing. There is something so disconcerting about sitting down to a meal and being blasted with “Amens” and “Hallelujahs” from the table next to you.
Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against saying grace before a meal. I do it myself. But please use your inside voice when you do so.
People who offer to pray for me, or tell me that I’m So Strong! or tell me that Everything Happens For A Reason, or tell me to just keep a positive attitude! An Attitude of Gratitude! And everything will be Just Fine.
What really pisses me off are companies that don’t pay enough to attract enough talent, then blame the citizens who turn their nose up at the jobs for somehow not being “generous” enough to heavily subsidize the shareholders instead of earning a good wage commensurate with their value.
Euphoric atheists. You know the type, the ones who walk around talking about sky-fairies and deluded idiots, and reshelving the Bible in the fiction section, etc. A high number of them tend to wear fedoras, too.
For that matter, people who wear fedoras, unless it’s with a suit and tie. No. Just…no.
People who take themselves seriously.
Obese people discussing anything remotely connected to being overweight, weight loss, or diet.
Foot-draggers.
Open-mouth chewers.
People who say “like” every few words.
“The body’s wisdom” people. My body reacts to several totally substances as if they are ingested cyanide. Every year, fights on the level of Huns and Goths and Mongols attacking a small hamlet take place in my immune system, because my body is the village friggin’ idiot.
They make me stabby. Before my chronic migraines were under control – and certainly while I was mourning the death of my fiance – I used to verbally let loose sometimes. That also happens for a reason. Because people don’t think before they say those things. The truth is that most people aren’t comfortable with “sometimes random, horrific, truly crappy things happen for no reason at all.”
The “animal saviors” that think they’re helping severely sick/injured animals that in all reality, should have been humanly euthanized a long time ago.
My problem is they often take up places in academic and training programs that could go to the more deserving (you know people who are actually going to do their jobs for a while). My MIL has often said that any nurse who quits after less than 5 years to become a housewife/stay-at-home parent (happens far too often even in 2015) should be required to pay for the educational costs of her replacement.