Getting Under My Skin

            Someone who bites his or her nails.  People who decide not to use their blinker when they make a right turn.  That girl who writes, “I’m so stressed, don’t know what to do…” on their Facebook wall, just waiting for someone to ask what is wrong.  We all have our pet peeves, and though small, they can drive even a priest insane.  I have quite a few myself, and I am sure that I also attain someone else’s pet peeve. 

            Perhaps my biggest pet peeve is not only because it bugs me, but because it is disrespectful.  We’ve all been there: you are talking to someone about something that happened.  You aren’t two sentences into it when the other person says, “Well that’s kindda like when…”  They continue to ramble on about their story.  Upon returning to yours, they respond,  “Yeah…but this one time…” and the process repeats itself.  Some people naturally speak a one-way conversation.  Perhaps they just like to hear themselves talk, or perhaps they have nobody else that will listen.  Wonder why?  It would be respectful to at least listen to most of the conversation and respond.  When one story is done, then is would be appropriate to tell yours.  I’ve learned to avoid these people, and have discontinued even talking to them online.  If they don’t have the respect to not interrupt, then I am not willing to talk at all.

            Although I don’t consider myself a grammar freak, I do get annoyed by some things that I hear and read.  For example, “I seen you the other day” or “Me and my brother went to the baseball game” or writing, “Noone can beat us”.  There is a reason that a language exists, and that is to be able to communicate accurately and efficiently with people.  Americans are butchering the English language, and I don’t see what is so hard about speaking and writing the right way.  I would agree that when English was created, it wasn’t necessary to have different ways of writing similar things.  Having to say “My sister and I” for a subject and “My sister and me” for an object” is a little ridiculous.  None the less, there is only one English language, and we should all follow it.

            Another thing that really gets under my skin is when I go to a nice restaurant, am trying to enjoy my meal, and out of nowhere, “I DON’T WANT TO!”  A child screams because of the lack of parenting skills.  To make it worse, not only does the child continue to scream, the parents do not take the child out of the restaurant.  They either start fighting back (verbally of course) or ignore the child.  I am not sure if it is the easy access to violent and poor-exampled television shows that the children watch, or that parents find it too easy to say, “I don’t know why my child screams, that’s not how I raised him.”  If someone wants to go to a restaurant and enjoy themselves, then I am willing to bet that they don’t want to hear a child screaming, unless it is Jack the Ripper with his date.  Even so, it is the parents’ responsibility to raise their children with respect and manors, and screaming in public does not fall under either category.

            They say it’s the little things in life that that you cherish, but little things are also the things that drive people crazy.  It’s only human nature to notice the negative things in life, which is why everyone has pet peeves.  Pet peeves are hard to ignore, and there’s nothing I can do about that.