While I often subscribe to the notion that “it is, what it is”, I do have pet peeves that drive me beyond batty. What is a pet peeve? It is a minor annoyance that an individual identifies as particularly annoying to them, to a greater degree than others may find it.  So, a pet peeve is very particular to you as a person. A pet peeve can actually tell you much about who a person is.  Instead of “tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are” it should be “tell me your top three pet peeves and I will tell you your neuroses.” Ok. Tell me your  pet peeves and I will tell you who you are.  Better?

The phrase seems to first have been used in the year 1919; the year of my grandmother’s birth as well as J.D. Salinger; both individuals raging with pet peeves when they were alive. My grandmother was extremely annoyed by promiscuous young women; while Salinger’s pet peeve was phony people. The year 1919, was also the year when those in Argentina tried to organize a series of riots called tragic week. That could have been the title of my past week on the road. Also, in 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution authorizing Prohibition was ratified. Talk about a major pet peeve.  In February of that year, Oregon implemented a one cent per US gallon tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax.  Wow, thanks a lot Oregon for giving us a longstanding national pet peeve!

I have often wondered can something be a pet peeve today but not tomorrow?  Do we grow out of pet peeves? If so, does that mean that our personality traits change as well? Let me tell you when you are on business travel for a whole week, you start developing dislikes or rather you start reflecting in that moment, what may be a tad bit annoying. Here is a list of my top 12 pet peeves, at the moment.

1. Something that gets my goat are those real-life mean girls that have not seen the movie. If you are going to be a “mean girl”, you should at least be familiar with pop culture’s depiction of mean girls and what eventually comes to them. You can catch “mean girls” or you can catch “Heathers”. I personally prefer Heathers; where you had such classic mean-spirited lines as “Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?”

2. I think many people find those that walk slowly, especially in New York City, a tad bit annoying. So much so, that it almost qualifies as a universal pet peeve. However, what bothers me most are slow trainstop walkers. When I am getting off the train, I am so peeved by people that insist on getting out first and then proceed to slowly walk up the stairs. It’s like a rolling stairwell block. Why insist on getting off the train first if you are going to hold everyone else up? Nonsensical and annoying. If this is you, take a minute to reflect on your need to be first out the gate but yet you cannot follow through on leading.

3. Are there times when you just need a moment to really focus and think through a problem? A major pet peeve of mine is when people insist on talking to me when I have my thinking face on. At times, they will state “I don’t want to interrupt you since you look so deep in though.”  Well, don’t then. Give a girl a chance to fruitfully brainstorm with herself.

4. Speaking of fruitful brainstorms. There is a bar we tend to go to when we want to escape the office to get work done.  There is a certain ritual to it. Thus, getting a new bartender that you have to “break in” is a major buzz kill and throws the whole session into disarray.

5. Something that annoys me and icks me out even more at a bar is lukewarm food such as pork-laden cheese fries.  Hot food should be hot. Period. Resulting food poisoning and stint in the ER are not cool.

6. How about this for restaurants? It completely irks me when waiters do not believe that I really want the amount of food that I ordered.  I eat a lot. Yes, I am thin. But that doesn’t mean I do not enjoy a feast. I believe in gluttony.  Let me order what want.  And let me sin. This goes to you as well Mr. Bloomberg, who keeps finding new food and drink bans to enact in New York City in the name of making us healthier. Bah humbug!

7. Speaking of healthy, I do travel tons and I do get annoyed at myself when I allow myself to overeat and have no exercise machine nearby. Thus forcing me to travel while feeling fat.  Those seats feel even smaller at that point.

8. Something that drives me absolutely insane is the low-flush toilet. I have one at home that requires much maintenance. Low-flush toilets in Puerto Rico are an even hotter mess. This past week, I came across a bathroom stall in a restaurant in Puerto Rico that had a trashcan stuffed into it.  I guess someone else got mad at the flushing situation. I am all for saving the environment but let us make sure our hygiene is not impacted.

9. Oh, yes. What is up with people throwing trash wherever they want?  Nothing is more disgusting or irritating than watching people just nonchalantly throwing their garbage on the street. I saw someone blow their nose and then purposefully drop their tissue paper onto the sidewalk. They couldn’t be bothered to walk those few steps to a garbage can.  How lazy is that?  I imagine that such a person does not save their energy to power up their brain either.

10. These litterbugs may be the very same people that classify individuals into “professional” and non-professionals. It is so silly to hear people talk about themselves using the classifier of “professional.”  Often times, when such a self-descriptor is used, it is used to justify a certain disrespectful or self-righteous behavior. How about acting like a professional instead of claiming to anyone that will listen that you are one?

11. Speaking of speaking, could it be any more annoying when adults use certain beyond-silly phrases repeatedly. For example, I cannot stand whenever anyone says “Ya, know what I’m sayin”…Half the time, the answer is no. If you have to ask, then the answer is that no one understood what you were saying. Or how about the annoyingly silly adults that scream “YOLO”?   Or adults using certain phrases to add sexual innuendo to a conversation?  (such as “that’s what she said” ). No one is going to think you are actually a teenager despite how silly you sound.  The use of these phrases just brings a conversation to a standstill. At times, they can be funny and can make one laugh and help calm an anxious team. But really, how often do you have to say it? How about we put in a place a quota on the number of times you can use vapid phrases to show how supposedly cool you are?  Interestingly, I believe there is a correlation between use of these phrases and also being a mean girl.

12. This may seem random, but a major pet peeve of mine is the fact that supermarkets get you hooked on certain foods and then they discontinue them. Why? Why would you do that to me? I got totally hooked on this frozen food brand called Bombay Kitchen and now I can’t find it anywhere. I had gotten so used to eating my Butter Chicken curry on Saturday mornings. But alas, now I am lost. In Berkeley, there was a store called Grocery Outlet that specialized in discontinued foods; but it was at major discounts. It was awesome. And I got used to changing up my weekly eating habits as a result. But now I shop at supposed higher end grocery stores. They should keep their shelves stocked in the manner I’ve become accustomed to.

As you can probably tell by my pet peeves, I seem to have a thing about food; it is quite important to my sense of self.  I like gluttony. I rather enjoy it. I think most of us do.  but for some reason (gee I wonder why), gluttony has gotten a bad rap.  Gluttony by itself may not be the best thing; but there is nothing bad about “working hard, then playing hard”.  Work the brain, let the soul play.

I also don’t have much time for people that don’t engage in self-reflection. Recognize if you are a slow walker and how that impacts others. That’s not so hard to do, right? I definitely don’t have much time for high amounts of phoniness as well.  Don’t overwhelm me with your phoniness. if you need to be phony, do it in drips and drabs.

If only someone would develop a taser that lightly zapped someone for being a walking, breathing pet-peeve.  Pet peeves, they are what they are. I can move on and past them, but don’t expect me to be amused by them.  Till that “light” taser comes along, expect me to shake my head at you when you peeve me out.