Things I get irrationally angry about, but probably shouldn’t
Having to stand up repeatedly for people during baseball games.
Look, I understand that I’m going to have to stand up so that people can get to their seats, leave to get food and drinks, pee, whatever. But when I have to stand up repeatedly for these same people more than four times? I hate them and their drinking addition/bladder problem/jimmylegs/whatever, OK? For a 3-hour game, I will maybe get up once. Ninety percent of the time? I don’t leave my freaking seat. I try to be all Zen about it, so when someone says ‘excuse me’ the first few times, I’ll nod and smile, but when they’re leaving for the 4th time and it’s only the 2nd inning? Yeah, I won’t even make eye contact because I’m annoyed at their constant aisle pacing and how it’s interfering with my enjoyment of the game. Especially if they’re leaving in the middle of an at-bat – learn baseball etiquette, dammit. And when people come to our end of the aisle and want to pass through, even though their seats are on the opposite end? Whyyyyyy? Seriously! Don’t make 15 people stand up for you because you’re too lazy to walk 20 feet and make only two people stand up, OK?
People doing things only because they heard about it on Oprah, not because it’s plain common sense (i.e., not texting or talking on their phone while they’re driving).
When I’m super swamped at work and at my wit’s end and basically being punished for being intelligent and organized and with-it by having to constantly nag others for information and/or getting assigned additional projects, and someone trills, “At least it’s job security!”
When actors/bands get all huffy when they make it big, acting like they don’t want the attention (Kristen Stewart, Kurt Cobain).
Commuting.
Every night, I make a Sophie’s Choice and decide which way to take home (I have two choices, neither good). Sometimes I wish I could see a traveling blue line, like in the Olympics, so I could see where my Alternate Commuting Self is in comparison to my Sitting in Traffic Self. In my quest (called “I would like to get home before being killed by any one of you 2,500 a-holes traveling my route”), I try to get home as soon as possible. I am kind of like the main character in Stephen King’s “Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut,” only without the scary creatures or wormhole shortcuts or the whole getting younger bit. Anyway, my shortcuts are few and far between, but I try to get home faster by limiting the amount of times I brake. It is remarkably easy not to brake (for me), but everyone else seems to have this knee-jerk reaction to seeing brake lights on the car in front of them. So here is what I do:
1. Get behind a car
2. Leave a decent amount of space between me and that car (but not so decent that jerks in the other lane decide to cut me off)
3. When I see the car in front of me brake:
a. Check if car in front of THAT car is braking
b. Ease up on the accelerator
4. Only brake when absolutely necessary, which is less than 25% of the time
I just wish everyone would do this, instead of stamping on the brake any time they see brakelights, cop lights, tow trucks, hazard lights, clouds, birds or air motes.
Man, I am cranky! It is a good thing that I have tomorrow off.
That commuting braking thing PISSES ME OFF TO NO END!!!
Oh I get so annoyed! So you’re not alone with that one!
Comment by Sarah — June 16, 2010 @ 11:38 am
YES. I can’t STAND over-zealous brakers! You seriously can cause huge traffic jams for NO REASON that way. AGH.
Comment by Jess — June 16, 2010 @ 11:55 am
I hate getting up for people at games. I have a hard time being nice even once. At least wait until in-between innings! Gah.
I don’t know how I will deal with commuting, but I am sure it will be inevitable at some piont.
Comment by Artemisia — June 16, 2010 @ 1:07 pm
Years ago, when I was working in the back room at a bookstore and totally buried by Christmas stock coming in, my manager offered the “job security” line, and I threw a bag of packing peanuts at him. Hate that!
Comment by ccr in MA — June 16, 2010 @ 8:00 pm
I agree with each and every one of these. Even if I don’t have a commute or a job workload.
Comment by Shelly — June 16, 2010 @ 8:14 pm
Yesterday I was painfully tied up in “road construction traffic” all the way from Rogers to Maple Grove, doing a maximum of 10 MPH. I was behind the very same person you were describing! Her brake lights were on more than they were off! Enjoy your day off!
Comment by Becky — June 17, 2010 @ 5:40 am
I fear I’m a too-often-getter-upper. Hey! I need beer!
Comment by Ellie — June 17, 2010 @ 7:22 am
The getting up at baseball games thing? Drives me CRAZY. I especially hate dithering. For example, yesterday, the mister and I were at the game and a family of four got up (all four of them; I mean really, couldn’t just ONE of you go get more ice cream?) no less than 6 times. Each time they’d come back and the row would be standing there, hovering over our seats, while the two children debated who should walk in first and who should carry which piece of food. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, sit down! We’re all standing here, blocking the game for people behind us, MOVE!
Comment by Buster — June 17, 2010 @ 8:54 am
I agree with all these things! Especially the “job security” line. I think I’m going to start responding with, “But what if I don’t WANT job security?”
Also, post-apocalyptic book recommendation: The Passage by Justin Cronin. I’m about a third of the way through it, and am completely enthralled.
Comment by Shelly — June 17, 2010 @ 9:07 am
I am irrationally angry today, too. People do not READ. I try to do things to make things super clear, and then people don’t read, and ask me to do the thing I already did and then I get all stabby.
Thank you for providing a space to vent.
P.S. Please do not ever drive behind me because you will want to kill me. I am totally a knee-jerk braker. Let’s blame it on the fact that I never drive.
Comment by Life of a Doctor's Wife — June 17, 2010 @ 1:35 pm
I can’t blame the celebrities for not wanting to be hounded all the time, but Kristin Stewart REALLY needs to quit being such a brat. I saw a photo where’s she’s smoking & flipping off the photographer. Note: no matter how much of an asshole HE’S being, YOU are the one on camera. Don’t be a jerk.
Comment by amber — June 17, 2010 @ 9:16 pm
Commuting has always sounded like absolute hell to me. Anything over a twenty minute drive is just misery, if you have to make the same one every.single.day and it’s always backed up traffic and dealing with a holes. So I’m sorry, and I don’t blame you a bit for finding it infuriating.
Comment by Sarah — June 17, 2010 @ 10:38 pm
i am pretty convinced that 1/2 of the accidents in the dc metro area are due to overzealous braking. CHECK AND SEE IF YOU NEED TO BRAKE instead of automatically slamming on them because you felt a shift in air temperature, so that you don’t end up getting rear ended! ARGH.
Comment by Alice — June 18, 2010 @ 12:38 pm