Anyone care to share their latest pet peeve? I’ll go first.

[LightDrizzle]

The tiny fluffy rectangular mics that almost everyone is is holding in one hand in their online reels and video content. We could hear them perfectly well before; whatever they relied on then.

Why would you choose to tie up one hand? In my mean spiritedness I suspect it makes them feel like roving reporters or foreign correspondents for TV. I’m irrationally irked by the sight of them.

I know there are bigger problems in the world, hence describing it as irrational and petty.

Any fellow grumpy bastards out there willing to share their own current bête noire?

But because im a grumpy cow, im annoyed by lots of people who seem to be listening to something at volume level 100000 so even with headphones you can hear it 4 rows away on the train. At least the "no headphones" people aren't pretending they are not annoying other people!

Go to lhr t5 and kick up a massive fuss. I did this. It worked.

The pepto bismol diarrhoea dance advert.

I can’t help picturing an audition -
“So you want to play Hamlet at the RSC - can you tell us what other roles you have had?”

”Well - I was the diarrhoea dance man on an advert - I’m very proud of that!”

I know we don't need to socially distract anymore but people who walk so close. Just why?

Oh I love the diarrhoea man!

Feeling the need to be contactable at all times.
People stopping dead in front of me at tourist places to take selfies.

Not to be said out loud, but some small children I know automatically posing for photos because they have been brought up with every moment being captured on camera.
The same small children being trained to know the required response to Christmas and birthday presents (basically they act like performing seals) Particularly for the camera.

All mobile phone related I know. And I'm as bad some of the time. Except about taking pictures of absolutely everything all of the bloody time.

Thoroughly peevish today 🤣

"you know.." every 10 words in a radio interview. Jeremy Vine show callers are among the worst for this as a quick listen will prove.

Liberally larded with kinda, like, sort of. Bring back the good old fashioned erm.

Ditherers. In general.

My cat peed on my bath mat because I hadn’t got round to doing her litter tray that day!

And soup-heaters* in tiny communal kitchens, 1 microwave and a hot water thingy between 100 people. literally only one person can get in there at a time. Soup heaters - 60 seconds of Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Ping!. Takes out, stirs so slowly . Back in for another 60 seconds, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Ping! More stirring. Repeat.

Just take a flask that keeps it hot and bring it from home FFS (I do this, it's fine).

*People who heat up soup from cold in the microwave.

People with dogs off leads or with those extendible leads who have no control over their dogs at all.

It's getting worse. I walk on a canal towpath every day. The number of out of control dogs gets worse and worse. They're all over the path, randomly changing direction, jumping across the towpath, suddenly sprinting towards other dogs/people.

It's a nightmare trying to walk past/around them, especially as their owners are usually completely oblivious and either looking at their phones or making a token gesture to "control" their dogs by talking to them like another human, which obviously the dog doesn't understand and ignores. One pratt this morning said something like "Fido, don't go over there, come to this side near the telephone post!" As if Fido had a hope in hell's chance of understanding that, and of course, completely ignored her!

I've lost count of the number of times I've nearly been tripped over by a stupid extendible lead suddenly across the path like a trip wire, or a dog bounding towards me and literally plunging straight into me. A couple of times, I've actually been tripped over and ended up flat on my face when I've got tangled up in one of those stupid long leads.

Dog owners need to wake up and smell the coffee. Lots of people go on about cyclists on footpaths, but dog owners who have out of control dogs are worse.

It's such a shame so many dog owners can't be arsed to train their dogs. There are some dogs I see almost daily that have been properly trained, and their owners are clearly more responsible as they "instruct" their dog to heel and sit when other people are walking past.

Pet peeve -
Ridiculously long arms in wind cheaters, hoodies etc
Hands disappear and people using the sleeve arms to move things, etc

Hot Cross Buns on sale on Boxing Day

Self serving at supermarkets and then they have a closed gate thing that takes a bit to open to let you out.

Shit heads on packed buses or trains that have spare seats blocked with shopping trolleys, suitcases and copious bags. They look most disgruntled if you ask them to move it so a disabled person can sit down. One got arsey with me and probably regretted it thinking back.

I think id feel more pissed off that anyone designing a kitchen for 100, thought a sensible number of microwaves was 1🤣

@Badbadbunny

"People with dogs off leads or with those extendible leads who have no control over their dogs at all."

This! I'm not dog phobic but I know people who are and the owners should be ashamed. When it happens, has anyone else adopted the 'nuclear' strategy of just standing there and screaming loudly (imagine Liza Minelli under the railway bridge in Cabaret)? Very cathartic - I recommend it.

I think we’d enjoy working together. This is exactly my approach and I’m genuinely perplexed by people who don’t understand the corporate landscape and are then confused as to why their careers are stagnated. Literally spending even 5% of your time understanding and exploiting the corporate “rules” will sky rocket your career.

Computers, Internet, ai... all just taking jobs from groups of people, making extra work for other people.

When I first went to work you spoke your "reports" into a dictophone as you went. No extra work. A typing pool of 5 looked after all the report typing. They did excellent work, all reports were formatted correctly, job was done quickly and efficiently by the right people for the job.

Then they put a computer on every desk. Got rid of the typing pool. Employed an IT department, got rid of typewriters and leased printers, subscribed to printer supplies. Training every month on some new crap. Everyone typed up their own reports, with varying degrees of success, varying speed of production, formatting so iffy that they had to get a few typists in to correct it and produce templates for the computer. (Went from 5 typists to 2 typists + 5 - more expensive - IT specialists).

Now back to dictating, and ai makes something up to fit the template!

Everything being done on computers has not provided the savings and efficiencies that people want.

Domino advert, I will never buy from them as it’s so infuriating.

Those 'prove you're not a bot by clicking on all the traffic lights or whatever' tools. Especially when you get one wrong and then get in a constant loop trying to prove you're human by deliberating on whether the pole or the sliver of casing on the edge of the grid counts as traffic light or whether they just mean the literal lights. Grrrr.

People who don’t remove the tacking stitch from the vent split on the back of a new coat or jacket. A small thing I know but it makes them look stupid. (The person and the split) it is not meant to be there and only exists to hold the split in place until the item is bought and worn!!

People copy and pasting ChatGPT answers instead of giving their own thoughts and views on a topic. If you literally can't think for yourself then wtf are you doing on a discussion forum?

Add to that the several minutes of recapping what happened before the break and you spend half the show being shown what you're going to be watching followed by what you just watched, as if you have the attention span of a goldfish

Drivers who don't know what to do at roundabouts. Who stop, dither, don't know whether it is their turn, then pull out in front of an oncoming driver.

FFS, if you don't understand roundabouts, you aren't safe to drive around the average town. Go and get a driving lesson before you kill someone.

The absolute WORST at the minute is the Pepto Bismol one.

Oh I’m so glad I’m not the only one who gets hacked off by the students or young men (usually) who use the kit to prop themselves up and scroll! They obstruct me getting on it and get pissy when I ask them to move or use it! Entitled brats.

I find myself doing the rounds of other items of equipment keeping an eye on the bench I really want to use after the pillocks have moved off.

Also but not limited to, the guys who put their hands down inside their shorts to “adjust their dress” and then carry on using the equipment without sanitising it afterwards. For some men it’s habitual and I feel like screaming at them to “leave your balls alone!”

No wonder Norovirus spread like wild fire last winter and the club had to close for a deep clean.