Pet Peeves, Everybody Deserves One

When I was a kid the joke around my house was "Our family is so poor we can't even afford a pet peeve." Then the follow up line was, "We're so broke we can't pay attention." There were, no doubt, others that escape my memory, but the pet peeve line has always stuck with me.

Now I'm older and I've managed to raise my status to somewhere in the neighborhood of middle class and the line just doesn't seem apt any more. Furthermore, my new found status gives me leverage that I didn't have before. I can now afford a pet peeve, and I have several.

It may seem like the pet peeve line is just a throwaway line that is just there for the play on words and a little humor, but if you think about it, when you're poor you just can't afford to be as picky. Your status has dictated that you can't dictate to others and you pretty much have to accept whatever is thrown your way. With cash comes power, and with power comes the right to show annoyance at others.

Ain't capitalism grand? Poverty=Groveling obsequiousness and Wealth=The right to speak your mind. Middle class (Neither poverty-stricken nor truly wealthy, but in between)=The right to speak your mind to people with less power and cash than you. Not sure where you stand with some people? Speak your mind at your own risk.

All of that being said, know what really annoys me? People who can't spell and don't give two hoots. I'm not even talking about words like obsequious or making sure you get the right number of c's and m's in accommodate. I'm talking about people who don't know the difference between there, their, and they're. I'm talking about people who have the unmitigated gall to go online and publish blogs, to write in newspapers and magazines, and they don't even do spell checks. Jesus, get a proofreader people.

Don't get me started on people who use the number 2 instead of to or too, who use 4 instead of for. Okay for text-messaging, but not for other media. While we're on the topic, LOL and TMI are one thing. There are some people who use little abbreviations for all their communication and some are so obscure I quite often find myself wondering "WTF?"

Now these things may seem just a little picky to you, but everyone has their own pet peeves and these are some of mine. I earned them. I also don't like people who try to go around you on the right at the traffic light and then cut in front of you. I can't stand people who think they know everything when they know damned well I do. And then there are people who bring every conversation around to themselves because they are absolutely sure that the most exciting and important things in the room are themselves.

I could go on, but then you might get the idea that I've gone far beyond pet peeves and have shown myself to be just one more cranky individual. Furthermore, based on my previously stated theory regarding money, power, and the right to be cranky about people, it might seem that I need to seriously consider making a lot more money before claiming all of the above as pet peeves. Perhaps I should leave you today, then, with a quote from one of my favorite intellectuals, Charlie Brown. "I love humanity. It's people I can't stand."

,