pet peeves

Here goes nothin'...

I did it. I am a blogger. I am blogging. Blahg blahg blahg...

I have so much to say. If you know me personally, you already know that. Man, do I crack myself up, or what? It's true. I get it from my Daddy - he's also a self-cracker-upper. Getting my two cents down in black and white, though, is a different story. It's taken me years, literally, of wanting to do this before actually doing it. How many stories and what-not have I composed in my head while driving to and from work? How many times have I not been able to fall asleep because my head is so jumbled with words and expressions that I've failed to give life to?

I have officially turned over a new leaf. And to kick off my BLOG (hee hee) I want to get some pet peeves off my chest!

I might have to come back to this topic periodically, but right off the top of my head, here are a few of my pet peeves:

• mis-use of the word "literally" (i.e. "I literally die when people do this")... Do people not know what "literally" means?? Do you see how I've correctly used the word in the paragraph above? I did not say "years" just for the effect - I said "years" and meant it. Literally.
• an adult man chewing gum with his mouth open. What are you, Burt Reynolds? No, you are not. Nor should you want to be, he was even smarmy for the 70's. Do me a favor - put a ring on your pinkie and drive your convertible off a cliff! (By the way, when a female adult chews gum with her mouth open, she looks dumb but it doesn't really bother me.)
• using the word "minus" when you should be using the word "subtract" (i.e. "if you minus 4 from 8 you get 4"). "Minus" is never a verb.
• "butt naked". Don't people READ?? The term is "buck naked". This is so out of control that I believe the phrase has actually evolved to "butt naked", and I am stuck in the past!
• drivers that don't use blinkers
• drivers that pass you just to get behind the car right in front of you (or to be sitting in front of you at the next stop light)
• empty containers left in the refrigerator or kitchen cabinet
• containers that are not empty and are left open in the refrigerator or kitchen cabinet. Well I hope you enjoyed that bowl of cereal; now that I want some, it's stale. Thanks.

In regards to customer service:

• when a customer asks a question and doesn't shut up to hear an answer
• when a customer says they want to "pay until" - for example, the date is March 15th and the customer says "I want to pay until March 21st". Do they want to set up shop in our office and very slowly give me money over the next six days??
• when a customer service provider says "obviously" to a customer. Obviously, your job would not be necessary if the answer was obvious to the customer. Obviously, you are rude and in the wrong line of work.

Here are some of my own pet peeves that I am guilty of:

• saying "on accident" at the end of a phrase instead of saying "accidentally" - I seem to catch myself right before it rolls off my tongue, but it still pisses me off that it gets that close!
• oh, I guess that is the only thing that I almost do that annoys me. I'm such a good person.

Selected definitions from Merriam-Webster:

• pet peeve ~ a frequent subject of complaint
• pet ~ a domesticated animal kept for pleasure rather than utility

Wow, what a great feeling. I'm over the first-blog hump. Just in case you are so kind as to show an interest in my next entry, I here-by promise not to create a bitch-fest blog.