This week my fellow bloggers are writing about their five worst (favorite?) pet peeves, which incidentally are referred to as Pet Hates in other parts of the world. Doncha just love the differences between American English, British English, Australian English, etc. One of the best things the world wide web has done is really make us residents of the world. Through Facebook, I have friends in places I never even knew existed. This is not only amazing to me, but really makes me feel good. And, as you can see, once again we have strayed off topic.
My five pet peeves, in no particular order.
Computer Dickheads: This is not a large group of people. The worst of the lot are the virus / hijack / spyware / malware writers. Why is there always a small group of people who have to spoil it for everyone else? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to write a virus program. Almost anyone with a decent amount of computer knowledge can do it. But most of us DON'T. Why? Because we like it when our computers work properly. We like it when the internet works properly. We have no desire to "break" any of these things just because we can. These people should ALL be locked up in a place without access to anything electronic.
Computer Nuisances: This is a larger group of people. Though not nearly as destructive, this group is a much more prevalent problem. Included in this category are spammers and chain email senders (yes, I know some of my closest friends fit into this group). Oh, and I should include the numbskulls who sell lists of email addresses to spammers. All of the people who sell those lists should be lined up and shot. No questions asked, no pardons given. If you are a spammer and I have never seen your name before or previously purchased a product from you, I delete your email without even bothering to look at the subject. Unfortunately, companies from whom I have actually purchased products become spammers too. No, I don't want to know every time something in your store goes on sale. If I need you, I'll find you. I found you the first time -- I think I can do it again. Leave me alone and stop sending me emails. And, to all you wonderful friends who send me those lovely emails telling me what will or will not happen to me if I don't forward this email to 3,486 people within the next two seconds -- I sometimes read your email then I delete it too. I DO NOT FORWARD CHAIN EMAILS.
Cell Phone Imbeciles: This is a very large group of people -- a humongous group. Maybe even a ginormous group. The worst, and unfortunately the most prevalent, are those dumbasses who talk on the cell phone while driving. Just look at the back end of our van. She was traveling at 50 mph, talking on the cell phone. All the traffic on the interstate in front of her was stopped, dead. Did she notice? No. I no longer drive, which means as a passenger, I have much more opportunity to observe the cars around me. More than 75% of the people driving those cars are talking on cell phones. This is scary, folks! But, there are other cell phone imbeciles. There are those who talk on their phones in restaurants (loudly). I don't want to hear your side of the conversation. I'm not the least bit interested in your personal life, your problems, or any of your affairs. For cripes sake, either talk softer, go outside, or hang up the damn phone. And, there are those who talk on their phones in churches, at funerals, at weddings, and the list goes on and on and on. These people are clueless and need to be smacked upside of the head. And how about those charmers who talk on the phone while in the stall in a public restroom. It is most disconcerting to be sitting on (more aptly hovering precariously over) the commode and hear the person in the stall next to you say, "Hi, how are ya?" The first time it happened to me, I answered, "Fine, how are you?" She got all huffy and told me I was an idiot and that she was on the cell phone, not talking to me. Well, I'm sorry, but thankfully I can't see through those stall dividers and I had no way of knowing that. Now when it happens, I ignore it and just go on about my business. If they want to talk to me, they can catch me at the sink.
Junk Mail Senders: These are spammers, they just use the U. S. Postal Service snail mail instead of email. I don't even open your envelopes people. If you are offering a credit card, I tear the entire thing into little, itty, bitty pieces before I throw it in the trash. The others, I just toss unceremoniously. However, lots of junk mail comes in stuff you have to open, like your bills. They can't just tell you how much you owe, they have to stuff the envelope full of crap you have no interest in seeing. All that hits my trash without a glance also. I try to get most of my bills online, but it's still difficult to yank some of these companies into the 21st century.
Telemarketers: This really isn't such a problem for me anymore. With the advent of Caller ID, if I don't recognize the number, I don't answer the call. If it's really important, that's why I have a machine to take messages. Yea, sometimes telemarketers leaves messages, but not often. And, even then I just have to listen to the first few words before I hit the delete button. However, there are still a bunch of telemarketers out there. I pick my telephone up more than a few times each day to see who's calling, just to see an 800 number or unknown caller ID.
Have you noticed a theme here? If I didn't reach out to you, and I don't know you, more than likely I don't want to hear from you.
My five pet peeves, in no particular order.
Computer Dickheads: This is not a large group of people. The worst of the lot are the virus / hijack / spyware / malware writers. Why is there always a small group of people who have to spoil it for everyone else? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to write a virus program. Almost anyone with a decent amount of computer knowledge can do it. But most of us DON'T. Why? Because we like it when our computers work properly. We like it when the internet works properly. We have no desire to "break" any of these things just because we can. These people should ALL be locked up in a place without access to anything electronic.
Computer Nuisances: This is a larger group of people. Though not nearly as destructive, this group is a much more prevalent problem. Included in this category are spammers and chain email senders (yes, I know some of my closest friends fit into this group). Oh, and I should include the numbskulls who sell lists of email addresses to spammers. All of the people who sell those lists should be lined up and shot. No questions asked, no pardons given. If you are a spammer and I have never seen your name before or previously purchased a product from you, I delete your email without even bothering to look at the subject. Unfortunately, companies from whom I have actually purchased products become spammers too. No, I don't want to know every time something in your store goes on sale. If I need you, I'll find you. I found you the first time -- I think I can do it again. Leave me alone and stop sending me emails. And, to all you wonderful friends who send me those lovely emails telling me what will or will not happen to me if I don't forward this email to 3,486 people within the next two seconds -- I sometimes read your email then I delete it too. I DO NOT FORWARD CHAIN EMAILS.
Cell Phone Imbeciles: This is a very large group of people -- a humongous group. Maybe even a ginormous group. The worst, and unfortunately the most prevalent, are those dumbasses who talk on the cell phone while driving. Just look at the back end of our van. She was traveling at 50 mph, talking on the cell phone. All the traffic on the interstate in front of her was stopped, dead. Did she notice? No. I no longer drive, which means as a passenger, I have much more opportunity to observe the cars around me. More than 75% of the people driving those cars are talking on cell phones. This is scary, folks! But, there are other cell phone imbeciles. There are those who talk on their phones in restaurants (loudly). I don't want to hear your side of the conversation. I'm not the least bit interested in your personal life, your problems, or any of your affairs. For cripes sake, either talk softer, go outside, or hang up the damn phone. And, there are those who talk on their phones in churches, at funerals, at weddings, and the list goes on and on and on. These people are clueless and need to be smacked upside of the head. And how about those charmers who talk on the phone while in the stall in a public restroom. It is most disconcerting to be sitting on (more aptly hovering precariously over) the commode and hear the person in the stall next to you say, "Hi, how are ya?" The first time it happened to me, I answered, "Fine, how are you?" She got all huffy and told me I was an idiot and that she was on the cell phone, not talking to me. Well, I'm sorry, but thankfully I can't see through those stall dividers and I had no way of knowing that. Now when it happens, I ignore it and just go on about my business. If they want to talk to me, they can catch me at the sink.
Junk Mail Senders: These are spammers, they just use the U. S. Postal Service snail mail instead of email. I don't even open your envelopes people. If you are offering a credit card, I tear the entire thing into little, itty, bitty pieces before I throw it in the trash. The others, I just toss unceremoniously. However, lots of junk mail comes in stuff you have to open, like your bills. They can't just tell you how much you owe, they have to stuff the envelope full of crap you have no interest in seeing. All that hits my trash without a glance also. I try to get most of my bills online, but it's still difficult to yank some of these companies into the 21st century.
Telemarketers: This really isn't such a problem for me anymore. With the advent of Caller ID, if I don't recognize the number, I don't answer the call. If it's really important, that's why I have a machine to take messages. Yea, sometimes telemarketers leaves messages, but not often. And, even then I just have to listen to the first few words before I hit the delete button. However, there are still a bunch of telemarketers out there. I pick my telephone up more than a few times each day to see who's calling, just to see an 800 number or unknown caller ID.
Have you noticed a theme here? If I didn't reach out to you, and I don't know you, more than likely I don't want to hear from you.
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