Here's My List of Pet Peeves - From Gimpy Shopping Carts to Waiting at the Doctor's Office

Here are some of my pet peeves. Feel free to leave comments and add yours to the list (just keep it clean!).

How many times do you go pay for an item in a store, saying, 'Thanks' to the cashier and having them say 'welcome' or "you bet, anytime." Did anyone ever teach them to say "THANK YOU" to the customer???

I have seen over and over again watching college aged kids not know how to make change. A good example: I was at a ball game a few weeks ago and saw a college kid having a difficult time figuring out the change to give when the total of the snacks was $9.00 and she was given a $20 bill.

Now, this really happened to us. We went through a drive-through at McDonald's. The muffled voice from the Ronald McDonald speaker said, "wqydofd to Mcdadnheq's. May I eufgy r rdr pls?" (Did the person just say, "Welcome to McDonald's. May I have your order, please? It's kind of hard to tell). OK, I assume she wanted our order: "2 hamburgers, with nothing on them." We got our bag of food, drove away and discovered that all we got were hamburger buns with no meat. Can you spell M-O-R-O-N??? (or were we the morons for not checking our order before driving away?!)

I can't tell you how many times over the years I've driven behind people who use the acceleration lane onto the Interstate as a stop/yield opportunity.

Have you been driving behind people in the car who are talking on the cell phone, putting on make-up and eating all at the same time? Then they get angry with you for honking the horn as they're going 20 mph in a 55 mph zone!

Having the cashier/bagger at the grocery store put your ice cream in the same bag with the hot rotisserie chicken. When you get home the kids say, "What's for dinner?" You say, "BBQ Rotisserie Chicken with a mint chocolate chip cream glaze." What a great new way to get kids to eat their dinner!

Did you ever notice how many times you go to a restaurant and the waiter brings your food to the table, walks away for about 30 seconds and then before you've even had time to put your fork in the food, he returns and says, "So! How is everything?" And then your throat is parched because the chipotle peppers have seared your insides and your water glass is empty, the waiter is no where in site. In fact that's usually when you notice that's about the LAST time you see him until he comes back with the check.

How many times have you gone to the cashier at a place like IHOP, or Denny's, Shoney's, etc. and had them say, "How was everything?" Now tell me, do they really care? I've said on occasion, "Well, the pancakes were cold and hard, the eggs not cooked enough, the waitress never came to refill our drinks, yada yada yada." Do you think there would be at least SOME notion of caring? Well this is the typical response, "Oh, I'm sorry, hope you have a better experience next time. Can I help the next person in line, please....."

And WHY is it that the waiters come to your table with these 7-foot long pepper grinders and ask if you want pepper on your salad when there are already pepper shakers on the table???

Did you ever notice that when you go to WalMart or the grocery store it's always YOU that gets the grocery cart with the one or two bad wheels?

Have you ever seen the businessman on the plane lay his suit jacket all the way across the entire overhead storage area without consideration that someone just kind of might want to put their luggage in there? And then he gets upset when others have the audacity to want to put their luggage in that space?

Oh, were you ever on a plane, and had to REALLY use the restroom (you're feeling like the perfect candidate for a Pepto Bismol commercial) and then find that the flight attendant has the isle blocked with the beverage cart?

How many times have you called a contractor, whether it be for roof repairs, plumbing, electrical, etc. and they never call you back? (of course it's worse after you've paid them and they never come back to finish what they've started or fix what they screwed up).

That of course brings me to the auto repair places. Now, there's times I've brought my car into one of those big chains (name withheld) for something fairly simple like fixing a leak in a tire. The mechanic has come out and says, "Sir, I'd like to show you something on the car..." "Uh, oh, I thought. $$$$$$$"
Well, the guy has the hood up and starts saying something about the radiator cooling fan switch has generated some ozone timing problem which in turn has caused a faulty relay to the timing and starter switches.....yada yada yada, should only be about $859 before labor...." until I finally say, "I asked you to fix a flat. Why are you looking under the hood???" As soon as he fixes the tire and I drive away, the A/C, transmission, or some other expensive part begins to fail. Coincidence or ....???

Now a couple of weeks ago I went into the doctor's office for a 9:00 am appointment. The office is only a few minutes from the house. I called before I left because I was pretty busy at work and wanted to make sure I didn't have a long wait. "No, he's right on schedule," the nurse told me. I got into the doctor's office at 9:00 on the dot. At 10:00 am I went up to the window and said, "I thought the doctor was on time this morning...." "He was on time but now he's running a bit late." How did that happen in the span of 5 minutes after I left the house? Isn't OUR time worth anything?? But just HOW many times has that happened to you and the ONE single time you get caught in traffic and your 10 minutes late, they're on time, they canceled your appointment for being late, and then had the nerve to charge you a $15 no show fee! I was waiting in the doctor's office one time for 45 minutes and while I'm waiting, the phone rang, the nurse answered and then called out to the others, "Hey, Dr. XXXXX is on his way. He's at Duncan Donuts picking up some morning snacks. Anyone want any coffee?" I should have sent him a bill for MY time!

These have been some of my biggies. Ah, life is great! Wouldn't it be better if everyone did it MY way? :-)