Is it just me?
There are a few things in life that are sure to push my buttons and send me from calm, cool and collected to disgusted, irritated and angry. Among those are:
Gum that someone decided to spit out on the ground, which I inevitably step in. This of course is followed by me sticking my way across the remainder of the sidewalk, or parking lot, and spending five minutes trying to scrape it off my shoe without touching it.
Leaving drops of pee on the toilet seat. Let’s be real ladies, if you’re sprinkling where I’m sitting, you need to wipe it down. The last thing I want is to forget to wipe the seat, use the toilet and then stand up only to feel moisture on my backside. Ew.
Being the 'exact change lady' in a long line of customers. I get it. You want to unload that pocketbook of half a pound of pennies, but come on! There are people around you who have places to go, things to do or simply don't want to stand around for five minutes while you struggle to keep track of the sum you've got palmed in your hand.
Leaving your blinker on...indefinitely. Are you going to be turning left? Will that be soon? In a couple of miles? Ever?
And of course, the opposite, not using a blinker whatsoever. Look, I’m not a mind reader. When you suddenly decide you must turn without any forewarning and find me needing to slam on the brakes, don’t be surprised if you look in your rearview mirror and see me mouthing explicatives in your general direction.
But I have to say, my biggest pet peeve is not returning the shopping cart into the cart return. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve driven through a parking lot thinking that I’ve found the perfect spot, only to see a shopping cart sitting there. At that point, I have two choices to consider. Do I pull halfway into the spot, get out of my car and move the shopping cart far enough so I can squeeze in and not scrape the bumper? Mind you, if I do this, I could potentially block traffic in the lot, making multiple people around me just as irritated as I am. Or Do I turn the air blue while backing my car up and find another spot? Keeping in mind that if this is a Costco parking lot on a Saturday, I could end up driving around for another ten minutes or stalking some poor family as they make their way to their car. - This is always followed by taking infinitely longer to unload, pack up kids, get in, check Twitter or FaceBook or whatever is causing a delay from the time the door closes to the time I see the brake lights illuminate, and back out that any human should need to take! Either of these options make for a less than pleasant experience. Frankly, I just don’t understand the reluctance to put away a shopping cart. What is it about walking a few feet to return it that makes some people say ‘forget that’ and leave it in the parking space?! One night a while back, I sat in a Panera lot talking to my son, when a shopping cart hit the side of my car. To set the scene, it was dark and getting late. My son and I were in the middle of a great conversation, when a loud whack interupted our dialogue. It scared the crap out of me. Well, not literally. I leapt out of the car, ready to say a few words to whomever pushed their cart in my general direction, but there was no one outside. Somehow, perhaps by some freak vortex that decided to open up under the spot on which my car sat, that shopping cart managed to travel down an entire hill and collide with my door. Now this incident, and the resultant dent and irritation, could’ve been completely avoided if whomever used the cart in the first place had simply returned it to the cart return. Ugh. Shopping carts...left to drift into spaces or car doors. Yep. That’s a button pusher. Is it just me?