Pet Hates

I'm not really sure where the expression 'pet hate', also know as 'pet peeves' for American English speakers, comes from. It's an odd saying when you think about it, but it's something everyone has. You can't like everything and there's always something that really gets under your skin. Whether it's a quality in a person or a certain situation. Most people, even the positive optimistic ones, have multiple pet hates. It's only natural. There are a lot of things that can and do irritate people. The Telegraph published an article in 2009 showing the top 100 things Britons found annoying. Here are the top 10:

1. Chavs

2. People driving close behind you

3. People who smell

4. People who eat with their mouth open

5. Rude shop assistants

6. Foreign call centres

7. Stepping in dog poo

8. People who cough and do not cover their mouths

9. Slow internet connections

10. Poor customer service

(If you want to see a complete list then you can view it via this link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/6131208/The-100-most-annoying-things-poll.html)

Do any of those things irritate you? How many? I personally dislike numbers 2, 5, 9 and 10. Some of the others are obviously unpleasant but I wouldn't name them as a 'pet hate'. They're just annoying or inconvenient. So, yes I don't like people eating with their mouths open and stepping in dog poo isn't my most favourite thing in the world, but I wouldn't call them my pet hates. A pet hate isn't simply something you dislike. There are a lot of things we dislike. We don't like 

For example, I asked my family about their pet hates and there was something that generally annoyed us. A lack of manners or consideration. I think this isn't something that annoys my family. I think it's something that annoys everyone..It applies to most of the things listed in The Telegraph for the top most annoying things. It explains why I don't like people driving close behind you, rude shop assistants and poor customer service. 

However, there's a line that differentiates a dislike to a pet hate. The line's different for everyone, just like pet hates vary from person to person. It's a line that makes you change your mind and feelings of 'that's not nice' to 'I'd like to hurt you'. It's a pretty big jump and that's how you know if you can categorise it as a pet hate or not.

For example, I, as well as a lot of people I know, really hate when people don't move to one side. I don't mean in a pretentious way acting like I'm the queen and everyone should move to one side and bow to me. I mean when it's obvious people are going to bump into each other so someone needs to move aside. Some people won't make any effort to. Even when it's a narrow path and they're walking down the middle or even when there's a group of them taking up the whole path while you're alone trying to get passed or even if you're obviously struggling carrying a lot of things and they can see you but they keep walking towards you as if bee-lining to walk into you deliberately instead of diverting a little bit more to the left and moving around you. It's rude, inconsiderate and irritating. For some people it's as simple as that; annoying and rude. However, for some people, like me, it's a pet hate. It really gets under my skin

That's it. I've hit the nail on the head. I can't stand inexcusable rudeness. That's my biggest pet hate. I can't understand why people are rude for no reason. It's ridiculous. You don't have to be really nice and go out of your way to please everyone, just show a bit of common courtesy. It's not hard and it doesn't hurt you to do it. Whether it's simply moving out of the way, holding the door you're walking through when there's someone directly behind you now walking through it or not blasting your music in a crowded public area just because you want to listen to your music. Move a little bit, hold the door a bit longer so it doesn't swing and hit the person behind you in the face and put some headphones in so that everyone doesn't have to listen to your music. It's simple and showing some courtesy and a bit of consideration.

So what about you? What do you think? What are your pet hates? And what's number one on your list? What is it that you really can't stand?