PeevePile • A Pet Peeve Archive

February 8th,2010

When non-white street beggars call me racist when I don't give them money.

I don't give money to white beggars either. I'm not racist, just uncaring.

— ex from Austin, TX | Public Places | 2.8.2010 | Comments (1)

February 7th,2010

When deli sandwiches or bagels with cream cheese are cut in half but the cut does not go all the way through, so you have to tear it in half anyway. The balance and structure of the sandwich are needlessly compromised.

— Sandor from Brooklyn | Dining | 2.7.2010 | Comments (1)

February 6th,2010

Successful people who say they were terrible at the menial job they had when they were younger.

I can't stand it when a very successful person laughs and says that they were terrible at the menial job they had when they were younger. The best example of this is the actress who, in an interview says, "I was a terrible waitress ... ha, ha, ha!" The implication is that waiting tables is beneath them, they were meant for bigger things, and that being a great waitress somehow requires a lack of artistic talent, and a lack of noble ambitions.
Anyone who is intelligent, hardworking, and has a small degree of humility should be a great waitress. It's not funny to muse on how your shitty work ethic allowed you to rise to the top of your profession.

— DannyG from New York, NY | Other | 2.6.2010 | Comments (1)

February 5th,2010

Missing socks in the laundry.

I have an ever-growing section of my sock drawer devoted to single socks that have lost their mates in unsolved laundry mysteries. It's as if the missing socks will magically reappear one day when I dump out my laundry bag onto the bed and be reunited with their long-lost friends. Where are these socks going? Do they always go missing singly, or sometimes in unnoticed pairs? What the hell is going on in the laundry?

— CC from new york city | Household | 2.5.2010 | Comments (0)

February 4th,2010

Wobbly uneven table legs restaurants.

This is just irritating especially when its more of an upscale restaurant � you can't exactly stick some sugar packets under the leg like you would at a diner.

— rachel from chicago | Dining | 2.4.2010 | Comments (0)

February 2nd,2010

People who touch computer screens.

Unless it's a touch screen, this is totally unnecessary. Point at what you're talking about and leave your greasy thumbs fingers for the remote control.

— Tedman from Mt. Vernon, Illinois | Technology | 2.2.2010 | Comments (2)

February 2nd,2010

People using the phrase, "across the pond", to refer to something across the Atlantic Ocean

What - you're so worldly and significant that an entire ocean seems but a tiny little pond to you? Get over yourself.

— CC from new york city | none | 2.2.2010 | Comments (0)

Read More Peeves ››

Neighborhoods

White yuppies observing (or worse, complaining about) gentrification in their largely-minority neighborhood I still can't believe this actually happens, but I see it all the time. Have some self-awareness!! — Karolena

Public Places

Meeting a barely known acquaintance on a train, then having to make awkward conversation for the duration of the journey. Especially when you can not, for the life of you, remember their name. — BRYONY

When ceiling fans are installed directly below a light source. When the fan is on, it bisects the light source, creating a dull strobe effect. Dizzying to read under these conditions. — Hairnette Funicello

When there is exactly one person standing up at a show or a sporting event and they are right in front of you. I was at a Joe Jackson show and for every song he played, no matter how quiet, there was one woman who stood up and danced right in front of me. Not only did she dance poorly, she stuck her butt out and looked around with this big smile like everyone was enjoying her dancing. Twice, I asked her to sit down and she just gave me a nasty look. Even Joe Jackson said something about her, I think she was distracting him! — Aldo

Art

"I'm running late, but save me a seat!" Not only are you rude for being late but now i have to say "sorry, this is taken" ten thousand times before you arrive making me look like a jerk to everyone who showed up to the movie on time and has to sit in the front row. this is especially bad when the movie is sold out or when your friend is really late. — aleks g

Endings in film or literature where everything turns out to have been fake. it's such a cop out! it's already fiction damnit! "everything you thought was just made up, is EVEN MORE made up." there should be a specific term for this exact type of lameness. i just watched swimming pool. how annoying. same with atonement, it ruined a perfectly entertaining book. its so egotistical too, the fiction writer's statement on the power of fiction. — rebecca

Subtitle text in a film that extends too far into the future of the scene, ruining a suspenseful moment that has not yet happened visually. — Biffy

Shopping

When someone at the back of the line is only "half" standing in line. — Ben Melbye

Someone in retail whose spirit has been crushed. And they look at you with dead eyes when you ask them anything. — Stuart

When women take a half an hour to put everything back into their purse after paying for something. — Ben Melbye

When non-white street beggars call me racist when I don't give them money. » Remember that these people are also generally insane and use whatever leverage they have to get money. Pulling the race card is generally annoying. – Garbanzo 2/8

Successful people who say they were terrible at the menial job they had when they were younger. » At my old job, my boss had his Ph.D. in Psychology. He always said it was a good thing he succeeded because he doesn't know how to dig ditches. It was one of his catch phrases, actually. – Kerrin 2/6

People who touch computer screens. » This is not by accident that we're talking about it — it's when it's over and over as a means of communication, and mushes the screen so that a rainbow of pain forms around the offensive finger. It's rough when it's your screen, and you work for the other person, so you don't want them to tell them to stop. It can screw your LCD screen up! – Sammy 2/4

People who touch computer screens. » peeve: when people get angry at you for touching their pristine computer screens. wipe it off. i didnt mean to touch it – sprinkles 2/3

People who use their car horn as a doorbell. » The car horn is good, but pounding on my neighbor's door is simply delightful. There's a doorbell next to the door, you ghetto fool, use it! – Here comes the rifle 2/2

When people speak loudly in another language in an otherwise silent subway car because they think you can't hear them. » I was trapped on a flight between a pair of lovers who thought no one else in America speaks Spanish and so they thought they could have sexy talk time. I waited about 15 minutes and then told them, in Spanish, I understood perfectly what they were saying. Si, claro. – si habla espanol 2/2

01.18.10

For the next week or so, the pictures for peeves will be of Peeve Pile’s national spokesperson, Rob Grace, and his special person, Shana, enacting various peeves. Please feel free to make such pictures yourself. Just include a link to them when submitting a peeve.

01.02.10

Hello. I’ve added a voting feature, so you can vote as you assume that you would – just click on a one-to-five star rating (it will tell you your vote has been recorded); five indicating that you completely agree with, or find the peeve amusing, one meaning the opposite.

Once a bunch of ratings are in, I’ll add a worst, and best rated area to the right column.

12.22.09

Happy Holidays from PeevePile. Submit your holiday peeves, and they will be published soooon.