PEEVES in PUBLIC PLACES ››
The sound of someone drinking coffee on a silent elevator.
From the first gurgly slurp, to the gulping sound and passage of liquid down your throat, I can hear every last little moment of this process on a silent elevator.
— jmc from long island city | Public Places | 2.13.2010 | Comments (0)
Girls who don't seem to notice cold weather.
I go out dressed in my thick winter jacket, scarf and gloves, still feeling the piercing cold. How come you can walk around in your pumps and short skirt? Is winter clothing not hip enough for you? Do you want to catch a cold? How come you never slip on the ice with those soles? It's like they live in an alternate reality!
— imcold from Netherlands | Public Places | 1.15.2010 | Comments (3)
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)
People who lean on the center vertical stability pole on a crowded subway car.
By leaning on the center pole, rather than politely holding on to it with one hand, they force other people to awkwardly hold the pole above or below the 1/4 of their body they're leaning against the pole.
— Rebecca from NYC | Public Places | 8.29.2009 | Comments (2)
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 from London, UK | Public Places | 8.31.2009 | Comments (2)
Being on a collision course with someone from far away.
It's like a word problem. I'm walking with a purpose, and in a definite direction; someone else is walking in from some angle, such that we'll both be destined to occupy the same spot on Earth simultaneously. I either have to slow down or walk around them.
It especially peeves when the path is otherwise clear of people, and the other person is slow and unaware of anything around them, including the imminence of my approach. The worst case is when I see they are about to do this and adjust my stride to walk around them, which by some law of physics causes them to turn around and stroll into my path again.
— Kerrin from Boston, MA | Public Places | 9.17.2009 | Comments (2)
Parents talking on their cell phones or to friends or otherwise being lazy shits in full view of their children hitting/teasing/shrieking at my dog.
One way that you can tell I'm not a parent at the moment is that I DON'T DO ANY PARENTING. So maybe you could step up and do some now, since the material evidence of your keen interest in breeding is being a little asshole to an innocent animal who is -- lucky for you -- trained well enough not to eat him for it. I can't count the number of times I have been sitting on a bench peacefully and it's suddenly become babysitting hour for some really awful kid whose parents never noticed he's a little sadist -- and I'm always the one who ends up leaving! What kind of parent lets this happen? How does one even deal with this situation?
— Diana from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 4.23.2009 | Comments (4)
Babies at movies (independent of noise/aroma issues)
Look, I get that date night has taken a real hit since Irma Jr. arrived, but I am pretty sure that despite the praiseworthy lack of screaming/crying/bad smells emanating from the little tyke, it's pretty much the worst idea for him to be exposed to the sights and sounds of, say, people being eaten alive by zombies and then tucked into bed for the night at 1:30am. If you find acting like parents to be such an inconvenience, one way to avoid this problem might have been to avoid breeding in the first place.
I possess similar feelings re: babies at bars and concerts.
— Diana from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 3.21.2009 | Comments (6)
Person I'm with glancing at me during a movie
— Jen from Brooklyn | Public Places | 3.16.2009 | Comments (2)
Talking during opening credits
Or previews
— Heathcliff from Detroit | Public Places | 3.21.2009 | Comments (0)
When you have the perfect seat in the movie theater, and the movie is **already underway**, and then someone comes and sits down right in front of you
Making it too late to change seats - trapped!
— George from NY | Public Places | 3.17.2009 | Comments (2)
Movie theaters that no longer give you a proper ticket
Just a flimsy receipt that crumples up in your pocket before you even get to the ticket taker
— Felicia from Lexington | Public Places | 3.20.2009 | Comments (0)
Trailers and commercials that go on longer than the movie.
I've already paid $20 for the ticket and snacks. Just show the damn movie!
— Acacia from Peoria, IL | Public Places | 3.20.2009 | Comments (0)
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 from Malibu, CA | Public Places | 10.2.2009 | Comments (1)
When you are pulling open a door and the person behind you reaches above your head to continue the door opening process.
I can open the door all by myself and then I'll pass it to you. No need for us to share the opening experience.
— Hairnette Funicello from Malibu | Public Places | 10.19.2009 | Comments (1)
When there is no straight path through a city park
Just because it's a park doesn't mean straight lines and square angles and uncurved paths are forbidden, you parkmakers, you. Tompkins is the worst. No way to get from one side to the other without twirling around on the paths that go nowhere.
— Eggyolk Ono from Brooklyn | Public Places | 12.14.2008 | Comments (2)
Overweight men exercising without shirts.
Yeah, it's great that you're trying to work out, be healthy, etc. But is it really necessary for me to see your huge sweaty gut and man boobs jiggling while you jog, along with your WAY-too-short running shorts?
— chic from Oregon | Public Places | 12.6.2008 | Comments (0)
People that drag their feet when walking.
Specifically sorority girls who are wearing ugg boots.
— Chris Scott from Sidewalks | Public Places | 6.23.2009 | Comments (7)
Rude direction seekers
This happens all the time in New York. Often people just turn away from you when they have the information they need, or worse, get more demanding and frustrated with the information you're giving them. Sometimes you will say too much, and, not wanting to seem like a visitor, they'll say "Oh yeah, I know I know" and then walk off. Some slightly drunken, B+T / douche guy sarcastically yelled "thanks, yeah, thank, really really helpful" after he had demanded to know where a specific street address was and no one in my party did.
They act as if you are their employee.
— Biffy from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 11.23.2008 | Comments (8)
People sitting unoccupied at a café staring around at the other patrons.
No book, no newspaper, no gadget to fiddle with, just creepy leering.
— Biffy from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 12.12.2008 | Comments (1)
Feeling the breath of the person behind you as they repeatedly sigh.
I know the train is going slowly — I'm on it too — but, I do not need your heavy sighs repeatedly going down the back of my shirt. Turn your head or get a face mask!
— Sarah from Boston, MA | Public Places | 1.18.2010 | Comments (1)
— Roto-Skele from USA | Public Places | 11.22.2008 | Comments (0)
Enough free partial-spaces between cars to make one full parking space if it were possible to lift and drop the cars.
Yet, there isn't a whole parking spot free, so you must circle for an hour.
— Biffy from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 11.20.2008 | Comments (1)
bicyclists who think they don't qualify as "vehicles"
Bicyclists think they are pedestrians and ride on the sidewalk; or they think they are invisible or entitled and don't follow traffic lights or other traffic patterns, thereby cutting off ACTUAL pedestrians or other vehical operators.
— siddygirl from brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 9.2.2009 | Comments (5)
— Lex from Los Angeles, CA | Public Places | 12.30.2008 | Comments (1)
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 from Boston, MA | Public Places | 9.28.2009 | Comments (0)
— grrrr from NYC | Public Places | 3.18.2009 | Comments (4)
— Biffy from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 9.6.2008 | Comments (2)
— Biffy from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 10.17.2008 | Comments (3)
Huge flat-screen televisions in bars and restaurants.
Perhaps an obvious one, but worth mentioning: we go to these places and pay five times as much for alcohol in part for the atmosphere, which is completely demolished by these panels of plastic sunlight.
Unless it's the big game night, few people look at them, there are merely there to taunt and distract us with their alternate version of reality.
— Biffy from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 9.8.2008 | Comments (1)
When going to meet someone and you both show up early for alone, relaxing time.
It's a rare, but special peeve. Each person doesn't want the other person to be there quite yet, but they both have to act like they do.
— Biffy from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 9.10.2008 | Comments (0)
— vagina jones from Aberdeen, WA | Public Places | 10.14.2008 | Comments (0)
Getting something for free in a bar or restaurant from a friend or acquaintance, but feeling so guilty about it that you tip more than, or close to, the actual price of the thing you were given for free.
At least when paying for things, there is no guilt.
— Biffy from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 9.13.2008 | Comments (1)
The renaming, or co-naming of existing streets with public figures' names.
The map already worked fine. How is it helpful to know that West 66th street is now also Peter Jennings Way. PETER JENNINGS!
— Biffy from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 10.13.2008 | Comments (1)
— Mimi from Upper West Side | Public Places | 10.12.2009 | Comments (0)
Condescension from doormen.
While being a perfectly decent profession, having become a doorman or doorwoman for a fancy building doesn't necessarily mean you have reached the highest echelon of society - it's more like you're a slave to it. So, why are you looking down on me with such disgust for wearing casual or dirty clothing and entering your place of work?
— Biffy from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 6.5.2009 | Comments (1)
Orange sponge-painted walls in cafés
Somewhere, far off in a subterranean cavern where the bad taste of the world is made, some piece of crap decided that sponge-painted walls were an easy way to make your café look fresh and hip, and so, my children, many, many café owners followed suit, and painted vomit on their walls until all of the cafés of the world looked like garbage for all of eternity. The end.
— Biffy from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 12.31.1969 | Comments (1)
Cashier: "Do you have anything smaller?"
You're the one with a drawer full of money!
— Gina Howser from White Plains, NY | Public Places | 1.13.2009 | Comments (4)
Saying goodbye to someone, then walking in the same direction with them.
Do you say goodbye to them again the next time? With more or less vehemence than the last? Or, do you pretend they are a ghost from then on?
— Biffy from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 2.14.2009 | Comments (3)
No street number on apartments/storefronts.
It seems like everybody is too cool for school when it comes to this.
— Max from | Public Places | 5.25.2009 | Comments (3)
Mandatory table service.
At the coffee counter:
"May I help you?" asks the coffee person.
"Yes, I'll have a coffee please." I reply
"Is it for here?"
"Yes"
"Then you can sit down and wait for a few minutes for someone who is obviously disgruntled to come by and ask you what you want, then watch them come right back here to get it. Then, you can pay them 20% of the price of the coffee for this extra time and unpleasant human interaction, instead of my handing it to you right now."
"Okay thanks."
This is akin to mandatory full-service gas pumping in Jersey, which I also hate because it doesn't save any time.
— Biffé from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 1.29.2009 | Comments (1)
Music venues turning on music right after a band has played
Rudeness + bad taste but almost universal. Can we have a few moments of palate-cleansing silence before deafening music starts up again?
— Stuart from | Public Places | 9.10.2009 | Comments (0)
— frank duBose from new york, new york | Public Places | 1.6.2009 | Comments (7)
Going up or down a non-working escalator when it's your only option.
It's a hazard because of the way they're set up and the materials they're made out of -- they're dangerous, the dimensions of the escalator steps are different than regular stairs, and when you first get on it, you have readjust your natural walking rhythm.
— Amanda from New York, NY | Public Places | 4.11.2009 | Comments (4)
Hipster service.
Not good honest rude service (like, say, Polish service)... just waiting a beat before serving you as if to emphasize that they're not actually a waiter. And then, "What can I get you, man?" You can stop fucking around and get me my goddamn coffee right now! Man! Get over it, you have a service job.
— Stuart from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 9.22.2008 | Comments (2)
Pregnant women at the gym.
Biff, have I written about this already? It's like, Lady, give yourself a break. go easy. You're growing a human being in your uterus, for chrissake ... it's ok to have a little arm flab while you're doing this.
— Stu from Brooklyn, ny | Public Places | 2.18.2009 | Comments (11)
People asking me for money when I'm wearing headphones.
— Ginger Schwartz from New York City | Public Places | 2.19.2009 | Comments (2)
Trying to get the bartender's attention.
...that scene in the movie where Stu looks like an asshole.
— Stu from | Public Places | 5.11.2009 | Comments (1)
Loud Motorcycles.
Why is there no law against driving one of those motorcycles that is so loud it drowns out all other sounds on the street as it passes by? If you drive one, it means that you are proud of being an asshole. I hope you crash and some quiet person gets your liver.
— Stu from | Public Places | 2.23.2010 | Comments (5)
— Biffy from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 12.24.2008 | Comments (1)
When someone smiles or waves at someone directly behind you, so you think it's meant for you.
— Biffy from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 4.29.2009 | Comments (1)
When homeless people expose their wounds to garner more cash.
I saw this guy the other day who had a hole in his leg all the way to his bone! This on the street! Intentionally aimed at me. Do you want me to pay you to show that thing off? Why don't you play a song on guitar or something ...
— Josh from New York, NY | Public Places | 7.15.2009 | Comments (10)
When you can see from the reflection in the lenses that an actor is not wearing real glasses.
— Bob from Maine | Public Places | 6.18.2009 | Comments (1)
When at, say, a concert, you have become the person that people walk by or in front of in order to get closer to the stage.
People can sense that I am a weak link.
— Biffy from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 6.7.2009 | Comments (4)
After waiting in a long line, you finally reach the front, and nobody has queued up behind you.
— carrie g from | Public Places | 10.19.2008 | Comments (0)
— Denise from Peabody, MA | Public Places | 3.19.2009 | Comments (3)
Second-hand McDonalds.
When you eat McDonalds on the subway, I can smell your steamy masticated meat.
— Grouy from nyc | Public Places | 5.26.2009 | Comments (5)
Stopped clocks in public places.
— carrie g. from | Public Places | 7.12.2009 | Comments (2)
Strangers who tell me to smile because "it can't be that bad" or because I'm too pretty not to.
— carrie g. from | Public Places | 9.25.2008 | Comments (16)
Being obnoxiously wide on public transportation.
This implies not fatness, but when people, either willfully or obliviously, are incredibly wide on side-by-side public transportation seating. Like the guy who makes sure to spread his knees as far apart as possible, so that he can open both panels of the NYT nice and wide, while next to him on either side there's some poor pregnant woman and a dude with an oxygen tank and a cast practically crushing themselves in order to only take up what little remains of their own seats.
— Diana from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 10.1.2008 | Comments (1)
— Sandor from Brooklyn | Public Places | 10.30.2009 | Comments (4)
When people speak loudly in another language in an otherwise silent subway car because they think you can't hear them.
I don't understand you, but I can still hear you.
— Mara from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 8.19.2009 | Comments (2)
Escalator as ride.
When someone gets on an escalator and stops moving. This is not a ride at disney world! Please continue to walk up the stairs as usual. (If you are unable to walk up stairs (old, tired, lugging a stroller) the least you can do is stand to the right!)
— Gab from Brooklyn, NY | Public Places | 11.6.2008 | Comments (8)
"Uh-huh" as a response to "excuse me."
Sorry, this drives me nuts. Especially when you're clearly not at any fault or the situation is of equal blame. Example: someone is standing in the isle of a pharmacy reading a magazine. They don't see you approach, you can't squeeze by them because they're enormous, and an alternate route would add 40 extra feet of walking. You say, "excuse me," they don't even look up, just shuffle a token amount to one side and say, "uh-huh". Seriously, I can't stand this. I'm not saying everyone needs to be emily post, but come on.
— Webb from | Public Places | 2.10.2010 | Comments (2)
Receipt for a coffee.
Or a danish, or a hershey bar. Do they think I need this for tax purposes?
— Stuart from Boston | Public Places | 8.23.2009 | Comments (8)
Women who order one cosmopolatin at a crowded dive bar and try to pay for it with a credit card.
You are trying to order a drink because you need it to sustain your existence, and some chick in front of you orders one single martini that will match her shoes and she has the unmitigated audacity to pay that $6 with a credit card.
— Joshua from tampa, florida | Public Places | 1.10.2009 | Comments (4)
People choosing their cellphone ringtone while on the subway.
Sitting next to an adolescent who is scrolling through each and every one of his preset cellphone ringtones for 15 minutes on the V train is a harrowing experience.
— Caroline from brooklyn, ny | Public Places | 2.16.2010 | Comments (4)
People who raise their arm to hail a cab when there's no cab coming.
— Tom from | Public Places | 10.16.2008 | Comments (2)
