PeevePile • A Pet Peeve Archive » Successful people who say they were terrible at the menial job they had when they were younger.

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 (4)

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 posted 2/6/2010

DannyG, At first I thought this was my peeve, because I was just thinking the other day how annoying this in, and was considering submitting it. And you did! Yes! So awesome.

— jmc posted 2/9/2010

This IS. How annoying this is.

— jmc posted 2/9/2010

Actually, maybe they aren't being douchy. Maybe they're being sincere about something they suck at. Personally, as a waitress, I would bust my a** and work hard to take care of people and I still got terrible tips while everyone else was raking it in. As in the manager once thought I was cheating and not reporting all of my tips. I was miserable. So I switched to being a busser and dishwasher. Not everyone is a decent server. And a lot of restaurants just throw you into serving with just about zero training.

— Trish posted 4/5/2010

Single = Anomaly? » You forgot the cats in that litany of cliches. Even if her only standard is having mutual lovey-dovey feelings with someone, this either happens or it doesn't, there's no forcing it. Those who spout "you're not trying hard enough" and "you're too picky" does not seem to understand this. Maybe she simply means that she would be settling if she married just to meet people's expectations, since she hasn't met someone she loves who loves her back. NOT that everyone who is married is settling. – B. Alexander 8/27

On a coat, or a skirt, with a slit, the manufacturer will sew the slit closed with a small X of thread, and people are too stupid to realize they're meant to be removed. So they walk around with their vents sewn closed, and I want to run up to them and snip the threads off and then loudly shame them in public. I don't know how I've managed to restrain myself. » Hee, seems like some people actually don't know they can snip those. If you approach them nicely, maybe they will let you snip it for them. – B. Alexander 8/27

Hugging every time we see each other. » There is a definitely a too-many hugs problem, and another peeve: when someone hugs everyone a group except YOU, or you don't feel lik hugging one person but don't want to be exclusionary. – Biffy 8/27

When pregnant women complain about being pregnant. » if you have a kitten is it okay to be pregnant ? – kylie 8/25

The use of the word addicting. It's not a word! You mean "addictive"! » THANK YOU. – Nancy 8/24

People who ask me to burn them a CD. » Surely they're asking you to burn it because they don't have the files they want to burn onto it, but you do? – Rosie 8/24

02.11.10

Send in your mobile phone pet peeves for the week of February 15th! Perhaps the simplest and most common generator of peeves, the mobile phone prods and pricks us in all places, public and private. With skull phones just around the corner, it’s likely these peeves will soon become irrelevant—so let’s spray them across the galaxy while we still can.

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.