Catching Idle Butterflies

I'm peeved, my pet.

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Perhaps because I’m a little grumpy this morning I want to talk about pet peeves.

First, and the reason for my grump, is alarm clocks. Overall, they’re great tools, I even use one. It’s not the alarm that I despise, it’s the snooze function. I hate that thing. Dave decided to take full advantage of it four times this morning! Four times, every nine minutes, that alarm screeched at me from across the room. And at 3:45 am, that’s a literal rude awakening.

I’m a morning person, but I also adore my sleep. Every time it’s taken away, my attitude takes an ever steeper dive.

Dave had been so good for the last ten years about using that snooze only once instead of 47 times every morning. Dave remembered my pet peeve this morning. I reminded him by giving the poor guy a talkin’ to.

Most of my pet peeves I have to endure at work:

I’m a slob at home, but at work I get pretty anal about messiness. For instance, the break room is always trashed. Dirty mugs everywhere, including in the sink. Worse than that, though, when they take off the coffeemaker canisters that hold the grinds, my coworkers either place them on the counter or in the sink with the grinds left in them. Sheesh, the trash can is closer to the coffee pot than the sink! They also leave soaked paper towels all over the counter. What’s up with that? Lastly, some, after they stir in powdered creamer, they don’t wash off the spoon. When I need it, it’s all slimed and goobered with creamer. It’s grotesque!

I’m not a fireman, but one of my bosses, and a few clients, think I am one. Ron is always coming to me and saying, “I took a survey and it needs to be done by the end of the day.”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told him to stop doing that. If someone calls for a survey, it’s a minimum of 2 weeks out, especially this time of year!

Just yesterday, a client called for a drawing and said he didn’t need it until the next day. No problem. But then another guy, also involved with the project, called at 4:45pm and asked if I could get to it right then. Um, no, was my short and very curt answer.

Never, ever lie to a customer, but that’s another thing Ron does. He tells a client what they want to hear, not what they need to hear. No wonder they get pissed when he (actually me) can’t deliver!

It breaks down to a single thing. Don’t surprise me. I like my life in certain ways to be predictable. For instance, though I was happy Dave decided to take last Friday off to spend my last vacation day with me, he said not a word until I woke up and found him next to me when I expected him to have already left for work. It bugged me because I already had plans to spend catching up with writing, and now they had to be scrapped. If he had told me the night before, my initial reaction would have been more positive.

The last one Dave loves to niggle me on, and I admit it is a bit strange this would be a pet peeve. Windshield wipers not in the proper, full-down position when not being used! I absolutely despise when they are partially up, even if it’s a quarter inch. Dave will sometimes play with the wipers until they stop just above where they’re supposed to be, and with a smirk wait for me to flick the lever to bring them back down. I lasted two minutes once.

What are your pet peeves?