Irritation

I'm going to say right off the top that this will be a sarcastic post. I tend to be sarcastic when I write about things that peeve me. This will be one of those posts.

I've been thinking about things that irritate me. It's actually my brother-in-law's fault. He wrote about being annoyed by things on a daily basis on his blog the other day. He said annoy but I prefer irritate. It's semantics, I know, but I'm weird about these things. Anyway, I told him I think it comes with age. The older I get, I find myself getting irritated more often. I do believe I'm on my way to becoming a crotchety old lady. I feel sorry for my husband. But he procrastinates, so I guess we're even.

I could give you a whole list of things that irritate me. But for now we'll concentrate on just one. It's on the top of my list and if you commit this particular sin it might get you a dirty look or a snarky comment depending on just how crotchety I happen to be that day.

I absolutely hate when people state the obvious. It drives me crazy. Now this particular irritation is not a new one. It just irritates me even more now that I'm not thinking about who has a report due tomorrow that they haven't even started or how I'm going to get three kids to three different places all at the same time. I notice that I get irritated more often now that I have time on my hands to actually think about what is going on around me. Here are some examples of stating the obvious. All these have happened to me.

1. Waiting patiently for the elevator to come and take me up. The up arrow is lit up in all it's glory. Someone walks up and pushes it again (it's not coming faster if you do that....) and actually turns around and says to me "Is this elevator going up?" Really!?! Are you sign illiterate? Honestly, do you not know which way the arrow is pointing? Oy!

2. I was invited to a function that I was unsure I would be able to attend. I ended up being able to go and when I arrived the host says to me, "So, you were able to come?" No, I'm a figment of your imagination and I'm actually at the movies right now.

3. This one is my ultimate favorite.....when my son played little league I had a picture of him in his uniform on a button. I wore it proudly on my uniform at work. One day I got on the elevator and this man says to me, "Is that your son?". I proudly say "yes!". To which he replies "Does he play baseball?" I reply, " No he plays soccer but his dad and I hate that game so we made him dress in a baseball uniform for these pictures." I don't think the guy was too happy with me, but really, if you ask a stupid question, sometimes you're going to get a stupid, and snarky, answer.

I have a theory about why this happens. I actually think people are trying to make conversation and just don't know how to go about it. With email and text message, and yes even blogs, we don't converse like we used to and I think it's a lost art. People don't know how to start a conversation so they say the first thing that pops into their head and sometimes it's, well, for lack of a better word, stupid. I just wish people would think before they speak. To borrow the words of Dennis Miller...."That's just my opinion, I could be wrong".


It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt. Abraham Lincoln