You Are Annoying

Yes, you.

You do things that annoy people. A number of them. You do them repeatedly.

Do you know what they are?

Perhaps you do. I know my annoying things. I know all of them. I am fully aware of all my faults.

Will I change?

Probably not. Will you?

There are so many things people can do to annoy others, some are just sort of quirks. Habits.

Many years ago, I went on a training course and was paired with a girl who finished the ends of your sentences. As you wound up with "..........Wednesday" she was already there, somehow. And would say it for you. I tried to pretend I hadn't noticed at first, but it was constant, and it was very distracting. I tried not talking, but that's impossible. I tried letting her do all the talking and just using "yes" or "no" answers, but she predicted those too. So I got mischievous and changed my mind a lot, or used ridiculously obscure words I'd learned playing Scrabble. Finally I resorted to making words up. This caused her a few problems but she muddled through gallantly.

Thankfully I was only with her two days or I think I would have gone mad.

Somebody has to work with her every day. Somebody presumably lives with her.

Did they ever say anything, I wonder?

And COULD she stop? Or was it like a twitch?

I don't know.

But some of the things people do that are annoying are things they are fully aware of and fond of. We'll use my annoyance here as an example. I'm forever going on and on about good basic English. I don't call you out on it, because I think that's rude. But my son just sent me a message on Facebook, and I'll share it with you:

"Us kids have it easy your really smart and always know what is needed:)"

That's very sweet of him, so I said:

Well, thank you. I try. Age has its uses.

But then added:

And that's " ...easy. You're really..."

The reply was:

-.-

He's used to me. I consider myself his main teacher, and it's my job. He'll thank me for it one day.

Yes, I know it's annoying, and some of my friends and family have said so. I have been thoroughly chastised. I'm just really grateful that I have people in my life with the guts to speak their minds like that. They are free to point out anything annoying that I do. I won't be offended, but I don't promise to change.

And the number one thing I do that annoys people is make them think. To re-examine things they have been taking for granted. Now, again, people who have chosen to be in my circle see the value in this, and it's a sort of smiley annoyance, a roll your eyes annoyance, and sometimes they come back and thank me.

It's not my place to try to force my opinion on anyone. Apart from anything else, I could be wrong! But some of the things I value most having learned, I picked up during a difference of opinion with somebody. We often learn quite a lot being disagreed with, and it's quite a good idea taking a bit of time just to listen before responding. If I've learned ANYTHING in my half-century to date, it's that listening is really important.

Therefore, one of the things that annoys me the most about people is not listening. It drives me nuts in any situation. It's the most frustrating thing children do. It's beyond frustrating in customer service. Whatever the situation, if I have to repeat myself, I'm quickly annoyed. (This is related to this blog: http://chovblog.blogspot.ca/2013/09/fine.html by the way)

So, in an argument, for example, if the only response I could possibly give, would be to repeat mysef, I won't. This annoys people :)

So, this blog is not a blog, it's a disclaimer.