More Annoyances

People who write my name at the start of an email, even though we already know each other quite well.  It's the equivalent of finger-pointing.

Motorists who unnecessarily yield the right of way.  You're not being charitable; you're being presumptuous and bossy, and you're disrupting the steady flow of traffic.  This is particularly bad on multi-lane roads -- how in the hell am I supposed to know whether the traffic next to you (which I can barely see) will stop for me as well?  Keep moving, Gandhi.

When I'm on a long road trip and have my cruise control set, but I keep passing and then being passed by the same idiot who can't pick a speed.  Usually I punch it and risk being cited for speeding just to get the parasite out of my rear-view mirror. 

People who criticize other people's parenting in front of their children.  Mind your own business and stop disrupting the social hierarchy.  There is one exception:  when parents allow their children to run wild through restaurants, hotels, exercise facilities, airports, or anywhere else adults congregate.  Criticism is appropriate in these situations because the parents already have allowed the social hierarchy to collapse.  I personally wouldn't criticize them in this situation because they would probably get all offended and belligerent.  If they spent half as much energy instructing their kids, the world would be a better place.

The fact that it's impossible to have an intense or interesting conversation in a restaurant without being constantly interrupted by waitstaff.  It's not really their fault, since the vast majority of customers don't have interesting conversations and demand slavish service.

Anyone who puts ketchup on steak or eggs.

Airline passengers who are too cheap to check their bags and insist on cramming their fifty-plus pounds of crap into the overhead bin.

Airline passengers who ask me to switch seats.  Shop smarter next time.

Not being able to walk down the street without seeing someone with stretched earlobes, pierced lips, or a bone through his nose.

The fact that people who live off government money have the ability to vote.  The franchise once was restricted to those who could use it responsibly and didn't suffer such an obvious conflict of interest.  But that was when we were still a republic.  We're a democracy now -- at least nominally, since we're truly an oligarchy with a democratic facade -- and democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what is for dinner.