Lock Block

I have posted some bicycle peeves before, and now I’m back with another one. Why do so few buildings have places where you can lock your bike? Biking is good for the environment and for people’s health, so we should be encouraged to use our bikes when possible. However, it is not easy to bike if you have no place to safely store your wheels while you are attending meetings or doing shopping.

--Curly

Sans Baby

I have posted before about people assuming that all women want to have a baby. Now, almost two years later, I am still peeved about this. The reason my annoyance is not abating is because people won’t stop telling me that my life is not going to be complete without a child.

First of all, it’s none of your damn business. Secondly, you don’t know enough about me or my life to know what will make my life complete.

I’m happy for you if you wanted a child and then had one. But don’t assume that having a child is for everyone.

--Curly

Wash Hands Before Returning to Life

Often, when I am in a public bathroom, I see people who finish in the stall, then simply leave. In other words, they don’t wash their hands. I don’t understand how people can use the toilet and not want to wash their hands afterwards. Ugh!

--Curly

How to Ensure That I Won't Promote Your Site, Book, Business, Etc.

I frequently receive e-mails from writers who'd like me to promote their books, services, courses, Web sites, etc. on my own blog or in my newsletter. One of these requests arrived today. Here are just a couple of reasons why I'm not likely to follow through on the writer's suggestion that her information merits a mention:

1) The subjects she covers in her books/courses (all of which cost good money--tell me about a giveaway or a scholarship and I'm much more interested) are only tangentially related to the material my readers expect me to cover.

2) The links she provided in her initial e-mail to me did not take me directly to the materials she thought I should promote for her. She referred me instead to bigger, not particularly well-organized Web sites where I could not locate two of the three items she had highlighted.

3) When I responded to her e-mail noting that I do not promote materials I have not yet seen myself (this would be her hint to offer me review copies), and telling her about my difficulty locating items on the Web, she wrote back--no salutation--telling me that there shouldn't be any problem with the links, because they work for her. So I had to compose another message re-explaining that the links worked, but did not take me directly to the materials she wanted me to know about.

I think it's pretty safe to say that I won't be promoting this author or her work anytime soon.

--Prunella Peeve

Road Warriors

I am a bicyclist and I have lots of bicycle-related peeves. One is the lack of bicycle paths. Pedestrians and drivers alike complain about bicycles taking up space on the roads. Well, we wouldn’t need to take up pedestrians’ walkways and drivers’ lanes if only there were bicycle paths. Some countries have this and it makes it much easier for people to do the environmentally friendly and healthy thing, i.e. to bicycle without getting in the way of others. It doesn’t seem like it would be all that hard to create such paths elsewhere and it would benefit us all.

--Curly

Speak Differently For Me

I don’t understand this habit of adding the phrase “for me” to requests or questions. The dentist has said to me, “Open your mouth wide for me.” The doctor has said, “Take off your shirt for me.” A waiter has said, “Please move that plate for me.” When returning a car to the car-rental place, the receptionist asked me, “Did you fill up the tank for me?” And so on. I may be facilitating something for the person, but I don’t feel like I am really doing it “for” them. It just seems like more false politeness. Stop using this phrase. Please? For me?

--Curly

The 12 Most Annoying Types of Facebookers

One day, I fear, I will come to this blog and Curly will have posted a peeve about co-bloggers who do not post regularly!

But I am back, and I bring with me this funny (and maybe too true) post about "the 12 most annoying types of Facebookers." I've only been a Facebooker for a relatively short time, but already I've noted many of the types delineated within this article. Which type do you find MOST annoying?

--Prunella

Negative Negotiation

I complained in a previous post about late payments and I want to mention another payment-related peeve here. I quote a price before doing a job and the customer and I agree upon it, as you would expect. What you perhaps wouldn’t expect is that some clients try to renege or re-negotiate after they have gotten the completed assignment from me. You don’t go to a clothing store, look at a price tag, then go up to the cashier and offer a lower price, do you? And you certainly wouldn’t go home with a new dress and then go back to the store and ask for some of the money back, do you? So why do people try that with freelancers and small-business owners?

In my own case, I know I am a bit of a pushover and I am female, so perhaps people want to see how far they can push me. But even so, I don’t know what makes them feel they can even try. If we’ve agreed on a fee, that’s the final fee. Don’t expect a discount, especially after I’ve finished the work.

--Curly

Speaking in Tongues

I have nothing against people slipping foreign words into their writing or conversation, just as I know Prunella doesn’t. In fact, we are known to do it ourselves once in awhile. What I do find annoying – and admittedly this is snobbish of me – is when they mispronounce and/or misuse the word. I think if you aren’t sure how a word should be pronounced or employed, you probably should avoid it and go with a word you are more familiar with. N’est-ce pas?

--Curly

Late Payments

I run my own small business and it frequently annoys me how customers pay their bills late. I usually invoice them within a day of sending them the completed work and I give them a month to pay. And yet they can’t seem to get organized and/or to respect me so they can pay me on time. It is a waste of my time to have to keep reminding them and I find it offensive and obnoxious. You would never go to a grocery store or an antiques shop and take the products and then suggest paying a month or two later, or perhaps not at all.

Prunella knows exactly who I am talking about when I mention a recent situation regarding late payment: I had given a lecture somewhere and they’d know I was coming for months, so you’d think they could have cut a check in advance or at least organized themselves to do so shortly after I’d been there. But, no, I had to keep reminding them to pay me and I finally received a check close to a month later.

I pay my bills on time, but I can’t do so unless my clients pay me on time. So why can’t they show me (and the economy!) some respect and pay their bills in a timely fashion?

--Curly