Constant noise, via humming, singing, whistling, etc. For some reason, my husband has started making noise non-stop. He’s always liked noise more than I do, but now it’s just constant. For example, he listens to the radio fairly loud. When we get to our street, he usually turns it off. That’s fine, but now he sings or whatever instead of having quiet. Every night he comes home, he’s entertaining himself via noise, and doesn’t seem to catch on that we were enjoying the quiet. I can be in a room reading quietly, and he thinks nothing of coming in and making it noisy, because “it shows he’s happy.” I know it sounds petty, but It’s driving me crazy.
It doesn’t sound pretty to me. I enjoy the quiet. 
I recently started working full time in an office again after 20 years of mostly working alone from home. I don’t remember being as sensitive before to the everyday noises that people make at work but a few of them are driving me crazy now. I guess we really do get cranky as we get older and set in our ways.
Two of the worse:
A woman down the hall coughs and sneezes ALL DAY LONG. This is violent, scary level stuff, not minor sniffles. Drives me insane…of course it’s worse for her and I’m a horrible person for being annoyed by it.
Two days ago, I was very close to her for the first time and I noticed that she was absolutely drenched with perfume or cologne or something. I almost started coughing myself. Now I’m wondering if she is coughing because of her own cologne. Maybe she has a poor sense of smell and doesn’t realize what she’s doing to herself. Weirdly, this new realization has made the noise much less bothersome.
Another woman changes the pitch of her voice really noticeably depending on who she’s talking to. Her normal speaking voice is perfectly fine (when she’s speaking with peers) but if she’s talking to someone junior or senior she switches to this nasally, whiny, nails-on-chalkboard tone with every sentence ending in the worst upspeak I’ve ever heard. I’m starting to get used to this. Recognizing that it’s a sign of insecurity and nervousness helps a lot.
Neither seems to bother anyone else in the office so obviously it’s just me getting used to being back in the big, noisy world again.
People who don’t treat service people ( cashiers, waitresses, dry cleaners, store clerks, etc) well. I especially despise those who are well educated and talk down to these folks or when they see the same people day after day and cannot make a connection. Can you say loser? I just cannot stand stuck up people or those who think they are better for whatever reason. Say Please and Thank you and talk as though you are speaking to your rich grandmother who can cut you out of her will!!!
When I go to the local coffee shop and they hold the coffee by the lid to hand it to me or press down on the lid (right over where my mouth goes) with their hands. At times I’ve gone to take a sip of coffee only to taste perfume (gross).
These big beards men are growing for fashion. My husband keeps a short goatee at my insistence but these huge beards that hipsters are growing now do not belong anywhere in food service or near buffet stations at all. If I see someone with a giant beard working at the deli counter or pizza parlor I walk right out. It grosses me out to think about how often a stray hair falls into someone’s food.
People who don’t wipe down toilet seats before exiting the bathroom. I am not your maid. Clean up after yourself.
People who talk loudly about their personal business on office phones. Tone it down or go somewhere else (and not in the hall where everyone and their mother are passing by).
The decline of proper grammar and spelling usage in the world. I am as much a perpetrator in this as anyone else. The more time I spend on FB and writing text messages the more I find myself wondering what happened to my brain.
Any sporting event with the tomahawk chop. It’s both insensitive and annoying.
Vuvuzelas. We watched the South Africa World Cup on mute, though this might have been bigger than a “little thing.”
That college (Mississippi State?) that rings cowbells during the whole danged football game.
"If I see someone with a giant beard working at the deli counter or pizza parlor I walk right out. "
Don’t go to restaurants either than as many chefs have beards.
And use their hands to prepare your food.
@millermomm Recently I was waiting outside a restroom and heard a woman say to another, “Oh, I never sit on the seat, I just hover above it.” And I wanted to say, “YOU are the reason the seat is dirty to start with!” Argh.
^This. Disgusting. Why must I clean the toilet seat before using it because I don’t “hover”? I’ve been dealing with this at my workplace for years.
We had this problem at work, until someone wrote a sign “If you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweetie and wipe the seatie.” It did the trick.
Today I asked a class, in a general “if you are making extra noises, could you please stop?” Moved closer to annoying noise, repeated request. Stared at student. His response: “it wasn’t extra noise, I was meow-ing the Jeapordy theme song”.
@FlyMeToTheMoon , I saw that posted at summer camp (all girls) in 1969
@doschicos if I don’t see them then they don’t exist lol. I try very hard never to look toward the kitchen of any restaurant and avert my eyes in the drive thru (I could save a lot of money eating out if I would look lol). I think my beard phobia came after visiting the deli counter at the grocery store about 15 years ago and coming home to find what I assumed was a long beard hair in my pound of sliced provolone. That was enough for me to never visit that particular deli counter again lol.
Here is a small thing that annoys me. And before you slam me, I know that I’m being unkind.
My commute is very long, between 1 1/2 and 2 1/4 hours each way. So every little thing that extends it makes me insane. I am aware that this is my problem and am working on it, but it’s a work in progress. There is a woman on my bus who is very heavy and has mobility issues. Every single day, we have to wait while she boards and when she exits because she just absolutely must seat herself in the farthest reach of the back of the bus, rather than sitting in one of the handicapped seats in the front - which are always available when she gets on. The driver in the morning asks her to please sit toward the front because she has slipped several times while navigating the aisle - not to mention that she smacks into every person she passes down the aisle. If people are standing, it’s impossible. But she says she needs to sit in the back with the cool kids. Yes, it’s a small thing, but every time she slips it becomes a big thing, and I think people should be more considerate of others.
I’m working on being more patient and more understanding.
Zoosermom, do we ride the same bus?
Ha! Really? I thought it was only mine. I have literally prayed about this because I find myself so unkind.
But she annoys the heck out of me. If she ever really falls, she’s going to probably hurt someone else, as well, and (selfish me) add hours to the commute.
Yup, there used to be a lady like that on the bus I used to ride. Folks like that can increase the price of public transportation - you bet if she falls and gets hurt, a lawsuit will follow.
@zoosermom I don’t think it is unkind. If it was never a hassle before and you were complaining that would be unkind. However, it sounds like a consistent inconvenience for the other passengers on the bus and a hazard as well. She is being inconsiderate.
Why would she refuse to sit in the open seat in the front of the bus? Really does not make much sense as it must be a hassle for her as well to trek to the back of the bus. My thought is that she might not think she qualifies for the handicapped seat or does not wish to designate herself as such by sitting in one. Difficult situation.
The lady in my case was not shy about telling everyone at the back of the bus about her disability and her need for a seat to uproot someone from their seat.