What irrritates you the most about people?

United States
February 5, 2007 3:30pm CST
I so look forward to watching my kids during their extra curricular activities. My son loves his karate class and my oldest daughter is in ice skating. However, at my last visit to the rink I ran into another mom and I had not seen in months. As I was getting my daughter ready to get on the ice this lady talked to me nonstop for nearly 20 minutes!! It was unbelievable!! She managed to cover a variety of topics such as her alcoholic sister-inlaw, her kids new skates,school,her husband's business all seemingly without taking a breath.(also at a very loud volume so other people around us could hear!!) I hardly got a word in edgewise and was not able to get the pictures of my daughter's practice because of the distraction! I managed to break away after her child's lesson was over!! I can understand catching up and chatting but she was almost having a conversation with herself!! Anyway people that talk incessantly without allowing you to participate in the conversation irritate me..what about you? what irritates you the most about people?
10 people like this
31 responses
@shywolf (4514)
• United States
6 Feb 07
I have to agree with you that people who talk and talk and don't even seem to care if you are listening and don't pause to let you respond or interject something about your own life are quite frustrating. What hurts me even more is when someone does give you pauses to talk in, but then you can tell from their tone of voice that they really don't care and they don't really respond, they just go on with talking about themselves while barely acknowleding what you said. Me being a shy person, if I say something I really get hurt if I am not listened to at least a little, so I can't bear to be around or make time for people like that. I just find it plain rude.
2 people like this
• United States
7 Feb 07
As a person who is on the shy side-I know exactly how you feel!!
@rosie_123 (6113)
6 Feb 07
Bad manners is the thing that really irritates me. The kind of people who slam a door in your face, and never say please and thank you. My Mother always used to say "manners cost nothing", and I agree wt her, and rude people really annoy me!
@SachseMom (448)
• United States
6 Feb 07
What irritates me is parents that displine their children. I'm at Soccer practice with my 3 yr old son and the little one's, like the siblings that are 1 & 2, are running on the field and trying to get the Soccer ball and the coach can't have practice. The mom and dad's of the kids doing this are usually just sitting there and talking to each other instead of taking care of their othere children. The Soccer practice is NOT a babysitting service for them!? Sorry, it just makes me crazy, we are paying for my son to play soccer and the poor coach has got to put a stop to this!
1 person likes this
• United States
6 Feb 07
The comment is supposed to be Parents that Don't discpline their children.
1 person likes this
• United States
6 Feb 07
That has always annoyed me too! Why become a parent if you don't want to PARENT your child?!
1 person likes this
@inplano (298)
• United States
6 Feb 07
yes, your experience does sound quite irrating...these kind of people merily keep talking to themselves..they dont know how to make a conversation. what irritates me most are at times relatives who show that they are concerned but are merely looking for gossip.
• United States
7 Feb 07
Yes, I have some inlaws that are just that same way!!
• United States
6 Feb 07
I have one of these! I don't believe it's consern at all. I think that they're looking for someone else to focus on so they don't have to focus on themselves...
1 person likes this
@mnksmommy (301)
• United States
5 Feb 07
Here's what I would have done if I were you. When she began to get long winded I would minimize eye contact and start taking photos of my kid. Maybe she'd get the point or not--but you can still get those pictures.
1 person likes this
• United States
5 Feb 07
Thanks, this is exactly what I will do next time. The more I think about it the more irritated get!! she was there all day with her kids and we were at the rink for less than an hour!! I will get those pictures next time for sure!!
• United States
6 Feb 07
That's exactly what I would have done. I do enjoy catching up with someone and all, but catching up means you both talk about your lives. Not just one person, going through the series of events since you've last talked. I would have lost interest right away, haha. But definitely get those pictures of your daughter. I can't wait until my daugther is a lot older and finds interest in something.
• United States
6 Feb 07
I have a friend that is just like that! She talks about absolutely nothing, yet she manages to talk for hours. She might as well be talking to herself sometimes, because I don't get a word in. It's funny, sometimes when she calls me to chat, I'll put the phone on the coffee table, and just let her ramble. She doesn't even know I'm not there as long as I pick it up once and a while and utter an...uh huh. It is really annoying, but I look at it this way, if I let her vent, she's going to feel better when she's done talking, and when I need to vent, what better person to unload on :o)
1 person likes this
• United States
7 Feb 07
I had a very dear college friend who was exactly like this...I would set the phone down in my dorm room and me and my roomate would listen to her go on and on!!! After about ten years of friendship it just proved to be too much ..the friendship became very one-sided. A lot can be said for being a good listener..but friendship should be a two-way street.
@fla66ot (22)
• United States
6 Feb 07
tHINGS THAT IRRITATE THE HELL OUTTA ME ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE CLUELESS TO HOW ARROGASNT OR RUDE THEY ARE. PEOPLE WHO TALK ON THEIR CELL PHONES WHILE i TRY TO HELP THEM AT MY JOB, AND PEOPLE WHO VOTE REPUBLICAN.. THE LIST COULD GO ON FOR DAYS.. LOL
1 person likes this
• United States
7 Feb 07
I feel your pain!! These are both on my list too!!
@pagli84 (1850)
• Netherlands
6 Feb 07
i really hate how people can be so rude and inconsiderate and how some of them think they're so much better than other people. it really irritates me. i know i can be a b*tch at times, but that's only when someone does something to annoy me...and usually im like that only jokingly like with my cousin.
1 person likes this
@mikaghi (388)
• United States
7 Feb 07
wow u did have an interesting day.anyway, i think it is rude to take up people's time that way. next time i suggest u excuse urself before starts going on and on.
1 person likes this
@WebMann (4731)
• Canada
8 Feb 07
I have found that most people are not who they pretend to be. For many reasons they feel that if they were who they really are no one would like or want them. When I discover this in people I usually confront them and try to find out who they really are and why I wouldn't like them for being themselves.
5 Feb 07
what irritates me most is.....some old guy who is a friend of my parents (not mine...i dont even know him!!) spots me on the way and comes up to me...and insists on making friendly(crappy!) chit-chat(lecture!) about something (well...i wasnt really listening...u cant blame me for that!!) right on the middle of the path way in full volume!!!! and that too when i was already late for my class!! ^_^
1 person likes this
• United States
5 Feb 07
It just so strange how people can get that way..start speaking to you about nothing and hold you in conversation without any thought of if you are in a hurry or late for something. Some people don't think they just talk!!
@XxAngelxX (2830)
• Canada
5 Feb 07
Condescending attitudes irritates me the most in people. Those who think they are better than me for no reason other than they just believe they are. I don't feel I am better than anyone else and I don't believe I am any less than anyone else either. I am just me :) . It really annoys me when someone talks down to me as though I were a child. I am just as capable of the next person at picking up new things and holding my own end of the conversation. Great discussion.
1 person likes this
• United States
5 Feb 07
I am with you on condescending people!! I didn't mention this but she was slightly condescending too!! Can you imagine telling a mother of 4 children(me) that spending over a hundred dollars for ice skates is" settling for the cheaper skates" just because she was able to buy more expensive ones for her 10 year old daughter? (my daughter is 4) I think in this case she is apparently a very insecure person who uses just about any situation to build herself up!!
@hartnsoul (558)
• Philippines
7 Feb 07
Hi there. That surely soudns like an annoying experience. I have my fair share of such encounters myself. I was lucky to breeze through a couple of them by simply cutting them through mid sentence and apologizing that I really have to finish something. I would leave them my mobile number so we can just sms or I'd say "Let's chat next time." Then smile gracefully at them. So far I haven't had anyone who hated me for doing that. :)
• United States
7 Feb 07
I think my biggest pet peeve comes from working in retail for over 6 years. You get people who get upset at you and they DONT care that WE cant do anything. They will complain till they are blue in the face and complain to higher ups who also cant do anything. Its like what planet are you from that you think its OKAY to complain that much to anyone at any time for such a reason? Sometimes people talk and talk and talk. Its how they are. I've also dealt with a few of those while working in retail.
• United States
6 Feb 07
I know people like that. Just about all you can do is sit there and listen. As for getting pictures, you should have just taken them while she was gabbing away. i'm sure she wouldn't have even noticed. There is a difference between catching up and having a one sided conversation.
1 person likes this
• Philippines
6 Feb 07
hahaha..I guess that is a blast and kinda irritating...sort of like a blabber mouth...I don't like people who talk much too and don't even wants to join you in the conversation. But what irritates me most is when people act filthy rich that they put other people down when infact they are just the same level as they are..People who don't have breading and shows off so much..and people who only thinks of themselves and not of others..That's what irritates me most.
1 person likes this
@Kaldonya (277)
• United States
6 Feb 07
Hmmm....there are two things that are really THE BIGGEST irritants to me about people (and in some ways, they go together - how funny/sad is that). The first is people who think that they are better than other people. Just because they might have something...a better car, a better figure, more money, or whatever, they think that they are better than you and then treat others as less of a person than them. My other big pet peeve is STUPID people. Now, I don't mean people that are challenged in any way...but I just mean people that are "STUPID". Like...someone that drives the wrong way down the lane while trying to find a parking spot. Hello!!!?! Can't you read the arrows? Oh that just gets to me. But when you get a condenscending person who already thinks that they are better than everyone else, and THEN goes and acts like a "STUPID" person -- because they think that they're entitled or WHATEVER.....I think that there is nothing aggravating in my book. ugh.
1 person likes this
• United States
6 Feb 07
That's funny. Well, I get irritated when my co-worker talks out loud to herself. I am trying to work and she acts as is she is the only one in our station. It drives me crazy! She is really sweet so I can't tell her to shut up, plus, she's older than me. I've implied that it is too loud over where we sit, but I don't know if she cares or just doesn't get it.
1 person likes this
@crickethear (1417)
• United States
6 Feb 07
What irritates me the most about people? Too many to list. I hate the non stop talkers, who only want you to listen to them, but then they cut you off if you try to talk, the know it alls-can't tell them anything, people pulling out in front of you when you are the only car they have to wait for, and then they creep, people who don't control their kids, people who think they have everything coming, and never think about helping or giving to somone else in need, I can go on. I am having a crappy day, so I guess, I find almost everything irritating today. :(
1 person likes this
@vkkesu (78)
• United States
6 Feb 07
Those "chatterboxes" are sometimes just lonely people who need a friend. Be aware of which type you are listening to because it might make a difference in their lives. .... But sometimes depending on the person, no eye contact or just a...oh what did you say, I wasn't listening can give them a clue that they just like to hear themselves brag about themselves. My pet peeve is the people who ask you a question, look at you like there listening then all of a sudden say something completely off the wall or wonder off to do something. It makes it obvious that they didn't care to start and were selfish after all. My sister in law is like this. I probably haven't said a dozen words to her since it happened and she's never realized I don't hold conversations with her any longer.
1 person likes this