Pet Peeves

You know we all have them. I think I'd like to share some of mine:

1. First and foremost, my biggest pet peeve is bad parenting. I think I'm a pretty good parent. Anna is a very good kid. Some of that is just who she is but a large part of it is because Reed and I see eye to eye on this parenting gig. I CRINGE when I hear parents yelling at their kids in public. Usually, the kid is crying for no apparent reason until you look at the clock and notice that its 10:30 pm and way past the kid's bed time. This is one of the reasons I go into Walmart less and less these days...its not because of the store, folks, its the patronage of said store. On the flip side, I see parents who give into their kids way too often. I'm firm and stick to it. Kids these days think that if they whine about it enough, ask constantly or throw temper tantrums they will eventually get their way. Not in this household.

2. Impatience, especially impatient drivers. I get so tired of looking behind me and seeing cars riding my tail. Really? How is that going to help you get there faster?

3. Poor customer service. Where, oh, where has customer service gone? One time at Walmart in Maine, I asked to have my milk put in a bag. We lived in the 2nd story of an apartment building and it made it much easier to get the groceries upstairs if they were all in a bag. When I asked, she said "Oh, we don't put milk in bags here." Me, "I know. That's why I asked for one." Her in a snippy tone, "Well, the bags break and then the milk spills and I don't want to have to clean it up if it spills in the store." Now, keep in mind, I had a cart full of stuff. The milk was going directly to the cart and then to my car...no carrying it through the store. Once its out of the store, it then becomes MY problem, not hers...and I wanted it in a bag. It wasn't so much her reasoning behind it, it was more because she argued with me. Not good customer service. I've worked retail enough to know that good customer service is not hard to give and it makes your job in retail that much more pleasant. So why don't people do it more often? As the saying goes, you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

These are my top 3, I think... bailouts maybe number 4. So, what about you? Would you like to share your pet peeves.