Pet Peeves

And What’s Your Pet Peeve?

Man is a puzzling creature. Just about the time you think you’ve got him figured out, he pulls a stunt completely out of character. Either that, or you don’t know the guy as well as you thought.

What prompted this not too perceptive observation was when a friend of mine went ballistic at the driver in front of him for refusing to turn right on a red light. My acquaintance blistered the driver with a string of well-crafted profanities. At the end of his tirade, he growled, “There’s nothing that ticks me off like a dummy sitting at a light like that.”

I grinned to myself. I couldn’t pass any kind of judgment on my friend or his pet peeve. I’ve got pet peeves too, but sitting behind a car waiting to turn right isn’t one that would set me off like it did him. Still, like everyone, there are some things that just rub me the wrong way.

Case in point!

Some supermarkets have sample cookies or pastries in the bakery. You’ve seen them, usually in a clear container that gives the impression of sterility, which is a joke. If anything, the container probably holds in more germs than it keeps out.

The other day I was waiting in the bakery to pick up some donuts when this guy, who looked like he’d had a few cookies too many anyway, sidled up to the counter, reached for a sample cookie, picked it up, studied it, put it back, and picked up another one.

No telling how many times those cookies had been studied. I promise you, there ain’t no way I’d touch one of those free offerings-there or anywhere. You don’t know whose hands have been on them. To quote a well-known chef, ‘when you see food beautifully arranged on a platter, you know someone’s fingers have been all over it.”

And speaking of supermarkets, is there anyone besides me who dislikes grocery clerks who bundle the receipt with the change? Hand me the money separately so I can put it in my pocket, and then give me the receipt or place it in the bag.

Now, I know that’s petty, but isn’t that what peeves are, petty?

Another peeve is all of this political correctness nonsense that so permeates every aspect of our
life. Members of opposing parties, whether they be Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Independent, Idiots, or Klingnons try to eviscerate their opponents on every possible occasion.

You remember a few weeks back when Senate Speaker Harry Reid caught a lot of flack for a remark he made about the president. His remark, "light-skinned" African-American with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."

I wish someone would tell me what’s wrong with that, the word, Negro?

I can think of a lot worse things to say, and I’m sure everyone else can also. It couldn’t be ‘dialect’ because there are thousands of different dialects in the U.S.

Don’t misunderstand. I have little respect for Senator Reid. He doesn’t deserve to be a senator in this great country, and I hope he’s voted out, but let’s be fair.

President Obama is fair-skinned, and he is African American (this multiple nationality nonsense is another peeve, but let’s get on with the subject), and he does not converse in the dialect employed by many of his race. Big deal. As I said, there are dialects all over the country.

Whether he can speak the dialect or not, I have no idea. And I don’t care. But someone tell me why such a remark is racist. Is it now racist simply to talk about other races? Am I being racist if I say a Yankee from Maine has a certain dialect?

If the majority of the public honestly believe it is, then such an indictment sends chills through my bones. Whatever happened to the idea of freedom of speech, of saying what you believe? And I dare anyone, even the most diehard of liberals to show me what was racist, truly racist in Reid’s remark.

That being said, I hope the guy is voted out-not because of the remark, but because he is too pig-headed to listen to his constituents. And don’t call that racist unless you’re a hog.