Things That Irritate Me - Part II

I didn't plan to put up another one of these so quickly, but it's Monday and I'm at work and not in the best moods to begin with, and now I'm irritated.

For those of you (fortunate enough) to not have worked in an office environment much yet, count your blessings, because believe me, it's annoying. And not in a "Dilbert-esque" amusing annoying. I mean, it may start that way, but it quickly devolves into just damn annoying.

For me, one of the biggest problems with working in an office atmosphere is that I'm around people. I'll grant that my job has caused me to become short-tempered with dealing with co-workers; after all, I spend most of my time out with a drill rig not talking to anyone all day. I'm used to the (relative) solitude of field work, so being around people in general can quickly try my patience. But often, people don't help themselves at all.

Everyone knows the stereotypical Important Person in the community. You may not know their job, but you see them getting coffee or standing in line at the grocery store. A cell phone attached to their ear, they gab loudly to the other person, perhaps misunderstanding the technology and thinking that if the person is far away, they need to talk louder. And so they do. Louder and LOUDER AND LOUDER. As frustrating as this can be, it's worse in a confined space of an office.

There is always one guy in an office that takes every call on speaker phone, so that he can click away on his computer while on the phone and be extra productive. And it's never the quiet guy who does this either. Oh no, it's the loudest person in the office who decides: "Hey, I know. I'll broadcast every call - no matter how trivial, or about what - to the entire office, so they can all hear just how hard I'm working." And because it's a speakerphone your co-worker has to speak extra loud just to make himself clear to the person on the other line. Of course, the speakerphone is also up as loud as possible, so you hear both ends of the conversation quite well.

This can be more than a little distracting. How do I deal with this? Well, for starters, I try to ignore it by focusing on something peaceful - like updating my blog. =)

Things that Irritate Me - Part I

Well it seems that weekly updates may be more up my alley. Still, that's better than monthly, right? So here I'm starting a new feature that I call "People and Things that Piss me Off Because They're Stupid." Great title, I know - it's a work in progress. Mainly I'll be highlighting things that happen to me and make me realize just how annoying certain things can be. Today's topic: Driver's who change lanes ridiculously slowly!

You all know the type. If you're lucky they put their blinker on, but more often than not, they just kinda lazily drift from their lane to yours - they're in no rush, it may take them a quarter-mile to get over, but off they go, straddling two lanes. Most likely, these awesome drivers (note: sarcasm) usually can't focus on driving straight and changing lanes at the same time, so they almost always start slowing down - so much so that by the time they're in front of you, they're going 15mph slower than when they started. And God help you if you're going uphill or turning while they're changing lanes.

It can get worse though. Sometimes these slow lane changers turn while you are behind them. They signal you that they are turning long before they actually put on a blinker. They begin by slowing down to about 15mph - three times as fast as the speed they actually take the turn, mind you - about 2 blocks before their turn and then as it approaches begin to move over. They don't swiftly get out of your way so you can resume driving at an appropriate speed though. As always, they drift ever so slowly that you are reminded of glacial movements. All the while, traffic builds up behind you. Irritating as hell.

I wish I could say that these people are all from one category of driver (like, old), but, sadly, they aren't. Certainly elderly drivers often do exhibit these issues, but so do lots of others. But one thing is for certain: if you're in a hurry, at least one of them will be in front of you. Guarantted.