Download Article
From the mundane to the truly frustrating
Explore this Article
IN THIS ARTICLE
Other Sections
Co-authored by
Eric McClure
Download Article
X
This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Eric McClure. Eric McClure is an editing fellow at wikiHow where he has been editing, researching, and creating content since 2019. A former educator and poet, his work has appeared in Carcinogenic Poetry, Shot Glass Journal, Prairie Margins, and The Rusty Nail. His digital chapbook, The Internet, was also published in TL;DR Magazine. He was the winner of the Paul Carroll award for outstanding achievement in creative writing in 2014, and he was a featured reader at the Poetry Foundation’s Open Door Reading Series in 2015. Eric holds a BA in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and an MEd in secondary education from DePaul University.
There are 11 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.
This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources.
This article has been viewed 2,312 times.
Learn more...
I do my best to be a calm person, but I'm not going to lie...the universe tests me quite often. Everyone has their personal pet peeves (little behaviors that drive you nuts), and these are my 104 biggest offenders. Read on to see if your personal pet peeves make the cut!
Most Common Pet Peeves
Download Image
The most popular pet peeves tend to deal with annoying sounds (chalkboards, open-mouth chewing), gross sensations (wet socks), and minor annoyances (not using turn signals, littering).
Steps
-
A “rubbernecker” is a driver who slows down whenever they see a crash on the side of the road so they can look at it. We don’t know why these people are so intrigued by cars with minor dents in them, but they’re a huge source of traffic jams.[1] X Trustworthy Source Science Direct Online archive of peer-reviewed research on scientific, technical and medical topics Go to source
Advertisement
-
“Gate lice” are the people at airports who stand right in front of the gate so they can get on the plane as fast as possible. They’re annoying for a few reasons:
- First, if you aren’t boarding group 1, you have zero business standing there.
- Second, it’s weird you’re so motivated to get on the plane as fast as possible. Just sitting on a plane is miserable, so you should seek to minimize your overall time on it.
- Finally, this is functionally identical to just blocking a door. If people are being forced to walk around you, it’s a good sign you should move.
-
The seat should only ever be reclined if the person behind you is asleep or there’s nobody sitting behind you in the first place. We all know this. So it’s especially annoying when someone pops down in front of you and immediately reclines as far as the seat can go. You’re violating the social contract, Mr. or Ms. Airplane Seat Recliner.
Advertisement
-
These creatures come in several forms, including, but not limited to:
- People who pee on the toilet seat.
- People who don’t flush.
- People who talk on a phone while using the bathroom.
- People who don’t wash their hands.
- People who take way too long to wash their hands while there’s a line for the sink.
- People who violate the bro code by occupying the urinal right next to you.
Advertisement
-
Fun fact (well, not so fun if you own the company), pointless meetings cost businesses as much as $100 million a year.[2] X Research source
Advertisement
-
You used the cart, so put it back! When you don’t put it back, the wind knocks it into peoples’ cars and scratches them. It’s also just rude—yeah, there’s some kid making minimum wage to take care of the carts, but you’d never use this argument anywhere else. It’s not like you throw trash on the ground just because janitors exist…
Advertisement
-
Look, if you’re a highly technical scientific journal locking expensively-funded studies behind a paywall, we get it. We don’t like it, but we get it. But if we click on a local news link to see what the changes to the parking meters are going to be for the city’s 4th of July festivities, you have zero business trying to block the content behind a paywall.
Advertisement
-
It’s a dumb quote meant to justify bad behavior. It’s also incorrect—the full quote is actually “The customer is always right in matters of taste.” Which is to say, if you want to buy a purple refrigerator, it shouldn’t really matter that you have insane preferences for the color to the salesman.[3] X Research source
Advertisement
-
Look, the air dryers are great. The rolls of paper towels you pull off are also great. Both work fine. You know what we don’t need? A weird infinite loop of semi-damp cloth. It’s great that it’s better for the environment, but boy does that thing feel gross.
- Apparently these are called “cloth roll towels” and we hate them.
Advertisement
-
You know what we’re talking about—those popular claims that sound kind of true based on stuff you might have heard somewhere, but it turns out they’re totally made up? Yeah, annoying. Popular (false) conclusions include:
- You eat X number of spiders in your sleep every year (you don’t).[4] X Research source
- Your brain isn’t fully developed until 25 (your brain grows well into your 30s).[5] X Research source
- We only use 10% of our brains (we use all of them).[6] X Research source
- Sugar makes kids hyper (it doesn’t).[7] X Research source
- You have to wait 24 hours to file a missing person’s report (a few lazy cops made this up one time and everyone thinks it’s true now).[8] X Research source
- Blood is blue inside of your body—it turns red when exposed to air (blood is red everywhere).[9] X Research source
Expert Q&A
Ask a Question
200 characters left
Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.
Submit
Advertisement
Tips
Submit a Tip
All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published
Name
Please provide your name and last initial
Thanks for submitting a tip for review!
You Might Also Like
What Does "Minor Inconvenience" Mean? (With Examples)
125 Unhinged & Funny Icks in Relationships
How to
Avoid the Icks that People Can't Stand
Am I Giving Someone the Ick Quiz
205+ Hilarious Unpopular Opinions & Hot Takes
Do You Agree with These Random Hot Takes?
Do You Agree with These Popular Hot Takes?
31 Things Girls Do That Give People the Ick (Plus, How to Stop Doing Them)
Our Users' Shower Thought Hot Takes: Do You Agree?
175+ Bad Jokes You Can't Help but Laugh At
The Best Ways to Make Someone Cringe
What Gives Me the Ick?
How to
Be Annoying
210+ Shower Thoughts: Funny, Deep, Weird & Mind-Blowing
Advertisement
References
- ↑ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198220301779
- ↑ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/unnecessary-meetings-cost-big-companies-100-million-annually/
- ↑ https://www.marinadockage.com/is-the-customer-always-right/
- ↑ https://www.britannica.com/story/do-we-really-swallow-spiders-in-our-sleep
- ↑ https://theconversation.com/no-your-brain-doesnt-suddenly-fully-develop-at-25-heres-what-the-neuroscience-actually-shows-271826
- ↑ https://mcgovern.mit.edu/2024/01/26/do-we-use-only-10-percent-of-our-brain/
- ↑ https://healthcare.utah.edu/the-scope/kids-zone/all/2025/08/debunking-old-wives-tales-why-your-child-isnt-actually-sugar-high
- ↑ https://chicagomissingpersons.com/know-your-rights/
- ↑ https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2017/02/03/513003105/why-do-many-think-human-blood-is-sometimes-blue
About This Article
This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Eric McClure. Eric McClure is an editing fellow at wikiHow where he has been editing, researching, and creating content since 2019. A former educator and poet, his work has appeared in Carcinogenic Poetry, Shot Glass Journal, Prairie Margins, and The Rusty Nail. His digital chapbook, The Internet, was also published in TL;DR Magazine. He was the winner of the Paul Carroll award for outstanding achievement in creative writing in 2014, and he was a featured reader at the Poetry Foundation’s Open Door Reading Series in 2015. Eric holds a BA in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and an MEd in secondary education from DePaul University. This article has been viewed 2,312 times.
How helpful is this?
Co-authors: 3
Updated: July 22, 2026
Views: 2,312
Categories: Personality Traits
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 2,312 times.
Did this article help you?
Advertisement
