I can't believe there isn't anything you didn't list about cell phones.

Sorry about the above gibberish. I just returned from a week-long conference in California and am absolutely numb. What I meant to say (I think) was, "I can't believe you didn't list anything about cell phone users (the phones are great -- it's the users I struggle with at times).

Childless people with vocal opinions about childrearing.

20) People with children with vocal opinions about people who have no children, but still have ideas worth considering.

:)

21) People who skip #17, #18, and #19.

People who don't use their turn signals (especially when they are merging)!

Peopel who can't spell.

How about people who own cars but are against both going to war for oil and drilling in our own reserves...

21) How about Michael Moore wearing a Michigan State hat?

"8) Childless people with vocal opinions about childrearing."

Unlike wombless people with vocal opinions about abortion, presumably.

Ampersand,
That's clever only if one accepts your implicit contention that abortion is about the use of the womb, and not the disposition of a life.

Can I get in line to smack the owner of the opinion articulated in #1? Because Wyatt Earp somehow managed to make the Gunfight at the OK Corral BORING. And SLOW.

And Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday simply kicks a**.

How about people who can't say thank you.

And even though I don't have children, and I could be slapped for #8, I know when a child is in need of discipline!

Ever notice that the people who are against drilling in ANWR and the Iraq war are usually driving SUVs? And I'm not talking Geo Trackers. I'm talking you're-lucky-to-get-17-mpg-SUVs. And going 80 mph in a 65 mph zone.

And also people who let their middle schoolers wear shorts with words across the rear end. Ewww!!

So if I have the Big Mac and Fries, I should worsen my situation by adding a big thick shake?

Dean,
It's the cognitive dissonance that gets under my skin.

That's not cognitive dissonance. That would be the case if you ordered a Diet Coke and found it tasted the same as ordinary Coke. Which incidentally is the reason (taste, I mean) some people drink Diet Coke. In other words, not because of health factors.

I prefaced my above comment with [nitpicking] and ended it with [/nitpicking] but these are, surprisingly, not valid HTML tags, and thus did not show up. (I'm using the [] brackets here so that they will hopefully show up in this message).

As long as we are talking about fast food, here is one from a fast-food worker: People who pull up to a drive through speaker and immediately say "Hello? Hello? Hello?" and then, when greeted by the attendant, say "Could you give me just a minute, please?". Two slaps if they do either one in an annoyed tone of voice.

People who think the whole world needs to hear the distorted "whoomp, whoomp, whoomp" coming from their car speakers as they drive down the street.

People who think that green means go, yellow means go faster, and red means floor it.

People who think you have to have experience in something in order to offer an opinion on it (e.g. "men should shut up about abortion" or "people who never served in the military shouldn't advocate going to war").

I'm just getting started...

I've been thinking about this a lot over the last few days....I have a long list of things I could add. But I realized I was focusing on the bad things around me.

What about a list of things that deserve more credit or thanks than they get? This way instead of giving the bad things more credit than they deserve let's remind ourselves to say thank you and smile more often.

I'll start:
1. Postal carriers and UPS/Fedex delivery people. I hardly ever see mine to say thank you to them.
2. Lots and Lots of people in the fast food/retail industry who really are trying to do their job to the best of their ability.
3. The nice lady at the grocery store who gave my kids two pennies to ride the ponies.
4. Our kids when they try and help us even if it means cleaning up a gallon of water off the bathroom floor.
5. Neighbors who smile and wave when you walk or drive past.
6. Doctors and nurses who we curse for making us wait so long, but lots of times they get it right when it counts.
7. Our soldiers.
8. Bloggers who post their thoughts and stories and make us think and laugh and even sometimes cry....
(Thank you Tony. I do appreciate your stories.)
Anyone else?

#2 kills me. I saw a girl who couldn't have been 14 wearing some TIGHT short-shorts that said "Top Thrill" on the butt. WTF is going on with their parents?

Hmmm. I agree with most of those, Tony, but some comments:

#8 - Walk carefully here. Yes, it's inappropriate for childless folk to be an endless drone about other people's childrearing. However, encouraging Biblical and tried-and-true methods - like consistency, setting boundaries, etc. - is not a bad thing. And I must say in my personal experience as a childless person, people who have raised their kids are much more obnoxious and intrusive in their advice to those with children at home, and much more likely to offer it without being asked. And yes, since I teach psychology I have been asked on more than one occasion by a parent about how to deal with a child, most recently when a mother asked me when a child should no longer be allowed to see the opposite-sex parent naked. Any takers on that one?

#2 - Do you have teenagers, Tony? Are your children over the age of 10? Sounds to me like you should read #8. Hmmm? (Just kidding, of course, but you get the point.) In our society it's all about money and sex and sex and money. Distressing. But when you promulgate a society with few social boundaries, how can you expect there to suddenly be rigid (or even reasonable) boundaries for the younger set? (And "you" here is not you, Tony, but the general "you".)

#9 It's very sad to see people with no grace for themselves.

I have a few pet peeves too, but it's my birthday and I don't want to think about them. Tell the Missus hi for me, Tony. :)

#16: I've seen this prejudice before, and I've never understood it. If what one really wants is a Big Mac and a large fries, and he doesn't much care what he drinks, why shouldn't he save hundreds of calories where he can? My theory, so far supported by experience, is that anyone holding this bias either has little trouble keeping his weight down or doesn't even try to keep his weight down. Into which category does Mr. Sandy Gears fall?

in defense of #16... there are those of us who don't give a flying fuck about what we eat, and therefore go with what tastes best. For me, that's going to be a diet coke. And yes, I actually do like the taste of McDonalds food. I'm twisted like that.

:)

And people who don't have children, but do have very close experience with children are still allowed to have opinions -- I've got a 2 year old sister, and therefore have vocal opinions on childrearing. Like, "Most people shouldn't." :)

People who insist that their pet is just like a child. Hello!?! There is a different value to be placed on my child and their poodle.

Oh, and people who dress their poodle and their husband alike. Thats just wrong.