There probably hasn’t been a soul on this earth that hasn’t had an occasional pet peeve rubbed them the wrong way. The definition of the term is something that a person finds especially troublesome or annoying. This can be different from a simple single complaint since peeve seems to raise its ugly annoyance repeatedly.

A quick online search traces the pet peeve term back to a comic strip by Frank King that initially ran in the Chicago Tribune and was published between 1916 and 1920. The comic was called The Little Pet Peeve. King also was the cartoonist that created the popular Gasoline Alley comic strip.

I jotted down some of mine that when looking at them they seem very minor although still irk me somewhat. Everyone has their own pet peeves. The trick for me and everyone is to not let them get us down or allow them to annoy others. Left unchecked they can cause unhappiness, depression, road rage and a host of other outcomes.

Let’s have fun with a few of mine. A simple one is discovering used toothflossers tossed to the ground. You know, the little colorful plastic holders with floss stretched between two points. For someone who has the righteous commitment to dental hygiene to not dispose of them properly and haphazardly toss them to the ground seems like a slap in the face. I find them in parking lots, campgrounds, beaches, gutters and other discreet places. It’s not the type of litter that others would like to safely pick up to dispose of properly on behalf of the inconsiderate litterer who doesn’t just pocket the item until it can be dropped in a trash can.

On to another pet peeve. It drives me crazy when I list an item to sell on Facebook and the first message from a potential buyer is the automatic “Is it still available?”. Really? The fact that it is still listed most likely means that it is still available. Why not just say “I want it” and I’ll sell it to you or at least start the dialog. Along with this frustration, I might respond immediately to the message and then wait hours or days for a response after the initial “Is it still available?” It appears some buyers like to draw out the process just to annoy. Why ask if it is available and then disappear after my quick response? Enough now about online marketplaces for now or my blood pressure might rise.

Almost everyone has some type of pet peeve when politics or government is involved. That’s because common sense and government are distantly connected. Let’s start with celebrities who claim they are moving out of the country due to not liking the current administration in power. Short of a few who do leave but mostly don’t make an issue of it, the boisterous celebs that denounce the new politics and exclaim loudly of their pending exit never do. Despite their empty promises, America is a great place to live, work and play. The American dream is still alive and if you believe it is much better elsewhere then please shut the door on your way out and leave us be.

For the last four years, President Trump was demonized by the left and the former president, vice president and administration that the Don was a threat to democracy. If he were to be elected, he would also rule as a dictator. The American electorate didn’t believe them and won the presidency in unprecedented fashion including winning majority status in the House and Senate. Once the election concluded, the same people claiming Trump was a “threat to democracy” backtracked and realized that the political winds were against them. Fearing the public turning against them, many are working in a more bipartisan manner with the Trump Administration. My pet peeve is that politics seems more about how to get reelected rather than serving the people’s needs.

Due to limited newspaper space (since I have many more that I could expound on), let’s end on the current Senate confirmation hearings. In various committees, senators have 5-7 minutes to ask specific questions about Trump’s appointments to his cabinet. Instead of asking questions about the candidate’s qualifications and plans, we hear the democrat politicians wasting time on real or anonymous claims of personal failings of which many of the senators have the same failings. They read a long biased narrative and are frustrated when the candidate won’t be pigeonholed into a yes or no question where context cannot be given. When an answer competes with the senator’s bias, the interviewer quickly interrupts and changes the subject. I also cringe when a candidate replies after every question “Thank you for that question, Senator”. Really? Even if you don’t like the question? Senatorial advice and consent hearings seem a waste of time if voting is going to fall along party lines anyway.

Thank you for reading through a few of my pet peeves and my guess is we all can write a whole book on the simple things that cause us angst. The best remedy for all of them is to laugh them off, enjoy a bowl of ice cream, pop some popcorn and watch some reality TV such as what we are witnessing right now in Washington, D.C. There’s no better reality TV than what is happening in the nation’s capitol. The twists and turns are entertaining and help distract us from other pet peeves of the moment.