Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of people just throwing trash out their car windows. It’s become disturbingly common and I really want to scream at the that the world is not their trashcan. I don’t, because I really think I would get shot.
When I was 14 I tossed a piece of packaging for the chips I was eating on the ground. I don’t know why I did that, I’d been so against it as a good little kid, I think my mind was just experimenting at the time with whether I really needed to give a shit about this anymore. Probably some kind of “edginess” I was cultivating perhaps. Anyway, some middle aged teacherly guy picked it up in front of me and put it in the bin. Then he gave me a statistic about how our city was the “nth cleanest in the world and we should keep it that way”. I was by myself but kinda scoffingly shrugged it off as he walked away to show I didn’t care what he thought. But being called out like that and feeling that hot flush of angry embarrassment and being forced to pay specific attention to my actions instantly and dramatically recalibrated that drift in my values on the issue of of littering in a permanent way. It wasn’t because they made an especially good point, in fact I didn’t find the statistic particularly compelling I mean of all the reasons to do the bare minimum of decency that seems like one of the worst, like it’s some sort of competition or something. Nevertheless it was just a reminder at the perfect moment that no, this isn’t going to be acceptable even if there’s no obvious consequence and you shouldn’t start to feel okay about this.
The fact that the guy was kinda lame and had such middle aged dad and teacher vibes about him I think made all the difference, there wasn’t an angry confrontation, but it was still firm. He backed off and walked away straight after he said his piece rather than giving me the chance to turn it in to an argument where I might feel rebellious and victorious about it, he just calmly left me to stew in the fact that whatever bravado I might have put on for him, he didn’t care and I was going to have to reckon with why I ever thought this was going to be a good habit to start.
I bring this up because maybe if you have the opportunity to you actually should say something, though obviously carefully and not too aggressively. Sometimes it makes a difference even if by their response the person would appear to indicate that it didn’t.
Here’s something positive: precisely mentioning what they tried on a problem already!
If someone’s stuck on a problem and defines what help they need, then I have no thoughts either way. It’s just a problem, and something to be helped through. Neutral.
But if they describe what they did already, then I think “Wow, this person really put in some I-don’t-give-up effort! Nice work, bro!”
Spelling errors on professional documents, especially signs/posters/ads. You don’t have to know everything, but you have to check before putting it up.
When I see restaurant specials boards riddled with mistakes it makes me want to not eat there.
- People who take phone calls with it on speaker
- People that have anything on speaker while in a public place
- Wearing “MAGA” clothing
- Having a cyber truck
- Leaving large gaps in the drive thru queue
- People with young children that they dress up like little adults.
- People who refuse to learn basic tech (email, texting, etc.)
- Edit: People that don’t like animals, or they dislike just cats. I feel like people who don’t vibe with animals in some way are… Off.
damn, I’m a judgy bitchWhile tattoos have become more acceptable over the years, I can’t not secretly judge people that have hand or above the neck line tattoos. Of course the placement, style, and number all play a part in my judgement :) Tattoos on any other body parts don’t trigger me though.
Talking loudly on the phone, while on public transport.
The ‘brands’ they are displaying.
I see people checking me and others out. What runners are they? Jordans or KMart? Is that a Lacoste or walmart? Is that a real Rolex or D&G handbag?
But for me, it’s not judging them like you think.
I judge them flashing brands as a sign of insecurity, a need to appear wealthy and ‘fit in’, and a likely ‘keep up with the Jones’ jealous type.
So, I actually feel sad for them.
And, yes, I am aware it’s super judgemental and I’m no doubt hypocritical as well, as there are some things I will buy certain brands for.
‘It has chemicals in it’
This use of ‘chemicals’ as something inherently bad just makes it sound like they’re parroting some scaremongering tiktok.
I had this talk with a member of my family. Water is a chemical, salt is a chemical. Just because you don’t immediately know what it is, doesn’t mean its bad.
Owning giant pickup trucks and SUVs. I’m not that secretive about it, though. I assume everyone driving them is an insecure, overgrown child who wants a big vroom vroom.
Saying that they could care less when they mean they couldn’t care less.
Like, of course anyone can care less than they currently do.
Being completely unaware of anyone else:
- Standing in doorways, using your phone or having a conversation
- Talking loudly when inappropriate, when I’m in pain at the doctors, I don’t want to hear about your roses
- leaving your shopping trolley blocking the aisle sideways in the supermarket while looking for your stuff
- driving down the middle of the road so everyone else has to pull over, when there’s plenty of room for two cars to pass
- stopping in the middle of the road without indicating, while: looking for your destination, or having a conversation, or deciding what day it is
- riding your delivery bike down the footpath at high speed weaving between pedestrians
As Jean-Paul Sartre said, “Hell is other people”.
If you cannot chew with your mouth closed and you are older than 6 years, you should not be allowed to vote, operate heavy machinery or have children.
I judge people quietly for smoking.
I loudly judge people for things that I think are morally wrong, but I would feel quite bad if I voiced some of my other opinions. Yesterday one of my friends complained about someone coming through the McDonalds drive through and ordering too many chicken nuggets. They said that person had “no respect for how they made the employees feel”. It’s like… come on man. They just wanted some nuggies. Surely you can muster the immense strength of will required to cook a few extra?
idk why the workers would feel any way about one person ordering 200 nuggets vs 10 people ordering 20 each.
It was like… 3 6pc nuggets
yeah that has nothing to do with the workers… that person just wanted to get through the queue faster and were concern trolling to make themselves not sound like an impatient toddler.
Leaving things they decided they don’t want just wherever in a store. It’s annoying as a customer, because now I have to dig through their mess to get the product I actually wanted, and even moreso as an employee.
At least put it back in the right department. The underpaid employees who have been there since before the store opened for the day really don’t want to have to play the game of “How long has this ground beef been sitting in a produce basket, and how much product did we just lose?”
I remember a story of a guy talking about how the store reeked and smelled terrible. After doing tons of searching at the epicenter of the smell, turns out some guy hid a 5 pound beef brisket on the bottom shelf, hidden behind a bunch of breakfast cereal.
I was shopping in a Walmart, and I found a pint of ice cream that had completely melted in the toy section.
Soup!
