I have numerous pet peeves. There are so, so many terrible things in life that just annoy the crap out of me. As a way to help relieve the stress and possibly get over these annoyances, I'm forcing you, my dedicated blog visitors, to read about them.

1) Excessive noise - At this very moment, I am tired, and I want to sleep. It's 2:44 AM, so I don't think this is an outrageous request. However, I cannot because one of my roommates is hosting a beer party in the garage that is located right below my window. Naturally, they are all shouting to each other because shouting is the only way to communicate while intoxicated.

2) Inconsiderate people - First off, see above. I've become accustomed to having people such as these in my life now that I've come to college. I didn't realize that so many "young adults" truly didn't think of others when blaring their music, dirtying community spaces, or using my milk in the fridge (I'm on a budget, people!). I was shocked when I moved into the dorms a year ago and was bothered by so many loud students. When I want to listen to music, watch TV, etc., it's almost an instinct to make sure to keep the volume at a reasonable level. Sometimes I'll even go into the hallway to see how loud it is for my neighbors. I thought everyone was this way; however, I've discovered that probably only 20% of the college population realizes that other people actually exist in the world.

3) People who are too fat to sit in a booth - I never even considered the possibility that some people (actually about 40% of Americans) cannot fit in the booths at the restaurant where I work. The first time I was seating an excessively fat woman, I sat her and her group at a booth where most people prefer to sit. However, as soon as I lead them to the booth, she requested a table. People ask to sit at different tables quite frequently, so I didn't think anything about it, but when I went back to the hostess stand, one of the servers started kidding with me.

"I can't believe you even tried to seat her at a booth," he said. He slapped me affectionately on the arm. "You've gotta be smarter than that," he said with a chuckle.

As soon as he said it, I realized why she wanted to sit at a table. Tables have chairs so you can sit as far back from the table as your expansive gut requires. Now when very large people come in, I always ask in my sweetest voice, "Do you have a table or booth preference?" This way they can ask for a table if they want and think that I ask everyone that question.

4) People who ask to sit at a table/booth other than the one I lead them to - Something I didn't realize before working in a restaurant is that the host is in charge of making sure servers get equal numbers of customers to serve with a reasonable amount of time in between each new customer. When a host leads you to a table, he/she is leading you to a table in a particular server's section. When you ask to sit at another table, it is usually in another server's section, which throws the host's rotation out of whack. You'd never know, however, because the customer gets what they want, no matter how inconvenient it is for the restaurant employees. He/She will just smile; say, "sure you can sit there;" and then, once you're seated, go back and apologize to the servers who now think he/she is too stupid to seat people in the right places. So, the moral of this point, except for extreme instances (i.e., a nearby table has five screaming kids, you want to sit in a particular server's section, you're too fat to fit in the booth he/she leads you to), sit where the server seats you.

5) Stupid people - Does this really need an explanation?

6) Barnes & Noble not hiring me - Okay, I'll agree that this is a weird pet peeve, but anyone who knows me knows that I belong in a store surrounded by books. It's my house of worship. As an example to all the random readers, last Sunday I didn't work, so as a free way to have a ton of fun, I went to B&N to hang out. My main goal was to read Revenge of the Sith. So I went, picked up a hardback copy from the shelves, and then sat in a comfy chair and read it cover to cover in 5.5 hours. In one sitting. I'm not lying. I had a blast. However, the kicker to this story is that while I was sitting there, I must have been sending out a I-know-what-I'm-doing-in-this-store vibe, because three people asked me to help them find something while I was sitting there. Now, ask yourself, would you normally ask someone who is clearly engrossed in a book to help you find a book for yourself? Not usually. Yet three people did it. Either it's a sign from God that I belong there, or three really stupid people just don't realize that people who are reading a book usually don't want to be interrupted. Still, I was thrilled to help them. One of the people asked where I had gotten my copy of the book, so as I lead him to the Star Wars section, I asked him if he'd seen the movie, etc. It was great fun. Now, if B&N would just realize how awesome I am, then I'd be set.

7) Grammatical errors in prestigious publications - Grammatical errors as a whole I hate, but large companies, published books, and anything on TV should have one or two errors max. My current book (a cheap book I got at Wal-Mart) is so riddled with errors of the most obvious kind that I almost want to stop reading it. I caught two errors in Return of the Sith, but because I am a fangirl (a girl who loves Star Wars so much she doesn't think less of it when it makes mistakes), I was willing to let them slide.

8) Grammatical errors I make - I hate seeing errors in other people's work, but when it comes to my own, I can't seem to see any of them. It really sucks. It keeps me humble, though. (If you see errors anywhere in my blog, please email me, and I'll be more than happy to correct them.)

9) People who ramble on and don't know when to stop - I'm in danger of becoming one of these myself, if I haven't already, so I'll quit now.