over on one of the blogs that i read, finland for thought, the author phil wrote up a list of his three biggest pet peeves. first of all, they cracked me up. second, i decided i might take the chance to list 3 of mine. i’m not sure if they’re the biggest three, but three nonetheless:

1. smoking in closed places. living in berlin, i take the u-bahn and s-bahn a lot. these are the local equivalents of the subway or metro. like most metro systems, it has a mix of underground and above-ground stations. smoking is prohibited in all underground stations, but people still do it all the time. in the outdoor stations, there are designated smoking areas, but these are almost 100% ignored. i also hate going to a bar or restaurant and coming out smelling like smoke, even when i try to sit as far away as possible and i don’t smoke.
2. rude public transportation behavior. actually, this goes for any transportation method, like airplanes and trains, too. but i hate when people deliberately put their bags on the seat to discourage anyone from sitting next to them. people also do things like take the aisle seat and try to block anyone from getting across to the window seat. it also bothers me when people don’t give up their seats to the elderly, disabled, pregnant women, etc when the cars are full.
3. public parent police. i really, really dislike when other people talk to my kids about their behavior in public. they’re my kids, and i will deal with them. i hate getting looks in restaurants if one of them talks loud or gets upset. i also don’t like people telling me how to handle my kids. it’s definitely different if it’s friends, but if i don’t know you, don’t talk to my kids or talk to me about how to handle them.