Wow. This community must be comprised of many smokers. ;-)

My list is pretty long because I can be irritable, but here it goes: - people that don’t was their hands after using the toilet - people that leave the toilet seat up - people that leave the toilet seat down, and pee (all over the seat) standing up - knuckle cracking - nail biting (it is really germy) - people clipping their nails, especially in a public setting - nose picking - talking with a full mouth of food (swallow first!) and chewing with an open mouth - gum snapping and smacking, chewing gum with mouth open - people using their cell phones while at the cash register, doctor office, post office, or any other public place, being loud, and disrespectful to others - people who are chronically late, especially those who don’t care - drivers who go slow in the fast lane, tailgate, brake frequently for no reason, leave their blinkers on when not turning, and those who turn left from he right lane and vice versa Those are my biggest irks. Pretty long list, I guess. I think if people were more respectful and hygienic, we’d have a more pleasant society overall. In the meantime, I deal with irritants as follows: The Upside of Irritation Things That Annoy Us There are many stories of spiritual masters embracing the presence of an annoying student in their community. There is even one story that documents a teacher paying an irritating person to live among his students. From an everyday perspective, this is difficult to comprehend. We generally work hard to avoid people and things that we find annoying so they don’t bother us. From a deeper spiritual perspective, however, irritation can be an important teacher and indicator that we are making progress on our path. Being able to remain centered and awake even when we feel uncomfortable is much more impressive than doing so in an environment where everything is to our liking. No matter how good we are at controlling our circumstances, there will always be factors and people that we cannot control. How we respond to these experiences to a great degree determines the quality of our lives. The goal of spiritual development is not to learn to control our environment—which is more of an ego-driven desire. And while having some measure of control over our external reality is important, it is when we are confronted with a person or situation that irritates us and we can choose not to react that we know have made progress spiritually. It is when we have mastered our internal reality that we will have become the masters of our lives. The more we try to eliminate annoyances, instead of learning to handle them gracefully, the further we get from developing the qualities that come with spiritual growth, such as patience, tolerance, and acceptance. It is often in the presence of people and experiences we find annoying that we have an opportunity to develop these qualities. Fortunately for most of us, our lives offer an abundance of opportunities to practice and cultivate these traits. (Thanks to Daily Om)

Here’s another thing to add to the list - yawning without covering your mouth! That is disgusting.

Habitual airs, my dears, bother me most. Feigning aristocratic behavior, belittling others, etc. In my experience, upon closer examination, those who do rarely have the credentials to back up their airs. As is often the case, the behavior masks the opposite of what it appears to be - crassness.

To my initial post (somewhere around page 3) re open mouth chewing dinner guests, I add this specific irritation, along those lines: It’s been some time since I went to a movie theater, and had someone sit near me that just chomped away, loudly, on their bucket of popcorn. And once in a while they would shake the popcorn bucket, and dig around in there with their hand, before they would bring up a new fistful of the stuff and begin again. Chomp, chomp, chomp. Ever experience that? Ever give them sideways glances, and eventually give up and move to another seat?

What are aristocratic credentials in a meritocracy? Acquired? ie Wallis Simpson, Pauline de Rothschild, Princess Grace? We have been a country run into the ground in the last 8 years by Bush Inc which crassness personifie and worshipped nothing but the almighty dollar; which they so devalued. Today, at the Davos World Economic Conference the presidents of Russia and China blamed America for the global economic crisis. Thank you Bush Inc. That should do wonders for our Pew Research Rating of global opinions of the US, which have been in the tank for the last 8 year, but assume are improving under President Obama. Someone who is a bonafide member of Jackie Kennedy’s ‘Natural aristocracy.’

I have to agree with the toilet thing…ive walked in and found blood feces urine and everything else on the seat. Have some respect…but its not just women, men and their “wiping habits” often leave a nice stain on the back of the seat in unisex bathrooms (and Im sure at home too!) BTW whoever said nose picking give it up. I dare ANYONE to tell me they’ve never picked their own nose.

Men adjusting themselves in public.

Gum cracking and chewing with an open mouth! How DO these women make it in the professional world? And do they have any friends who tolerate this?

As far as all the comments on finding pee etc. on public toilet seats… totally agree… but I am consoled by the knowledge that sometimes… just sometimes… the “hoverers” fail to take gravity, geometry, and individual spray settings into account and end up peeing on their own clothes. I have more than once seen a woman with a noticeable wet spot on the back of her jeans / slacks. And doubly hilarious since they did not realize it.

People (male and female) who snort/snuff excess mucus from their noses into their throats… The sound makes me want to vomit!! Why oh why can’t they simply find a kleenex and BLOW?? Ugh… disgusting!!

People who spit on the sidewalk. Most often men. Gross. Actually I’ve never seen a women do that. Men who sit on the bus or subway with their legs parted wide holding their “baby maker.” Ugh. What the message is I don’t know. But there is a message. At work, people who leave their dirty dishes (with food remenants) after lunch in the sink all day!

People who yawn without covering their mouths. Spitting in public on sidewalks….gross! and People who don’t look me in the eye when they talk to me. I HATE THAT!

Oh and people who blow snot from their noses in a stream instead of using a tissue. That is just too disgusting.

In me or in others?