February 19, 2008-Annoying People

The day was supposed to be a great day for me. Ordinarily at the beginning of the week I wake up early enough to run my two mile run, have a coffee, shower, get dressed and meet a colleague to carpool to work. Not today. It just didn't happen that way. I'm not sure why I was so annoyed by all the people standing in my way but I was and now I'm in great need to vent.
The morning started with a light and easy jog on an old route. Not my usual one, but one I use for my two mile training run when I'm prepping for my PT test. About a mile out I needed to cross a street. At the same time a couple was walking right into my path. They saw me coming but continued to stay in my path rather than moving over to make room. This was not a big deal, I can always run around I thought. Seeing that they were pretty much going to stay put I decided to move slightly to the left to go around them. As I did, the female shoves the male directly into my path causing me to trip and fall to my knees. They giggled and seemed annoyed at having to share the path with me. Perhaps they felt I was too thin and their being of the obese nature should have free reighn over all sidewalks and paths in the city.
Finished my run at a reasonable time despite the tripping incident. Arrived at home and poured my coffee only to find there was no low fat milk to enhance the flavor of my very strong brew. This is obviously the fault of my three nearly grown sons who bunk up in my house rent free and forget on many occasion to replenish whatever it is they may empty to include the milk. It's a small inconvience but I still sit it up there with failure to replenish the toilet paper roll when it's been all used up. I am forced to use the super loaded with calories creamer my son usually uses. Not so much that I mind that, the creamer acts as a sweetener also. But that great calorie burning run seems like a cake walk instead now.
On the way to my colleagues house for the carpool, three individual commuters blocked all three lanes with their slow moving cars on the main thoroughfare doing only 50 mph. No one could get around them as they had all three lanes blocked in a 65 mph zone. Traffic began to back up and more cars began to flow into the choke hold until an exit became available.
Then there was work. There are some people in the world who have a great need for power. I am not one of those people. I hold in my head the belief that people will do exactly what you want them to do if you put it to them clearly, plainly and with tact. Most do as you ask simply because of their work ethic is such that they believe this is the price you pay to get ahead. Then there are those whom feel they should be on the top from the get go.
I work with a woman who has a good work ethic but lives for power. She has this need to rule everyone in her path, even though she is the lowest ranking person in her environment. I am one of her superiors. She regularly attempts to tell me what my job is. At which time I must stop what I am doing to educate her on the civilian rank structure. This is something I have to do often as she never seems to listen to what it is you're saying.
This is not her only annoying habit, there are others. While engrossed in conversation she will repeat a phrase over and over until you feel it grating deeply into your skin to catch what is left of your very last nerve. Further, you must sit and listen to every miniscule feat or accomplishment she has had since waking in the wee hours of the morning, none of which include anything remotely important to you personally. Truly this is a sad situation, obviously she is someone who needs the attention or has the need to feel important. After sliding into the position of authority that I hold I sensed that this woman was annoyed that I had been chosen for the position she felt far more suited for. I now believe she wants to simply run me off by being the most annoying individual I will have ever come to know.
Annoying behavior lent itself to everyone today it seems. Upon returning home from work as I prepared for a conference call, there came knocking on my front door. It was a salesperson, clearly ignoring the sign posted to my front fence that reads "no soliciting". She immediately launches into her spiel to sell her little spray bottle of miracle cleaner, which consists of a mix of long scientific names which cover up the fact that she is holding a bottle of baking soda, salt and water. She begins to spray the outside windows. After wiping it down with a soiled cloth she proceeds to demonstrate that this window will never need to be cleaned again because it leaves your windows streak free unable to hold the oils of little hands that may seek to destroy it's pristeen beauty. She then moves to my kitchen, spraying the floor and wiping it up to convince me I will never have to get on my hands and knees again to scrub the floors, as if I do that now. Asking her to get to the point, the price of this magic cleaning solution will cost me only $40 for a quart or I go for the real savings and purchase a gallon of this mix for the great price of $70. Now I don't know what these people are thinking. Dress up some baking soda and salt in a bottle of water and call it a miracle tea all you want, I'm not stupid enough to hand over my hard earned cash to someone who shows up at my door with no car, no supplies other than the bottled cleaning fluid and a rag, no order forms or cards, nothing. What am I? How stupid are people really? The only thing I can figure is that someone, somewhere along the line has fallen for this snake oil song and dance before. Do you think they would be out in our neighborhoods selling this if they had no audience? I don't think so.
I have a feeling that annoyance will not end with this day. I'm sure there will be others waiting for me to cross their path tomorrow and other days to come. If that's the case I will have far more to complain about as this is by far one of my biggest pet peaves.