Things That Irritate Us Even Though They Shouldn't

Mara here. I try to be a reasonable person. I'm sure my daughter will disagree, but generally I feel as if I can handle most of life's everyday little disappointments. But sometimes my brain absolutely just explodes with frustration when I encounter little setbacks. 

I know that, logically, I shouldn't get upset when these things happen. And, somehow, by exercising all my powers of control and by deep breathing, I manage to contain the fireworks that threaten to shoot out my ears, even though I want to throw myself on the ground and throw a tantrum.

I can deal with most things that don't go the way I planned. I can deal with a flat tire or someone showing up late or an unexpected errand I have to go on. But there are some strange little things that make me crazy. And yes, I realize it's ridiculous I get this upset about these things...but I still get upset. At least I realize that it's ridiculous.

Here are a few:

Gas pumps with no way to keep the handle pressed

I'm sure there's a technical term for the little thingy on gas pumps that make it so I don't have to stand there keeping the handle pressed to actually pump gas into my car. But I don't know what the name of that thingy is...and I don't care. I just want it to work. And 99.9% of the time, it does work, so I can pretend I am anywhere but standing at the gas station waiting for my tank to fill up.

But there's that rare occasion when that thingy is either missing from the pump or is broken and I have to actually use my hand muscles for the entire 5 or 6 minutes it takes to fill my tank. It drives me crazy. It honestly feels like an injustice when this happens. It's pretty miraculous that I manage to get through these ordeals without ending up in a viral video of a crazy middle-aged Asian woman throwing a fit at a gas station.

When the hamburger place has no chicken for their tacos

We have a hamburger stand near our house that we've been walking to ever since we moved here about 14 years ago. And although it's called a hamburger place, they have amazing tacos. The tacos are available with beef or chicken. The beef ones are okay, but the chicken ones are incredibly tasty! They're savory and spicy. And, having been grilled on the same grill as the hamburgers are, the flavor is extra greasy. They're like street tacos, but they're about three times the size of normal street tacos. 

But sometimes, when I try to order chicken tacos, they're out of them. It's a culinary crisis because the chicken tacos are my favorite thing. And I usually don't want anything else from there. I think I've been dreaming all day about eating one of those chicken tacos. It's a major bummer.

When there's only Coke Light and no Diet Coke

In all fairness, this has only been a problem when I've been in other countries. But seriously world, is too much to ask for Diet Coke in all the major cities of the world? Coke Zero and Coke Light just aren't the same thing. I don't care how many times my husband tells me he thinks they taste the same, nothing is the same as Diet Coke. Nothing. 

Okay. Toni here with my own list of things that irritate me even though they shouldn't. [P.S. I laughed out loud at your list, Mara]:

When someone says, "Have a nice day." 

Okay, if they really mean it, it doesn't irritate me or if I think their boss has instructed them to say it so they have no choice, it doesn't irritate me. But when people say it just to say it, it irritates me!

My husband

He maintains that he couldn't possibly irritate me, ever. But I have to give him the bad news: sometimes he irritates me, even though he's the best partner and caregiver a person could ask for.

Watering my bonsai in the summer

This definitely shouldn't irritate me but it does because, in the summer, I have to water them every third day. This involves taking the plants outside (which takes three trips), filling two water pots to the top, performing the task, and then, after a bit, bringing the plants back inside. 

On watering day, I wake up and say, "Oh no!" which is why I include this task here. But is it worth it? Absolutely. I love having five little trees growing in my bedroom. It's just irritating to have to water them so often in the summer.

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Hopefully all you readers are calmer and more rational people than we are! But if you aren't, what are things that make you irrationally crazy?