Thanks, Jack, for our day to vent! :)

by jodi marneris

April 2023--Did you ever have a day where you just feel like griping about something? Maybe it’s not about anything serious, but it’s something that annoys you and you want to vent? But you wonder who you can vent to without that person thinking you’re complaining or being negative?

You just want someone to listen to your thoughts.

Little did I know there is a day devoted to just that--expressing your gripes and having someone listen. Yup, it’s Saturday, April 15, and it’s listed as an annual observance in the United States as “National Griper’s Day.”

The description says it’s a “day for folks who are dissatisfied, disappointed, or just displeased. Those who care about them are urged to listen and provide an opportunity for them to vent.” The holiday (and I use that term loosely) was created by Jack Gilbert, a freelance writer from Columbus, Ohio, in 1984, as a way to give disgruntled and disillusioned people an audience, encouraging them to voice their concerns and pet peeves.

People wrote and called him complaining about a lot of things--from the weather, school and food, to T.V. shows, politics and more. It was his hope this observance would bring back some cultural and societal practices that have been lost to the growing influence of technology, the internet and social media.

Years ago, people gathered in coffee shops, diners, pubs and taverns to talk with others and express their concerns. He says this interpersonal and communal communication is seldom seen nowadays. And he’s right.

Just like Jack did some 39 years ago, I’m using my post today to give others a chance to do some venting about pet peeves and other concerns.

Jane W. told me one of the things that really irritates her is when people take things out but don’t put them back. “You’re searching for it, or you think you’re out of it. Then you realize one day you have five or more of the same thing because you kept buying a new one. Why? Because it wasn’t put back in the right spot and you couldn’t find it.”

She bought a cherry wooden box with a glass cover for her husband. The idea was he could keep his watches, cross and chain and rings in the box. “Unless I pick them up and put them in there, they don’t make it into the box. I’ll find a watch on the kitchen table, top of the fridge, coffee table, office desk, shelf next to the couch and even on the nightstand next to the wooden box. But never in it,” Jane said, adding an “ugh.”

It also is a pet peeve of Jane’s when people open cabinets, drawers or doors and don’t close them; or don’t turn off lights when they leave a room. “It’s so annoying,” she says. “It drives me crazy. Are you lazy or just unaware of what you are doing?”

And don’t get her started talking about shoes and socks, which never seem to get put away. “The shoes are everywhere and always seem to be in the path of my walkway. I use a cane and sometimes a walker. It’s like a maze walking to get to the couch. And the socks! When we get all relaxed on the couch, off come the socks. When I straighten up I’ll find them in the blanket, the cushions, on the floor, under the coffee table and under the couch. Come laundry day, we have a handful!”

What really annoys Cindy F. is someone we’ll call a one-upper. “You tell a story or just say something and the person you’re talking to doesn’t even respond to your comment. They just say, ‘No, wait. Here’s a better one.’ I smile when they’re done but I really want to scream. They always think their story is better or funnier or sometimes even sadder. If I say I had a paper cut, they tell me they had a 10-inch gash,” she said.

One of Janet W’s. pet peeves is when people chew their food with their mouth open. (I hear ya, Janet--nobody’s interested in hearing that noise nor do they care to see what you’re chewing.) She’s annoyed by tailgaters and people who are quick to honk. “It bothers me when people honk their horns the second the light changes from red to green because you haven’t started to move yet.” (To that I say, “Tailgaters belong at a football game, not on a road.”)

And what really bothers Janet is seeing toddlers lagging way behind adults--especially outdoors. “I’ll see someone walking out of a store and then 10 feet or so behind them is a toddler walking by themselves. They do that in the parking lot, too. Those kids could get hit by a car or someone could grab them,” Janet said.

Bill T. gets frustrated with people who don’t use their turn signals. “I think about how I sit there and wait for a car coming in the opposite direction before I make my turn and then they’re at the corner and bam...they turn. Or, the times I have to brake suddenly because the car in front of me stopped but didn’t use their directionals. I have no idea why they stopped--maybe a dog in the road?--until they turn. Why is it so hard to just flip the doggone directional?”

Monica D. is annoyed by name droppers. “Do they think I really care they are wearing a name brand watch? The one I got from Target works just fine for me. Or they tell you how they had lunch with some big shot. I just wonder if they think they’re impressing me. They’re not. They’re annoying me,” she said with a laugh.

Seems you’ll find manners on a lot of people’s list of gripes. Or should I say lack of manners. Erica H. says she doesn’t understand why people rush through a doorway without waiting for a second and holding the door for someone else. “It’s also a pet peeve of mine that people don’t say thank you anymore. Not for anything--even a gift. There’s no thank you or even an acknowledgement that it’s been received,” she said.

Bev M. alluded to the same idea. “It really bothers me when people can’t take the time to say thank you or acknowledge a gift or a kind gesture. It’s not like you’re looking for someone to fawn all over you, but just a short note, a phone call or heck, even a text, to say thank you,” she said.

Jane B. agrees with that when it comes to driving. “Driving etiquette is a lost art,” she said. “Younger drivers fail to raise a hand or wave ‘thank you’ when you let them in a line of traffic or let them go first when you are on a side street in the city.”

And speaking of being in a car, Jane wonders--“Why do I smell marijuana coming from the car in front of me when there is only the driver in the car and there’s no other cars around?”

She’s also got some pet peeves when it comes to technology used in the workplace--especially in emails. “People 'reply-all' in work emails when it isn’t necessary and that drives me nuts, especially if it's a one-word answer! And why do people who draft emails use acronyms as if they’re texting? That’s not professional.”

When it comes to social media, there are several things that get to Jane. “They use redundant hashtags. That is #outdated, #old, #ancient, #oldasdirt,” she says with a smile. “And why do people post their entire lives and overshare on social media? And if you’re going to take a break--you don’t have to tell everyone--just take it.”

I can't end this without some of my own.

While I’m in agreement with what the others have said--one thing that really makes me go “Hmmmmm” is when I walk into a public place, like a restaurant, and see a group of people sitting at a table. But no one is talking to each other. They’re all on their phones. So why did they bother to even go out?

I also have to wonder about people talking on their phones in public. I’ll be in line at a store or the bank or sitting in the waiting room at a doctor’s office and listening to the person by me speaking very loudly on their phone. Sometimes it’s a quick call, and I get that. But do they really think those of us near them are interested in knowing they didn’t like what their friend served them for dinner over the weekend? Or, about their rash that they can’t seem to clear up?

And last, but certainly not least, I do a lot of highway driving. A lot. It is still illegal in many states for semi-trucks to drive in the left lane. I remember a time when that law was followed. Over the past few years or so, it's crazy how many trucks are in the left lane--and not even just to pass someone. Many times I’ve been “caged in” by trucks in front, in back and on both sides and it’s not a spot I like to be in even for a minute.

Okay--we’re done. It’s National Griper’s Day and in observance of this holiday I have to admit, it felt good to get that out there. Thanks for listening (uh, reading.) Not saying these things still won’t annoy me (or anyone else in this post) in the future, I’m sure they will. But knowing there is a special day to get it all out there--well, that’s pretty awesome. I promise not to gripe anymore until next April 15.

If you've got some pet peeves or gripes, scroll down and leave them in the comment section. Today's the day to do it!

In the meantime, take it one day at a time.

Read another!