Behind the Green Curtain
I don’t always get the opportunity to come out from behind the publishing curtain. While it’s nice and safe, I like to make the time to show both readers and authors that the "Wizard" is only human. (Thank God not short and green.) There are vicious rumors going around that I carry a whip and pounce on unsuspecting authors and I hope by a series of blogs here at Romance Divas I can put that crazed, whip cracking Wizard phenom to rest. If you’ll allow, sometimes I’ll post writing tidbits or do’s and don’ts, but like Shrek I’ve got a few layers and I’d like to show them. (I promise to keep my clothes on though!)
Today’s topic…Personal Pet-Peeves
Another day, another blog post, I’ll talk about writing pet-peeves but today, you get a bit of what ticks Tina off. When you’re done reading through, let me know if what makes me insane makes you crazy too! What are some other things that you just can’t stand? I’ve got a free ebook download from the Liquid Silver library for someone, but you have to post to enter!
1. Road Rage…specifically road rage courtesy of Mr. Burns. Sure, I understand that every other driver on the road is a complete idiot. Yes, I get that the city engineers should go back to school because they can’t plan for the city expanding. HOWEVER, you can not complain to me about how vile traffic is when you only have 15 to 20 minutes of rush hour traffic. You see, I have 45 min to an HOUR of rush hour traffic. I trump you.
2. Grocery shoppers…Why is it that perfectly intelligent people suddenly can’t count to save their life at the grocery store? You have a cart FULL of groceries, yet you insist on unloading in a lane that says both "EXPRESS" and "15 items or less". The sign tells you twice you don’t belong there. In addition to you missing the "signs" you don’t get that the grimace the cashier gives you isn’t because she has a sudden case of stomach pains, it’s because you’ve developed what I like to call grocery-itus. Perfectly normal consumers suddenly can’t count, or leave cold meat in the toilet paper isle. Forget that there’s a little red number ticket stanchion in the deli, a person with grocery-itus can just barge in waiving their "I’m next" fist that hides a non-existent number. My favorite thing since sliced bread? Online grocery shopping that delivers to my door. Heck yeah.
3. One-Uppers…I can not stand people who have a story for every story I tell. True story…
OU: "Hey Tina, what did you do this weekend?"
Me: "Not much. Hung with the boys, relaxed. Went to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner. And yo…?"
OU: interrupting "Ruby Tuesdays, oh my God, this one time we were back home for the holidays. My sister, you know the one I told you has a boyfriend who works for the train station, she wanted to go to Ruby Tuesdays…"
15 Minutes later OU is still talking and I’m fake laughing.
OU: "Anyway, glad you had a good weekend."
Now, to the casual observer of this conversation you might be thinking, "That’s not One-Upping?!" True, one instance of relating a story to something I said isn’t One-Upping. Now take this scenario and multiply it times 100…in one day. *head meet desk* I finally couldn’t stand it anymore and told OU that he has a story for every story, he denied it.
Until today. Score 1 for Tina.
4. Hacking Lugies…My day job is with 12 men. 12 salesmen, ranging in ages from 25 to 39. Men are disgusting. I could spend days telling you about the Frat house/Day Care environment I work in, but the biggest, most disgusting thing those guys do all the time is snort their snot up into their brains, back down to their throats, roll it around as if they were tasting wine, and then swallow. ‘Nuff said.
What about you? Let me have it, what bugs you?
Tina
Tina Burns, Publisher for Liquid Silver Books, has been in the ePublishing industry for five years plus and an avid reader for as long as she can remember. Her experiences have taken her from proofreader, editor, Author, and Author PR to where she is today. She lives in Arizona where she’s a busy mother of two rowdy boys and happily married to her opposite. Her inbox is always open – tina@liquidsilverbooks.com
Posted: Sunday, June 7th, 2009 @ 7:54 am
Categories: Divas Speak.
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February 7th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Are these the men who we make into romantic, alpha males? Or is this the reason we write stories with lovely, strong silent men who don’t scratch their b##s and hack up phlegm.
Oh, yet another reason to retire into the world of fiction.
February 7th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Oh, God, I hate it when my husband does that. I usually end up yelling at him to just go blow his nose. Or my nephew that blows his nose without using a tissue. GROSS.
My biggest pet peeve, cell phones. Just the cell phone in general. While sitting at the dinner table my husband took a call. While he was on the phone, I called him and asked him if that call was more important than his family, if not, it could wait. There isn’t much I like about the dang things. I hate blue tooth head sets, because if you start talking while we are alone in an elevator, I am going to assume you are talking to me. I hate people who leave the ringer on during a movie. And leaving them on during church should earn you some kind of community service.
Honestly, wasn’t life simpler without them.
February 7th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Gem: Men like those guys are exactly the reason we write and read fiction heroes. They’re not all bad, and I’d probably really enjoy a hero who did normal guy stuff, but man, they wear me down. I think I’ve got eye strain from rolling my eyes.
Lia: I just give mine a look and he shrugs. He doesn’t do it too much, only when he’s sick, and I love him so his nastiness gets glossed over for some reason. LOL.
I get you on the cell phone interruptions but I must confess, I’d be lost with out my phone and my bluetooth headset. I do use it with courtesy though, if I’m on it in a crowd, I switch to the phone. I hate people who TXT during a movie. I was so pissed once I asked the kid out loud if he was going to do that the entire movie and if so he better move. I got a few claps with that one.
February 7th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Lia – again: LOL. I meant to also say that the phone at dinner only bothers me on occasion. I confess we eat at the table together, but everyone does their own thing. Mr. B typically checks into the sports stats for the day, I’m looking through the mail or chatting with the boys, who are either looking through Lego catalogs or playing with figurines. Our family time is playing video games after dinner. I know, I’m such a horrible mom. My sister would faint, she actually limits her kids TV time! *gasp* :p
February 7th, 2009 at 10:56 am
One of the reasons that whenever I yearn for a steady paycheck I remember sharing building space with male co-workers.
Why is it that at meetings they always think their pearls of wisdom are shinier than the females sitting right next to them?
I had one administrator who called every one of his female staff, “sweetheart” — even the medical director who also served on the board of one of the largest hospitals in DC!
February 7th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Jeanne: My boss, a man, calls me “Buddy”. Makes. Me. Insane. Now, I’m told this is an East Coast thing, but I swear, one of these days I’m going to rip his East Coast head off.
February 7th, 2009 at 11:13 am
I honestly let most things roll off me like water off a duck’s back. When my mother is pushing my buttons (which she loves to do!), when my day job boss is being an arrogant male, when my husband forgets that the list I gave him is in his pocket, when the teenaged daughter texts me instead of speaking to me…I try to shake it off. Away mal thoughts. Away!
Let’s see…pet peeves I have trouble casting aside: when my dog decides that chewing on his hind end is the most glorious thing in the universe and will not stop, no matter what I do.***when my cat eats all the q-tips in the house (she’s obsessed with the cotton tips). we find little bare q-tip swab sticks, minus their cotton ends, all over the house.***people who think i write porn. i wish they’d just buy one of my books, read it, then go surf over to Xtube or something so that they can make an educated comparision between erotic romance and pornography.***a close relative of mine who likes o push my buttons by calling Obama “Little Black Sambo” or chastises me because I’m Buddhist and do not decorate for Christmas. I point out I have a hard enough time keeping my house clean much less adding seasonal crap to it. I have learned to hang up the phone. The moment the button pushing starts, I say “good-bye” and hang up.***
February 7th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Wait! You mean to tell me that snot snorting is not an Olympic sport? Damn, all these years… Clove Lifesavers. Yep, that’s the biggie. There are none. I even went so far as to e-mail the people and remind them what a big success Classic Coke was as soon as the original coke got messed up by… The Lifesavers people did in fact answer. Something about how I got out of the nursing home I MUST be staying in to discover there are, in fact, no clove Lifesavers.
Oh, one other. People that don’t answer the question. i.e. – “What time do you have to be there?” Answer, “I’ll be in charge of… doing this, eating that, going in a taxi…
Duh! And what time ….
RJ
February 7th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Oh, my DH does the same thing when he’s driving. Complains about everyone else, but then tailgates the old lady because she dangerously pulled out in front of him and he needs to teach her a lesson. Yeah, that works buddy!
And this time of year … I hate it when people plow their driveway snow across the road and leave huge piles of it in the middle of the road for the plow to clean. Um … anyone notice that some people have to drive through your stupid piles and they are dan-ger-ous!
But normally, not much bugs me.
February 7th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Afternoon Tina;
Road Rage — think hot-tempered red-head on the road, not always pretty (me or the mood LOL)
It really really really drives me crazy to see a car sitting at an intersection, I KNOW they see my truck coming, and pulling out with about 10 secs to spare. WHY do ppl do that!!
Or the ppl driving on my back bumper, impatient, I know they want to pass me but I do LIKE doing the speed limit!!!, and then they pass me while gunning their engine, ONLY — ONLY to take the next left or right.
And *gasp* Tina, you DON’T limit the kids TV time…*phew* I seldom do, there are a few times (if they fight over what to watch, then it’s no TV for a few hrs), but I don’t usually limit it. Could be because the kids don’t usually watch that much, but I don’t either, so don’t feel to guilty about it. Plus I like to watch some TV with them. Mine have become addicted to our “Deja View” channel, watching old shows WITH ME of Cosby Show & Three’s Company
The only other pet peeve I have — the expense of toilet paper…with where it ends up, it’s atrociously priced!!!
February 7th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Darr: I actually do pretty good with letting things go, it’s the build up of ppl doing them over and over again that turns it in to a pet-peeve.
RJ: Clove Lifesavers? You are showing your age! I’m guessing the culprit of the last one is near and dear to you?
Nina: Move to AZ. One less pet-peeve. Lol.
Tracey: I know, horrible of me. It’s actually gotten to the point where it’s sort of creepy if there isn’t a TV on. LOL.
Ya know, I never really think about the price of things. That’s bad I know, but if it’s something I need, I just get it and I don’t really buy a lot of stuff other than necessities. Now that you’ve brought it up though, you’re darn tootin’ right TP is expensive.
February 7th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Okay, here is my biggest pet peeve. I am a stay at home mom, the only one out of my daughter’s class. I am a substitute teacher when her school needs me. I am the room mother, plan the field trips, the parties, and also do a weekly arts and crafts class. That is all well and good.
What bugs me is other parents in the class using me like a cab driver/babysitter service. I used to get phone calls at six and seven o’clock in the morning from parents who worked and needed someone to take their child to school. I can deal with that once in a while. I also get calls from parents who want me to pick up their kids after school and keep them until five or six o’clock when they get off work. Occasionally, I can deal with that too.
When the ‘thanks’ stop and the expectation starts, then I get upset. I don’t have a nine to five job, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have my own life and other obligations outside of providing free child care to a half dozen kids in my daughter’s class.
This year I put my foot down. I wanted time to focus on writing and learning, which sadly cost me friendships, but has made my life so much simpler and much more enjoyable!
February 7th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Hi Tina,
Everyone has pet-peeves, what do you think you do that annoys strangers?
Me…I think I talk and laugh too loud in public.
February 7th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Hey, Tina … I do understand your pet peeves. Because if that was going on in my life, especially all the men, all the time thing and the way they behave, including thinking like Jeanne said that their words are somehow more important than anything I could ever say or think up… yep, I’d be trying to use Darr’s strategies
However, one of my pet peeves these days is the kindergarten level of commercials. My gawd, I swear people spoke in more adult ways when I was actually in kindergarten than the way they have people speak on commercials these days…everything is spoken so slowly and as if your vocabulary doesn’t range past the age of two years old… I’m thinking who isn’t bored to tears, who can watch or care about this crap? That is, if you have one brain cell left. The medical drug pushing commercials are the worst!
February 7th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Here is one of my peeves, people that pull out in front of you flying and then as soon as they are in the road, they slow down.
February 7th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Hi Tina, I agree with each of your peeves, especially the counting change in the express lane. I have a part time cashier job at a chain store, and when I am judged for my speed, this irritates me to no end!
My pet peeves are so minor that it’s disgusting that I waste time worrying about them.
1-Pronunciation. “Aspirin” is actually three syllables, “Jewelry” is three syllables also, and not pronounced “Jew-Ler-ey” “Ask” is not axe.
2-People who actually stick their tongues out when they concentrate. Sorry Michael Jordan, it bugs the crap out of me!
3-Intentional misspelled words to dumb us down like “Drive Thru”. It’s used so often, my kids didn’t know it was wrong.
I could go on, because I’m pretty sure I have a mild form of OCD…but I won’t.
February 7th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
I know I’m really late here. Technical difficulties! I agree with you 100%, Tina. My biggest pet peeve…people who drive slow in the fast lane. Hello! Don’t you see the line of thirty cars behind you? lol!
February 7th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
I can’t stand people who’ll sit in their car waiting for me to load my groceries in the trunk and pull out so they can have my parking space when there are dozens of other open spaces, but it would involve them walking their lard-butts an extra 50 feet. I purposely load my trunk s-l-o-w-l-y, then sit in my car for a while before I pull out. If they want to wait, I’ll make ‘em wait. It really makes my day when they give up and drive on, then I pull out and someone else who just happened to be cruising by pulls into my space. Yeah, it’s the little joys in life that keep me going.
February 7th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
A lot of these made me laugh. and the lugie thing– omgs, my dh does that and it makes me gag. my upstate ny pet peeve of the moment: people who drive SUVs but drive like grannies when the roads are barely snowy. and slow down over the train tracks. and swing out to turn. i want to say to them: you are driving a major off road machine: learn to drive it!!!
February 8th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Thanks everyone for hanging with me yesterday. Amy S. you won the free download. Email me at tina @ liquidsilverbooks.com!
February 8th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Thank you! Email is on the way!
February 11th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
I threw up a little in the back of my mouth over the lugie pet peeve. Argh!
I can’t stand people who don’t follow what they preach. For instance a certain friend (who I hope doesn’t read this blog) who red penned my manuscripts to hades and back with red pen on every instance of the word “look.” Told me that NO-ONE in the writing industry would be caught dead using that word in a nove. It is telling not showing. (Or do I have that backwards). Anyways, she asks me to edit her manuscript last week and it was salt and peppered with so many instances of the word “LOOK” that I had to buy a new red pen! So lets practice what we preach. amen!
February 11th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
I threw up a little in the back of my mouth over the lugie pet peeve. Argh! I can’t stand people who don’t follow what they preach. For instance a certain friend (who I hope doesn’t read this blog) who red penned my manuscripts to hades and back with red pen on every instance of the word “look.” Told me that NO-ONE in the writing industry would be caught dead using that word in a nove. It is telling not showing. (Or do I have that backwards). Anyways, she asks me to edit her manuscript last week and it was salt and peppered with so many instances of the word “LOOK” that I had to buy a new red pen! So lets practice what we preach. amen!
June 26th, 2009 at 7:45 am
I can’t tolerate the one-uppers, either. I used to work with the lady like that. If I had 12 inches of snow at my house, then she had 14 inches at hers. No matter what anyone was talking about, she had a better story to tell.
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:57 am
I know it’s July 2, 2009 but I just read this and laughed along. I work in a convenience store aka gas staion. How do I know you are oh so nice and would never drive off with put paying for your gas? Hello travel outside of your tiny area of town and find out everybody prepays everywhere else. I don’t know you so give me money or use your card at the pump. Don’t know how much gas it takes to fill your car up? Pay attention at the price and remember next time what it took today. It’s not climbing like it did last year here in Texas not yet at any rate it is higher than 3 months ago but not $4 a gallon on $2.499=$2.50 basically Oh wait nobody can do simple math in their heads anymore. I’ve been working long enough if you ask for the brand of snuff or cigarettes by their correct name I will grab them for you. Just asking for a pack of Marlboros when I have 100 different types in both box and soft back doesn’t cut it sorry. I can close my eyes and pick one it will be Marlboros but it might not be your flavor. But don’t tell me that it’s the blue box I know the name ask for it I’m not stupid. Oh and people who rename lottery tickets throw you for a loop. Try to figure out what they want when all they do is point that ticket over there.
My sister does the one up thing so I understand you too. I agree with the lady over driving slow in the fast lane. How about if it’s 70 and they drive 45 that kills me. I run with the pack here in Texas they might be doing 80-85 I will run with them no problem . WHeee I love the faster speeds hate driving slow lol. Thanks, Tina for the fun thoughts try clenaing up used snuff/dip/chewing tobacco that some kind gentleman took out of his mouth and threw on the ground. Looks kind like ….I don’t mind cigarette butts those are easy sweep them up toss in the trash can no mess no fuss the dip or chewing tobacco is gross.
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:07 am
OH OH OH I forgot you mentioned the cell phone. OH yes please walk in my store yapping away don’t finish the conversation keep talking to them as I wait on you ignore me. I get in trouble for not greeting you but I see no reason to speak if you are on the phone. IF it’s that important finish before you come in. I can’t talk on the phone while you are standing there why do you want to be rude? I do use my phone and my blue tooth makes it much easier when driving. I talk to my niece to and from work. SHe keeps me company on the 25 mile drive and we often vent over our days at work. But I’m off the phone when I get to the job until I walk out the door when I’m off work. Ladies you are so right I jokingly asked somebody one time wonder if so and so a famous male type person peed in the floor. The coworkers were ruin the man’s image why don’t you. I was joking but i get that honor too clean the bathrooms at work the men often find the toilet is farther away than the think.
August 15th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
I can soooo agree! I also need to confess… I sometimes get grocery-itis! But I get to combine it with my own pet-peeve so they cancel eachother out, sorta!
Ok. I HATE SELF CHECK OUT! It is just another way that people are distancing themselves from eachother. With how much I pay for groceries, I want the smile and “how’s your day been?” and the “Can we help you out with that?” and “Did you see the grapes we just got in? They’re on sale?” I mean c’mon, with my family and my compulsive shopping I drop close to a grand a month in that place and I resent that they have on one regular check out and one express, or worse the times when it is express only!! forcing us to go to the self check out!
The machines never work, I smoosh my bread, break my eggs and it always glitches and makes me wait for the single employee to come punch in her code in order to continue. Which takes FOREVER ’cause all the self check outs are doing that and she’s got to de-code ALL of them!!!
So, if there is no one in the express lane and ten people in the regular lane AND I’ve only got a couple items over the max number, I sneak in. But it’s only when no one else is waiting, and I always let people go ahead if they come up behind me, so i should get a free pass for that.
January 13th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
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August 24th, 2010 at 2:00 am
Shrek 1- Great 9.5/10