Habits: The Funny and The Annoying

I am a fan of observing daily life. When you look, really look around, its interesting to notice the funny habits we have that for some reason propagate among the general population. They're not confined to just one individual, but rather, it seems like most people have some of these peculiar behaviors. For those behaviors that came to mind today, I decided to classify them into two categories for you: yes you guessed it, "The Funny" and "The Annoying."

The Funny:

The Multiple Button Press - Why push a button once when you can push it fifty times for the same effect? Next time you're crossing a street on foot, take a gander at the person pressing the walk signal (or if you're footing solo, pay attention to yourself). Almost nobody EVER pushes the walk signal just once! Somehow, we feel that the more we push the button, the faster the traffic signal will decided to change for us to cross the street.

Even better is when you push the button, wait for a couple minutes, then go back and push it a few more times as if the traffic signal didn't hear us the first time.

The "Door Close" button in elevators is another popular target for "button wearout."

Topping Off - Do you stop filling when the automatic gas cut-off engages, or do you try to squeeze in as much gas as you can in the tank? Well, I'd guess AT LEAST 50% of us are routine "Topper Offers."

So lets look at those of us who top off. How many of us are actually driving until the tank is so bone-dry where that the extra 0.3 gallons of gas is going to save us from stalling out somewhere? In all the years I've driven, or been driving with someone, I have never once run out of gas. Conveniently, cars have a brilliant invention known as the "Gas Gauge" which actually senses how much gas is in the tank so you know when to fill up before running out!

Genius!

But, for those of you whose gauge is off by exactly 0.3 gallons, I suppose it makes sense to top off.

Electronic Bangers - Somewhere along our natural progression of learning, we somehow deduced that banging things will make them operate better. "Maybe if I break it MORE it'll work again!" Ironically, this habit actually used to make sense despite how idiotic it seems.

I remember having an old TV growing up that would sometimes intermittently display everything in a shade of blue. But, if I gave it a couple of good Ninja Turtle Judo Chops to the side and maybe bent the left bunny ear a touch, the normal display colors would return!

So for those of us over, say, 20 years old, I suppose electronic banging is an ingrained habit that used to work but is hard to break. I have a feeling Judo Kicking the LCD TV in my living room won't result in anything more than my roommate yelling at me for harming his baby.

Moving Walkway Abusers - Ok, I can understand the purpose of escalators because for some people, climbing stairs is indeed a lot of effort. But moving walkways are totally abused!

Generally, you only find moving walkways in airports along long stretches of terminal. Functionally, they make sense for people who have short connections. Rather than having them run wildly through the airport toting a roley and lugging a backpack, the airport has kindly provided a means by which the hustlers can speed walk down towards their gate at super-human walking speeds!

It sounds good in theory, but the plethora of lazy airport commuters ruin the invention.

Why in the world do people feel the need to STAND on moving walkways!?! Are we so lazy that we can't even WALK? I understand if it's an elderly person or something, but it's absolutely ludicrous that people forgo the oh-so energy consuming task of walking.

Further adding to the annoyance is that the "standers" make it difficult for the walkway walkers to get anywhere fast because they have to bob and weave between the people standing on the walkway.

I make it a point NEVER to stand or even walk (unless I'm in a rush) on those things unless absolutely necessary.

Shopping Cart Ditchers: One day in the history of the world, God invented shopping cart bays so paying customers would not have to walk all the way back to the store to return their carts. But, underestimating our laziness, he neglected to make a bay in between EVERY SINGLE CAR.

How hard is it to walk a few steps and deposit your shopping cart into the common shopping cart deposit area? Instead, people put it in between spots or nestled up against the median, sticking out just far enough so that you have to navigate around it while pulling it, and gingerly open your door to avoid chipping the paint job on the nice new cart.

"Watch My Stuff" - This just happened to me yesterday. I was at the coffee shop studying, and this girl was kind of looking over. I think she liked me, but I was not attracted. Anyways, after a couple of minutes, she came over:

Her: "Hi, are you going to be here for a little while?"
Me: "Sure"
Her: "I'll be back, would you mind watching my stuff?"
Me: "Yea, no problem"

I really didn't understand why she wanted me to watch her stuff in the first place. All that was there was a couple of tattered MCAT study books, a water bottle, and a pencil. I would like to meet the thief that could actually find some use in stealing this stuff. Last I heard, there's not a huge demand for Medical School study books on the black market.

Anyways, I went about my studying, glancing over on occasion to make sure her table was undisturbed. An hour later, I'm about done, and this girl STILL isn't back!

Ok...how are you going to ask a stranger to watch your stuff for a "little while" and then take off for an hour!?! The "Watch my stuff" commitment expires after 10, maybe 15 minutes, but after that, the watcher's obligation is released. So now I was in a pickle. I am ready to go, but I have no idea when/IF she's coming back. Luckily, I was fairly confident that the "Med-School Menace" was not going to strike tonight, so I just took off.

Maybe she was stuck across the street because she only pushed the button once.