Admittedly, I’m a pretty hot headed person. A lot of things annoy me more than they should.

But as I grow older, I realise that to let these things affect me is to give power to the perpetrator – so I try to let stuff go these days. My Zen realisation is to not give a fuck, lol. Call it apathy if you want.

Then again, we are only human, so there WILL always be days, people, or things that disturb the calm.

Here are three of my pet peeves, in no particular order:

People who smoke at eateries 

While there are smokers out there decent enough to do their deed in private / designated areas, the same can’t be said of the unscrupulous ones who puff away in public like nobody’s business – in the presence of families and children. And believe me, they’re a dime a dozen in Malaysia, especially at eateries. Nothing is more annoying than having the smell of cigarette smoke ruin your dining experience, aside from it being incredibly disrespectful. If you’d like to kill yourself, please do so in private. Also, these smokers get extremely confrontational when you point it out to them, even if the restaurant clearly has signs that say no smoking. In a bid to curb this, the Malaysian government is imposing a ban on smoking at eateries starting 2019 – but how this can be enforced remains to be seen.

Snakes 

Of the human variety. Commonly found in corporate offices, but might pop up anywhere, really. The type that spreads lies and gossip, nonchalantly stabs you in the back for their own gains, and basically lie and cheat their way to the top.

PS: Actual snakes are beautiful creatures. I mean, look at this noodle:

People who blast songs / play videos at high volumes on public transport

There’s a reason why headphones were invented. No one wants to hear your trash taste in music, nor do they want to listen to half an hour of ‘motivational pep talk’ that you’re playing at full throttle on your phone. The annoying thing is, you can’t really tell that person off because they aren’t violating the law – just being inconsiderate.

Sigh.