Day 3: My Top 3 Pet Peeves

Nwachukwu Ejiofor
Sep 5, 2018 · 3 min read

People always do annoying stuff!


So, today’s post is about my top 3 pet peeves. OK, first off, what are pet peeves? They are the things, little things, that people do that get you upset. Like, dude, seriously, why would you do that?

For someone like me wey dey quick vex, I have a lot o. So picking a top 3 was hard. But, anyway, here they are.


  1. Jumping the Queue

I mean, why would someone do that? You see all of us patiently waiting on the queue and you just come from nowhere to enter? It doesn’t matter what your reason is because everyone else has a reason to be in a hurry. I have to deal with this on a daily basis, especially when returning home in the evenings. People are always looking to jump the queue. I can understand for elderly people and pregnant women, but for others, especially young people like me — Oga, go join queue jor! The worst part is when people standing next to you begin to look at you as if there’s something wrong with you when you refuse to let the queue jumpers in your front. Hmm… in OAU speak — all the best to you!


2. Sneezing without covering the mouth

But why? After all, you felt it coming. Or don’t you know it’s contagious? Some people even sneeze repeatedly without covering. Cover your goddamn nose, and mouth, jare! It’s social etiquette to cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough, and to say, “Excuse me.” And these are the things we learnt as children. I wonder how people didn’t pick them up. I just jejeely turn my face away and cover my nose when I encounter such. I can’t just be inhaling nonsense!


3. Walking slowly in the line

OK. So, Nigerians are generally in a hurry. But some of us are actually rushing to get somewhere after unexpected traffic has delayed us. So, kindly move out of the way if you know you’re not up to speed. A few people do move out when they notice you trying to overtake them. Some others don’t even care. They just keep trudging along. The worst are those who stop abruptly for no apparent reason. You can’t just help but run into them! Those one deserve a side-eye.


Honorable mentions:

  • Typing shortcuts when chatting — when it’s not a text. We have Android and WhatsApp and smart keypads nowadays. It’s actually harder to use shortcuts. Why use them?
  • Cutting someone off in the middle of their sentence. Can I land, please?
  • Counting your money at the ATM, especially when there’s a long queue. If it’s not complete, will you ask the machine to complete it? Kindly free up the machine for others and then, if you feel it’s necessary, as you can’t trust ATMs abi, do your counting.

PS: Some people’s pet peeves are others inability to get through airport security efficiently (you’re to always take your shoes off and your gadgets out, and can’t have any liquids), people who repeatedly hit the elevator button as if that would make it arrive faster and people standing on the left side of an escalator (right is for standing, left is for walking). This goes to show that even pet peeving (or is it pet peevishness) get levels!

Nwachukwu Ejiofor

Written by

Software Engineer | Data Scientist | Automation Enthusiast | Food Engineer | Christian

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