''You Know What's Bull***t!?'' - Your Pet Peeves

Had that happen too. Let's just say I'm not a huge people person this evening.

Today was a recharge day so ask me tomorrow.

People who assume that all vegans act like that. And people who assume that vegans are the only people who act like that.

Sadly true. On many fronts.

You see it in religious extremists. People assume everyone part of that culture or religion might be treated based on that negative assumption. It's a sad part of human nature that we default to stereotypes when encountering certain profiles.

Having worked in and managed in call centres for most of my 20s, my list of pet peeves could be very, very vast.

Please remember folks - the person you call at a call centre isn't the person who sent you the high bill, they've not heard of you till the second you phone. If they can't help you it's almost always because they literally don't have a way to do so, they're not being obtuse. They've got rigid rules. Going in shouting from the off never works. Speaking to a manager? Even less helpful - they're often recruited externally or like I was, promoted and moved to another site, and know less than the agents who do the job day in day out.

And when querying prices, remember things in "the real world" aren't the same price - you don't pay the same for a McDonalds burger as you do a gourmet one so saying "But this other company are cheaper, why are you ripping people off?" isn't going to wash either when the products and services aren't like for like. Likewise, telling an agent you don't want to be transferred....you wouldn't go to the butcher's in Marks & Spencer and expect them to help with a query about their clothing line - every person you speak to will be trained in a specific area,certainly initially. If they need to put you through to accounts? It's because you need to speak to accounts.

I was lucky enough to work for some good companies while in that industry before getting out but believe me, there's some bad ones who treat their staff abysmally - that one understanding, friendly customer who comes along every so often really makes a difference to what are often very long, very tedious days.

An unstable internet connection 😡

People who walk their dogs off-lead, particularly if it's an excitable and/or vicious one. It's very annoying if you're walking past or across a field with your dog and suddenly another owner's dog comes running towards you, or just taking your dog on a casual stroll down the street and a dog appears from nowhere yapping.

You don't know if that dog is aggressive or just wants to play, and if it's aggressive then you're faced with the possibility your pet getting hurt because someone else's irresponsibility. Usually it's an owner on his/her phone ignoring what the dog is doing too. Probably why there's dog poo in on the grass verge sometimes that hasn't been picked up.

Occasionally you get these dog owners who tell you off in the street for keeping your dog on a lead and 'restricting their freedom'.

Yeah, restricting it to keep others safe!

It would be nice to be able to walk dogs without a lead but if you do that you don't know where they might go, miss picking up their business, accidentally scare someone with a phobia, cause a dog-related injury to a person or animal, or your dog may run onto the road and get run over.

I wish some dog owners would realise that with great power (IE a dog) comes great responsibility.

Preach it, brother: my dog has some anxiety issues (great with people, not so good with other dogs he doesn't know really well) so whenever we go out he's always on a lead and kept well away from others. On more than one occasion, I've had free-range owners complain that because he's growled at their yappy who got inside his comfort zone without me being able to ask someone to back up a little, I should be more careful with him.