Bad Habits

Nose Picking Everybody picks their nose at times. Not everybody picks their nose in a public place where others might see them. Many people really dislike seeing someone pick their nose. It’s particularly offensive when the nose picker picks with relish, as though he were embarking on an exploring expedition to some unknown land. If you need to pick your nose, you should do it in private to avoid upsetting anybody else. Bear in mind that your car is not a public place. If you decide to pick your nose on the commute to work, people in other vehicles on the freeway will see you digging for gold. . Gross Eating A lot of people cannot abide bad table manners. They get offended if someone chews with their mouth open, talks while eating, clangs the cutlery against their teeth, or makes vile noises when masticating. Nobody wants to hear the noise of food slopping around inside your mouth, or listen to a sound that is reminiscent of someone stirring a pot of soggy semolina. Nothing you have to say is so important that it justifies showing other people the chewed up piece of steak you are currently attempting to eat. If you are eating in the presence of other people, it’s worth using some manners if you don’t want to annoy anyone. 3. Repetitive Noises Some people have the bad habit of making some kind of repetitive noise. For instance, you might tap your foot, flick your teeth, hit your pen against the side of the desk, sniff, or make a funny throat clearing sound. If a person has to listen to another individual make the same noise again and again day after day, it can start to get on their nerves fairly quickly. The repetitive noise you like to make may comfort you on a subconscious level, but it isn’t soothing for anybody else. 4. Stinking Farts Everybody has to pass gas at some point, but that doesn’t mean that other people want to smell the contents of your colon. Nobody likes to smell a fart. This is particularly true of a fart that is smelled in the public domain. Nothing is worse than walking down the aisle in a department store and finding yourself immersed in a cloud of someone else’s ghastly rectal gas, or standing in an elevator that smells like a recently-used toilet. If you have to break wind and you know you’re probably going to stink, go to the bathroom or at least do it in an empty space. 5. Constant Interruptions Some people just love to talk. They love to talk so much that they cannot let anyone else finish a sentence, or watch a movie in peace. When you are trying to say something and someone else cuts in all of the time, it gets annoying very quickly. If you interrupt someone in mid-sentence, you might as well tell them to shut up because what you have to say is more interesting. When you talk during a movie, you stop other viewers from being able to relax and enjoy it. Is what you have to say really so important that it’s worth annoying others and giving the impression that you are thoroughly rude? 6. Shouting Down the Cell Phone Cell phone technology is not new. It is now unusual not to have a cell phone. Thus most people have encountered at least one individual with an inclination to shout conversations down their cell phone while in a public setting such as an airport departure lounge or a restaurant. Cell phone shouters can be very irritating when you are trying to relax and enjoy your day. It almost seems as though they think their personal business is so enthralling that everybody wants to hear about it when the truth is that nobody else cares. When you must answer your cell phone in public, try to move to a quieter setting. For instance if you are in a restaurant, go outside to take your call. If you cannot go anywhere else, at least try to keep your voice down. 7. Mindless Chatter There are some people who are obviously uncomfortable with silence. In fact silence makes them feel so uneasy that they feel compelled to fill it with the sound of their own voice, even though they don’t have anything remotely important or significant to say. For a person that likes their own space and revers peace and tranquility, such mindless chatter can be incredibly vexing. If you sometimes feel inclined to converse about nothing in particular, or repeat something you said ten minutes ago just because nobody has said anything for a while, then don’t. Go and read a book or find something else to do. There is such a thing as companionable silence.