peeved

Lately I've noticed that I get annoyed easily. No, its not a female hormonal thing (otherwise it would only be monthly, not almost everyday). So I've decided to list down what and why I get irritated faster than I normally would. Below are two, in the coming weeks, I just might add to this...

Personal space

There is no fixed size, scale nor dimension to when it comes to defining the boundaries of personal space. It changes depending on the venue, the situation and your relationship with those around you. This can be as broad as the entire length of a room -- such as when in a room with another whose smell automatically incites gag reflex -- or as miniscule as the indecipherable distance between a tango-dancing pair.

It is this very flexibility that makes it confusing. When is it okay to be one elbow nudge away from the person beside/in front/behind you? Common sense (if it were THAT common, then how come very few possess them???) would dictate that if:

a. you don’t know the person’s name
b. the other person doesn’t know your name
c. hell, if you plain DON’T KNOW THE PERSON

then by golly, do not endeavor to be within physical contact of the other person! Especially when there is no need to be. Is that lunch tray mine? No? Then please don’t put in front of me when I’m ordering something for take-out at the food line!!! Its YOURS not mine, don’t you think it should move with YOU?

Human Traffic

Not to be confused with trafficking as in ‘selling’ other human beings. This is, in my opinion, a basic rule. Very easy to adhere to, yet just as easily ignored. As with vehicles, humans also occupy space, and humans are also mobile, requiring to move from one place to another. Since people move, naturally, there are channels of movement: sidewalks, corridors, escalators, elevators and the like. The tricky part here is that unlike vehicles, we don’t have lanes. So just as easily, these pathways, walkways, areas are blocked by other people. Humans are matter, therefore, we occupy space. And when we block a corridor, we take up that space. Other people who need to pass through CANNOT do so if there is someone in the way. Unless the blocker is displaced by the blockee…which would in effect cause a scene.

This is worsened when the blocker is actually ‘blockers’ meaning, they are more than one. Most often than not, blockers are:
a. A big group group of giggling and laughing (dare I add ‘loud’) girls made oblivious to their surroundings by the very fact that they are a big group of giggling, laughing, loud girls.
b. a big group of people who are unfamiliar or new to their surroundings. Easily identifiable by the way they look around them and the questions they ask those within their group (where are we? Where are we going?). Map is optional. (This also applies to new people within a bigger group who choose to hide their insecurity by immersing themselves in a crowd. Ironically, by flocking together, they attract more attention to themselves.)