MY TEN MOST POPULAR PERSONAL COMPLAINTS

Living in what most would consider a world of abundance here in the American Midwest, it sometimes seems a bit rude and arrogant of me to complain – about anything. Yet, most of us, being only human, experience disappointment in our expectations in our everyday lives.

Whether the carry-out dinner you ordered turned out to be a completely different entree when you arrived home, or that moment you glance out the window and there’s a horizontal blizzard blowing (or in some cases, there’s no snow which of course some people complain about too), or when you’re in the market for a car and the used car salesman turns out to be acting like, well, a used car salesman, or (God forbid) the wedding cake arrives at the venue and is emblazoned with “Congadulations!”, we’re used to things always going our way. We’re not shy about expressing our disapproval when those negative situations crop up.

Generally, I’m a pretty positive guy, but just for my readers, today I’m going to dig deep and list ten things that truly annoy me, or simply complain regularly about. See if my list doesn’t reflect some of your own!

POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS

Being from Iowa and having the first-in-the-nation caucuses during every 4-year election cycle creates a landslide of annoying calls, unwanted visitors, social media ads, and paper flyers in our mailbox for months on end. I can’t help but think if congress controlled the spending involved in these campaigns better, we could solve many of the ills the nation constantly – wait for it – complains about.

ACHES & PAINS

In my teens and twenties, I recall teachers and adults always preaching to mind my posture, and that it will matter later in life. Being young (and perceiving myself invincible), I let that advice go in one ear and out the other.

Fast forward many years later, and I was bowling for a charity event for work, with my finishing score respectable on several games. Early the next morning, however, I woke up, stretched and realized I couldn’t stand up fully due to an intense and acute ache in my lower back.

To make the proverbial “long story short”, after almost a decade of chiropractic visits, my back is pretty solid most of the time. There are those moments where I bend down to pick something up or take a step and I feel crippled for days, but I can’t complain…but I still do.

TAXATION OF INCOME

I may be simple-minded, but it seems if I’m taxed by the government on income via my employer, why should I pay additional tax when I spend the taxed money in certain situations? Furthermore, it seems crazy that banks continue to make money from financing a house that has been bought and paid for numerous times over decades. I realize it’s new people and new money, but it still seems like a money-making racket to me.

CORPORATE RADIO

This complaint mainly pertains to the Christmas holiday, but it also happens throughout the year with certain artists. With the advent of Prime Music and Spotify, I haven’t called in a song request for more than 30 years, but when I do, it’s annoying to be told “let me look for that one” or “sorry, that’s not on our playlist”, knowing you shouldn’t waste your time listening for it.

BREAD WRAPPED IN TWO WRAPPERS

Quality is a great thing. Freshness is important. But it annoys me a bit when I open up a loaf of bread with the twist tie only to find a shrink-wrapped second bag that you have to use a knife or scissors to cut through to access the bread for your grilled cheese sandwich! Oddly enough, sometimes with that extra layer of freshness, the bread doesn’t feel as soft as I’d expect it to.

COMPANY IDEOLOGY

When I was growing up and understanding about investment strategy and how companies work, I seem to recall the main purpose of being a shareholder in a public company was to earn a profit, and that was the central purpose for the company’s existence.

Today, it seems companies are attempting to be our parent and advise us on what we should believe, or shame us into taking a particular stance or action, all while touting how tolerance should be the cornerstone of our collective conscience. When did we forget how to think for ourselves?

SERVICE CHARGES TO JUST SHOW UP

Water gushes into your basement, perilously close to moving from the tile to the carpet. You rush to shut it off, but the damage is already done. Whether it’s your hot water heater on its last throes of life or the toilet backing up, you know the cost to fix it will simply add to the existing damage. So, you call a plumber, and they charge $135.00 on top of whatever the cost is to have the issue resolved. Some are great about applying it to the fix (or a new hot water heater), but most aren’t.

RECAPTCHAS

Those little fraud/bot detection programs that pop up periodically to validate and authenticate that you’re a valid user drive me crazy sometimes. First of all, they ask you to click on all the buses, and the pictures are so tiny, you don’t see that bus at the end of the long road, so of course it changes to motorcycles, and the grainy pics are still impossible to choose. There are also those ones that keep popping in new boxes to select as well, and those where you swear you did it wrong and yet they let you go on.

PEOPLE WHO DON’T CLEAN UP AFTER THEIR DOG

How many times have you been out walking, and you realize the smush you just walked into isn’t just mud on the sole of your shoe? Worse still is when you’re inside your home and as you’re looking out the window, you see someone walking their pup, who’s doing his/her business, and then when they’re done, they simply keep walking, leaving a huge mess for you to clean up?

Owning a dog comes with responsibility. Why would someone assume it’s not their responsibility to clean up after their pet? It’s gross, it’s disgusting, and it’s not my job.

WORKING FOR COMPANIES I DON’T WORK FOR

Since the Covid-19 pandemic and the supply change issues that arose in its wake, as well as the fundamental change in how the world operates since then, one thing that truly annoys me every time I encounter it is having to check out and bag my own merchandise at stores around town. If my temporary employment at Wal-Mart, Hy-Vee, and the like resulted in lower prices for me, I’d be okay with it. But, no, instead everything is suddenly more expensive than ever before in a way that seems like it’s more than inflation.

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IN CONCLUSION

Funny how coming up with complaints isn’t too hard to do on the fly (I didn’t even touch upon remembering passwords). One day, I’m sure I’ll be writing a list of compliments that might challenge me more, but for now, these are the ten complaints that came to mind first.

What about you? What do you find frustrating and complaint-worthy in your own life? Share your thoughts with a comment below (or I might have to lodge a complaint)!

Today’s encore post was originally published in January as “Tears of a Clown”. Have a great weekend!