Article by Wendy McCance
Merriam-Webster defines a pet peeve as, a frequent cause of complaint. We all have those moments when others just annoy us. I started thinking about pet peeves the other day when I got a message on my Twitter account.
It drives me crazy when you start following someone and you get a personal message that says, Thanks for the follow. Stop by my Facebook page and don’t forget to like us. The worst part is, they are not following you back or even interacting with you in any sort of way. It’s just this, hey I am awesome and you should help me tell everyone by liking me on other social platforms. It just really turns me off.
Maybe I am being overly sensitive or something, but I just don’t understand when you show a little attention towards a person and they respond with a needy tone of wanting more attention.
I have had similar situations on my Facebook page. Someone will stop by and leave me a message like, Hey, I went to all the trouble to stop by your page, so please stop by and like my page. This happened just the other day. I had never heard of this person. There was never any interaction on my blog, Twitter account or anywhere else. They said they “found” me on a mommy blog site. I wasn’t thrilled by their order to go like their page since they went to all the trouble to like mine. I thanked them for stopping by, but I blew off going to their page. The next day, that person” unliked” me. Apparently, not only was I supposed to like them, but I was also given a time limit to do it in.
What is it with some people where they can’t like a page because they just truly like it? Why must some people look for a return on what they consider to be a “good deed” by demanding that you do something specific for them? I am not in a contest to see how many likes I can get. I am proud to look at the number, knowing that people liked my page because they just really liked it.
My pet peeve is people who are always looking to gain something if they put forth any effort towards others. Worse is the people who put forth no effort, but think you should bend over backward for them because they have a big ego.
I had run into a similar issue a while back on LinkedIn. I had connected with someone and they wrote back telling me about their baking business. They mentioned that they would be at a local fair and that if I could, I should stop by. So far, no problem. It was nice to hear from them and read about where they would be setting up shop.
Over the next few weeks, I got a message each time they would be working at a different location. The accompanying message would say, We will be at ___________ this weekend. Please stop by and say hi when you buy some of our delicious products. I’m all for advertising your brand but it got old when I got messages each week that said I should stop by and buy their product. The whole connection just became very superficial. The worst part was that on two occasions, I actually did write back asking either a time or address in case I could go. I never got a reply. It just made the entire message feel careless.
What about you? Do you have pet peeves that just drive you crazy? Do you think that my pet peeve is ridiculous? I’d love to read your thoughts on the subject and find out what it is that you can’t stand.
Related articles
Wendy McCance
To contact Wendy McCance about a writing assignment, interview or speaking engagement, please email her at: [email protected]
Latest posts by Wendy McCance (see all)
- A Week in the Life of a Writer - August 3, 2014
- Give Yourself a Secret Advantage Before Starting Your Own Business - July 30, 2014
- How to Improve Your Presence on Twitter - July 29, 2014
Awesome post, Wendy! I myself am frustrated with the very same things you describe! Your last example - when you actually replied asking for day and time, and they never replied with the requested info - my guess is they are so used to NOT getting any replies that they totally forgot why they do this in the first place. It’s very irresponsible and spoils social media for the rest of us…
Another “modern” thing that annoys me a lot on LI recently is the mass message that starts with “sorry for the mass message…” and the asks me to give a professional rating to someone who i have connected with but never met, never worked with, not even sure what exactly they do - how could i leave a “professional rating”???
anyways, great post all the way - scheduling this to go out on my social media channels, too - as many people as possible should read this. Period.
Thanks so much for the comment and putting it out to your social media network. I agree about the mass message. I always just delete it. My opinion of that person always goes down if I get one of those messages.
I only recently became active on Twitter again after a long absence and wondered why many people had resorted to stating “I don’t respond to DMs” in their profiles. I understood once I started being bombarded with the “Please like us on…” messages that are as impersonal (and annoying) as any other automated DM. I have now also resorted to ignoring all DMs.
Hi Chris, thank you so much for your comment. It’s sad that DM’s have turned into self-promotions. It would have been nice to receive DM’s just because someone is reaching out and just is trying to get to know a person.
I hate the DMs. It is only within the past few months that I even started using twitter on a regular basis. Too often I run across people that follow me and seem interesting only to be hit with the Auto DM when I follow them back.
Another weird one is when someone retweets a post I retweeted from them. My personal belief is to favorite the post of mine someone else tweeted. To retweet it seems too self indulgent.
Retweeting and marking a tweet as a favorite is still something I just don’t understand and most likely mess up all the time.
That’s a pretty good peeve. When I first started my blog, LinkedIn had a few discussions going on where bloggers and other writers offered to like a page if I reciprocated. My inexperience caused me to seek “numbers” rather than interested readers. Now I know better. Having so many “likes” is really no indication of a Blog’s success if your visitors aren’t coming back for more or sharing your posts with others because they’re so wonderful. My pet peeve right now is that there is no one at WordPress and other sites that you can talk to for guidance. Everything is a forum or a faq page. Sometimes you need to talk to flesh and blood.
You have a good point. It would be pretty great if there was a live person to talk to.
Hi Wendy! Oh yeah, I agree with the pet peeve you’ve describe in this post. It’s amazing how many bloggers who appear to be clueless when it comes to the idea of reciprocity. I know that it is always nice if I can put my blog name out there and expose it when possible-but I always recognize that it is a two way street. But after doing it for a while I think you are either a generous and aware person or you aren’t. My personal thoughts are that those other people who flood you with info about themselves and are clueless about your work, just aren’t thinking at all. No matter how blunt you are with them they just won’t get it and can’t understand why they don’t get more readers.
But the BEST THING is discovering other bloggers who ARE generous with their time and consideration. You are one of those who has always been very generous with sharing info, time and consideration for everyone who stops by here and it is certainly appreciated by me (and I’m sure other friends as well). Don’t give up! Just like there are rude people everywhere, those people are likely not really “searching for the happiness” either and must live with those consequences.
~Kathy
Thanks Kathy, I appreciate your kind words. You have always been a great blogger too. I do feel pretty lucky to have found some wonderful bloggers along the way. It has been great to share experiences and know other people who are so willing to lend a hand or hand out some advice. Thank you for your friendship. You are pretty amazing to know.
My pet peeve is poor grammar and spelling in written work. I have a good friend who has a blog, and I don’t believe she proofreads anything. It’s disconcerting to try to figure out what she’s attempting to say. In my opinion, if you want people to have a good impression of your writing, you want to present it in the best possible way. If you’re not a good proofreader and/or you can’t get someone else to do it for you, Google some sites that can help you!