A Matter Of Opinion

In addition to flinging my opinions about for free here at the Dept., I've been getting compensated for them for years now from the ever-curious people at Harris Polls, a branch of the Nielsen Family. Every so often, in one of my designated inboxes, an invitation appears for me to participate in one of their polls. I get to click and click and click away on various topics such as gas stations, cat litter, financial institutions, grocery store shelf placement, oil companies, floor sweepers, you name it. The compensation doesn't come directly in the form of cash; I earn reward points that translate into gift cards. I get Amazon cards, which are, to me, the same as cash.

Recently, the Harris Polls released the results of a survey I was not invited to participate in. From March 12-17, over two thousand adults were surveyed regarding annoying behaviors of others in various situations. The full results are here. The behaviors themselves are not surprising. They are the same old tired things that keep annoying everyone. What I find enlightening and amusing are the breakdowns in demographics. As a Baby Boomer, I am positively delighted that the Gen Xers are so tightly wound. They were the ones who blamed every little thing on us and were going to save the universe. The Millennials, who present themselves as so coolly hip and tolerant and laid-back that they might be close to slipping into a coma, aren't all that different from the rest of us.

Let's take a look at just a few of the categories and tease out what I feel is particularly interesting or germane to a discussion regarding gender and age.

LOUD MOBILE PHONE TALKERS VS. CONSTANT CHECKERS

By Generation, Gender, Children in Household

"For each pair of common annoyances below, please choose the one that annoys you the most."

	Total	Generation				Gender		Children in HH
		Millennials (18-36)	Gen Xers (37-48)	Baby Boomers (49-67)	Matures (68+)	Male	Female	Yes	No
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
People who have loud conversations on their mobile phones in public places	65	59	66	67	74	67	63	60	67
People who repeatedly check their mobile phones while having an in-person conversation	35	41	34	33	26	33	37	40	33

I love how the perception of rudeness rises as the age of the person does. Notice, however, that more women than men do not feel that this is as bad as someone ignoring them during an in-person conversation. As I looked at the results, I noticed this common factor. Women seem to rate lower anything that compromises direct communication. Personally, this question would have been tough for me. In the end, I'd have gone with the second one. I find it hideous to be second fiddle. I am there. Put your phone on vibrate, in a perfect world.

ALL CAPS VS. OVERLY TERSE EMAILS

By Generation, Gender, Children in Household

"For each pair of common annoyances below, please choose the one that annoys you the most."

Base: U.S. Adults

	Total	Generation				Gender		Children in HH
		Millennials (18-36)	Gen Xers (37-48)	Baby Boomers (49-67)	Matures (68+)	Male	Female	Yes	No
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Emails written ALL IN CAPS	60	67	59	57	49	62	57	63	58
Overly brief or terse emails	40	33	41	43	51	38	43	37	42

The age breakdown in this is predictable. Millennials hate the all caps email. "Why are you shouting at me? Don't you know anything about Netiquette?" they probably mutter through their clenched teeth while tapping their stylus against their Starbucks cup. Everyone else has moved on to more pressing concerns, down through the ages, and the Matures, who are the Usual Suspects, are still trying to figure out what ALL CAPS means or why it would be an annoyance to anyone. Matures really dislike the overly brief emails which are devoid of explanation, detail, or newsy, helpful items. Millennials totally get the no-frills emails. Who uses email anyway? Can't you just text? Ugh. Men in general are Big Fans. The less you say, the better. But women are bothered more by the bare, spare email. We want more. Be thorough, communicate fully. Tell us everything.  I dislike both of these intensely.  If asked to choose one, I'd rather have all in caps.  At least I'd have what I need to know and be able to avoid more back and forth with a bad communicator.

"REPLY ALL" OVERUSE VS. NO REPLY AT ALL EMAIL

By Generation, Gender, Children in Household

"For each pair of common annoyances below, please choose the one that annoys you the most."

Base: U.S. Adults

	Total	Generation				Gender		Children in HH
		Millennials (18-36)	Gen Xers (37-48)	Baby Boomers (49-67)	Matures (68+)	Male	Female	Yes	No
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
People who overuse "reply all" on emails	51	41	54	54	64	55	48	46	54
People who don't reply to emails	49	59	46	46	36	45	52	54	46

This one is easy for me, because I have zero trouble deleting emails. I learned it from my former colleague Roger. He simply looks at the subject line, then the sender. From there, if you cannot gauge the likelihood of its importance to you, then you are incompetent. We called this "The Pink Tape System." One year, near the end of school, an email appeared in everyone's inbox with the subject line PINK TAPE. The sender was a particularly ditzy special ed. teacher. Roger said that anyone who read that email was an idiot. I miss Roger.  He was good for me.

Anyway, my point--and I do have one--is that I would easily respond "the non-repliers" to this question. It was a toughie for everyone else, though; it almost split evenly half and half. The Millennials don't care about the "reply alls", however; they either don't use email much, or they are so used to collaborative work that they send emails as a group anyway. The Matures really hate it, though. Let me tell you why. Tons of Matures still don't get how email works. So, when they fire off an email to Bessie, and they mention how, at the last Reunion, Norm and Cora looked real fat, they don't realize that Norm and Cora are on the email list, too. And that they hit Reply All instead of Reply. And now Norm and Cora know how fat Eunice thinks they look. And so does every member of the class of 1933. And once again, women are more irked by not hearing from someone than hearing from everyone. That's why women are great communicators, for the most part. We like to keep the channels of communication open and moving. How many men are on your blogroll? Just asking.

I'm including this last one because...well, you'll see.

WORD MISUSE VS. UNSOLICITED EDITING

By Generation, Gender,  Children in Household

"For each pair of common annoyances below, please choose the one that annoys you the most."

Base: U.S. Adults

	Total	Generation				Gender		Children in HH
		Millennials (18-36)	Gen Xers (37-48)	Baby Boomers (49-67)	Matures (68+)	Male	Female	Yes	No
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Misuse of common words (e.g., there/they're/their, its/it's, overuse of "literally")	57	62	54	57	54	54	60	57	57
Unsolicited grammar/wording "editors"	43	38	46	43	46	46	40	43	43

Percentages may not add up exactly to 100 percent due to rounding

Hey! If everyone hates all of these Language errors, then why do they persist? The Millennials' eyes are rolling permanently to the back of their heads! We Boomers still aren't over it. And, as a Woman, I am about to Lose It.

Basically, people are bugging the Crap out of me. And you. Even when we are Mature, we will still suffer the annoyance of others. The nice thing is, I will be paid in Amazon cards to tell people what I think about it.

In reality, not a whole lot bothers me these days. Most annoyances are petty and short-lived. I can usually think of something that balances them out, or, as a friend of mine always says, "I just play Mozart in my head." In my case, it's usually Rachmaninoff, but you get the idea. If something is bothersome or annoying to you, feel free to get it out of your system in Comments.