College Pet Peeves

Some people love college, some people hate it, some are indifferent. No matter how you feel about it, there are probably certain things that other people do that you can’t stand. Whether it’s in the residence halls or in the classroom, whether it’s other students or the professor, here are some of the pet peeves I have at college. 

People who keep their earbuds/air pods in during class. 

I don’t care if you’re not listening to music; it’s rude. Also, why are they even in your ears if nothing is coming out of them? Take them out. Can you imagine being a professor and teaching to a group of students who are all wearing earbuds? To me, it sends the message that the student doesn’t care about the class. Even if they don’t care, and even if they aren’t listening to the lecture, it seems like common etiquette to take your earbuds out during class.

People who talk while the professor is lecturing.

Didn’t we all learn this in elementary, middle and high school? Don’t talk while the teacher is talking. Again, it’s rude to the professor and the other students who are actually trying to listen. It’s even worse when the professor won’t say anything to them and they just continue their loud conversation in the middle of class. It drives me crazy when students either don’t get the hint to stop talking, or they’re just plain rude and think their conversation is the most important thing in the world. 

People who don’t know how to keep a bathroom clean.

I won’t go into detail about this, but living in dorms with a community bathroom for 4 years has taught me that not everyone has the basic human decency to keep a bathroom clean. It really blows my mind how some girls can be so messy and so inconsiderate when it comes to sharing a bathroom with a whole floor of other people; a bathroom that a maintainer has to clean. Some people can’t even do simple things like make sure the toilet flushes, or keep the shower curtain inside the shower so the whole bathroom doesn’t flood, or not leave food in the sink.

Professors that make you put your phone in your bag. 

I completely understand not wanting students to use their phone during class, but some of my professors literally make us put our phones away and out of sight for the class period. I don’t support this because one, my phone is my clock. I like to know what time it is and when I light up my phone, that’s what I’m looking at 95% of the time. Two, if a family member or friend tries to call me or text me and it’s an emergency, I want to be able to see it. That way, I’d be able to leave the classroom and deal with it. I agree that our phones should be on silent and we shouldn’t be using it in class, but I think we should be able to have it on us in case something time-senstive happens that we need to know about. 

People who show up late. Every. Single. Class

I understand if someone is 10-15 minutes late once in a while, it happens. But when there are students who show up 30+ minutes late to every single class, without fail, I get annoyed. First of all, if they can’t show up on time, maybe they shouldn’t be taking the class. Second of all, it can be very disruptive and irritating when the professor stops class to explain to them what they missed. I am a very punctual person and lateness in any sort of setting drives me insane. 

There are definitely more pet peeves that I have about college life, but these are the ones that come to mind right away. The solution to most of these would be having basic human decency and respect for others, but alas, here we are. 

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