We all have those things we hate, and our pet peeves are not to be ignored. Whether it's those unskippable YouTube ads, college tuition, or those sketchy pills you see at 7-11, there's bound to be something you wish was illegal. Nothing is safe. We've compiled the best list of things that need to be done away with. If you want to know what things people think need to be stopped, take a look down below.
1. Children's Beauty Pageants
This is especially bad in an age where we value body image and positivity and are trying to do away with the current beauty standards. It's unhealthy for a kid to be so worried about the way they look.
Your child is going to grow up thinking their looks and fame are everything before they even have a chance to go through puberty. You know, that thing that makes us hate ourselves and our bodies until we finally become an even better-looking version of ourselves. Child pageants just exacerbate that issue.
2. Family YouTube Channels
We get that it’s your child and you have every right as a parent to decide how they are raised, but do you really have to give away their privacy on one of the most used websites on the internet?
Children playing or opening toys happens to be one of the most-watched genres on YouTube, which is fine. But you could at least blur your child’s face so that they can have some privacy when you refuse to stop exploiting them for money and fame.
3. Louder-Than-The-Show TV Ads
One day you’re watching something on TV and minding your own business when, suddenly, your TV starts blasting Billy Mays with the latest and greatest product from OxiClean. “Get’s the tough stains out!”...
…and also the grey matter from your brain that is now leaking out of your ear all over your carpet. Seriously, what do we have to do to get the volume synced up between the program and ads on TV?
4. Playing Music In Public
Not that you don’t have the right to do this, but do you really have to involve us in your crazy conspiracy theories and desperate attempt to find anything that justifies the wrongdoings in today’s society?
The answer to that is no, and if you’re in a shared space that’s densely crowded, people around you are probably thinking the same. If you need to listen to something in public, a good investment is a cheap pair of earbuds (though that might be an option if you have no earphone jack).
5. Bringing Children Into Bars
As u/somekennyguy accurately pointed out over on Reddit, “We’re here to deal with our problems, not listen to yours.” Need we remind you that that is no place for children? It’s loud, it’s cramped as it is, and your child can’t even enjoy the services!
If you’re planning on going out to a bar, maybe you should find your child a babysitter for the day. Or, better yet, maybe put them in school where they belong! If your kid is with you at the bar, it’s clearly not past their bedtime.
6. Standing On Top Of Someone In Line
Was there supposed to be a breeze today? Wait now it’s gone. Oh, now it’s back and it feels really warm. Oh, wait, that’s just the person behind you with plenty of space to breathe (pun intended) deciding to ignore all warnings that have been standard since the pandemic began nearly two years ago.
Why in the world is it necessary to stand so close? Your spot in line is safe, now please take a few steps back and respect social distancing. In fact, please continue to social distance well after we’re out of this mess.
7. Unskippable YouTube Ads
This is a problem that’s just getting worse and worse. We’re not saying that ads are bad—it’s basically what allows our favorite YouTubers to continue making entertaining videos when we don’t support them ourselves.
The thing is, YouTube started with no ads, then skippable ads, to unskippable 30-second ads (or even entire music videos for the unlucky), and now we have multiple unskippable ads that play four times during a ten-minute video. That’s more than what even used to play on TV and basically criminal. Please stop.
8. Holding Up Your Cell Phone During A Concert
This one is a little complicated cause we’ve all been there, but we also all want to keep this memory for as long as possible. But to those of you distracting us from this amazing display with your flashing lights because you think it’s cool news flash: it’s not.
Gone are the days of old where we would all kumbaya with lighters at sit-down performances. We want to see the stage, honey, there are enough flashing lights and hands in the air stopping us from seeing it already.
9. Adware and Malware
How are these seriously still legal? It’s just another trick to market products right at your face or steal your money and information. But that’s illegal! Well, you shouldn’t have clicked on the weird email that offered you your long-lost grandmother’s will money.
The unfortunate thing is that people actually do fall for these tricks, and they lose a lot of money from these things. And avoiding computer viruses just costs even more money to pay for the software. What a mess.
10. Not Vaccinating Your Children
Yes, it is your right to refuse to be vaccinated. Should the same be said for your child, who doesn’t know anything about them? We see how the argument can be said that because they don’t know, they shouldn’t be forced, but there are a crazy number of diseases that can be dangerous for children or their parents and can spread like wildfire.
Also, your child is also going to be clustered amongst other children who don’t know and can’t think to keep themselves away from their friend who can get them sick. If your doctor says that they should get vaccinated, they’re probably right.
11. Biting The Spoon You’re Eating Off Of
Okay, the shape of a spoon clearly implies that you should not be using your teeth to collect whatever food you’ve put on it. It’s so annoying sitting next to someone who’s chowing down on something and keeps making teeth-breaking sounds.
It certainly sends shivers down our spines to watch someone nearly eat the spoon as well. Try using your lips to gently pull your food into your mouth. Your dentist will thank you for it.
12. Not Letting People By On The Sidewalk
The reason the sidewalk is so big isn’t so that you can link arms with your friends The Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Cowardly Lion to skip down the yellow brick road. It’s so that you can have plenty of lanes for the traffic that is human beings to get where they need to go.
If you see that there are people coming, have some common courtesy and get out of the way! You can still chat with the people in front and behind you, they aren’t going anywhere. And least, as long as they stay in their lane they aren’t.
13. Telemarketing
If we wanted your product, we would probably be calling ourselves. The thing is telemarketers know exactly what they’re doing to people and they don’t care because their job is to convince more people to buy their product.
Even when we tell them to take our name off the list, they never do it. It’s a mystery how they got our number in the first place, but all we know is it needs to end ASAP.
14. Leaving The Public Stall A Mess
How do you even do something like this and not feel bad about it? To not even have the decency to lift the seat up so we don’t have to clean it up ourselves is just rude and, simply put, disgusting.
Let’s not even mention the gravity-defying, yet somehow common, bathroom walls slathered in feces. Did a monkey just come through? Because it seems like you’ve never been potty trained in your life. We’d hate to see what these people’s private bathroom looks like.
15. Not Replacing The Roll
We’ve all been there. Suddenly your stomach is acting up and you have to rush to the bathroom. Or maybe this has ever happened to you in general. It’s honestly the worst to sit down and do your business just to find out you can’t clean up and have to waddle over to the closet or call someone for help.
And don’t say we should have checked before sitting down—there wasn’t any time! It almost sounds like you’d rather we do our business on the floor. We were just over that one…
16. Underhand Toilet Paper
Why?? Just...why? As if the last one wasn’t bad enough. Every time someone does this, it’s the most annoying thing ever, especially when it’s a roommate and you have to keep switching the roll back and forth.
When you put it backwards it becomes super easy to accidentally unravel the whole thing onto the floor. Then you’re expected not to waste all that paper that now has to touch your body. Why can’t people understand that it’s just not the right way to put the roll. There’s technically also a patented way to use it.
17. Unpaid Internships
This is another college baddie that really grinds our gears. Students are already working their butts off as it is trying to pass, but to only offer college credit as a form of payment for doing the same work as everyone else working there is just exploitation.
It’s unfortunate that something like this is legal because colleges expect you to do get experience and pay exorbitant amounts of tuition all the while managing your endless amounts of homework and test prep.
18. Clamshell Packaging
From the creators of packaging comes this plastic marvel! Impossible to open, and dangerously sharp, you’d be lucky if you happen to have a pair of scissors on you.
Even if you do, you’re going to need a pair of leather gloves to avoid getting slashed by the razor-sharp edges you’ve now created. Oh, and don’t forget to check your work or you might just end up cutting through the product you’ve just bought.
19. Airlines Overbooking Flights
Wow, what can’t we say about this one? The thing is that airlines will do this in anticipation of those people that are going to miss their flights so that they can make up for the potential loss of money from having an empty seat.
But this can become a real problem for people when no one cancels or doesn’t show up, as the others are then left to find another flight (which, of course, leaves the next morning). Why can’t we just see how many people are actually booked so that we can prepare to be at our destination on time?
20. Cannibalism
So, apparently, there are no laws in the United States against cannibalism… yikes. However, most states, if not all of them, have made it almost impossible to obtain a body in any way through other laws they’ve enacted.
So, while you probably won’t be able to snack on someone any time soon, it’s still creepy that the legal system allows this. Let’s just hope you don’t get any ideas from reading this.
21. Refunds Pending For Days
In what world does it make sense for a company to demand more money and make it time-sensitive, but when they are legally obligated to give us back our money, they get to take all the time in the world? Lunacy! Pure madness, we tell you.
We should be given the right to demand our money back at a moment’s notice, or face repercussions. Though, in all honesty, that will probably cause more trouble than it already is, what with legal fees and all.
22. Talking During A Movie
If this is something you do in the comfort of your home, then fine. But when you’re in the shared space of a movie theatre, you just have to respect the other attendees!
There’s even a reminder before every movie not to do that. Why do we have those reminders? BECAUSE YOU KEEP DOING THAT! Your friends are also there watching the movie, so you can talk about it with them after. Besides, if you keep it up you can actually get kicked out of the theatre.
23. Conversion Therapy
Why is it so necessary to change people to fit into the tiny little boxes society imposes on them? History hasn’t always been averse to non-heteronormative behaviors and should have never become illegal in any capacity.
As a reminder, the world is constantly evolving and things that you once thought were normal are no longer black and white. It’s thanks to our (small) capacity to accept the change that we all have the rights we were given, and not making your LGBTQ+ child "pray the gay away" is just another step in making sure it stays that way.
24. Not Posting Salaries In Job Descriptions
It’s really unfortunate when you apply for a job with all of the qualifications and go through all of these tests to see if you are qualified, just to find out that you’re only going to be making equal to or just barely more than minimum wage.
If the job description implies otherwise, you should probably be telling people what they’ll be making. It wastes so much time in the hiring process, especially for the person who actually needs the job.
25. Elderly Drivers
Look, if you can drive, all the power to you. But the fact is that many elderly drivers are losing the dexterity and coordination that they once had in their youth. It should be mandatory to get your driving abilities assessed often because even young drivers can be really stupid sometimes.
That being said, if you are driving and you know you shouldn’t be, maybe it’s time to rethink getting in the car. It’s not only inconvenient and annoying but could potentially be dangerous, too.
26. Revving Your Vehicle
Are you really so desperate for attention that you brought your supped-up car out to the middle of nowheresville to break all our eardrums? Aren’t there places for that? Why do people remove their mufflers anyway?
So many questions, so many answers, and yet we’re stuck dealing with the guy who drives by with their monster of a car at every inconvenience. Guess we’re just going to have to move away.
27. Not Including A New Charger In The Box
Speaking of saving on waste, it’s becoming a trend for companies to stop including a charger for the brand-new phone or console you want to buy. They claim “it saves on extra packaging”, but then they use more packaging to sell it to you separately.
Also, what if you’ve never had a phone that uses USB Type-C? It used to be that the charger was included in the price, but now we have to dish out an extra 50 bucks on the thousand-dollar price of the phone that has become standard
28. Caller ID Spoofing
Listen, if you have something important to tell us, please leave your name and number, so that we can get back to you. Well, now we just sound like an answering machine, which is exactly what you’re going to get if you spoof your caller ID.
It’s seriously annoying and surprisingly easy to pull shenanigans like this, and you know anyone who’s doing it is up to no good. While there are times someone might be trying to reach you for real, it's best to just leave it alone and check your messages later.
29. Public College Tuition
Everyone pays taxes, and everyone’s taxes go to paying for these schools. But not everyone who pays their taxes goes to college. So why, when everyone is paying for everything, do we still have to pay unbelievable amounts of money that barely anyone has without loans to get an education?
It’s one of the biggest flaws of American society and it’s probably the reason there is such a high amount of people without a degree. There are many countries without this problem. When will it change?
30. Pyramid Schemes
Making money off of people by requiring them to make payments so that they can join and make other people do the same is criminal. Except it’s not because this can actually be used for legitimate purposes. It’s called multi-level marketing.
These scams put a bad name on legitimate MLM companies that actually try to make money off of their product, not their workers. So while you can’t legally put a stop to it, you may be able to educate others so that they can avoid these things themselves.
31. Puppy Mills
Who can seriously look at these and say that they shouldn’t be illegal? It’s far more important to find your best friend through more natural means than to breed the perfect pooch and trap and leave for dead the rest of the litter.
These silly little guys deserve so much happiness and it is honestly scary how many puppy mills are still up and running. And that’s not even mentioning the people capable of running these operations. For the love of everything furry, please stop.
32. Payday Loans
Why is it legal to trick those who don’t have the money into taking out loans that will inevitably break them? The short answer: capitalism. But that doesn’t make it morally acceptable.
Companies that offer loans should allow customers to pay them back in more accessible ways without forcing them into unbelievable amounts of interest and debt. Honestly, we believe more people would be willing to take out loans if it means it won’t kill them. And hey, that’s more money for the company
33. Parking Over The Line
If you’re that person who’s parked themselves precariously over the lines so that no one else can park next to you, you should be ticketed. And we’re sorry to those of you who have no other choice because the jerk next to you made it near impossible, but you’re going to end up hearing it from everyone as well.
The bottom line is to try not to do this at all. We have had too many experiences where we couldn't find parking because at least three butt-faces were in some sort of weird jam between cars.
34. Overpricing Medicine
This is the worst, most despicable thing on this list. Like, this one isn’t even funny. If anything should be illegal, it’s this. There are people who are dying because they can’t afford the hundreds of dollars per pill that companies price them at because they can.
The pills that literally cost dollars to produce (if at all) should not be thousands of times their actual price. It’s inhumane, can kill people, and needs to be stopped immediately.
35. Flying Flags From Your Car
This is not only annoying but can be really distracting and super dangerous. And we definitely don’t want to get involved in the politics of the confederate flag you’re so proudly waiving.
Don’t get us wrong, though, we love to see you proudly wave that pride flag of yours. We just don’t want to get caught up in the massive pileup you just created on the freeway.
36. Tenure
Have you ever had a teacher that’s so bad that it’s a mystery how they’re still there at all? That’s tenure at its best, protecting the teachers who’ve worked long enough from losing their jobs.
It sounds nice, but when a teacher had forgotten how to properly teach and respect their pupils, it’s high time they get retrained or removed altogether. People pay good money to be at school, and it’s such a disappointment to be placed into the class with a reputation for having an unfairly strict teacher.
37. Recording People Without Consent
We all love to get our daily fixing of Karen videos, but have you ever stopped to consider how the other person feels? No, because that’s exactly the point of Karen videos.
In all seriousness, though, privacy can be a major issue with things like this, and because it’s legal to record on public property, you might end up becoming the next embarrassing viral video. While you have the right to ask them to withdraw the video, the damage will have been dealt with, and it’ll be impossible to take down every copy.
38. Locking Kids (Or Pets) In A Hot Car
Why would anyone spend all of their time and money-loving and nurturing a child or pet just to leave them in a literal death trap? It’s torture, and completely irresponsible. If you’re one of the people doing this, you need to stop immediately.
Unless they’re old enough to be left with the keys in the ignition and the AC running, you should never leave any living thing in a hot car. It only takes a few minutes of intense heat to become dehydrated and hyperthermic.
39. Drinking Age Of 21
The United States of America has plenty of stupid rules, this being one of them. The common argument is that we can draft at 18 and put our lives at risk for our country, but we can’t try some other, comparatively safe (when responsible) activity until we’re 21.
The country also allows young teens who are basically still children to operate one-and-a-half ton vehicles anywhere they want. Where is the logic in this? Most countries agree that 18 is okay, but when will America join them?
40. The Ads That Look Like Play Buttons
This is simultaneously the most frustrating thing and the most entertaining thing on the internet. It’s like “fool me once, shame on me, but fool me twice” heck nah.
These websites, we kid you not, have literally written out instructions saying, “just find the right play button and click on it to begin watching”. When you have to literally click through pop-up after pop-up, it becomes redundant. Just let us watch our videos already!
41. Pockets That Don’t Work
Fashion is great and all, but if you can’t even put your phone away, that’s an issue. How hard is it, honestly, to add a little pouch (or bigger pouch) to the clothing these companies make?
Those companies already charge multiple times the amount of work it takes just to wear their brand, so they should be using that money to manufacture bigger pockets! Of course, if you did that, you might no longer have any use for their handbags. Just kidding, we’re going to use them anyway.
42. Limiting The Articles You Can Read When You Reload The Page
Have you ever read a bunch of articles from that one particular source you like, only to have it pop up telling you that you need to subscribe to read more? Well, the issue here isn’t the subscription, but rather the fact that this can happen if you read the exact same article multiple times. Maybe you had to reload the page when your internet goes out, or maybe you revisited it to gather some research.
The point is, it’s not fair to offer free news, but then cut customers off from their limit due to stupid reasons. If you offer three free articles, they should be three separate articles.
43. Free Trials That Require Credit Card Info
Why do companies keep offering free services that require you to input a method of payment? We can’t seem to say it enough: capitalism. They want you to miss the fine print that says they have permission from you to charge you every month thereafter for their services (again, read those terms of use).
We honestly just want to try the product before we decide that we want to pay for the whole package. There’s no need to trick us into doing that before we made the decision.
44. Urinals Without Partitions
Maybe this is a novelty in places like Wrigley Field where the trough-style urinals are a part of the experience. But it’s another issue in other public restrooms because the creepy guy next to you is almost certainly looking over his shoulder at you.
As for the pee shy, this is enough to stop them from even using the stalls. We don’t know whose idea it was to not include a little privacy in the restroom, but we’re certainly not happy about it.
45. Sketchy Supplements
The number of supplements we see at the local convenience store is legitimately concerning. Offering a range of effects from weight loss, to higher focus, or more energy for workouts, these things are often little more than placebos to encourage you to buy more.
And the ones that aren’t can have serious side-effects that can put you in the hospital, or worse. Besides, any pill that you can’t also find at the pharmacy should probably be avoided, as it means it probably isn’t FDA approved.
46. Radio Ads With Honking
Those advertisements they play on the radio with the honking sound effects seriously disorient us, drivers. Especially the really good, not so campy, sound effects that have us looking around for a good minute to figure out what we’re doing wrong.
We’re sure they know about the problem; they’ve probably gotten tricked themselves once or twice. But you have to get your message out there, and so the annoying ads will continue.
47. Shopping Carts In Parking Spots
We guarantee that if you walk a few feet from your car you’ll find the stall that these need to be put into. Laziness or time constraints are not an excuse to make other people’s days harder.
It's probably less strenuous than the number of times you need to walk up and down the stairs at your house per day, so there’s no way you can’t put this away. Unless you really can’t, but then how did you get the cart in the first place?
48. Convenience Fees Online
In an effort to save on waste, the internet has become the perfect medium to place orders or book appointments without the hassle of saving the receipt. So why do we still have to pay convenience fees online?
They aren’t typically handled by a person in real-time, and it cost absolutely nothing to include an extra button on the website they would already need to be paying for to get people to use their services. And this unlucky fella also got charged for using a credit card (the only method of payment during Covid-19). It truly boggles the mind.
49. Auto-Playing Ads On Websites
This is one of the worst things, especially when it takes forever to load and you’re already halfway down the page and your volume is up on the computer.
Even worse is when it’s not even related to the topic, or completely crowds the screen as it follows you down the page. The number of times we’ve nearly peed from fright when this happens is truly astounding. They should at the very least be silent by default.
50. Hard To Cancel Subscriptions
We know the game. Trap people in a contract so they are forced to keep paying you for their services. It’s capitalism at its best. But if we don’t consent to continue the subscription, that should be the end of it. No means no.
Why must we jump through hoops and be transferred to other customer support representatives just to press a button that reads “cancel”? It should be easier than that. It would be considered stealing if it weren’t for the fine print in the terms of use (wow, please always read those).