PeevePile • A Pet Peeve Archive » People who touch computer screens.

People who touch computer screens.

Unless it's a touch screen, this is totally unnecessary. Point at what you're talking about and leave your greasy thumbs fingers for the remote control.

— Tedman from Mt. Vernon, Illinois | Technology | 2.2.2010 | Comments (5)

peeve: when people get angry at you for touching their pristine computer screens. wipe it off. i didnt mean to touch it

— sprinkles posted 2/3/2010

This is not by accident that we're talking about it — it's when it's over and over as a means of communication, and mushes the screen so that a rainbow of pain forms around the offensive finger. It's rough when it's your screen, and you work for the other person, so you don't want them to tell them to stop. It can screw your LCD screen up!

— Sammy posted 2/4/2010

I'm guilty of this one, I'm a self confessed screen toucher. Always have been, always will be. I sell computers, so I'm often pointing out things on screen to my customers and I guess I just like having the tactile response of touching the screen rather than hovering my finger over it. But I certainly understand why it annoys other people.

— Sebastian posted 10/2/2010

I agree, screen touchers piss me off. My brother is the worst for this... Whenever he uses my laptop, it looks like a potato-chip-grease finger painting. If I could just wipe if off and be done with it, maybe it wouldn't bother me as much (like you could with CRT screens). However, no matter how many times you wipe an LCD, there are always streaks.

— Nocturnesthesia posted 10/6/2010

Guilty here. I just can't seem to not touch what I'm pointing at, I think you'll think I'm pointing at something else. I never got why people get so worked up about it. When I was a kid, my aunt warned me to never touch her laptop screen because it would wreck it. Incredulous and curious, I waited til she was gone and then agressively touched the hell out of that screen. It didn't do a thing. And as a mom of 3 I can tell you, lcd screens are the easiest things in the house to wipe clean

— posted 12/29/2011

Saying that men watching their own kids are "babysitting." » 5 stars

Water on the counter at a public bathroom such that when you lean over to wash your hands, your stomach and crotch area get all wet. » 5 stars

When people tell me to "calm down" when I am already calm. » 5 stars

Putting on a clean pair of socks, entering the bathroom or kitchen and standing in a water splash left on the floor, thus getting your clean socks wet and forcing you to change them. » 5 stars

Excessive and difficult-to-remove packaging » 4.95238 stars

Rolls of toilet paper in which the size and weight to tensile strength ratio renders it impossible to dispense the paper in the usual manner (ie: pull on the end, roll turns, paper advances). » 4.93333 stars

Doctors "shortening" your wait time by making you wait in the exam room instead. » 4.93333 stars

People who touch computer screens. » 4.91667 stars

Using mobile phones at the register. » 127 Comments

The non-existance of unpadded bras in cup sizes less than D. Macy's, Victoria's secret, and Bloomingdales do not carry them. unpadded. » 41 Comments

People who put ketchup in the refrigerator. » 41 Comments

When pregnant women complain about being pregnant. » 39 Comments

People who deliberately pronounce words incorrectly and repeatedly. » 34 Comments

Women who are just so beautiful they don't have to contribute to sex... » 32 Comments

"Irregardless." » 30 Comments

Saying that men watching their own kids are "babysitting." » 27 Comments

Using mobile phones at the register. » super – Peenevoni 2/6

Using mobile phones at the register. » super – ignolefolla 2/6

Using mobile phones at the register. » super – shoopsync 2/5

Using mobile phones at the register. » super – Tixexteve 2/5

10.31.10

Thanks to a recent torrent of spam, I’ve had to disable comments for a while. I’ve now removed the ability to put links in the comments. Email me if you want to put something in, such as five links to knock-off handbag sites, and I’ll happily oblige.

09.10.10

I’ve added two features to the sidebar: Highest Rating and Hotly Debated. They will be updated daily. To my surprise, the ketchup-in-fridge peeve seemed to really incite some anger — it’s clearly a complex situation that affects us all.

It should be noted that the star ratings indicate how much you agree with, or appreciate, the peeve, not how you feel when it happens.

I will be adding a Paragon Peeves section as well, for my and my friends’ personal favorites.

Please enjoy, and contact me if you have any new feature ideas.