Hot buttons, everyone's got 'em, right?

In an unrelated email thread, a friend remarked that she has a particular "hot button." That is, a behavior that when someone does it she responds in a very negative fashion. A hot button is something that one person might react to very strongly where another person might just shrug it off. It doesn't necessarily have to be rational - it's just something that really sets you off.

That started me thinking that everyone probably has these things and maybe it'd be good to know about them. With that in mind, I invite you to respond with one or two of your hot buttons. If you feel like reposting this in your LJ so you can learn more about your friends by all means go ahead. (Oh and if you think I have other hot buttons feel free to share that with me, too.)

Probably my two biggest hot buttons are:

- Respect/honesty. I can put up with a lot if I feel like I'm being respected. This can be as simple as phrasing requests politely or taking a moment to couch a rejection in gentle language. It also subsumes honesty because I feel that people who lie to me are not respecting me. If you don't tell me the truth how can I feel you respect me?

- Willful ignorance. Sure, not everyone knows a thing but the people who go around deliberately maintaining (or even flaunting) their opinionated wrong-headedness make me homicidal. "I don't know" is a fine phrase - people ought not to be ashamed of using it when appropriate. "That happens not to be the case" is also a fine phrase; more people ought to care whether it is true.

Hot buttons, everyone's got 'em, right?

In an unrelated email thread, a friend remarked that she has a particular "hot button." That is, a behavior that when someone does it she responds in a very negative fashion. A hot button is something that one person might react to very strongly where another person might just shrug it off. It doesn't necessarily have to be rational - it's just something that really sets you off.

That started me thinking that everyone probably has these things and maybe it'd be good to know about them. With that in mind, I invite you to respond with one or two of your hot buttons. If you feel like reposting this in your LJ so you can learn more about your friends by all means go ahead. (Oh and if you think I have other hot buttons feel free to share that with me, too.)

Probably my two biggest hot buttons are:

- Respect/honesty. I can put up with a lot if I feel like I'm being respected. This can be as simple as phrasing requests politely or taking a moment to couch a rejection in gentle language. It also subsumes honesty because I feel that people who lie to me are not respecting me. If you don't tell me the truth how can I feel you respect me?

- Willful ignorance. Sure, not everyone knows a thing but the people who go around deliberately maintaining (or even flaunting) their opinionated wrong-headedness make me homicidal. "I don't know" is a fine phrase - people ought not to be ashamed of using it when appropriate. "That happens not to be the case" is also a fine phrase; more people ought to care whether it is true.