Here are two habits people have developed that I dislike because they convey "You are so unimportant that I don't even want to waste a few words on you."

One is when people announce themselves merely by saying their own names, like this:
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The phone was ringing.
"Hello."
"Leeneia? John Paul Jones."
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I want to say, "What about him? If you want to speak to him, you've called the wrong number. He's been dead quite some time, anyway."


The other situation is when I am waiting on a customer in the fabric & craft store, and another person barges up to the table and snaps out a single word at me, paying no attention the fact that it's not her turn and that I need to concentrate when I use computerizd equipment.

One day a burb-bitch came up and snapped, "Frogs?"

I could have said, "Are you looking for

    fabric with frogs printed on it,
    for Chinese-style frogs for closing a garment,
    for the wire frogs used to arrange flowers,
    for a stuffed frog toy,
    or a ceramic garden frog?"

Instead I followed the policy I had worked out already and ignored her existence.