Web Site Tracks People's Pet Peeves

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jon Williamson sensed that just about everybody out there had a pet peeve. Now he's got some statistical data to prove it.

People talking too loudly in public, yakking away on cell phones or speaking in theaters during the movie are among the leading complaints his company's Web site, mypetpeeves.com, has catalogued since it began keeping track a couple years ago. Then there are people who don't listen when you do talk (a favorite pet peeve of women) or dogs that won't stop talking (in their case it's called barking).

“We've had over 100,000 from people all over the world,'' since MyPetPeeves began tracking them, he said.

MyPetPeeves is proposing that people fight back with stuffed animals, electronic cards and other feel-good doodads it offers. Or, if buying stuff is also a pet peeve, they can sound off for free on the Web site.

Since he's been tracking pet peeves, Williamson has found that as the culture evolves so do people's gripes.

When MyPetPeeves came into existence, for example, telemarketers were a major headache. Since the creation of the National Do Not Call Registry, they appear to have become less of an annoyance.

And while people consistently get ticked off at talking in movie theaters, they seem to accept that ticket prices will rise over time.

“People are willing to pay as long as no one talks during the movie or kicks their chair,'' Williamson said.