Things that Irritate Us Most !

Telemarketing calls, bad drivers and poor customer service are our most irritating bugbears, 4400 people have confirmed.

Inventions of modern life such as spam email, inconsiderate mobile phone use and speech recognition answering services rated significantly higher on the aggravation scale than longstanding irritants such as barking dogs and having to wait in line.

The results, released today, reveal the majority of Australians think the number of daily hassles and irritating situations we endure has increased in the past five years.

From a list of 32 common daily hassles, respondents were asked to indicate which irritated them.

Inconsiderate behaviour - including dinner-time telemarketing calls, talking to a "robot" and not a "real person", unfriendly or uncaring customer service, driving dangerously to get ahead of traffic, competing for a car space or queue jumping - was a universal annoyance.

People older than 40 experienced more irritation around technology, violence (on TV and on the streets) and bad language than younger respondents.

The Australian Psychological Society, which conducted the nationwide survey, said an individual's response to stress could have an adverse impact on health, leading to high blood pressure, anxiety and relationship troubles. Spokeswoman Amanda Gordon said that while a large majority of respondents didn't retaliate or become physically or verbally aggressive, most people tended to be passive, preferring to talk themselves through the situation, talk to someone else or plan how to avoid the situation again.

She said people needed to learn how to be assertive to deal with situations that really get under their skin. "We know that not responding in an assertive way can [affect] self-esteem and, in some cases, even lead to anxiety or depression."

The best way to deal with an irritating situation was to state the other person's need, state your own, then find a compromise that tried to meet everyone's needs, she said.

"Being assertive is not generally a skill that comes naturally to us and requires effort and training but helps to ensure a 'win-win' outcome."

The top strategies participants used to manage their irritations included

humour (36 %),

taking a few deep breaths and staying calm (32 %),

talking themselves through the issue (28 %),

talking to someone else (27 %),

planning how to avoid getting into the same situation again (23 %)

and exercising (21 %).

The Sun-Herald