Am I Irritable or Are You Annoying?

Seriously, which is it? I realized yesterday that I am either surrounded by the most annoying people in the free world, or I am seriously irritable and intolerant. Here are a few of my favorite examples.

1. At the bookstore where I work, people often walk up to the counter, where I greet them with "Hello" or "How can I help you?" or some other such nicety. Many (rude) people reply to my friendliness with a gruff announcement of a book title, so that the exchange goes like this:
"Hi, how are you?"
"1776!" (a bestselling book title by David McCullough)
So this is nonsensical and rude, right? If I greet you, don't just throw inarticulate demands at me! Would it really take that much more time to stop and say hello? No, it wouldn't. I know this because I am more inclined to hurry if I like you! So be nice, people.

2. People who talk during class. This irritates the crap out of me. If you need a pencil, fine. Ask me for a pencil. But once I give it to you, SHUT THE HELL UP! This is not social hour. I don't care where you lost your pencil and I don't care that you just had it ten minutes ago. I care about what the professor is saying because that's what I will be tested on later. So shut up and don't talk to me during class.

3. People who talk to me while I'm wearing headphones. If I am wearing headphones, it's a pretty good indication that I am listening to music. If I am not listening to music, then I am wearing them specifically so THAT YOU WON'T TALK TO ME. Take the hint. Leave me alone.

4. People who talk to me while I am engaged in any activity at all. Yesterday I was in the library studying. It's set up so that there are 4 chairs around each table. I was sitting in a chair around a table where no one else was sitting. This girl comes up to me and asks if it is okay if she sits there. "Sure," I say, assuming she means she will sit there and study and be quiet.
At first, I am happy and able to go about my business since she is in fact leaving me alone. Eventually I finished the chapter and decided to work on a logic puzzle to pass the time. So I put on my headphones and started the music as well. Here's where the fun starts. This girl gets up, comes over to my chair, kneels on the ground with her arms folded on my arm rest (I swear this is true! I couldn't make this up!) and puts her chin practically in my lap. Then she says something to me (I'm not sure what since I was making a huge show of sighing in exasperation while turning my music off). So I say, "What?" and she says sweetly "Whatcha doin? Is that a puzzle? How do you play? Is it fun?" I am not kidding! This happened to me yesterday! Is she one of the most annoying people in the world, or was I unreasonably irritated?

Seriously, which is it?