Spitting in public, cutting into a queue and bad driving top the list of irritations for most Asians, according to a survey released by Reader's Digest yesterday.
Poor service in shops and restaurants also got on the nerves of 82 percent of 3,600 people surveyed around Asia, said the study due to be published in next month's edition of the magazine.
Although spitting is a common practice in China, it proves to be an extreme offense for more than nine out of 10 people in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Editor-in-chief Jim Plouffe believes the SARS crisis raised public awareness of health concerns in the country.
The survey quoted one young man in Shanghai who said: "Every time I step out of a car, I see a blob of something on the road. It's not just disturbing, it harms the image of our city."
Poor personal hygiene, dog mess in the streets and parks, littering, swearing, smoking and noisy neighbors also made the list -- but the survey found there was lots more, too.
Lack of punctuality, computer crashes, crowded public transport, telemarketers, Internet pop-up ads and people talking loudly on mobile phones were cited.
Some people also named parents who don't control their kids in public, leering old men and dirty toilets as sources of annoyance.
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