I don't know what it is, but the sound of pouring liquids drives me up the wall. Always has, always will. And the funny thing is, I've been surrounded by it for the past 2 years working at a coffee shop.
For example: When I hear the sound of hot water being poured into a cup for tea, every hair on my body stands up and I have this uncontrollable urge to jump towards the plopping, trickling water sound and scream at it, take the cup and punch, kick, hit, or crush it as soon as I can to make my delicate sonic torture end.
With every single cup of coffee I serve, while dispensing it I have to try and force myself to focus on another sound in the shop to take my mind off of the gurgling, splashy sound of the coffee stream swirling around in the cup that I'm holding. Sometimes I try and start a completely sterile, petty conversation with the customer to distract myself. The alternative? Listen to the sound, over time become completely disgusted, and end up taking a $40 air pot out back in the alley and hammering the shit out of it with a Louisville Slugger to get out that aggression.
Those little trickling desktop water fountains.. uuuuuuuuughghghg....
And don't even get me started on beer commercials that you hear on the radio. You know what sound I'm talking about - that thick stream of foamy, delicious, creamy, cold beer pouring into a cup... all recorded with a $4000 microphone to capture every god damn little refreshing, crispy nuance of liquid splashing into an icy, frosty mug. I kid you not - I have to change the radio station when I hear a beer commercial start up because I just KNOW that sound is coming. A beer commercial with no expensively recorded pouring beer sound would be like having the State Fair with no "this-and-that-on-a-stick" jokes: A) Both would never ever happen, and B) I would be the happiest man alive if they did.
Is there a cure for this? Hypnosis? Ear plugs? Meditation? Pills? Do share if you have an answer.
Watch out for "Sounds I Hate Volume II": Loud Eaters.
