Passive Aggressive Notes: Painfully Polite and Hilariously Hostile Writings

Have you ever vented your pent-up irritation through the time-honoured medium of The Note? Perhaps you've been on the receiving end of one yourself? Yeah, well, so have these guys. With the book's banner reading 'Warning: Contains sugarcoated anger' it basically does what it says on the tin. This is a glossy collection of notes, alternately begging and angry, threatening and sugary, but all out to make a point. There are some from the workplace, some from student flats, and some from shared apartment buildings. Some are hilariously clever, some are downright venomous.

Aside from the brilliant ketchup note and possessive sandwich fiend on the cover, here are a few of my favourites:

> "This party would be way better if this music DIDN'T show more F**KING SUCK. xox"

> "Is there some Great-God of unwashed plates? Whom we must appease by building statues in his honour every day? Just a thought."

> (on vending machine) "This machine is like a box of chocolates! You never know what you'll get! (For Diet Pepsi, push Mountain Dew. For Brisk Tea push Mountain Dew.) Still haven't found the Mountain Dew."

> "STOP eating my soup! I know who you are. I'm watching you. I mixed a little Oxy Powder in my soup today. Care to find out what that is?? Try a bite..."

I think Dylan Moran summed it up pretty well in his stand-up show, talking about a particularly anal note-leaver in his student digs: "I used to leave a few notes for Tina myself. 'Dear Tina, eeeeeeverybody hates you.'" This would make a great novelty gift or toilet book - read it and cringe, people, read it and cringe! show less

In yet another blog-turned-book move, Passive Aggressive Notes pulls entries to the website passiveagressivenotes.com as well as never-before-seen notes submitted to website owner/author Kerry Miller. Miller explains in the introduction to the book that while on a first date, the topic of passive-aggressive notes left between roommates came up. Miller quipped that she should collect these notes -- and later decided this was a good idea. The idea quickly caught on as others began submitting passive-aggressive notes they had received or seen for inclusion on the website Miller created. The book includes a fair share of angry roommates, office co-workers, and co-tenants ranting on anything from unwashed dishes, unflushed toilets, loud show more noises at inappropriate hours, stolen food, opened mail, and so on. Some notes even caused reactionary notes, which add to the absurdity of the situation.

While the collection is certainly humorous, there's a fair amount of the “this is funny because it's true, but it's also sad because it's true” (in quotes because this is what my dad says about The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) feeling when reading this book. True, as the author says in the introduction, "the split between what is said and what is understood is what passive aggression so 'uniquely crazy-making,' and I think this contradictory quality is also what makes the written evidence of this behavior so compelling. Taken together, these notes are a revealing trip through our collective neurosis." Yes, there's a fair amount of criticism to be said about the passive-aggressive note writers who feel they cannot directly confront their offenders, but I think I'm more turned off by the ridiculous numbers of people who clearly never learned how to clean up after themselves or show a modicum of respect for other human beings. But perhaps that's just my passive-aggressiveness coming across in this review. :)

To sum up, this is an amusing collection of absurd little notes written about offensive, but ultimately mundane, ticks. But if you start thinking about it too hard like me, you might find yourself shaking your head in disgusted wonder as much as laughing out loud. show less

While not the typical "Ulysses" fare I peruse, sometimes "Ulysses" fare can drive one to want to repeatedly flush one's head into the toilet. And speaking of toilets, that's where books like this come in handy. No, not in the emergency situation where you may find your roommate has left you with half a square of Charmin on the roll after you've had a long night drinking Milk Stout and you can therefore use the pages of the book to aggravate that nasty case of hemorrhoids. No. A book like this comes in handy because it's light reading, it's funny, and if you've never written a "Passive-Aggressive Note" then you've probably received one. If you've experienced neither, then refer to the note you'll write to your roommate about the Charmin show more . . . or lack thereof. show less

This is really funny, and I completely understand the motivation that one might have for writing the notes....

I especially liked the one left on the restaurant tab tip line: "Boo You Fail". I have a better one, that I just might use myself: Good service earns a gratuity, poor service does not.....

I also liked the one left by "Vermin Inc" how a dirty kitchen helps them to multiply & attracts more types of unwanted visitors!

This books says quite a bit about "social commentary" in regards to how people deal with problems that could have a backlash response.

Exactly what the cover advertises. Most of the notes contained within are cringingly funny. All of them could have been, and maybe were, written my my mother. This book will convince you to scrape by without a roommate, even if you have to burn the furniture to heat your house this winter. Worth a look.

Very funny examples if the kinds of notes coworkers, roommates, and family members leave for others. Not all of them are necessarily passive aggressive in my book, just a way to let multiple people know the same thing, but most are really funny, some laugh-out-loud hilarious. Near the end the notes became similar so I felt I was rereading the book but overall it was very enjoyable.

Very funny examples if the kinds of notes coworkers, roommates, and family members leave for others. Not all of them are necessarily passive aggressive in my book, just a way to let multiple people know the same thing, but most are really funny, some laugh-out-loud hilarious. Near the end the notes became similar so I felt I was rereading the book but overall it was very enjoyable.