Pet Peeves : Got a complaint about living in our fair City of Angels? Take a number. : CITY SMART: How to thrive in the urban environment of Southern California.

Laid back? Yes. Lackadaisical? No way.

Nearly everybody has a pet peeve about life in Los Angeles. And nearly nobody’s shy about sharing it.

Buses that fog the street with diesel smoke and hog right-turn lanes at busy intersections. Shoppers who weasel into the 10-items-or-less express checkout line with 15 items--then rifle through a wad of cents-off coupons before deciding to pay by check. Barking dogs. Graffiti vandals.

One out of three questioned in Los Angeles say their main gripe involves the automobile.

We asked a few people to describe their pet peeves:

* “People who take from Social Security who don’t need it. It’s terrible, disgusting. All you have to do is walk down to the Social Security office and you see it. The money is not going to be there in the future for people who really need it.”--Robert Madrid, 32, street musician from Hollywood, as he played the flute for coins outside Mann’s Chinese Theatre.

* “The crime. I’ve had my purse stolen, my wallet stolen. When I first came here it was marvelous. Today, you don’t feel safe walking at night.” --Elizabeth Taylor (“that’s really my name”), a 23-year resident of Beverly Hills, walking her poodle along tree-lined Lapeer Drive.

* “Rubberneckers. The southbound Santa Ana, especially between Washington and Paramount, is the worst. There’ll be a two-mile backup and you expect to see mangled iron when you get there. But at the end of this sea of red taillights is a normal car and a normal policeman giving a ticket.”--Marc Petrie, 41, a Los Angeles Criminal Courts computer supervisor from Tustin.

* “Snobby people who look down on you. They basically sneer as you stand here to get food. They look at you like you are a scumbag. Maybe they don’t even realize it, but they do.” --Mike Dunn, 26-year-old homeless and unemployed boat rigger eating beans, rice and macaroni at a food giveaway in Santa Monica’s Palisades Park. * “The public education system. It doesn’t really deliver, so you’re forced into private schools. Over 60% of the kids in my daughter’s kindergarten didn’t speak English as a first language. She deserves a chance to get an education from a teacher who doesn’t have to concentrate on bringing everyone up to a common playing field.”--David Stepp, 40, a bank marketing executive who lives in Glendale.

* “Traffic is never really predictable. It takes 45 minutes to get to work one day and an hour and a half the next. I live 20 miles from work. . . . I drive a 300 ZX, but you can’t enjoy it if you can only go 20 m.p.h.” --Michael Petranek, 28, Hermosa Beach resident who is a commercial credit analyst in Downtown Los Angeles.

* “Flakiness of people. It takes quite some time to find real friends here. People smile, but you find out the hard way they’re not going to be there for you. Maybe because this is the entertainment capital of the world has something to do with it.”--Paloma Marugan, 40, deputy commercial consul for the Spanish Embassy in Downtown Los Angeles.

* “Freeway detours. You’re on your way home from work and they send you on a three-mile detour before they pump you back into the traffic. It happens every day on the 110 freeway over around Slauson. They’re building something to connect to the airport, right? I won’t benefit from it. It just seems like poor planning.” --Javier Flores, 25, East Los Angeles resident who works as a department store security officer.

* “The O.J. trial. It’s on TV all the time and that’s all people talk about. It’s really confusing now. It’s almost like a soap opera. I watch it every day, but I’ll be glad when it’s over.”--Debra Herron, 38, child-care helper from South-Central Los Angeles. * “Hot weather. I hate the heat. I like the rain we were having--I’m more of a cold-weather type of person. The Valley’s always hot. I lived in Simi Valley for a while and it was windy there--I didn’t like that, either. I’m thinking about moving to Seattle. I’m serious.” --Josh Lyles, 18, college freshman who lives in North Hollywood.

* “Slow drivers. Ones who don’t pay attention to traffic lights and aren’t really sure where the accelerator pedal is. You get behind somebody doing 20 and you miss the light that you could have gotten through. Old people are poor drivers--they should test them more. And have you ever gone through Chinatown? Scary.”--Robert Irons, 35, mechanic who lives in West Los Angeles.

* “The contrast between wealth and poverty. The wealthiest 1%, if I recall correctly, pay 70% of the taxes. The poor are becoming poorer. The American dream is a pretty long shot nowadays. L.A.’s becoming a totally unique place--like a Third World country.” --Carlos Fernandez, 48, health insurance service sales manager who lives in Santa Monica.

* “Parking. It’s a big problem--places you want to park always have ‘No Parking’ signs. There’s very little parking in L.A. And we’ve got the most people. Our customers are always complaining . . . there aren’t enough parking meters. And parking enforcement drives by, one after another.”--Sylvia Lee, 22-year-old Downey resident who works as a clerk at a Melrose Avenue boutique.

* “I don’t think I have any pet peeves. I like it here. I’m relaxed. I think part of the reason is I’m from Nigeria.” --Larry Orilonise, 30-year-old Parking Enforcement Officer, citing a red Mustang parked at an expired meter outside Sylvia Lee’s boutique.