Abra....
One thing that baffles me is why sometimes we get cleared direct to some extremely distant point on our flight plan (usually greeted with great enthusiasm of course!) only to be told two minutes later to 'turn right/left ten degrees'.
Well, it gets you going in the right direction to start with. Then a slight tweak, right or left might just be required for other traffic reasons. Even with the small heading changes you'll probably find the track is more direct than the "standard".
Back to the thread and little peeves...
It's already been mentioned, but asking for "further" Climb or descent when a crew can see either visually or on TCAS that there is conflicting traffic 1000ft above or below. Now I KNOW what you want to do, and I will help you do it as soon as it is SAFE to do so.
Asking for Climb or descent and then saying, "oh, yeah, we can see that traffic" is just a WASTE of precious R/T time. Don't do it please.
Asking for desecnt MILES before it's actually needed can be a problem. If a pilot asks for descent I assume he means NOW, and I expect him to go down NOW, unless I have said the magic words "when ready".
I have no problem with crews getting set up early for descent, it's good airmanship to be ahead of the game, but why not say, "ABC123 requesting descent in XX miles"? and give the controller a clue.
Lastly. "Only Aeroplane in the Sky syndrome". Come across these pilots daily, all ATCOs do. Usually with no R/T discipline, the a/c arrives on freq blindly transmitting over everyone else, or jumping in when an ATCO is waiting for a readback. Some Big Airlines have more of these people than others, and yes it is noticable.
time for my injection....
Rgds BEX