I had a Swiss A330 inbound to ZRH from the south the other day and I only had 3 aircraft on freq flying toward the holding fix to the west of the field. This tfc has to be sequenced with tfc approaching from the west and southwest which is another sector. So I have to space my tfc in with the tfc from the other sector which are not on my freq. It sounds quiet and when I see that this guy has passed the speed-limit-point and is still shunting, I politely tell him to reduce.
Comes the reply "Where is the traffic" Now if there is no tfc, then I tell the inbounds that there are no ATC speed restrictions and he can happily shunt along.
It seems that folks behave the worst when they're on their home turf.
Sure you appreciate a reminder every now and then, and sure there are ATC's that are downright useless.
It also helps to tell pilots how long they're gonna kept on hdg when they're given vectors. Then there are very few comebacks.