Life's Little Annoyances

http://www.lifeslittleannoyances.com/

This is a report I heard on CNN Headline News this morning, I think it will greatly reduce mine and your stress. Here is the transcript from their website
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Name your pet peeve. Is it cell phones, junk mail, crazy drivers? Well, thanks to life's little annoyances, we've got strategies to fight back.

Take those subscription cards that cascade out of magazines. Some folks mail them back blank just to make the publisher foot the bill for the prepaid postage.

And there is one guy who fills junk mail reply envelopes with actual junk to make them heavier and cost the sender more.

"New York Times" reporter Ian Urbina collected such anecdotes for his book. Annoyances like Starbucks lingo. They want you to call a small a tall. Resist.

IAN URBINA, AUTHOR, "LIFE'S LITTLE ANNOYANCES": The same thing is kicking that Coke machine when it keeps your coins. It is not going to get your soda, but it feels pretty good doing it.

MOOS: What annoys David Terry is the adult video store near his Hamilton, New Jersey home. He calls it a dump. So, whenever he sees someone going into the porn store, he does the honk and wave to mortify patrons.

DAVID TERRY, ANNOYED BY ADULT VIDEO STORE: And they are thinking like, who was that? Was that my brother-in-law? Was that my boss?

MOOS: Maybe bad parking drives you nuts. When Jason Brunet (ph) sees someone taking up two spaces, he leaves a leaflet offering a free parking tutorial at this web site. Wrong, wrong. Correct.

But bad driving rather than bad parking spawned roadragecards.com. There's a card for every occasion like this really mean one to flash when you see a driver putting on makeup.

With signs like, I hope your cell phone gives you cancer. No wonder the cards carry a disclaimer, may result in injury or even death. Though some folks can take a joke each phrase comes in reverse so you can insult drivers in their mirror.

Who would think of this as a weapon against tailgaters? Allan Doeksen modified his rear wiper squirter.

ALLAN DOEKSEN, ANNOYED BY CARTS BLOCKING AISLES: Spray directly on their vehicle when they're behind me.

MOOS: Allan also gets mad at shoppers who leave their grocery carts blocking the aisles.

DOEKSEN: I would put expensive items in their cart or possibly some embarrassing items like condoms perhaps in their cart, as well, when they are not looking. So when they go to the checkout line they are slightly embarrassed.

MOOS: What annoys Chris Baker (ph) is when the person in front of him in the express checkout has too many items.

(on-camera): So what this guy does is count the culprits items out loud as the cashier scans each one, five, six, seven.

But almost nothing annoys folks more than loud cell phone conversations. So a Chicago graphic designer has created cards you hand out to offenders. We're aware that your ongoing conversation about your husband's vasectomy is very important to you, but we thought you would like you to know that it doesn't interest us in the least.

If you're very tall maybe you're annoyed by airline seats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was tired of being bopped in the knees by reclining seats.

MOOS: So Ira Goldman (ph) invented and now sells the knee defender.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The table comes down take the knee defenders seat won't recline.

MOOS: Whatever you do, don't use this on us. "TV B Gone" was dreamed up by a guy who was sick of seeing televisions everywhere. This universal remote turns off any TV. We caused confusion in the news room.

ROB FREHSE, CNN ASSIGNMENT MANAGER: Did you see our TVS? They're all going black.

MOOS: Now, what could cause that?

Sometimes all these tactics do is give you a chuckle. But when facing life's annoyances, laughter is music to your ears.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

This is great stuff, I an totally going to put this into practice!
Pax
Stephen