As marketing and public relations counselors, we have the opportunity to get close to client representatives and sometimes one of our most valuable services is to let them vent about their frustrations with the job, sometimes the spouse or even the country.

We’d like to extend this service to the blogosphere by letting you vent about your pet peeves. You’re sure to get a sympathetic ear from us – and scads of others who share your angst. To help you get revved up, I’ve included a few of my own all too common annoyances.

Bookworm – and I do mean worm. You’re in a bookstore avidly perusing the titles when you reach the shelf where someone has picked up a volume and turned the shelf itself into a personal recliner.  Engrossed in his reading, he makes no attempt to move, obscuring your view of authors M-P and totally oblivious to your sweeping detour around his person. Okay, it’s not the end of the world, but what are all those chairs for? And besides, I obviously need that self-help book you’re blocking from my view.

I have a hang-up. You’re driving along within the speed limit, thank you, and you come upon a car that is moving slower than the thoroughfare demands. You immediately surmise “elderly driver”– you nefarious profiler, you – only to realize when you get around the offender that it’s someone chatting on his or her cell phone. I suppose you think you should get points for being more careful while talking-while-driving, eh? Not so fast. Your selfish – and probably nonsensical – conversation is holding up a line of commuters behind you, who now have to use their cell phones to tell workmates they’re running late.

When did you arrive in this country? You have been in line at the drive-thru or on line at Starbucks for a good five minutes now.  But you wait until you’re at the window or register to contemplate the full dizzying array of menu options. Glazed or cinnamon, grande or vente, mashed potatoes or fried– these are all difficult choices that you should have decided before you got to the order taker! How many times have you been here?