Dont You Just Hate That

Don't you just hate when you hold the ketchup bottle over your French fries and the first thing that comes out is red water? People who think soy is the solution to all health problems? The fact that Barry Manilow didn't write his hit song, "I Write the Songs"? Almost as if in answer to Barbara Ann Kipfer's 14,000 Things to Be Happy About (over 1 million copies in print) and its legion of sunny readers, Scott Cohen has compiled an obsessive, hilarious compendium of life's irritations--the myriad little annoyances, vexations, injustices, and petty pretensions that make any sane person cringe. Of course, this is more than snippy waiters or rude drivers who cut you off. It is a finely honed selection of 738 exasperating things, people, situations, complaints, and attitudes that everyone who's ever had a bad day can appreciate. And which will make us all feel better, just because we know someone else is paying attention--at last. Talk about annoying: Yoga instructors who smoke. Pets that only show affection right before mealtime. Tipping someone who hasn't earned it only because you don't want to look cheap. Late fees for a video you didn't have time to watch. The second-to-last day of a two-week vacation. A sneeze that lingers in your nose, doesn't come out, and then is absorbed by your forehead. When your Cracker Jack has melted into one big Jack. When your doctor asks if you mind if an intern watches your colonoscopy.

Scott Cohen lives in New York City. Alone.