News that adware maker and behavioral marketing firm Claria is attempting to phase out the bothersome pop-ups used for ad delivery left me wondering about my own ability to forgive and forget – especially when it comes to the corporate world.

When it comes to friends, family, acquaintances or co-workers, I like to think that I’m able let go and not hold grudges. I forgive, though I’m not sure I ever forget. And maybe, just maybe, I hold on to some lingering resentments, but those are issues that I’ll leave for the professionals to analyze.

Anyway, there are “a few” people that I’ve had run-ins with that I’ve been able to overcome the issues and move on to new phases of our relationships. But when it comes to businesses I have to admit that I’m really not one for giving second chances. Restaurants, retailers or particular brands – if you’ve done something that I perceive to have impacted me negatively, then our relationship is usually over. Done. Fini.

My reasoning is that I have so many other options. If Sprint doesn’t meet my needs as a customer then there’s always Verizon, Cingular or AT&T. If a restaurant has rude service and so-so food, there are thousands more in San Francisco to try.

When it comes to friends, folks aren’t lining up to be one of my best pals. I realize it’s a very tough job and not everyone has the chops. That makes me appreciate and hang on to the dear ones that have already made the cut.

So, even if you stole my college boyfriend, didn’t invite me to your second wedding, never returned my favorite dress, ruined my brand new white carpet in your red wine stupor and never offered to pay the cleaning bill or told me that my uber-expensive haircut wasn’t very flattering, it’s likely that we are still friends (or possibly still related). Sure, I probably fumed about those things at the time. For sure I complained to my husband. I might have even bad-mouthed you to my Mom or wrote you a flaming email that contained some creative cursing. But I didn’t simply write you off for good. Instead, we buried the hatchet and moved on.

However, if you served me sub-par seafood, subjected me to Musak for 60 minutes, double billed me for services never rendered, misled me about the time it would take to repair my much-needed laptop, didn’t deliver the correct sofa at the designated time, or unbeknownst to me bestowed a mountain of spyware or adware that caused my computer to become a useless hunk of silicon and circuits, then forget it – your on my list.

And once you’re on “The List” there’s not much you can do to get off it. Even if you promise to change your ways, offer me a free dinner, tempt me with upgrades or add new and improved to your product label. I’m not coming back. And believe me, I’ll be telling more than just my Mom about your bad behavior.

So, can companies ever polish their tarnished public image or change their bad reputations? I’m not sure. We could ask Martha Stewart. Sure, there have been some corporate comebacks. Johnson & Johnson bounced back from the 1982 Tylenol tampering debacle. However, I’m at a loss to name others right now.

It’s not an easy road to mount an image turnaround. Claria has its work cut out to change its image as the poster child for annoying adware and pop-ups. Microsoft was likely very skeptical about Claria’s bad rep. Many say that’s what sunk Microsoft’s plans to buy Claria.

But this time I’m going to try and take the old wait-and-see approach when it comes to Claria and others that might be looking to clean up their acts. It’s hard for me - especially after Claria’s missteps I really want to revert back to my old attitude of guilty until proven innocent, but I will resist the urge,

Let me know if you think Claria can change. lisap@revenutoday.com