Pet Peeve: Verification boxes

The internet has a lot of great uses and has made life easier for everyone in countless ways.  Sometimes too much so but that's a post for another time.  There is a lot of garbage on the net too but one of the biggest annoyances for me is the verification boxes sites use to make sure you aren't a robot spamming their page. 

Granted this is totally a first-world problem but it drives me crazy when I go to buy concert tickets or enter a contest and it gives me a box with letters that look like they were smashed with a sledgehammer.  Today I got this box to fill out:

What the hell is that?  It took three more tries, with three different groups of letters, before I was able to guess the correct pass code and even then I don't think I got it right.  And if the letters aren't frustrating enough, try clicking on the audio speaker icon for help.  It basically sounds like a robot having a seizure.