Poorly designed things that make using them difficult?

[Whatisthisfuckery]

Spice jars, who in hell has designed the dimensions of spice jars? What measurement of spices does one usually find in a recipe? Teaspoons. What can you not quite fit in a spice jar? A fucking teaspoon. Whose bloody bright idea was it to design a jar that makes it hard to dispense the most common measurement of the ingredient contained within?

Ahh, that’s better, I needed that rant.

Go on, rant away. What poorly designed thing makes you angry inside?

@darefullyciverse

Can I nominate Morrisons supermarket

Yes, ours has cheese in two entirely different places, deli cheese at the end of the fruit and veg and prepackaged cheese at the other end of the supermarket

Oooh that drives me mad!

Some of the deli cheese in the first part is pre-wrapped, so I pick up a lump of something like stilton. Then, after walking round the rest of the store, I get to yogurts, cream, etc, and there's a better stilton at a better price sitting there in the fridge. Sometimes the better stilton is at the start, but I think 'no, I'll pick the good stuff in the yogurt section', get to the yogurt section and its crap, so I have to walk right back to the first bit again. Jeez.

@SplendidSuns1000
I have a coffee bean grinder that is entirely not safe to be washed. It's designed for coffee, herbs and other small things to be ground so it's not just reserved for coffee. Even when wiping it out (around the non-detachable blades) there's always a hint of basil in my cappuccino.

Grind some rice in your bean grinder. It stays dry this way as well as being 100% clear of coffee grounds. This always works for me

[quote SunshineCake]@AlanThePig. On some appliances you can swap the doors to open the other way... I had this and DH casually said I can swap the door around if you want.[/quote]
I did find a couple that you could, but they all seemed to be white. I was most annoyed as my washer is a Samsung and I wanted the dryer to match but the door wasn't changeable. First world problems I admit, but it's little things like that which make life easier.

Toothpaste and other tube solutions. I have a few of these kicking about the house. If you know anyone with a 3D printer they take about an hour to print out and work brilliantly. I use a bloody expensive toothpaste and I want every last drop out of that tube 😂

I thought supermarkets did this sort of thing (and regularly moved things) to force you to cover more ground and thus see items you didnt intend to buy, and make more purchases?

@mildlymiffed

Douwe Egberts coffee bottle. Impossible to lever the lid off easily.

Only buy it as it's dp's fave. But now refuse to make him a cuppa as it is the most irritating lid I've ever come across. Who designs these things?!!

Twist and kind of pull up on one side at the same time - works every time for me but DH won't have it, so I watch and laugh at him almost straining his back trying to just pull it straight up and off

@SwanShaped

My washing machine has a timer. Except it totally makes up the time. It can go one hour, 20 mins, 40 mins, 25 mins, half an hour then suddenly down to 9 mins, back up to 15 and then down to 5. I was so annoyed I looked it up in the manual. It said that all times are estimates and can vary.

It isn't an EBac is it? Mine does this too and it's the only thing I can fault it for!

Lots of washing machines do this as they evaluate the variable conditions for each bit of the cycle as they go. I have two different machines, they both do it - one of them I even have to lie to, about which cycle we are invoking, to get it to re spin at a higher speed because its a chuffing know it all. I expect one day I will be in the papers/online news as a passer by films me beating it with a branch in the style of Basil Fawlty and the car. They have both been monasticly adjusted and now observe vows of silence.

@BramStoker

Can I nominate Morrisons supermarket

The layout is so frigging frustrating with stupid 'market place' area which makes it impossible to get all the fruit n veg you want without going round in circles

Our local one now has a big booze section accross the back which completely f**ks up your flow too

There is a very good reason why most supermarkets just consist of a row of nice straight aisles!

My local Tesco had just been refurbed and guess which other supermarkets layout they've copied?

Glad I only ever go in for odd bits.

My local Morrisons currently has the fishmongers, butcher, deli counters and bakery along the back. So I imagine it's due for a change and the booze will be along the back next time I go in.

And they say Design Tech in school isn't necessary....you do realise product and packaging design is a part of that don't you?

It’s a Hotpoint ‘Smart’ machine. Glad to hear it’s not only mine. Dumbass invention though. I’d rather it just said no time.

Lol popeye

Washing machines that don't actually WASH the clothes IN water, but just make them slightly damp and then smack them around in the drum for two (or three or four) hours. That's not how you get things clean. All it does is ruin your clothes because everything is rubbing against everything else all the time instead of being cushioned by soapy water.

And no, it isn't eco-friendly, because the laundry doesn't come out properly clean, so you end up having to wash it twice.

I want a washing machine where the load isn't pummelled to death, but sloshes about in bubbly water, and the dirt gets washed off.

Washing machines used to work perfectly. And then they went and fucked it up.

@LemonadeSunshine

The postman propping all deliveries against the outside of the front door....which opens outwards. We're either trapped in the house if the box is large enough or it plops onto the floor and gets immediately wet. There is a perfectly functional made for purpose box for these next to the door.

I've had the same problem. I've just got a door sticker from Amazon that says "Warning; this door opens outwards". A 15kg bag of dog food propped up against the door is no fun!

Manufacturers who refuse to clearly show what plastic recycle number is on a product. Out council are very strict and only take numbers 1,2 and 5, rejecting your entire bin and or possible fine if you get it wrong. A 5 and an illegal 3 look surprisingly similar when embossed in font size 3 in one colour plastic

I find it even more annoying that the next authority to me takes the recycling that mine wont.
Can the councils not get together to swap or use the same recycling companies? So that all plastics can go in.
If in doubt now i throw in the black bin, which defeats the point of recycling at all.
Also I need a bigger recycling bin and smaller black bin. Or the recycling taken more often than black bin.
Every single fortnight one of us has to get in the bin physically and smush it down so the last few bits can fit.

@fucknuckle

apple carplay. useless fucking thing. switch engine on, connect phone, choose source as my phone and...nothing. go onto amazon music on my phone, select album and press play - this seems to entirely depend on how amazon music is feeling at that moment. sometimes it plays, sometimes it tells me there’s a streaming error. it’s slowly driving me MENTAL. i just want to listen to my music in the car, using technology specifically designed for this purpose.

(it’s a 2020 Toyota CH-R in case anyone knows the secret)

This happens to me as well. Drives me bonkers. It will work if I have the phone on charge. Sometimes. However, sometimes it decides to play Handel's Messiah. I know not why. I do not, nor never have had, The Messiah on my phone.

If anyone can tell me how they use voice calls in the car I'd be forever grateful.
Last week I tried to call my husband's phone. It started dialling some random number. I swore and it changed to dialling an international number. Fucking thing.

Ooh this thread is just feeding my pregnant rage hormones!!

-Board games that don’t fit back in the box because they require some sort of self assembly and now must sit gathering dust.
-My rear windscreen wiper doesn’t come on unless I use the screen wash. Which sprays everywhere and leaves drip marks. Very annoying when I’ve just washed the car. It also doesn’t turn off. Until I turn the engine off.

• Most packaging is annoying. Especially the moulded plastic.
• Washing machine detergent drawer doesn’t come out for cleaning so it’s permanently mouldy at the back, where all manners of brushes have been poking at it to no avail.
• My bathroom which doesn’t have a window. The steam and cleaning fumes can’t be aired out. Not to mention other bathroom smells...
• Stickers in appliances or dishes that don’t come off cleanly. Whyyyy.

I just thought of another one...although it's a bit specific! I drive Fiat ambulances and they have a lane sensor which goes off and sounds like a fecking machine gun everytime you change lanes. Obviously this is something that you do a lot in an ambulance. There is a switch to turn it off, but, it goes back on every time you switch off the ignition.

Ffs, it drives me mad, how I've not died from the shock of a machine gun sound going off is beyond me.

Some of the moulded plastic hard shells with a lip can be subdued by using a tin opener, safer than a knife. If you have a side attacking opener you can use it on the big end of a corned beef tin. I mention the big end as still laughing at my friend who tried the small end and lost her shit at her new predicament : top tip also pierce little end with tin opener to help the meat glide out, good for spam tins too.

Butter.

@exiledfromcornwall

A very timely thread, as I have just been wrestling again with my pepper mill. How do you get the peppercorns into the ludicrously small space with the metal thing poking through it without them going all over the kitchen floor?

You wrap your thumb and index finger round the top of the mill, which then gives you a bigger space into which you can jiggle the peppercorns.

I use a funnel for pepper and salt grinders. It fits in between the metal pole and the side, pour some in and shake it down.

@DearTeddyRobinson the dyson is operated whilst holding on to the button so it doesn't run out of charge, if you had to stop to pick something up from the floor, it's unlikely you will stop the dyson in order to do so, the release button will just make it stop, so charge lasts

@Dilbertian omg yessss!!!!! Why would they create a blender that can't be washed when raw food can even be in contact with it!!! I got so annoyed once and washed it with water.... I've never used it since though and then we moved house and I chucked it away

Resealable plastic bags for cereal etc. I preferred the old way, twist the top of the bag and use a wire tie.
Much quicker and easier, and lighter weight plastic so less waste.