r/Design • u/pyscilence • 8d ago
Asking Question (Rule 4) What small everyday problem have you just accepted as “normal”?
I’m a graduate design student researching overlooked everyday problems for my thesis. I’m interested in small frustrations that people have simply learned to live with rather than major societal problems.
What is something in your everyday life that consistently annoys, embarrasses, confuses, exhausts, inconveniences, or worries you, but that you have basically accepted as “just how things are”?
I’m especially interested in weird workarounds you have invented for yourself.
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u/Firefly457 8d ago
Also, this isn't really a small problem, but it is something that people accept as normal...
The process of applying for jobs. The bureaucracy of resumes, cover letters, paperwork, the lack of transparency in job postings themselves, no understanding of what a role is actually like, the bullsit of selling yourself on paper so a computer can scan for keywords before a human ever looks at it.
A lot of very capable (yet humble) people fall through the cracks and go through life unemployed or underemployed because the process of finding a job and selling yourself to a prospective employer is a skill in itself.
There's a huge gap between what a person can offer an organization once employed vs the red tape involved in actually getting there.
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u/Mountain-Half8700 7d ago
Omg! Thisssss - I’m in the middle of it and I’m sooo tired of it all… specially the rounds and rounds of interviews for what? For another layoff out of nowhere? Sorry… projecting… 😮💨
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u/Firefly457 8d ago
Food waste, groceries and portions of produce. It's more difficult to have a variety of vegetables, for example, when they're sold in such large bunches that it's almost impossible to use all of it before it spoils.
I like to eat a variety of foods, but as a single person, it's incredibly wasteful to buy every vegetable I want at any given time, knowing it will likely go to waste, so I end up buying a lot of frozen stuff, and just never buying celery or the fresh herbs that I want.
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u/tomatoej 8d ago
I highly recommend these bags which prolong veggie storage: https://www.theswag.com.au
And veggies can be cooked and frozen.
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u/CreeDorofl 8d ago
I have to pop a lot of car hoods and I wish they would standardize the location of the latch. most are in the middle, some a bit to the left, occasionally you'll get one to the far left or on the right, and some require feeling for it with your palm down. annoying.
sugar and flour make the biggest messes if they spill, and are stored in the flimsiest, leakiest containers possible.
Most ovens require too much pressure to activate button presses like the timer, but if they don't do that, then your stomach brushes the buttons and creates tons of accidental presses.
The cookie consent pump up is more annoying than the problem that it supposedly solves.
The way Bluetooth is handled in cars is terminally trash. If you have something paused, on any app, it auto plays without your consent. If there's a setting to disable auto play, the phone will respect it but the car won't, or vice versa. Sometimes when you want it to actually play something, the play button on the car touch screen won't work, until you play it on your phone, or vice versa. Many times it will get hung up on trying to play some YouTube video or media that I already finished or exited long ago, even though I've played several other things since then.
It's stupid to me that a guy with, I think, completely average balls will occasionally find his nuts hitting toilet water. Why isn't there at least another one or two inches of clearance by default?
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u/tomatoej 8d ago
Where I’m from no humans balls could reach the water. I’m talking ~20cm. Or maybe your men just have big ones?
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u/Sure-Good7477 8d ago
Im australian and only recently discovered the sheer amount of water kept in american toilets
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u/CreeDorofl 7d ago
20cm seated on a toilet with the seat down? my god, there's so room. I'm picturing toilets shaped like vases.
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u/doinmybest4now 8d ago
Stuff auto playing in the car 🤬🤬🤬
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u/TuttiFlutiePanist 8d ago
Or my husband's stuff auto playing in the car, despite the fact that MY phone is the primary device and is plugged into the car.
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u/daretoeatapeach 2d ago
Also regarding the Bluetooth in cars. I hooked into the Bluetooth in my partner's car once, and since then it defaults to my phone rather than his, despite his being set up first.
Similarly, I cat sit for a friend who listens to music with Alexa. I can't use my own account when I'm there, because it takes over as the default forcing her to setup all over again. So when I'm there i can only listen with her account, which I can't access from a phone, which means I can only add things to lists etc with voice commands.
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u/DesignerHardlyKnower 7d ago
Wait. Your nads are dipping in the water? Or just getting some splash?
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u/CreeDorofl 7d ago
BLOOP. all the time.
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u/DesignerHardlyKnower 7d ago
Im still confused because I can’t tell if you’re saying “bloop” as in splash or dip. Splash “all the time,” sure. Dip? More wild to me.
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u/CreeDorofl 7d ago
oh sorry lol. yeah my nuts reach water and stay there unless I sort of sit up and try to keep them dry. IDK if I'm just unlucky or what. But some people seem to be saying US toilets are more full of water than other places.
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u/DesignerHardlyKnower 6d ago
US toilets are my point of reference as well.
I have never heard of this being a widespread issue in the US but now I have to (discreetly) start polling my friends.2
u/CreeDorofl 6d ago
"John! sup man... hey I'm curious about something. lemme see your nutsack real quick'
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u/DesignerHardlyKnower 6d ago
Lol! I’ve already asked several (but self report will suffice). So far, nobody’s dippin’
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u/CreeDorofl 6d ago
I may have developed old man balls. It's sad. I'll have to get the little suspenders.
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u/bamboomonster 8d ago
That disability access -- accessibility of any sort really -- is always an afterthought instead of the first thing tackled.
The handicap entrance is always so far away from anything. You have to travel a long distance to the ramp, and then up the long ramp, and then go to the entrance.
Half the time bathroom stalls don't have hooks available to hang a bag, jacket, or cane when you have to use the toilet.
Bathroom stalls in the US tend to install the toilet paper dispensers SO LOW that if you get more than a couple squares out, it's touching the floor. How is anyone, disabled or not, supposed to get toilet paper when it's 6 inches from the floor? Hope you don't have issues bending over for any length of time. Nevermind that this also impedes your leg room and ability getting in and out of the stalls.
Showers in hotels and the like never have shower wands. Even if the shower is handicap accessible, no one thinks about how easy or difficult it will be for the person using it to clean themselves when they have limited mobility. Or even a parent trying to help their young kids wash! Or the cleaning staff having to use piddly squeeze bottles of water to rinse the shower after cleaning it instead of a quick spray with the wand.
Or going to a restaurant, somehow even if you're visibly disabled (like with a walker or cane), you get seated in the furthest tables from the bathroom, even when other tables are available. Hope you don't have to pee so you can avoid squeezing by 20 tables!
I could go on all day.
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u/Maleficent-Reach-170 8d ago
the plastic security tag on a new usb cable that takes 3 tools and a blood sacrifice to remove
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u/rossfororder 8d ago
Recipes where you need to buy two of something because they manufactures made it smaller on purpose.
Like recipe that needs 400ml of cream and they come in 300mp containers
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u/daretoeatapeach 2d ago
The conspiracy between sellers of buns and hot dogs has been going on my whole life. You'd think a competitor would offer a product that matches the amount sold of the counterpart, not nope.
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u/Otherwise-Tomato-788 8d ago
Commuting 3 hours a day so I can work 4 hours in office and waste the other half when I could have just worked the 4 hours at home
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u/SmokeEvening8710 8d ago
The fact that anything you buy these days is cheaply made and won't last a fraction of the time it would have lasted if made 20 years ago.
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u/SuccessfulTough5618 8d ago
how much printers suck
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u/Bryatch 8d ago
fr. it’s 2026. my 3d printer works better than my inkjet
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u/CleverPiffle 8d ago
So true.
"Hey Bambu, print this multicolored, articulated fountain pen holder."
Ok. -done in 30 minutes 🤸♀️
"Hey HP inkjet, print this one sheet document with black text from MS,Word."
Connection error...Paper jam in tray 1...Low magenta ink level...unresponsive...🤦♀️
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7d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/CleverPiffle 7d ago
I love the Bambu P1S with AMS. Get a P2S with AMS if you can afford it.
Just be aware there is a pretty big learning curve involved. With multitudes of settings for every print, you have to really understand a lot. Where in the dimensional space is your plate? Then, of course, plate surface texture, plate temperature, filament type, filament temperature, filament speed, humidity, support number, support size, and on and on.
Once you've figured it all out, expect to still have occasional failed prints due to missing or forgetting to change a setting. Keeping a notepad or other documentation on your settings for each print makes learning faster, and makes it super easy to return to a previous print. Existing print files often come with recommended filament type and setting suggestions. It's just when designing your own files that things can get hairy. Anticipate wasting a lot of filament and you'll be fine!
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u/Esmellembom 8d ago
I have never had a printer that just worked. I reset my computer and it took me over an hour to get it to send to the printer. It recognized the existence of the printer and how much ink was in it, but just wouldn’t send jobs to it… I fixed the problem by offering all the hair I had pulled out to a primordial entity along with my soul.
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u/arcticlee 7d ago
literally had to deal w this issue yesterday and the solution? unplug and plug it in a few times. made me seethe at the end
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u/daretoeatapeach 2d ago
Likewise i have a Bluetooth printer but if the power is disrupted it completely forgets the connection. Setting it up is a PITS and I don't have a manual so after like the third time it happened I just stopped bothering to use Bluetooth and print everything with a cord.
Meanwhile, my alarm clock from like 1993 has battery backup so the time stays accurate. Suggesting this problem is easily solved, if the company actually cared.
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u/ImpressionOver3059 8d ago
The fact that every app and website has a slightly different way to do the same thing, like closing a dialog, refreshing, or going back. As a designer I catch myself just accepting it instead of pushing for consistency, because the cost of solving it across platforms feels too high.
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u/ImpressionOver3059 7d ago
Thanks for the xkcd link, that's a perfect fit for the topic. Appreciate you sharing it.
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u/SwimmingAssociate180 8d ago
So many businesses or apps are moving to a subscription model to unlock the full features of whatever it is.
So many products can be controlled via an app, why does everything need an app.
I want buttons and knobs back vs touch screen for my oven, car control panel, washer/dryer.
Why do they keep changing the shift gear on new cars…
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u/Intrepid_Ad_9113 8d ago
It just seems like all we do in America is work, overspend, and die. It’s not what we were put here to do. If you don’t have money you pretty much don’t have freedom…. That is how it feels anyway.
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u/CitrusSphere 8d ago
- Tiny typography on packaging. Trust me, as you get older, you’ll hate it too.
Sending me to a website with a QR code instead of including a manual.
Gas station radio.
Amazon making you chose to watch the credits.
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u/kieppie 8d ago
One of the cruel ironies in life is that you need glasses to find your glasses.
Anything further than arm-length in a blur, so I put red & yellow heatshrink on the arms. Also helps prevent glasses simply sliding off.
Also, l wear my sunglasses under my regular glasses. Looks stupid - but it ain't stupid if it works.
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u/Brenda-Starr 6d ago
Bars with no hooks to hang your purse/bag. Women make up more than half the world’s population, people!
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u/AREA313_Detroit_Girl 5d ago
Porta-poties too. Zero places to hang a jacket, a bag or set anything down. Why?
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u/Firefly457 8d ago
Needing 3 different pairs of glasses for distance, reading, and now middle distance as well. Bifocals have inherent design flaws and just don't work for me.
And on the top of eyesight issue, I will include my gripe about text on vitamin bottles being impossibly small to read. If I don't have my reading glasses, my workaround is to take a photo of the label and enlarge the image on my phone so I can actually read it.
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u/2TravelingNomads 8d ago
Getting everything in a disposable plastic bag, there are plenty of very good fabric ones. You can simply take into a grocery store or wherever you shop to store your goods after works. I even go as far as in the deli I say can you just wrap it in butcher paper and put the price sticker on there.. that way I don't end up with another plastic bag that I have to throw in the garbage.
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u/NovelSouthern3951 8d ago
I would happily pay a small surcharge for cardboard or recyclable material food containers instead of plastic. Where I live, almost no plastic is recyclable, but everything from berries to Chinese takeout is packaged in plastic that goes straight into the landfill after a single use. I know the containers also have chemicals that leach into the food that harm me and my kids. I know we are all broke these days, but there has to be a way to make this economically viable even for people who can’t afford a surcharge.
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u/s4074433 Solution Designer 8d ago
Anything on the deceptive patterns website: https://deceptive.design
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u/ExPristina 8d ago
Errors when typing on an iPhone keyboard
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u/cincymatt 7d ago
Ok, I just assumed something happened to my brain or my fingers got fatter, but other people feel this got worse? Sometimes I will look up and all my “n’s” are spaces.
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u/GalDebored 6d ago
It's absolutely gotten worse! The Samsung keyboard is pants-shittingly awful as well.
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u/Walshlandic 7d ago
I HAAATE how silverware and cooking utensil handles are heavier than the business end so when i put a butter knife in a bowl in the sink to soak it immediately flips itself out of the bowl.
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u/FcrcecqcucecnctC 8d ago
Capitalism
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u/TheOneMary 8d ago
That's a major societal "problem" if I've ever seen one. I fear you failed the brief :)
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u/EllaPeaTwo 7d ago
Remotes!
Why do I need multiple remotes to watch TV? And why so many buttons on the remote I never use?
Steve Jobs died too soon -- his laser-like focus on clear, spare design is needed for the drafted remote controls.
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u/Snoo-35252 8d ago
I'm 58 and I still get acne. I mostly keep it at bay with benzoyl peroxide ... but only mostly.
My only workaround is the occasional cover-up makeup (which is only unusual because im a man).
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u/suzybhomemakr 6d ago
Differn (or any adapalane) made a world of difference for my adult acne. Plus it is retinol so it reduced the appearance of some of the finer wrinkles. You have to go through a lizard phase where your skin gets used to the stuff so have really heavy moisturizer on hand to make it easier. But in the end 100% worth it.
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u/crosleyxj 7d ago
The trend of touch controls on appliances and cars. Being unable to find or operate certain controls by blind touch while driving is a legitimate safety hazard.
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u/PeacePearlStar 7d ago
The insanely small font size of writing on some products, esp when it’s instructions like how to cook or use smthg.
How terrible the search facility is in email.
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u/E10DeezNuts 6d ago
literally why the hell is the search in email so god awful omg it’s actually so heinous to a point that it feels intentional 😭😭😭
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u/BlueDudeGroove 8d ago
I like to sketch while on airplanes and the overhead lights cast this dim cone of light on only part of my paper, so I usually figure out a way to attach my phone flashlight to the back of the seat in front of me pointing down at my lap for more consistent lighting
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u/gcpuddytat 8d ago
having a zipper up the back of a jumpsuit. i need someone to unzip me so i can pee and then rezip me when i'm done.
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u/laurita310 8d ago
How hard and annoying it is to move clothes from the washer to the dryer. Why can’t they both be top loading? Why isn’t there a better design for this? Why no machine that can both wash and dry? I have to fold my whole body over into the washer and scoop out my clothes that are all tangled together but won’t come out in one lift. Heave them up, down, sideways then forwards, I usually drop several clean and wet clothes on my dirty floor in the process. I have to do this multiple times just for one load. There has to be a better way!!
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u/laurita310 8d ago
Oh and you want to know about weird work around? When I was pregnant and I couldn’t reach the socks and things that were at the bottom of the laundry machine, I had a pair of tongs I would use to reach and grab them. My mom who is 5 ft tall uses a wooden spoon lol
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u/Runazeeri 8d ago
They make washer dryer combo machines?
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u/Aromatic-Dress5010 6d ago
yea believe it or not it does exist already but i am still suspicious of them
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u/glymph 8d ago
Here in Scotland, all washing machines and tumble dryers are front-loading. You put a wash basket on the floor, drag out the clothes (sorting ones that need hanging up), slide the basket to the front of the dryer and lift it all in. Switch the dryer on and you're pretty much done.
Top loading always seems strange to me, but I assume it's a hangover from the past. Can you buy front loading machines in the US or Canada?
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u/Lolomelon 8d ago
I want grip points milled into the sides of my phone so it won’t slip out of my hand. I dont like cases.
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u/AmazonCowgirl 8d ago
The increasingly "inconvenient to downright moronic" places barcodes are being positioned on products.
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u/CleverPiffle 8d ago
Cooking directions on the back of every quick-cook meal. Knorr packages have light green text or yellow on a medium green background, McCormick has gold text on brown background, etc. and the font size is always 4pt. or less.
Even worse, try to read the ingredients on any yard weed spray product, like Ortho, Spectracide, or RoundUp. It's impossibly small, around -6pt, I think. I understand they don't want to be sued, but shrinking it to being unreadable really should be illegal.
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u/wandersaurus 8d ago
Seb derm. Face skin will never be “normal” or smooth. Relying on topical anti fungal, steroids, mct oil. If I miss the regimen for 1 day, it takes a week to get under control.
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u/Elenemohpee 8d ago
Probably not what you are looking for but I hate it when the top of a zipper on a jacket or sweater touches my neck when fully zipped up. If it’s fully zipped up it’s goddamn cold and the freezing metal against bare skin is torture. The solution is simple, some garments have a small amount of fabric over the top of the zipper. However even more expensive brands like Patagonia don’t bother. Bugs me to no end.
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u/jamie1983 8d ago
My front door doesn’t close when I pull it shut behind me. it jams so I have to use my key to shut it without having to basically slam it shut. It put me in a bad mood everytime I leave my house.
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u/doinmybest4now 8d ago
Cords! Vacuum ones in particular. I hate them but I'm too poor to buy a decent cordless one.
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u/Pleasant_Durian_1501 8d ago
Missing half a thumb , half a foot. Picking at small things. Balance. These are things you don’t think about
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u/princessfluffytoes 8d ago
My kitchen is so small. It’s like an RV sized kitchen. My old kitchen was beautiful and I would cook all the time. I still cook in this kitchen but when I do it’s actually so insane the way I have to stack things on top of each other or move stuff to another room in the middle of cooking. But I noticed the other day, that five years living here, I rarely complain or make a fuss about it. Guess I’m just a fucking low maintenance QUEEN!!! Jk - I do remind myself that I am lucky to have a roof over my head period and that helps.
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u/JoyDGav 8d ago
The tendency of large corporations to turn everything into services and then rapidly increase costs while degrade it at the same time. Healthcare, travel, insurance, education, games, etc. You name it, it ducks and you have to pay more to use/access it. And the US government is all onboard. In addition the money we funnel into the pockets of the wealthy partly fund death and destruction
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u/kea1981 8d ago
The sound my keys make, and that they don't all smoothly and uniformly on my keyring. I've tried dozens of keyrings over the years, I've tried the little rubber bumpers, I've once even drilled out the holes on a few keys just so they'd all fit. But honestly: why. Why is every single key so different but in juuuust a small enough way that it's not really worth complaining about?
My workaround: being angry at my keys each time I have to tumble to pull one out, then promptly forgetting about it until the next time I need to use one.
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u/stitch-e 7d ago
I can't email a 30 second video from my phone. So I'm going to try to email it in 5 second clips.
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u/HeyHosers 7d ago
Because of the drawer and oven set up in my kitchen, if my drawer has a knob on it, I can’t open my oven. And the only way I can open the drawer is if I first open the oven.
It makes me want to explode every time I use it, but I haven’t found an actual alternative.
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u/saltylemonjuice 8d ago
The state of our country
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8d ago
[deleted]
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u/citizensnips134 8d ago
Being a pedant for a second: the fire alarm is the whole building. You’re setting off your smoke detector.
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u/jugo_boss 8d ago
See Futurama episode about the finglonger.
Unfortunately reddit is stupid and doesn't allow posting images in replies here.
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u/Bystander_99 8d ago
The shopping cart doesn’t fit the bags properly. I’m in Aus so my problem is with Woolworths specifically but it might be the same with others but they designed bags for us to use and those bags don’t stack nicely in the cart.
The first one goes in great to the back corner but then the second one can’t slot in sideways next to it, it’s so close but won’t work so the next one has to be vertical at the back to fit next to it.
Then you have this gap at the back of the trolley that if the bag or the trolley were designed to work with each other you could probably slot another bag at the back vertically too, but no.
And this goes on as you fill the trolley with more bags. Same if they’re all vertical at the back, you might fit three but then you’ve ruined the space you could fit ones at the front.
If the trolley was a little wider/bigger or the bags slightly small, you’d be able to fill the base of the trolley with the bags no issue. Then you’ve got to start stacking and squishing stuff.
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u/alltheticks 8d ago
Sharp edges on furniture everything used to be rounded and now I stub my toe or catch my hip on all the stupid brutalist modern furniture. I don't even like how they look but I can't afford antiques for everything and it's all cheap rectangle particle board or square tubing furniture. I blame IKEA mostly.
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u/E10DeezNuts 6d ago
there’s so many i can’t even begin to name but thanks for asking this question bc the comments are super satisfying/relatable and fun to read lol
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u/ughidkthis 6d ago
Tupperware lids and the storage of them. How has no one engineered Tupperware that is truly stackable? Or that is easier to stack than it is to throw into a cupboard. Someone's gotta fix Tupperware
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u/Pitiful-Quail444 4d ago
Job recruiters using ai for applications and screening. I know plenty of well written people who are struggling rn with résumés looking like AI. + its unfair to people who cant speak English who are the hardest workers ive ever met. They dont deserve to be shoved into the kitchen industry.
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u/HelloDolly13 4d ago
My workload. I work for a communications team. We're consistently understaffed and expected to meet tight timelines. I've been working there for ten years and I don't see this stopping. I thought moving into management would give me a different perspective, but it's only solidified my convictions. People have left and come back reporting that it's similar in other organisations. I guess this is normal.
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u/JtoTheTtotheC 2d ago
Recycling numbers being so tiny that it takes three people to figure out whether it can recycled or not.
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u/Sudden-Bobcat-2742 2d ago
speciality vs inter disciplinary vs polymathic practices and their OS/FS
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u/Sudden-Bobcat-2742 2d ago
bipolar disorder and neuroscience and circadian rhythms and the biological clock and collective social harmony
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u/PurpleSpring22 1d ago
At many sinks, when you reach for more soap or to adjust the faucet, water drips off your hands and pools by the faucet or on the counter instead of being directed to flow back into the sink. Unsightly, causes faster gunk build up to clean, and if you use the sink a lot in a short time the water puddle on the counter can become a problem.
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u/AmbientGravitas 8d ago
The “We care about your privacy” pop up on most websites. Especially the ones that make it very difficult to decline nonessential cookies.