I was at a grocery store in Tucson and spotted a sign that said 'customer parking only' but the arrows pointed into a dirt lot behind a dumpster. Turns out there were 12 spaces painted on the asphalt but the sign was bolted to a fence facing the wrong direction. Does anyone else run into signs that seem designed to confuse people on purpose?
I found this old Krups grinder at a Goodwill in Portland last Saturday, figured it would be a quick fix for my morning routine. Turned out the hopper lid had some hidden clips that required contorting my fingers at weird angles just to pop it off. Has anyone else run into a kitchen gadget that made you feel like you needed an engineering degree just to clean it?
Walked past a new cafe on 5th Ave yesterday and their sign is some artsy font that reads like 'Brew & Grind' from 10 feet away but up close it's actually 'Brew & Bean'. Spent a solid 5 minutes crossing the street trying to figure out if I was reading a tongue twister or a menu. Has anyone else run into a sign that just fails at its one job?
I was at Target last Tuesday trying to return a jacket I bought 3 days earlier. The zipper was sewn in upside down so it would catch and split open every time I tried to zip it up. The cashier looked at it and said 'well maybe you're just pulling it wrong.' I told her no, the teeth are literally facing the wrong direction compared to every other zipper I own. She called her manager over who examined it for a solid 5 minutes and finally agreed it was defective. The whole interaction took 20 minutes for a $45 jacket return. Has anyone else run into store employees who defend obviously terrible design choices instead of just processing the return?
I spent last Tuesday in Detroit digging up 40 lavender plants for a client and that curved handle design blistered my palm something awful by hour two. Has anyone else actually used these things for real work or is this just some engineer who never dug a hole in their life?
My buddy who restores furniture told me to use boiled linseed oil on my new cutting board. After 3 days it was sticky and gross. Turns out you can't use that stuff on food surfaces, had to sand it all down and start over with mineral oil. Anyone else get bad advice from someone who seemed like they knew what they were talking about?
Ngl, I was all about that modern minimalist design at the hardware store in Denver. But the cheap plastic mechanism inside snapped when I shut the door a little too hard. Anyone else fallen for a good-looking but flimsy piece of hardware?
I hung a cheap wire caddy over my shower head and the whole thing came crashing down at 6 AM. Turned out the curved hooks were designed for a round pipe, not an oval one, so it had zero grip. Anyone else have a 'shower fail' that made them late for work?
I was making a smoothie with frozen mango and spinach around 6 AM when the lid popped off and sprayed green goo across my entire kitchen ceiling. The twist-lock tabs on that thing are so shallow they barely catch the rim. Who designs a blending pitcher where the lid unlocks itself under pressure?
I posted a picture of a self-checkout screen at my local grocery store where the 'confirm payment' button was literally behind a glare from the overhead lights. You couldn't see it unless you leaned way over. It got 100 upvotes in a day, which surprised me because I usually just lurk. I guess bad design really does unite people. Anyone else find a public screen that's basically unusable in normal lighting?
There's this small park near my apartment in Cincinnati, and last month they replaced the old metal slide with this weird zigzag plastic thing. The old one was beat up but at least kids could actually slide down it. This new one has these bumps every 6 inches that stop you mid-slide. I watched a kid get stuck halfway and just walk down the side. Has anyone else seen playground equipment that clearly never got tested on an actual child?
I redid my sister's kitchen in Phoenix last spring and I did the first layout with the sink on one wall and the stove way over in the corner. Second time I put them about 4 feet apart across the island and suddenly she wasn't carrying dirty pans across the whole room. Has anyone else found that the standard work triangle stuff actually makes a difference in real life or am I just slow to figure it out?
Some guy from the building next door walked over and said my fancy serif font looked like a blurry mess from 50 feet away. Swapped it for a bold sans serif with more contrast and now people actually find the entrance on the first try. Anyone else had a sign fail that seemed obvious after someone pointed it out?
I was cleaning out a box in my garage last weekend and found a photo from 1999. It showed my first home office with this giant CRT monitor that weighed like 50 pounds and a printer with that stupid beige plastic that yellowed over time. The cable management was just a tangled mess of cords going everywhere behind the desk. It made me laugh because I used to think that setup looked professional back then. Has anyone else dug up an old photo of a workspace that looked ridiculous by today's standards?
I moved into a new apartment 3 months ago and the landlord left this ancient Maytag in the basement. It's this beige beast from like 1992 with physical dials and I swear it gets my clothes cleaner than the fancy digital one I had before. The design is awful though, the lint filter is impossible to reach without a flashlight and I nearly broke my back trying to move it. Has anyone else dealt with an old appliance that outlasts modern stuff?
Went to renew my license last Tuesday. The lot has one way arrows pointing every direction but they painted new lines over old ones. You can't see which lane is for exit or entry. Three cars almost hit each other in 10 minutes. I sat there for 5 minutes just trying to figure out where to go. Someone finally rolled down their window and yelled the entrance is on the back side. Has anyone else dealt with a parking lot that makes zero sense?
Was at Elm Park last Saturday for a neighborhood cookout. Sat down on one of those cheap folding chairs they set up near the concrete tables. Thing buckled sideways within two minutes. Took me down hard. Elbow hit the gravel. Spilled my BBQ sauce everywhere. Later I looked at the design. The legs were too short and the seat angle was all wrong. Folding chairs have been around forever. You'd think someone would have fixed this by now. Has anyone else noticed how bad these things are at public events?
I used to just grab my spare key off a magnetic box under the bumper. That worked fine for 5 years until last Tuesday when I hit a pothole on Main Street in Denver and the whole thing just fell off somewhere. Now I keep a spare in my wallet like a normal person. Has anyone else had one of those magnetic boxes fail on them at the worst possible time?
I used to think angled parking was fine, no big deal. Then last Tuesday I scraped my passenger side door on a concrete pillar at the grocery lot on 5th street in Denver. That same week, watched three different people nearly back into each other trying to pull out of those angled spaces. The angles just make people drive faster through the lot and block visibility. Has anyone else noticed way more near misses with angled vs straight parking?
At my apartment complex last week, I noticed one of the main entry doors has a handle that sticks out just enough so when you pull it open, your hand gets trapped between the handle and the frame. I watched three different residents all get their fingers pinched in the span of ten minutes. One lady actually yelped and dropped her groceries. Has anyone else dealt with a building fixture that seems designed specifically to injure people?
I had to use a ChargePoint station at a Shell in Tucson last week and it took 45 min to get 30 miles of range. My home JuiceBox 40 does that in like 10 min flat. Whoever designed those slow public units to be the main option for road trips needs to go back to drawing board.
I used to think all those painted arrows and lines in parking lots were fine until I went to Westfield Brandon last Saturday and couldn't figure out which way traffic was supposed to flow. The arrows pointed two different directions within 50 feet of each other and I just sat there for 5 minutes confused. Has anyone else dealt with a parking lot layout that made zero sense?
I moved into an apartment in Austin last February and the kitchen faucet was fine. Six months later it looks like it survived a war - the chrome is peeling off in chunks and there's this weird green crust around the base. My landlord says it's because hard water here is aggressive but I've never seen anything corrode that fast. Has anyone else dealt with a fixture just falling apart that quick?