Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Products Made By People Who Clearly Never Use Them

A pair of sunglasses, their case and an iced espresso coffee are placed on top of a counter
Photo by Tamara Bellis

"Reddit user DongLaiCha asked: 'What products are clearly made by people or companies who never actually use them?'"

Do you ever use a product and wonder... "Who in the world thought this would work?"

That seems to be an issue with a lot of items in life.


Like, who designed all these extra dinner forks?

It's all too confusing when you just want to eat a salad and a steak.

Let me keep my fork.

You're wasting water on all the cleaning.

Think before you create.

Redditor DongLaiCha wanted to discuss some products that may need more in-field research, so they asked:

"What products are clearly made by people or companies who never actually use them?"

Remember CDs?

It was easier to break into the Pentagon than open that plastic wrapping.

Who thought that idea up?

Too Dry

Hair Bathing GIFGiphy

"I swear that people who design some shampoo and conditioner bottles have never tried to use them while wet."

danarexasaurus

Assessments

"Elementary state assessments. They are the most obtuse, poorly written, unrealistic questions on earth. They enrage me. They are clearly written by people who either have zero experience in elementary education or haven’t had any in a decade or so."

meadow_chef

"I have a BA in English and couldn't figure out one of the answers to my child's third-grade ELA state test practice. I spoke to the teacher about it and she sounded so defeated about the testing. There's no way to prepare children for a test when the questions and answers are so poorly written that the students, their teacher, and the parents can't pick the correct answer."

DistractedHouseWitch

Cheap and Expensive

"A few years ago we wanted a coffee maker with a slightly larger carafe. The only 14-cup one we could find at a reasonable price was branded with Drew Barrymore's name. Whatever, we bought it. It was the worst kitchen device I've ever owned. The interface to set the clock, program it, etc. was absolutely baffling to use, never seemed to do the same thing twice."

"The instructions were apparently written by whatever guy at the factory had a cousin who'd seen an American TV show once. And when it actually did somehow make coffee, it came out shriekingly hot, to where I would put a couple of ice cubes into my travel mug when I left for work just to get it down to drinkable temperature."

Fabulous-Quality-282

Flip It

"Those who make the 'pull this flip to open' on plastic packaging of cold cuts."

MissNatdah

"Similarly, the people who make 'resealable' packages of food products where you have to cut it open in a certain place, but cutting there either results in: A) the package still being sealed closed, or B) ruining the internal sealing zipper. I have this issue with the frozen dumplings I buy and no matter what I do, I have NEVER been able to reseal the package as advertised and have to resort to a chip clip."

pls_send_caffeine

Punch a Hole

Mac And Cheese Eating GIF by Megan BatoonGiphy

"The 'push here to open' spot on Kraft Mac and Cheese."

coop_doop

"Whenever I get a different brand I just punch a hole in the same spot out of habit. It’s about exactly as hard to do as with the Kraft ones. So they might as well take out the perforating step and save .001¢/box in the production process."

Reaper_Messiah

Why do they want to keep our Mac and Cheese from us?

Give me my meal!!

Tearing Sheets

office paper GIFGiphy

"Those toilet paper holders in public toilets that cut off at two sheets."

theshortlady

"Same area: those paper towel dispensers that require a two-handed pull, commonly leaving you with two little torn-off triangles of paper in your hands."

repowers

Useless

"Zebra printers. I swear Zebra customer service is useless. I've had to call the help desks for the specific companies I've worked for because the Zebra CS is just like 'Huh!?'"

monotoonz

"We wrote our own internal manuals for how to setup, manage, and troubleshoot Zebra printers. It includes helpful information like 'Do not call Zebra about this issue, instead, see Appendix A' (which is screenshots of conversations about how it is is a known issue and the resolution should be coming shortly (dated 2016))."

001235

City Life

"Maybe a bit off-topic, but in a meeting with a former colleague of mine, the person in charge of the metro for a nearby city admitted that he had never used the metro. Not that he didn’t use the metro, but that he had never used it in his life, even once. I suspect that this kind of thing isn’t uncommon for government services."

KireGoTI

"Similar story. A lifelong friend of didn’t even know we had a Metro until a recent expansion meant she had to drive a different way into her office. She works for the city council."

TheKingMonkey

Warn You

"Hospital beds. From the standpoint of the person who has to push it around and mess with rails that get caught in the mattress and plug it in with a long dirty cord that gets mixed up with another random cord that no one knows its purpose. No retractable cords so they constantly drag on the ground and try to trip you when pushing the bed."

"Brakes that are in the most awkward position that you have to invert your knee to reach with your foot. And worst, the screeching, ear-piercing alarm that they emit to 'warn you' that the bed is not locked. Hospital beds are obnoxious."

Agitated-Effort3423

Help Please

Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno CalypsoGiphy

"Customer-facing software. Developers should be required to hire grandmas under the explicit condition that if grandma can't look at a menu option and decide what to click without giving up and calling the help desk your functionality has failed."

Puzzleheaded-Bat8657

I can't even begin to get into software options.

It brings back too much PTSD.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Tim Walz; Donald Trump
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

Tim Walz Perfectly Explains Why Trump Running The Country 'Like A Business' Is A Bad Idea

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz criticized President Donald Trump during an interview with MSNBC host Jen Psaki, stressing just why the people who elected Trump to run the country "like a business" were completely misguided.

Walz particularly lamented the impacts of Trump's ongoing trade war with Canada and Mexico, noting that Trump has a history of scuttling deals and "a proven track record of being an absolute failure."

Keep ReadingShow less

People Reveal Red Flags That Scream "This Couple Won't Last!"

Love is not a many-splendered thing.

Ok, maybe it is for some, but not for most.

Keep ReadingShow less
JD Vance; Cory Bowman
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images; @corymbowman/X

Vance Roasted After His Brother Gets Walloped In Ohio Primary Following Vance's Endorsement

On Tuesday, the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, held their primary election to determine who would earn a spot on November's mayoral ballot.

The city's mayoral race is nonpartisan—no parties appear next to candidates' names on the primary or general election ballots. The top two vote getters in the primary, regardless of their party affiliation, vie for the office.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ellen DeGeneres; Ellen DeGeneres on a lawn mower in the UK
FOX via Getty Images; @ellendegeneres/Instagram

Ellen DeGeneres Just Tried To Mow The Lawn At Her Sprawling UK Estate—And It Went South Fast

Say what you may about Ellen DeGeneres, but we can all agree that she's always tried to find the funny side in a situation, even if it's something that should be as mundane as mowing the lawn.

DeGeneres left the talk show scene in 2022 after allegations ran rampant about her running a toxic workplace, so when President Donald Trump was elected for a second term, it seemed the perfect time for the entertainer and her wife, Portia de Rossi, to look for greener pastures, namely in the U.K.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Pete Buttigieg; Linda McMahon
MSNBC; Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images

Buttigieg Epically Drags Education Secretary For Confusing A.I. With 'A1 Steak Sauce'

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg mocked Education Secretary Linda McMahon during an MSNBC appearance after she recently went viral for confusing AI with A1, the steak sauce brand.

McMahon slipped up during her appearance at the ASU+GSV Summit last month. While discussing the state of modern education, she brought up the role of AI in today's classrooms.

Keep ReadingShow less