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?'"

Make us preferred on Google

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 GIF Giphy

"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 Batoon Giphy

"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 GIF Giphy

"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 Calypso Giphy

"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

Viral Clip Of George Santos Struggling To Climb Aboard Raft On 'Special Forces' Reality Show Is All Kinds Of Cringey

Viral Clip Of George Santos Struggling To Climb Aboard Raft On 'Special Forces' Reality Show Is All Kinds Of Cringey

Disgraced former New York Republican Representative George Santos was widely mocked after he was shown struggling to climb out of the water and aboard a raft in a sneak peek of the Fox reality TV show Special Forces.

Santos, whose political career was derailed by allegations of fabricating his background, misusing campaign funds for luxury items and Botox, and leaving a trail of victims behind him as a known fraud and identity thief, has been soapboxing significantly since Trump commuted his prison sentence in October 2025.

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshots from @voycebutler5's TikTok
@voycebutler5/TikTok

Man Goes Viral For Pretending To Be Woman's Friend In Walmart After She Realized She Was Being Followed

Nobody likes feeling unsafe while alone in public—and women in particular experience this far too often. It's not wonder that most women would choose encountering a random bear in the wild rather than a random man.

It's becoming an increasingly common practice for women to approach other women and pretend to have "lost their friend" in the crowd, so as to deter creeps from bothering them. On rare occasions, a woman might approach a man, as well, if he seems like a safer option.

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshots from @ulovelailahakim's TikTok
@ulovelailahakim/TikTok

TikToker Sparks Debate After Revealing 7 Behaviors She Considers 'Cheating' In Viral Video

When it comes to relationships, everyone has different standards for what they view as acceptable or desirable.

Even cheating maintains a certain sense of nuance, as some people believe that only things that happen in the bedroom could qualify as cheating, while others see cheating as something that comes in stages.

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshot of Tommy Tuberville
C-SPAN2

Tommy Tuberville Dragged After Claiming Air Travel Industry Is Overrun With 'Furries' In Bonkers Senate Floor Rant

Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville was widely mocked after he made the bonkers claim that many pilots, flight attendants and air traffic controllers are "part of the furry community."

Tuberville, who spoke alongside a poster displaying a transphobic message, offered no evidence to substantiate the claim that a large portion of commercial aviation workers identify as furries, nor did he provide evidence that involvement in the furry community presents a safety concern.

Keep Reading Show less
Kristi Noem
Heather Diehl/Getty Images

Kristi Noem Slammed After Sharing Graphic Photos Of Elk She Took Down During 'Super Fun' Hunting Trip

Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was criticized after she shared several gory photos on Instagram of an elk she'd killed during a recent hunting trip.

The Instagram carousel, which the platform labeled as “sensitive content,” shows Noem and the other hunters smiling for the camera and posing with the elk’s carcass as if displaying a trophy from their “super fun hunt.” In several of the photos, Noem’s weapon is positioned beside the animal’s wound, with blood visibly seeping from the injury.

Keep Reading Show less