Are there any common household items or products that you think are designed incredibly poorly?
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We did.
Boxed wine.
However, bottle design is pretty refined, and they are quite reusuable.
Ok so my father makes his own wine, at home from kits/concentrate. He makes a lot of wine and drinks a lot of wine (and gives a lot of wine away as gifts)
One day he called me, and he was so excited. Like if he wasn't a 61 year old man I would have guessed he was going to announce his pregnancy.
"You won't believe it! The wine place is selling bags now!!! So I can put my wine in bags and put those in boxes!!!! Omg why didn't I think of this?! Think of all the time saved with corks and recorking!"
It was a happy day for him, certainly.
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If we're also talking about vehicles... I'm about average height (~180 cm) but have long-ish legs, and this means that I simply don't fit well into the driver's seat of most cars. Even with the steering wheel adjusted all the way up, seat slid all the way back and reclined all the way forward, my legs are hitting the steering wheel and yet I can barely reach it with my hands. Because of this, I sometimes have to take my shoes off while driving.
Also, almost every car has some annoying things like your oil plug; simply because a modern combustion engine is really quite complicated and there's not enough space under the hood to give every component a convenient place. E.g. my Delica has the starter located below the engine and quite far back, so it's mostly covered by the engine protection plate. Good luck banging on that starter relay if it sticks in the off position and refuses to start, while you're stuck in the mud! However I do agree that making periodic maintenance painful, like in your case, is way worse.
Oh, there's a few engines like the Northstar and the Toyota 5.7 where the starter is actually under the intake manifold, effectively inside the engine. The amount of stuff you need to take off to even see the starter would make your eyes water.
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those hooks are perfect for hanging two t shirts on, or a zippered/buttoned clothing, or even skirts
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For the topic of the thread I'll throw in "toilets that are so bad at flushing that you need to keep a plunger next to them"
The only time I've owned a plunger was in a house with a broken clay sewer pipe that was about to kick the bucket.
I redid the bathroom when COVID hit (was walking around home Depot the day before the shut down frantically buying 3 of everything so I had a chance to do this without being able to make the customary mid-project visits)
The toilet we got was not the one I wanted, it was 4 or 5 on our list of "toilets the Internet says are good " and boy howdy the Internet was wrong. This toilet wouldn't flush piss. I'm not kidding I didn't notice at first but a couple days into "man this toilet didn't like to flush our shits, they must be mighty" I had a pee that was dark enough that once I flushed I read like "wtf". 3 flushes for the water to be "clear" as I could tell.
This isn't a 2 button eco toilet.
I ended up finding a guy online who had extended the tube inside the tank to be just shy of the rim, thus allowing the tank to fill up more and more water to be sent down with each flush. Whatever eco feature it had in sure it's now among the worst water waster in town.
And it's still a terrible toilet. It has some sort of extra funnel port in the front that I guess some of the water flushes through to help direct the shit and water down the pipes. But it gets dirty and is unreachable with every toilet brush I've tried, and not visible even if you jam your head down as close to the water as you can and look back. This means that the flush stops working and then I have to go in with disposable chop sticks and chip away and the shit fossils blindly until the port is clear again.
Yes I tried soaking with green goblin and leaving the blue duck to soak, still need to physically mine the area clear....
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I have a truck where the oil drain plug is directly over the axle. I have to strap an offset funnel under the drain to get it to not splash all over the fuck, and of course, it's not easy to get that stay put so inevitably I have oil everywhere. Same truck has the oil filter tucked up where I need a special oil filter wrench with a ratchet and extensions to remove it, and when you pull the filter out, you have to tip it so it spills the oil inside everywhere.
I had an idea a long time ago of a website where you can crowdfund a private investigator to find engineers that do shit like this, and a crew to go over to their house and beat them halfway to death.
Cars are designed by people who don't do maintenance themselves.
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permanently installed lamps with a socketed power supply that sticks like 10cm out of the wall.
to add to this, non removable cords just need to die, there is almost never significant cost to make the cord tetachable and it allows the user to replace the cord after it inevitably gets eaten by a vacuum or breaks of metal fatigue.
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If we're also talking about vehicles... I'm about average height (~180 cm) but have long-ish legs, and this means that I simply don't fit well into the driver's seat of most cars. Even with the steering wheel adjusted all the way up, seat slid all the way back and reclined all the way forward, my legs are hitting the steering wheel and yet I can barely reach it with my hands. Because of this, I sometimes have to take my shoes off while driving.
Also, almost every car has some annoying things like your oil plug; simply because a modern combustion engine is really quite complicated and there's not enough space under the hood to give every component a convenient place. E.g. my Delica has the starter located below the engine and quite far back, so it's mostly covered by the engine protection plate. Good luck banging on that starter relay if it sticks in the off position and refuses to start, while you're stuck in the mud! However I do agree that making periodic maintenance painful, like in your case, is way worse.
Had an old Isuzu truck that to start, I sat in the drivers seat with the passengers seat up exposing the engine. Had a long steel rod that I would feed down thru the motor and bang on the starter motor why cranking the keys.
Sometimes it started straight away, sometimes it took 5 minutes of banging to get the pig to fire. Good Times.
Woke one morning to start work, went to hop in and saw someone smashed the drivers quarter window. Reckon they tried to start it but must have assumed it had a kill switch.
Pity they didn't steal it, as the insurance payout would have been way more bucks that it was worth.
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US can openers. In other countries, they cut the sides of the can not the top, so the lid has no chance of falling in while dulling the edges. It also allows them to be much smaller and easier to use.
I can't find anything that matches your description of US can openers on DDG, do you happen to have a pic? Can't picture it
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I've had these dual wall glass mugs at home for a few years. So civilised.
https://www.house.com.au/products/baccarat-barista-cafe-double-wall-thermal-glass-mug-2-pack
The parabolic bottom causes fridge water to shoot up and out causing a mess.
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I have that and they still are a removed to get in or out of a crowded tool jar. Then I always bump that end switch and they pop open in the jar.
Leave the one tong hanging out. Ie. Straddle the side. Assuming youre not one that cares about aesthetics.
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I can't find anything that matches your description of US can openers on DDG, do you happen to have a pic? Can't picture it
Thats a standard can opener, they are describing a Magican, aka the "Limerick machete", those edges are lethal :
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I bought this can opener after watching a Technology Connections video, and I kinda love my can opener.
Thats seems similar to what I'm talking about. Like the second one in the video on the page I linked.
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I can't find anything that matches your description of US can openers on DDG, do you happen to have a pic? Can't picture it
Second one in the video on the page I linked in my comment.
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The glue gets weaker when it's heated. They use the same film for oven meals as well. It comes off fine when you finished heating, but it's a pain in the arse when cold.
is it a good idea to microwave that plastic container, though?
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I switched to using a microplane (or similar super fine grater) for garlic a few years back, it's far easier to clean and I like it for ginger, nutmeg, hard cheeses etc.
I should get used to that with my grater. I either press with huge amounts or just do the old smash and rapid micro slice.
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Every thing permanently installed in a house should IMO be designed to support one human of weight from above, especially in a room that will have a wet slipery floor.
I think the actual code re: that is those big metal handle rail bars that have to be attached to studs (ADA compliance maybe?).
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I'd tend to chalk that up to user error, if you're putting enough force on your toilet paper holder to pull it off the wall you're doing something besides just pulling toilet paper off of it or maybe you installed it with the world's shittiest drywall anchors
Drywall anchors are basically useless.
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Drywall anchors are basically useless.
It really kind of depends on the type of anchor and the intended use
The most common little plastic ones that you're probably picturing are pretty bad in most cases, but some of the heavier duty ones are pretty damn strong if used properly
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I think the actual code re: that is those big metal handle rail bars that have to be attached to studs (ADA compliance maybe?).
yeah, but it is nice if the towel rack is screwed into studs so it can be used as one in a pinch.
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You know you're supposed to use the bidet after you're done pooping, right?
Yeah, but how long do you have to dampen your crack in order to feel the equivalent clean of two dry wipes?
