So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[BobHufford]

Bought a metal trash can at Wal-Mart that had a small dent. The floor manager said to tell the cashier to take 10% off. It took five minutes and another manager to figure a 10% discount on a $19.97 price (using a calculator).

 

[swanson_eyes]

I would've just discounted it $2 to be nice.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Is it really wordwide, that market-economy doesn't want, that we are able to do mental-calculation?

 

[BobHufford]

I would've just discounted it $2 to be nice.

Cashier (to Manager): "It's $2.00 if I round up"
Manager: "We don't round up"

 

[LizzieMaine]

I dunno, I kind of like the idea of a pre-dented garbage can. That's how mine always end up anyway.

 

[Fading Fast]

I would've just discounted it $2 to be nice.

In "What Was The Last Movie You Watched Thread" we were just talking about how everything is over-processed, documented, systemized and managed. I've seen similar things where a store owes you something reasonably small - $3 off - because it rang it up wrong / was labeled wrong / whatever and the cashier actively acknowledges it, but looks despondent as they will how have to either get their manager, fill out a long form - and then get it signed, press 18 thousand keys in a particular order / stand on their head to credit you the $3.

I've actually felt bad for them as I've been there - they want to do the right thing, but the "process" the "controls" are so onerous that it is demoralizing. In a more rational world, the cashier would have taken $2 off and moved on. But he / she probably either (1) couldn't do it as the system would let him / her ring it that way or (2) if they did, they'd get "dinged" by their manager when the "report" came out.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

The fact that the time on my family's washer told me my sheets would be done in 40 minutes but it took closer to an hour.

 

[Fading Fast]

The fact that the time on my family's washer told me my sheets would be done in 40 minutes but it took closer to an hour.

We bought an apartment and inherited a relatively new "environmentally friendly" washer and dryer. What we have found is that the times on those machines are as accurate as the "time remaining until download complete" notices on a computer are. The washer is somewhat close to being in the ballpark, but the dryer seems completely made up.

When we replace them, I plan to buy ones that have the fewest dials, buttons, displays, etc. on them. The more "stuff" these things do, the more confusing they are to work and the more ineffective they seem to be at doing it. I want our 1970s, two-simple-dials washer and one-dial dryer back.

 

[tonyb]

Took a live person looking over my shoulder before I figured out how to use this ****ing thermostat. And I'm still unconvinced I know how to drive the damned thing.

And it's nothing to look at, either. Off-white plastic. Gray LCD characters on a greenish background. It was as if Honeywell directed the engineers and designers to come up with the cheapest programmable thermostat on the market, and to spare no cost-cutting measure.

 

[LizzieMaine]

When my old thumbscrew-operated thermostat had to be replaced several years ago, the furnace guy tried to install one of those electronic ones. I took one look at it and told him to take it away and not come back without a simple round analog Honeywell. I don't need presets, don't want automation, I just want something I can twist down when I go to bed and up again when I get up. Period. And to his credit, he went back to the warehouse and came back half an hour later with exactly that.

 

[Fading Fast]

Took a live person looking over my shoulder before I figured out how to use this ****ing thermostat. And I'm still unconvinced I know how to drive the damned thing.

And it's nothing to look at, either. Off-white plastic. Gray LCD characters on a greenish background. It was as if Honeywell directed the engineers and designers to come up with the cheapest programmable thermostat on the market, and to spare no cost-cutting measure.

I am a reasonable intelligent man - okay, maybe not - but like you (I'm sure) have mastered things meaningfully more complex than a new washer dryer or your thermostat - it is not the knowledge level involved that is truly difficult, it is the absolute absurdity of having to devote time and energy to learning the gratuitous complexity of these devises.

My girlfriend is one of those super-smart people (1600 SATs, college course while still in high school, blah, blah, blah - I'm not / she is impressive - she assimilate new knowledge with frightening ease) and the two of us devoted a meaningful amount of time with the washer and dryer manuals augmented with hands-on investigation and several trial and error runs before we really got what was going on - that is beyond silly and unnecessary.

That's what's infuriating - the insulting waste of time needed to master these things because of the manufacturer's intentional or ignorant refusal to recognize that their customers want simple controls not wiz-bang complexity.

 

[LizzieMaine]

In "What Was The Last Movie You Watched Thread" we were just talking about how everything is over-processed, documented, systemized and managed. I've seen similar things where a store owes you something reasonably small - $3 off - because it rang it up wrong / was labeled wrong / whatever and the cashier actively acknowledges it, but looks despondent as they will how have to either get their manager, fill out a long form - and then get it signed, press 18 thousand keys in a particular order / stand on their head to credit you the $3.

I've actually felt bad for them as I've been there - they want to do the right thing, but the "process" the "controls" are so onerous that it is demoralizing. In a more rational world, the cashier would have taken $2 off and moved on. But he / she probably either (1) couldn't do it as the system would let him / her ring it that way or (2) if they did, they'd get "dinged" by their manager when the "report" came out.

Most point-of-sale systems today don't allow any kind of random occurence -- everything's preprogrammed, and all user privileges specifically defined. Only certain levels of staff are permitted to open drawers without a transaction -- there is no "No Sale" key -- and only certain levels of staff are authorized to issue discounts or refunds or to void out transactions. I get around this at the theatre by having as many "assistant managers" as I can, so there's bound to be someone within reach at the problem, but forget it if you're in an establishment with a large staff. If you get mad at the poor soul at the register who can't give you what you want, you're wasting both of your time. When she says she can't do anything, she really and honestly can't, and it isn't because she's an illiterate, poorly-trained, ignorant, bumptious lackey who needs to be put in her place. She's doing the only thing she can with the technology she has to work with.

 

[Fading Fast]

...If you get mad at the poor soul at the register who can't give you what you want, you're wasting both of your time. When she says she can't do anything, she really and honestly can't, and it isn't because she's an illiterate, poorly-trained, ignorant, bumptious lackey who needs to be put in her place. She's doing the only thing she can with the technology she has to work with.

More often, I feel badly for them as you can tell they know what to do, want to do it, but can't for the reasons you outlined. I've left money at some places as there is a line of frustrated people behind you, an anxious clerk in front of you and a manager with the all important "key" or "code" or whatever nowhere to be found - at that point, for me, the right thing is to leave the few bucks on the table and let the store and all the people in line get on with their lives even if the wrong entity - the company - wins.

 

[Paisley]

When we replace them, I plan to buy ones that have the fewest dials, buttons, displays, etc. on them. The more "stuff" these things do, the more confusing they are to work and the more ineffective they seem to be at doing it. I want our 1970s, two-simple-dials washer and one-dial dryer back.

Now you're thinking like an engineer. The fewer parts that are involved, the less likely something is to break down (all else being equal). If you want a really simple clothes dryer, you can make your own solar/wind powered dryer. All you need is two screw-in eyes, a swivel round eye with bolt snap, some clothes line and clothes pins. Or some clothes hangers and something to hang them on.

Kidding aside, even Thomas Sowell (the economist at Stanford) complained that he had to read the manual just to learn how to work the radio in his car.

I do like my programmable thermostat, though. I love waking up and coming home to a warm house in the winter. The $25 Ace Hardware model is what I have and it's pretty intuitive to use.

 

[tonyb]

I'm holding out for the thermostat that allows me to set it from my phone, from wherever in the world it and I might be.

Oh, they already got those? Of course they do.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I'm holding out for the thermostat that allows me to set it from my phone, from wherever in the world it and I might be.

Oh, they already got those? Of course they do.

I have one. It's called the "Nest", and it's a pretty simple "left to lower, right to raise" dial. It's a digital readout though, so Lizzie might not like it. But I do.

 

[2jakes]

This afternoon in the neighborhood (93º).
The ice cream truck was blaring Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.

 

[Stearmen]

This afternoon in the neighborhood (93º).
The ice cream truck was blaring Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.

Don't even get me started!

 

[Touchofevil]

This afternoon in the neighborhood (93º).
The ice cream truck was blaring Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.

Ours blares out Christmas music all year long. I find it more insane that they come around when it is raining no matter how cold it may get

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Going to the store for just one thing and having it turn into a major grocery shopping trip because at the last minute everybody wants you to pick up a bunch of other things.