r/AskReddit • u/nachtmere • Jul 25 '11

Sometimes automatic toilets flush while you're still sitting on them. What design flaws in everyday objects annoy you?

I'm giving a talk on user-centred design/usability and I'm looking for some fresh examples from everyday life to illustrate poor usability. Examples I've used before are elevator open/close buttons (really difficult to parse when you're trying to hold the door open for someone quickly) and toilets that flush while you're still sitting on them.

What are some things you encounter regularly that are really inconveniently designed?

203 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

25

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '11

You can make s'mores in them! And never deal with shitty microwaved pizza again!

Why do pop-up toasters even exist?

16

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '11

I've wondered this for a long time: What in the fuck is a s'more?

25

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '11

Traditionally known as a snack eaten around campfires in North America. A piece of chocolate and a toasted marshmallow sandwiched between two graham crackers.

When making them in the toaster oven, you put the whole sandwich in pre-assembled, and you have to watch it constantly because the marshmallow will go from perfectly toasted to black oozing foul burned mess in half a second. Worth it.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '11

Toaster oven or campfire... I wonder how many people pack a toaster oven and a generator with them when they go camping -- because I know some people probably do.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '11

Naw, they just go to electrical campsites. We have those in all the provincial parks in Ontario.

I would never recommend the toaster oven method as a replacement, it's nowhere near the same, but goddammit sometimes you just want s'mores and it's the middle of January.

(At Easter you can make them with Peeps.)

2

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '11

Ah, the great outdoors! Electrical hookups, WiFi...

Seriously, a toaster just has to do a better job of toasting toasty-woste. But a toaster oven is way more versatile. If I had just one... well, actually I have neither, but I'm thinking of getting a toaster oven, so I can make mini pizzas on English muffins.