First World Problems: Share the Silliest Things That Bug You!

[jtbell]

Back in the days when people actually bought music CDs in stores, the new ones that I bought were often sealed with adhesive cellophane labels along the top of the jewel box. No matter how carefully I tried to peel those labels off intact, they always shredded into small sticky bits that stuck to my fingers and the top and sides of the jewel box.

 

[Danger]

Oh... one just occurred that makes me furious every time it happens, which is far too often. I'm surprised that there haven't been major lawsuits over it. I don't know how prevalent it is in other places, since it seems to be at the whim of the individual networks. They insist upon placing banner ads across the bottom 1/3 of the screen during the opening sequences (the actual show, not the title shots). This makes it impossible to read the opening credits such as guest stars and who wrote and directed it. I like to know that stuff. At the end, they either scroll the credits so fast that a laser scanner couldn't read them, or shrink them down to an illegible square in the top right corner of the screen and run previews of other shows on the main part.
Why I've expected (in fact hoped for) a lawsuit is that entertainment industry unions have rules in their contracts about how people are credited for their contributions to the project. (I remember way back when we writers finally were given billing priority over directors for a TV show or movie. It was a huge victory, even though it simply meant that our names would appear one screen ahead of theirs.) I would expect that one of the conditions would be the ability of the credit to be seen.

 

[jbunniii]

It's 2014 and Microsoft still hasn't fixed this annoying "you can't delete this because some application is using it, and we won't tell you which one it is" message. Often, nothing that I can control is using it, and only a reboot fixes it.

 

[Danger]

It's 2014 and Microsoft still hasn't fixed this

As much as I'm loathe to admit this, it might not be a Windows fault as opposed to an application one. The only reason that I say that is because I've encountered similar, but different, on several of my Macs when dealing with particular pernicious programs, but in my case rebooting doesn't help. (In the exact situation that you cited, Mac OS gives the clickable option of "save and close", "close without saving", or "cancel", the latter of which just puts you back where you started.) The one that I can't handle is, specifically but not exclusively, MacKeeper. I once made the mistake of downloading a free trial version, and now it's impossible to get rid of it. It even followed me to my new computer by sneaking onto the thumb drive that I used to transfer my files from the old one. In this particular case, I wish that computer components were so large that I could go in with a pair of Vise-Grips and yard the bastard out by hand. (I've tried the "unsubscribe" or "uninstall" or whatever options, and all that they do is either ignore me or download a new and more irritating version.)

 

[russ_watters]

It's 2014 and Microsoft still hasn't fixed this annoying "you can't delete this because some application is using it, and we won't tell you which one it is" message. Often, nothing that I can control is using it, and only a reboot fixes it.

View attachment 74861

We could do an entire thread on computer problems. My most annoying is how that rat bastard Bill Gates dares tell me I can't have my USB flash drive back even when no programs are running.

As much as I'm loathe to admit this, it might not be a Windows fault as opposed to an application one.

The OS can do whatever it wants to restrict the way programs get to access files or keep bits of them running when they are supposed to be closed. This is a purposeful trade-off between a certain feature and a related bug. Certain related problems have gotten better, such as windows memory "leaks". Certain poorly written programs would use a chunk of memory, erase it, then use another chunk, etc as they ran. Fine...except they didn't actually release the first chunk and after a few minutes they'd use up all the memory on the computer and crash it. Used to be a big problem, but re-writing the OS to better control how applications used memory fixed it.

 

[dlgoff]

Often, nothing that I can control is using it, ...

My search for the offender:

Windows Task Manager - Processes
Right click offender - Open File Location
Right click offender - Delete

:D

 

[jbunniii]

As much as I'm loathe to admit this, it might not be a Windows fault as opposed to an application one. The only reason that I say that is because I've encountered similar, but different, on several of my Macs when dealing with particular pernicious programs, but in my case rebooting doesn't help.

I've encountered similar problems where some application or service screwed up the file lock (or whatever it's called) so badly that a reboot didn't fix it.

However, in the case in the screenshot I pasted above, I simply changed Matlab's working directory to that folder, then tried to delete the folder using the Windows explorer. It seems like it should not be hard for Windows to tell me that Matlab is the culprit (or if there is more than one culprit, name at least one of them), instead of leaving me to guess.

Not a big deal if you only have a few applications open, but otherwise it can be pretty annoying. If I have been working for a while (days or weeks) without a reboot, it can take upwards of an hour to get back to full productivity after a reboot. Multiply this lost productivity by billions of users worldwide, and it starts becoming a measurable fraction of GDP. :)

 

[lisab]

I rarely scan my credit/debit card correctly the first time . And when using some cash machines, the sun shines on the screen and I can't read a word!

 

[Danger]

And when using some cash machines, the sun shines on the screen and I can't read a word!

I thought that you only prowled at night... ;)

 

[WWGD]

Well, let Microsoft get it together, it is a 1st world problem after all, you're missing the point of the thread.

 

[Borg]

What silly things bug you?

Hearing a recording tell me "Your call is very important to us" followed by an expected wait time in the 10's of minutes.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Hearing a recording tell me "Your call is very important to us" followed by an expected wait time in the 10's of minutes.

Think how bad it would be if your call wasn't important :P

 

[Borg]

Think how bad it would be if your call wasn't important :p

That would be after I wait for twenty minutes and the customer service person 'accidently' disconnects my call.

 

[Evo]

That would be after I wait for twenty minutes and the customer service person 'accidently' disconnects my call.

Oh, I hate that.

 

[Doug Huffman]

First world problems? First world guilt. It used to have another, less PC, epithet.

 

[Psinter]

When you try to peel the shell of a boiled egg and the white thingy sticks to the shell.

 

[Danger]

When you try to peel the shell of a boiled egg

Why would anyone do that? I just chop mine in half with a knife and scoop out each half with a teaspoon. They come out slicker than owl snot on a brass doorknob. Each one is exactly one bite, or they can be deposited in a large bowl for smashment into egg salad.

 

[Psinter]

Why would anyone do that? I just chop mine in half with a knife and scoop out each half with a teaspoon. They come out slicker than owl snot on a brass doorknob. Each one is exactly one bite, or they can be deposited in a large bowl for smashment into egg salad.

Hmmmmm. I never thought of that. I've been doing it wrong this whole time then. :)

 

[Danger]

Hmmmmm. I never thought of that.

I live to educate. :D

Actually, it never crossed my mind before that anyone did it differently.

 

[Evo]

Why would anyone do that? I just chop mine in half with a knife and scoop out each half with a teaspoon. They come out slicker than owl snot on a brass doorknob. Each one is exactly one bite, or they can be deposited in a large bowl for smashment into egg salad.

OMG! That's what I do, works beautifully.

 

[nuuskur]

I peel eggs in the water, the shell runs of very easily.

 

[Danger]

I peel eggs in the water, the shell runs of very easily.

I thought that you're not supposed to eat while swimming.

 

[Danger]

Toilet paper that has the first 3 layers all glued together so you have to rip them off and discard them.

SMArt cars, just on principle. I have wheeled luggage that is bigger and faster than those things. They're nothing but mobile speed bumps.

 

[nuuskur]

I thought that you're not supposed to eat while swimming.

Smartass :D I meant the water you pour into the..the utensil, billycan, whatever it is after you take it off the stove. Besides, I always hated when the shell cracked a little and 1 tiny microscopic piece of the shell got left on the egg and while eating, you can feel that something is not as soft as it should be :D When you peel in the water, it never happens.

 

[DrClaude]

Prices stickers that you can't peel off without leaving a bunch of glue on the thing you bought.

 

[DrClaude]

In an old Peanuts cartoon strip, Charlie Brown watched Linus rip off the top of a new box of breakfast cereal.

Charlie Brown: "How can you do that after the Snicker-Snack cereal company spent all that money designing a new improved easy-to-open box?"

Linus (superciliously): "My heart bleeds for the Snicker-Snack cereal company."

I have rarely seen an "easy-to-open" box that was easy to open.

 

[nuuskur]

Prices stickers that you can't peel off without leaving a bunch of glue on the thing you bought.

Was shopping for fruit the other day and there were these apples that had small stickers on them and when I peeled the sticker off a bit, it was..glue. Are they even allowed to do that? (No, didn't buy those apples.)

 

[DrClaude]

Was shopping for fruit the other day and there were these apples that had small stickers on them and when I peeled the sticker off a bit, it was..glue. Are they even allowed to do that? (No, didn't buy those apples.)

I guess the glue has to be edible.

 

[DaveC426913]

Was shopping for fruit the other day and there were these apples that had small stickers on them

I read somewhere that those stickers are also the bane of sewage processing centres because everyone flushes them down the drain. They are the perfect size to plug up the pores in the solid waste sieves, and the sieves have to be regularly taken offline to be cleaned manually.

 

[lisab]

My work provides us with "safe" heaters to run under our desks. They're so small, they will heat either your right foot or your left foot. Not both.