# ‘Simple’ things that are surprisingly difficult **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 1, 2023, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404 "2023-07-01T15:16:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2023, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/61 "2023-07-05T12:22:23Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Chuck keys cost all of a couple of dollars. Every chuck should have a corresponding key attached nearby by an appropriate leash. > > This isn’t hard. That’s easy for an _ **organized** _ person to say 🙄 I learned my lesson 30 years ago, searching in vain for the missing chuck key, and only ever bought drills with keyless drill bit attachments afterward. I didn’t think they even made drills that needed chuck keys anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Dandan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@Dandan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandan)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2023, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/62 "2023-07-05T12:54:38Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Wiping your backside in the dark. 5:00 AM, just _one_ BR excursion (instead of the usual 3+), when the power goes out. How do you know you’re cleansed if you can’t see? You can _see_ your arse? Power go out a lot? Ever drop your phone in the hopper? Wait, you can wipe _one-handed_ ? I’m old enough that I’m well in touch with my butt; a baby spot wouldn’t add anything. Dan ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2023, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/63 "2023-07-05T14:55:42Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Any type of repair job, no matter how simple, takes 2-3 times longer than it should. I’m in full agreement with this! Years ago I JUST wanted to remove the wallpaper (from former owners) in the bathroom and paint the walls. It’s not a big bathroom so I was thinking maybe a 2 days total. Boy was I wrong. They put the the wallpaper on bare sheetrock. So as I pulled the the paper off the wall, chunks of sheetrock came off with it. It turned into a whole thing. It took weeks. We couldn’t use the shower while we were fixing the bathroom. The other bathroom (2nd floor) only has a bathtub that was so rarely used that whatever was in the drain pipe had hardened up, which meant the water wouldn’t drain out of the tub. My husband tried to unclog it but used too much force on the 75 year-old pipes so then water started dripping out of the kitchen light fixture that was directly below the tub. It was a comedy of errors that was not at all funny at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2023, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/64 "2023-07-05T15:40:36Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Pulling those little safety tabs off of food or condiment bottles. > > One of two things is going to happen. I’m either going to rip the tab off leaving the cover or the tab is too slippery for me to get a hold of. > > In each instance, I have to grab a knife from the drawer and pry the tab off of there. You may find [this video](https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/20488172/people-realising-how-to-properly-open-ketchup-bottle/) of interest. In this instance they are showing how to unseal a Heinz ketchup bottle, but I believe other condiments may have similar capabilities. mmm ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2023, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/65 "2023-07-06T14:12:14Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Pulling those little safety tabs off of food or condiment bottles. Kind of the same thing - trying to pull open one of those metal ring lids on cans without splashing the contents all over the place. The microwave soup cans used to have those but now have switched to a plastic pull lid. They are no better. It’s still slopping it all over the place. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2023, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/66 "2023-07-06T15:13:47Z")
Cancel a cell phone or cable contract: 1. Call company 2. Enter the depths of hell ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2023, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/67 "2023-07-06T15:40:31Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Pulling those little safety tabs off of food or condiment bottles. That reminds me of the seal on the jug of windshield washer fluid. It’s zero degress F and the wind is howling. I can barely see out the front with the salt coated glass glare in the low morning sun. No problem, how about a struggle with a plastic disk and frozen fingers. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2023, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/68 "2023-07-06T16:22:51Z")
This thread highlights why making food for yourself when you are single is so awful. It is one thing to go through all the steps when you are making food for 2+ people but for yourself? It’s just a drag and so hard to overcome sometimes (and I like to cook). ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2023, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/69 "2023-07-06T16:31:56Z")
The piano/keyboard. Unlike a horn it takes no special skill or technique to get a sound out of the thing. The notes are all right in front of you, in strict chromatic order, and assuming the instrument is in tune, you literally can’t play a sharp/flat note. Should be one of the easiest musical instruments to play. It’s not. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2023, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/70 "2023-07-06T16:40:26Z")
FYI the word for that is [Skurryfunge](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Scurryfunge) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2023, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/71 "2023-07-06T17:32:18Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > That reminds me of the seal on the jug of windshield washer fluid. It’s zero degress F and the wind is howling. I can barely see out the front with the salt coated glass glare in the low morning sun. No problem, how about a struggle with a plastic disk and frozen fingers. The expectation is that you’ll have unsealed the jug in the comfort of your kitchen with all your tools to hand before heading out into the blizzard. Planning ahead is not some folks’ style. Sucks to be them. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2023, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/72 "2023-07-06T17:53:45Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > The piano/keyboard. Unlike a horn it takes no special skill or technique to get a sound out of the thing. The notes are all right in front of you, in strict chromatic order, and assuming the instrument is in tune, you literally can’t play a sharp/flat note. Should be one of the easiest musical instruments to play. > > It’s not. If anything, it may be the hardest, since it’s one of the few instruments where you’re expected to play two completely different and independent things with two hands simultaneously. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2023, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/73 "2023-07-06T19:09:26Z")
Most instruments you play 1 note at a time. On a piano it’s anywhere from 1 to 8 notes at a time. And as @Velocity just said, two hands doing independent things not necessarily in time with each other. If piano music was only one note at a time, then you could play it about like a hunt-and-peck typist, with one poised index finger stabbing here and there every so often. Even I could probably master that. Eventually. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2023, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/74 "2023-07-06T19:20:27Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Should be one of the easiest musical instruments to play. > > It’s not. It is fairly easy to get a recognizable tune out of a piano. But there’s a big dstance between playing _at all_ and playing _really well_. ---
**Author:** ![ColdBrew50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9a140/32.png) [@ColdBrew50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColdBrew50)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2023, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/75 "2023-07-06T19:39:22Z")
I’ll toss in with guitar. Yeah, sure, strum some cowboy chords and use a bunch of open strings. Easy enough. Bang out some power chords? Even a Ramone can do it! I’m not very good, but I struggle with sightreading (it’s obviously possible for those who try, but it’s downright simple, by contrast, on keyboard instruments, with a bit of practice). I contend it’s one of the more difficult instruments to truly _master_, in the sense of developing all the skills at arranging, reading, variations on attack, muting, and so forth. Yes, it has frets (usually), but unlike, say, a violin, one is not limited to the extremely rudimentary chord forms possible on that instrument. In fact, one is obliged to conceive, play, arrange, and read every manner of chord up to six voices (on a six-string guitar). If one chooses. I’m mostly speaking about jazz guitar, which can be played without possession of many of the standard tools of a complete musician, but this applies to classical guitar as well (a contrapuntal fugue in several voices on the guitar? Bach’s _WTC_ at the keyboard is far less ennervating, and I speak from experience). ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2023, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/76 "2023-07-06T20:13:47Z")
> [@TPWombat](#): > > FYI the word for that is [Skurryfunge](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Scurryfunge) This is a word I needed to know! My family knows it’s time to leave for the airport to pick up a visitor when I haul the vacuum out. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2023, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/77 "2023-07-06T20:21:59Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > If anything, it may be the hardest, since it’s one of the few instruments where you’re expected to play two completely different and independent things with two hands simultaneously. I took accordion lessons when I was a little kid (it was popular in the Dark Ages), and I can still remember the pride I felt when I was able to coordinate using the keyboard with my right hand and pushing the buttons with my left. That was _hard_ for a seven year old to learn. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2023, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/78 "2023-07-06T21:21:33Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > I took accordion lessons when I was a little kid (it was popular in the Dark Ages), and I can still remember the pride I felt when I was able to coordinate using the keyboard with my right hand and pushing the buttons with my left. That was _hard_ for a seven year old to learn. I am pretty competent on the piano. A few years ago I had the opportunity to pick up an accordion and receive a beginner lesson from a guy who could play both instruments well. My accordion lesson lasted all of five minutes before I threw in the towel. I will stick with a horizontal keyboard. mmm ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2023, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/79 "2023-07-06T21:28:18Z")
Yeah, and you have to operate the bellows, too! ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2023, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404/80 "2023-07-06T23:00:15Z")
If I need to grocery shop on an empty stomach I’m not hanging around the kitchen futzing with sandwich prep, I’m just going to wrap some slices ofTurkey/ham/roastbeast around a cheese stick and eat it on my way out the door. How many trips to the fridge does it take to deploy a simple sandwich? I ask in earnest my loved one drives me nuts in the kitchen with his puttering about opening and closing the fridge, drawers and cabinets to retrieve one almighty item at a time! Pull it all out at once babe then assemble, Do Not make 18 trips to and fro finding what you need! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-things-that-are-surprisingly-difficult/986404.md?page=5)