Have you ever found something so obvious that it seems everybody would see it the same way, only to see everybody else completely miss this “obvious” thing?
Me: carrying objects through doors.
In the restaurant business, I have to deal with walk-in refrigerators. These usually have a big, wide door that allows for rolling big carts into them.
Often, we have to carry a pan of food into the walk-in refrigerator.
At my current job, the walk-in refrigerator’s door has the handle on the right side (looking at it from the outside). The door swings out (i.e. “pull”).
So it’s completely obvious to me that, when carrying a large pan of food into the walk-in, I should hold the pan in my right hand and open the door with my left hand. This gives me a wide-open space to carry the pan into the cooler.
Yet I watch other right-handed coworkers who carry pans in their left hands, opening the door with their right hands, and then juggling the pan around the door in an incredibly awkward manner.
It is so completely obvious to me that holding the pan in my right hand and pulling the door open with my left hand is the most efficient way to do it. And I boggle that other people don’t think of that.
At my curling club, we arrange the stones like this:
1 3 5 7
2 4 6 8
8 is in the corner, 1 is closest to the hack. So when an end is over, and we’re clearing the stones away to get ready for the next end, it’s obvious to me to get the even numbered stones first (ideally, in 8, 6, 4, 2 order). But no, people will push all the stones into the corner and then I have to pull the odd stones out of the way to get the even stones in. Arrrrrgghhh; this is not rocket science, people, it’s just even numbers first!
Sorry, but I had a game tonight and it’s fresh in my mind.
Well, I suspect that most people find it utterly, plainly, conspicuously obvious that their way of hanging the toilet paper is absolutely the right, proper, and universally correct way of doing so.
I’ve been in a similar industry nearly all my life. I learned at a very young age (like, 10-12 years old) how to carry heavy boxes up on my shoulder so that I can open and close doors with my other hand.
Even now, I’ll be delivering a lunch for someone (that’s doing a presentation in an office) and I’ll happen to be walking in at the same time as them. They’ll see me put a box with 40 sodas along with 2 platters of fruit or vegetables up on my shoulder and say ‘wow, isn’t that heavy’ and as we’re walking towards the door I’ll say ‘yeah, but it’s fine…here, let me get the door for you’ as they’re struggling with their rolling briefcase and laptop.
As for something that’s always been obvious for me, at work we have a cooler with those sliding glass doors like this. It’s always a bit comical to watch someone refill it (ours is totally filled with bottled beverages). They doors slams shut constantly, they’re trying to hold it open with their elbow, it’ll catch their fingers a few times. Me, I open it all the way and put my foot up on the rail. Holds the door open and then I can work with both hands. If I brought a full case out with me, I can rest it on my knee. How other people can’t figure that out, I don’t know.
Oh, and if you just started working at my store, it’ll probably be less than a week before I come hunt you down for marking things .99¢. Some people go :smack:. Some people go and then I can explain it to them. Some people just.don’t.understand. But at least they’ll just do it to follow my rules. Some people just don’t understand and then they’ll keep doing it the wrong way because I can’t get through to them that .99¢ is different than 99¢…or they just don’t care. There’s only so many times I can have you remark things before you’re out of a job, besides, it’s usually part of a bigger problem.
When you are trying to attach a threaded coupling of any type that has thin threads for the width (think peanut butter jar lid), turn it backwards until you hear a click and then turn forwards. That’s how you avoid cross threading.
Now, I really don’t know if this is common knowledge or not because it was taught to me in boot camp as the proper way to connect fire hoses. Maybe everyone puts their peanut butter lids on this way without thinking about it—I know where I learned it.
Put the hand-truck or cart close to you. When you move, move the cart close as well. It might only be 3 or 4 steps, but your back and feet will thank you when you do it 40 times.
I’ve given up on telling people to do that. They tend to figure it out after a while…which is about the same amount of time that they learn after I tell them.
Oh…an another one…don’t waste your time telling people how to do things easier, they won’t listen and you will just get frustrated.
Well, I don’t do peanut butter lids, but other thread situations (like actual nuts and bolts, for example) I do that.
I have this problem with basic arithmetic and simple math. All of these things feel instinctual for me, and I cannot wrap my head around the fact that fractions and decimals (for example) throw so many people for a loop. (I was not at all instinctual about algebra or trigonometry; geometry was somewhere in the middle, and I failed calculus, so I’m not bragging about some genius math ability, just basic stuff.)
At work, we have to put the chairs upside down on the tables so the floor crew can work overnight. Just by looking at it, you can see that the seat only has to come up less than a foot to reach the tabletop, but everybody seems to lift the chair to chest height (at least) before struggling to turn it over. I’m not sure how many minutes it took me to realize that if you lift the far side of the seat at the back while steadying the near side at the front, the chair will flip into position with hardly any effort, leaving the seat only a few inches above the table.
People don’t understand how to stop their cars. It’s almost universal: the ass end of the car rises as they press on the brake, which they press harder and harder as they slow, and then once the car comes to a halt the rear slams down, annoying all the passengers.
The solution is incredibly simple and obvious: you let off the brake slightly as your car reaches 0 mph. This allows the deceleration of the car to gradually drop to zero instead of doing so instantly, minimizing jerk (both in the colloquial and technical sense). Once at a complete halt you can press the brake hard again to prevent rolling.
I learned how to do this when I was like 15 because it was completely obvious. People do notice–occasionally people say I’m like a limo driver. Well, thanks for the compliment but I don’t understand how everybody else hasn’t figured this out already.
Actually, those types of things can be my thing: it seems obvious to me that, if there are so many different ideas on which is right, it really doesn’t matter all that much. I’ve never once paid attention to which way I put the toilet paper roll.
Dr. Strangelove, my science teacher taught me that on my first afternoon of “behind the wheel” driving lessons in 1982.
I then taught my kids this the first time we went out driving. I said “Now use the brakes to stop the car” and smiled as the car jerked to a halt. They had never felt that when I was driving, so it was definitely a new sensation. I used this as an example to explain why video game driving teaches you nothing of the finesse of real driving.
I can’t remember the last time I had to flip a chair like this, but your method seems so smooth and effortless. I think I have always used the brute-force method.
Maybe folks never figure it out because in order to flip it your way you need to first give the chair a turn, since it is facing the table.
If you’re in a shop, station, airport and meet a friend, you should step aside for the conversation…and not have it the top/bottom of an escalator. All those people coming towards you from behind have nowhere else to go.
It seems obvious to me that, if you’re one of the first to arrive to a soon-to-be-crowded auditorium, theater, etc., you should sit in the middle of the row, so that people who come later won’t have to climb over you to get to an empty seat. Yet, the first people to arrive usually choose to sit on the aisle.
I can understand why some people might prefer an aisle seat, but at least don’t act surprised or put out when you then have to stand up or move your legs several times to let other people in.
Doors in public buildings: If it’s a handle, you pull. If it’s a bar, you push.
That said, you will find the occasional rare door that doesn’t adhere to this rule.
and then I can explain it to them. Some people just.don’t.understand. But at least they’ll just do it to follow my rules. Some people just don’t understand and then they’ll keep doing it the wrong way because I can’t get through to them that .99¢ is different than 99¢…or they just don’t care. There’s only so many times I can have you remark things before you’re out of a job, besides, it’s usually part of a bigger problem.
