# Stupidest product design you’ve experienced **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2023, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621 "2023-03-25T02:57:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 32
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2023, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/621 "2023-05-27T00:44:33Z")
Found a new car-related one last week. Had to hire a car, and wound up with a Renault Koleos - nice car, pretty bland, very annoying loud ‘proximity warning’ which went off when in the same time-zone as ANY OTHER OBJECT (it took me 10 minutes to work out how to turn that off) - but that was only a minor annoyance. [Here’s a picture of the gear shift.](https://imgcdn.oto.com/large/gallery/interior/33/304/renault-koleos-gear-shifter-513419.jpg) Notice how you can’t see any gear labels (P,R,N,D etc) - that because they’re on [the other side.](https://imotorcarsearch.s3.amazonaws.com/vehicles/large/1fdcf9c6-e8cd-4704-8112-ec29848408d7-14-img-9423.jpg). Now for Europeans and USAnians, this is fine - you drive on the right, the driver sits on the left of the car etc - But in Australia (and the UK and a few other places) we drive on the left. So be it. So Renault have gone to the trouble to make a right-hand-drive version of their vehicle, switched the steering wheel and controls to the right hand side, but thought ‘Nah, the gear shift is in the middle, we don’t need to change that’. What makes it worse is that the electronic parking brake automatically engages when the lever is moved to Park. So if you are manoeuvring and switching from Drive to Reverse, and because you can’t see the f\*\*\*\*\*\* gear indicators, you accidentally put into Park, you try to reverse, and then: 1. Car doesn’t move 2. Look over the top of the gear stick 3. Realise your mistake 4. Swear at stupid French deisgners 5. Move the gear selector to R 6. Press accelerator 7. Realise the car still doesn’t move 8. Swear at unbelievably stupid French designers 9. Disengage Parking brake 10. Press accelerator hard 11. Speed off in reverse - straight into back wall of garage (no, this last one didn’t happen, but I felt like doing it after the 3rd or 4th time). ---
**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:** [May 27, 2023, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/622 "2023-05-27T01:58:35Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Today’s stupidity: I got a tube of OTC cream out of it’s box this AM. As I was about to throw the box into the recycling something caught my eye. _Glued_ to the _inside_ of the box was a leaflet and a plastic thing to use for something. Glued. To the inside. Practically invisible looking thru the end of the box. We were shopping at Trader Joe’s a few days ago and bought several of their single serving salads. The checkout clerk asked if we wanted any forks. We declined as we were taking them home (with the rest of our groceries) and wouldn’t be eating them right away. Anyway. The next day I emptied the first salad I ate into a bowl, and the dressing packet was on the bottom of the plastic box. The plastic box that I would supposedly have eaten this salad from if I’d eaten it when I left the store. How would that have worked??? ---
**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:** [May 27, 2023, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/623 "2023-05-27T17:59:04Z")
You’d have fished it out from underneath all the dry salad ingredients. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2023, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/624 "2023-05-27T19:05:40Z")
The laundromat I use has some machines with card readers. They all have the tap emblem, but the tap feature is disabled on all of them. They disabled a featured designed to prevent skimmers in a business that is a prime location for skimmers. So, I figured I would just get a pre-paid card. Great idea for the washers. However, the dryers will only allow you to increase in $.25 increments. You have to swipe the card each time. The reason I use a laundromat when there is a washer and dryer right down stairs is because my apartment complex switched to cash cards. The only way to add money to the cards is via a machine in the main office, which is only open from 0900-1600. I would have to take time off to add money to my cash card. ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2023, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/625 "2023-05-27T20:49:11Z")
As [requested](https://www.google.ch/search?q=new+pair+of+socks+squire&client=safari&hl=en-ch&prmd=isvn&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjQ6t6zr5b_AhUj_7sIHQk-AKsQ_AUoA3oECAIQAw&biw=375&bih=548&dpr=2#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:41807a5f,vid:xphvUojQn9k) ---
**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:** [May 27, 2023, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/626 "2023-05-27T21:08:39Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > You’d have fished it out from underneath all the dry salad ingredients. It was so tightly packed the salad would have overflowed and gone everywhere. The point is these salads are supposedly designed to be eaten from the container. If you can’t get to the dressing without another container to hold the overflow, it defeats the purpose. It’s why I always eat them at home where I can put them in a (suprisingly\*\*\* ) large bowl and stir it up enough to coat the salad with the dressing. \*\*\* They really pack the ingredients in. The volume of the unpacked salad is easily three times the size of the container. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2023, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/627 "2023-05-27T23:40:21Z")
Ahh, that _is_ dumb. Or penny-pinching on container costs. I feel your pain. I recently had a salad in a restaurant that was so over-piled vs the plate size it was impossible to eat without pushing great gouts of salad onto the table with each forkful. Uncouth. Worse yet, they had cut all the components far too large. I needed to knife & fork the whole thing aggressively to get it small enough to fit on a fork that would fit in a mouth. Which of course scattered stuff far and wide. Ended up with a second plate to hold half while I cut the other half. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2023, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/628 "2023-05-28T02:23:27Z")
That reminds me of my first “deconstructed” Caesar salad at a resort in Cabo San Lucas. It was a heart of Romaine, a piece of toast, and a small block of Parmigiano with a grater. They were kind enough to provide the dressing in a small pitcher on the side. Apart from the labor, it tasted good. The toast was really good bread nicely seasoned. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2023, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/629 "2023-05-28T02:25:59Z")
“Some assembly required”. I love it!!1! ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2023, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/630 "2023-05-28T16:05:23Z")
> [@pirviii](#): > > > [@wguy123](#): > > > > Touching microfiber isn’t exactly painful to me, but it is very unpleasant. > > Same, why do they feel so weird? I’m not too squicked, but microfiber is weird to handle because the skin of my fingers is rough enough that the fabric snags on me. It’s a little bit like handling the soft side of Velcro (the “loop”) if I’m the scratchy side (the “hook”). ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2023, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/631 "2023-05-28T16:07:28Z")
I have the same problem with the skin on my fingers. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2023, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/632 "2023-05-28T19:03:06Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Worse yet, they had cut all the components far too large. I needed to knife & fork the whole thing aggressively to get it small enough to fit on a fork that would fit in a mouth. I _hate_ this. I think the kitchen staff is lazy and doesn’t want to take the time to make bite-sized pieces. > [@garygnu](#): > > That reminds me of my first “deconstructed” Caesar salad at a resort in Cabo San Lucas. I had a great Caesar salad at the restaurant at the Getty museum. It was head of Romaine cut in half lengthwise and grilled. It wasn’t deconstructed. And it was delicious. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2023, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/633 "2023-05-28T21:30:34Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > > I needed to knife & fork the whole thing aggressively to get it small enough to fit on a fork that would fit in a mouth. > > I _hate_ this. I think the kitchen staff is lazy and doesn’t want to take the time to make bite-sized pieces. Do you feel the same way about being served a piece of meat that you have to cut up with a knife and fork? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2023, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/634 "2023-05-28T21:45:46Z")
Meat doesn’t usually fly across the table when you cut it. Salad, OTOH… ---
**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:** [May 28, 2023, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/635 "2023-05-28T22:14:57Z")
Salad is often served in a bowl. It’s difficult to cut things in a bowl. That would _really_ make things fly across the table. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2023, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/636 "2023-05-28T23:33:07Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > I’m not too squicked, but microfiber is weird to handle because the skin of my fingers is rough enough that the fabric snags on me. It’s a little bit like handling the soft side of Velcro (the “loop”) if I’m the scratchy side (the “hook”). Yes, this is it! However, it makes me cringe…not a good feeling. It’s not just microfiber, but a lot of cloth materials. When I am going to fold laundry, I have to put lotion on my hands to get through that task. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2023, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/637 "2023-05-28T23:59:57Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > I’ve purchased many packs of themed socks. Stranger Things, Jurassic Park, etc. So…a velociraptor eyes you from one foot, while Eleven’s haunted face watches you from the other? ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/638 "2023-05-30T17:03:52Z")
More vehicle stuff, still bitching about unneeded changes to trucks My new truck also has an electronic release on the tailgate. Instead of a large handle to pull, there’s a button tucked into (roughly) the same place, which actuates two electrically released tabs on either side. I see the advantage as far as locking – without power or (presumably) the CAN bus generated “unlock” message, the gate cannot be opened. But – the power/bus cable is a barely covered set of wires tucked into the folding gap area at the bottom of the tailgate. And it constantly gets clogged/filled with debris from gravel, wood, etc. and it continually twisted with each opening. I give it a few years before it fails completely. There is no manual release in case of failure. The only option is disassembling/removing a 4 foot portion of the inner tailgate (assuming you have the correct torx wrenches) and pulling inward on the tabs themselves. Of course, this leaves a 4 ft. by 1 ft. section of the gate’s interior mechanism open to debris, exactly where it’ll be brushed across as you empty stuff. So you’d have to either remove the tailgate entirely, or reassemble/disassemble each time you need to open it. I say again, it’s like they’re not making these things for actual work anymore – just as glittering ornaments. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2023, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/639 "2023-05-31T22:09:35Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > This isn’t really a stupid design but I just don’t get why it’s used. Why are athletic socks sold in ziploc-type bags? Do they want us to store our socks in the bag after purchase? To me it’s just unnecessary and I would think more expensive. There are other items that I’ve noticed come unnecessarily in those kind of bags, I just can’t remember any of them. Hah - the underwear I buy is also in a zipper bag. Strange. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2023, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/640 "2023-05-31T22:14:29Z")
I want only the softest, most cushiony cotton touching my boys. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621.md?page=31) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621.md?page=33)