# The Museum of Bad Design - your favorite exhibits. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 13, 2019, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728 "2019-10-13T22:50:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/81 "2019-10-15T22:23:29Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > How about dedicated function buttons on devices that are not meant for usability but instead meant to push a product onto the user. The Samsung Bixby Button for example. I remember a computer keyboard that I had with a physical America Online button. The Bixby Button is one of the worst because it is easily pressed accidentally. That is frustrating. I have a Roku box with an RF remote that’s the bee’s knees…except for the absolutely useless Netflix, Sling, Hulu, and CBS buttons on it. I took it apart and stuffed some cardboard between the buttons and their respective membrane switches. Some folks just rip them out with pliers, but I wanted the thing to look somewhat decent. And I get it, the Roku box is cheaper because of these buttons. It still is annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/82 "2019-10-15T22:35:16Z")
To call in sick you must use an automated line for my job. The problem is that it’s voice only and if the system can’t understand you two times in a row, the call is terminated and you have to recall the number and go through the entire 10 minute process all over again. The thing is, if you’re sick you might be couching or sneezing which the voice line will interpret as a voice and become confused at what option you chose and tell you to “repeat that”, and remember you only get one more chance to make it right. Also it’s two misunderstandings in the entire call, not just two misunderstandings in that particular section. If they simply just made it numbers based the system would work, there’s nothing in the call that would require a specific phrase to be uttered that can’t just be put on the numpad. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/83 "2019-10-15T22:42:43Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > I used to own a '66 Sunbeam Tiger. It was a Sunbeam Alpine with a Ford 260 CI V8 shoe horned in rather than the original 4 banger. To change the left rear plug you need to pull the tunnel carpeting and remove a 2" rubber plug. Then reach in with two fingers to pull the plug wire. Remove and replace the spark plug. Then attempt to reattach the plug wire with two fingers. Then replace the rubber plug and carpet. That was easier than reaching some of the other plugs. > > The following year the 260CI engine was changed to a 289. > > Good times. Could outrun some 'vettes at the traffic light. As for rear plugs; my buddy’s Dodge Omni became my benchmark. I did Midgets, Sprites and everything else but that damn Omni ------ I almost had to drop the motor. I DID have to shift it around somewhat. Had a Norton JPS cycle ------ when I sold it I included the specially modified needle-nosed pliers you needed to insert, remove and turn the key. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/84 "2019-10-15T23:11:07Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > The fast food kiosks that are increasingly popular… > > One in four times the thing is out of paper, so I don’t get a receipt–no proof I ever paid, no way to know my number when it is called. That’s flaky hardware and inattentiveness of the staff, but not necessarily bad design. > > However…when it works correctly, I still have to go to the counter to ask for my cup even though I paid at the kiosk–a design flaw in their system. This is bad design. > What is the advantage to the customer if by design they still have to spend five minutes trying to get the attention of any random worker who passes close to the register? Even worse in Europe, if you used a credit card at a kiosk you still have to go to the cashier to sign the credit card receipt before they start making your food. If it wasn’t for the language barrier I’d just have used the cashier every single time since it skips the receipt step. ---
**Author:** ![txjim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@txjim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txjim)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/85 "2019-10-16T02:48:53Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I nominate the battery installation of the Dodge Journey. > > I was at my friends’ place, when they needed to boost it. We opened the hood. The battery terminals were there, yes, but there was no battery! The terminals were connected to thick cables that led somewhere down inside the car. > > We connected the jumper cables and boosted the car. But where was the battery? I dug out the manual. After a bit of searching, all was revealed. To access the battery on a Dodge Journey, you must: > > 1. Park the car. > 2. Turn the front wheels hard to one side\*, as far as they will go. > 3. Go into the wheel well. Behind the wheel, you will find an access panel in the wall of the wheel well. > 4. Open this panel. The battery is within. > > This isn’t as bad as the (possibly mythical) car where you had to lift out the engine to change the spark plugs, but _still_… > > \*I don’t remember _which_ side to turn the wheels to. I’ll see your Dodge and raise you a 2013 Prius: 1. Discover tiny-ass house battery is dying/dead only after the control head starts acting like an out-of-control computer (which it was from low terminal voltage.) No warning like easy-to-decode diagnostic or slightly slow motor cranking 2. Also discover that the electric rear hatch does not open when said battery is dying/dead (battery buried in rear of car) 3. Crawl through rear seat into cramped rear compartment, fumble around for the emergency release latch for 10 minutes 4. Remove shitload of screws to find tiny-ass battery 5. Discover local parts stores do not stock oddball tiny-ass battery 6. Call Toyota dealers, find tiny-ass battery is very expensive 7. Replace battery, return core, hope you sell the car before it happens again. ---
**Author:** ![Wincerind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@Wincerind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wincerind)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/86 "2019-10-16T04:11:32Z")
Any user interface of Microsoft. Any SAP software interface. I own a BMW R850 RT motorcycle. The battery can only be reached by removing the left hand side of the “body work” requiring removing 17 hex bolts, of unequal length. Meaning that, if inadvertently you drained your battery away from home by e.g.leaving the parking light on, you’d have to do this in order to be able to jump start the bike. The battery can be trickle charged by a plug on the dashboard, but jumpstarting through that is obviously impossible. Even worse: turning on the contact lights every warning light, so you can see if the lights are still in working order. Fine, except that the only light NOT tested this way is the low fuel warning light. This means that the only way to find out this light is broken is when your bike sputters to a halt. Of course, the bike has a fuel gauge, but why, o why, is this light not lit when turning on the contact? :smack: I actually went back to the dealer after buying this bike thinking that bulb was broken, only to learn this was a feature, not a bug. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/87 "2019-10-16T05:52:02Z")
> [@Wincerind](#): > > I own a BMW R850 RT motorcycle. The battery can only be reached by removing the left hand side of the “body work” requiring removing 17 hex bolts, of unequal length. Meaning that, if inadvertently you drained your battery away from home by e.g.leaving the parking light on, you’d have to do this in order to be able to jump start the bike. The battery can be trickle charged by a plug on the dashboard, but jumpstarting through that is obviously impossible. I used to have a BMW R1150R. Reaching the battery requires removing the gas tank. So BMW installed quick disconnects on the fuel lines, but then they got cheap and made them out of plastic. After numerous gas leaks which permanently stained the magnesium engine block, and maybe caused fires? I don’t know, but gas dripping on a hot engine seems bound to cause a fire eventually. Anyway, they recalled and replaced the plastic disconnects with metal ones. Removing the tank takes about 30 minutes the first time, and about 10 minutes after that. Reinstallation is similar. To BMW’s credit, they did put a positive terminal on the side of the bike, and a negative connection point on the engine block for charging and jump starting. > [@Gorsnak](#): > > Steve Jobs and Johnny Ives are rightly renowned for the excellent design of a great many Apple products, but they’re also responsible for the hockey puck mouse of the original iMac. It’s difficult to overstate just how atrocious a design the puck mouse was. It was ergonomically awful. It was just flat uncomfortable to use for more than 5 seconds. And worse, it would inevitably end up at an angle in your hand, which you wouldn’t realize because there was no tactile difference between holding it straight and holding it crooked, and then your mouse pointer would move wonky. Digital Equipment Corporation [had a round mouse on their DECstation](https://computer-zoo.de/decstation.html) years before Apple. That just makes Apple’s design even worse, as they had plenty of opportunity to see how bad it was. Of course the DECstation mouse was worse than Apple’s, because not only was it non-ergonomic, but the tilted wheels it used to track, instead of a ball, performed poorly. Not trying to pile onto the stove valve debate, but all the gas grills I’ve used work the same way: off, start/high, medium, low. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/88 "2019-10-16T06:08:41Z")
> [@Jet\_Jaguar](#): > > Speaking of stoves, another thing that I always thought was a bad design is the way the controls for many are across the back, next to the wall. Makes sense from a manufacturing standpoint, since the connections for power and gas hook up to the back, but it forces the user to reach over hot pots and pans to operate them. Makes sense from a safety standpoint too: small hands can’t turn on the stove so easily. (Or paws–I had a counter-surfing dog who managed to turn on a burner by bumping the front-mounted control. Mind you, she didn’t manage to light it, but just turn on the gas. :smack: ) ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/89 "2019-10-16T07:48:19Z")
Sink, mirror, cabinet combination attached to the wall with cement screws that are too short and too thin for the purpose, bottom of the cabinet about six inches above the floor, and no feet for the thing to be resting on. Building is 10 years old and the whole contraption came off the wall Saturday morning, cutting me slightly just below my left ankle. Yeah, I’m not happy about it. The landlord, though, is paying for the repair–and this time it’s going to have the bloody feet instead of me. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/90 "2019-10-16T09:12:01Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Even worse in Europe, if you used a credit card at a kiosk you still have to go to the cashier to sign the credit card receipt before they start making your food. If it wasn’t for the language barrier I’d just have used the cashier every single time since it skips the receipt step. Uh? I’m reasonably sure that both Spain and France are Europe and I’ve never needed to do that. The problem is probably with your cc’s conditions: blame the bank, not the kiosks. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/91 "2019-10-16T09:24:43Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Uh? I’m reasonably sure that both Spain and France are Europe and I’ve never needed to do that. The problem is probably with your cc’s conditions: blame the bank, not the kiosks. Count me in on the Uh? too. I’m reasonably familiar with European fast food places and I’ve never had to do this. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/92 "2019-10-16T12:34:01Z")
> [@journeyman\_southpaw](#): > > Yep, [Zakk McKracken](http://www.c64sets.com/zak/visa-security-codes-page-7.jpg) had copy protection like that, and yes it made it pretty much impossible to photocopy. Ditto [SimCity](https://magisterrex.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/simcityhighscores3.jpg). Just to make sure, you had to match up symbols so your 110 wpm typist couldn’t just type up a copy in a few minutes. > [@txjim](#): > > I’ll see your Dodge and raise you a 2013 Prius: > […] > 6) Call Toyota dealers, find tiny-ass battery is very expensive > 7) Replace battery, return core, hope you sell the car before it happens again. That would have been, oh, six months later for me, just to make sure I got some use out of the T-a b. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/93 "2019-10-16T12:36:53Z")
I’ve only used my Visa card once in Europe, but I did have to sign for my cab ride in Madrid: I suspect it was indeed because we in America did not get an actual chip card but a pseudo chip card. Or I guess it may have been a rare place that makes everyone sign, since I still occasionally have to sign for my credit card purchases in America anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/94 "2019-10-16T12:55:01Z")
That’s usually linked to specific limits; alternatively, that cab may have had an older machine which called up the old protocols. But the second option simply won’t be the case for the kiosks, those have the newer terminals. ---
**Author:** ![txjim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@txjim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txjim)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/95 "2019-10-16T13:46:02Z")
> [@Wincerind](#): > > Any user interface of Microsoft. > Any SAP software interface. > > (snip) What interface, I thought you had to use mental telepathy to communicate with it. I firmly believe SAP was created by the Germans to prepare for the time they desire to take over the world. There has to be a secret setting that, when activated by the overlords, takes the system down worldwide. All industry is immediately crippled and OPS/accounting won’t consider developing or building anything unless Earned Value/Process Flow is operational. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/96 "2019-10-16T14:09:32Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Sometime in 1987, a man was hired at McDonald’s, so he could earn some $ while working for his business degree in Podunk U. > > He was a good employee, dedicated, came in to work on time, really, the perfect candidate for advancement through the McDonald’s system. So he did. > > Tragically, however, this man was put in charge of employee training and development. And he, over the next 30 years, trained tens of thousands of people… many of whom went to have successful careers in other fast food restaurants than McD’s… to put the slippery change ON TOP of the bills and receipt to drive-through customers. > > This exhibit… of a woman looking over her car window at the 2 quarters and 3 pennies that just rolled off her hand… is a testament to his ingenuity. Not did he just come up with a bad way to do something that people had been doing successfully since 1974, he then put himself into position where his bad process could spread over the industry! Zero cost and millions lost! Holy shit, you mean there’s a known culprit for the ^$#@##@ [receipt sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=20723712&highlight=receipt+sandwich#post20723712)?! ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/97 "2019-10-16T14:28:17Z")
Whoever at corporate who designed our room key cards. The design makes it look as if you should insert it one way. The teeny tiny little arrow indicates it should be the other way. 9 times out of 10 when someone calls the front desk because their key card isn’t working, the bellman discovers they were just putting it in backwards. ---
**Author:** ![Dandan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@Dandan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/98 "2019-10-16T14:40:19Z")
My chevy Astro’s water pump is not just a non-standard design, it also in a non-standard place; $800 to replace. The spark plugs? Remove both front wheels, remove access panels… I will say that the plugs last like crazy; 70,000 miles now. The pump that boosts the brakes, also boosts the steering. When it fails, neither one works well. This has happened to me at speed, very exciting. I’m a photographer, and I’ve noticed that some photo magazines (I’m assuming mags in other fields, as well) have adopted the teeny tiny print aesthetic, as well as a tendency to use medium gray skinny type on a slightly lighter gray background. This is incomprehensible in a photo mag, where SOMEONE in the design chain should understand contrast. Someone in the marketing division should have recognized by now that their target audience includes older folk with the bucks to spend on (rarely inexpensive) cameras and gear. Older folk (I am one) frequently have less-than-optimal eyesight (raises hand again). Was it Shakespeare who said “First we kill all the designers”? Dan ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/99 "2019-10-16T14:55:48Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Holy shit, you mean there’s a known culprit for the ^$#@##@ [receipt sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=20723712&highlight=receipt+sandwich#post20723712)?! I’m sorry, I was speaking more metaphorically - I should have been more clear. It’s the most likely way I can see how a process so simple, once done correctly, changed to a far worse process which then became standardized throughout the industry. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728/100 "2019-10-16T14:57:31Z")
Thanks Dan for reminding me of the assholes who think that printing tiny letters in pale grey ink on the white plugs of electrical devices was a great idea. I guess Jeff Bezos never plugs his own stuff, it’s not like he doesn’t have enough minions to do that and more for him… (I just got the SMS informing me that I can pick up my new glasses. My first pair of progressives, I guess my eyes are all grown-up now…) ETA: please don’t kill me. I promise my SAP designs work\* and do not include any tiny print in non-contrasting colors. - I’ve been back to former clients years after making the designs and they were still in place and chugging merrily. And they weren’t the kind of company which discourages complaints about stuff not working; other processes had gotten tweaked. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-museum-of-bad-design-your-favorite-exhibits/841728.md?page=6)