# Things which should be simple, but which are not **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 23, 2019, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401 "2019-05-23T12:00:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/61 "2019-05-27T19:18:30Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Speaking as a store cashier: Shopping should be simple. You find the items you want, make sure you have a way to pay for them, bring them to the register, let the cashier ring them up and pay for them. > > Yet people either bring items they don’t want to the register or don’t have a way to pay for them, or have to go back for the items they forgot, or dump things on the register, etc. etc. etc. Hijack: What’s your advice for a customer who changes their mind about purchasing an item? Put it back (possibly in the wrong place), or give it to a store employee for proper re-shelving? Would your answer change for perishables? I agree that people who don’t have a payment ready are just holding things up for everyone. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/62 "2019-05-27T20:01:08Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > I thought this was going to me more like, paper towel dispensers with frikkin’ lasers on them. Toilets with automatic flush that activate if you move a micron. That kind of thing. > > Or my pet peeve, cars these days. Way over-complicated. I drive lots of rental cars in my job, and it’s gotten that it takes several minutes of familiarization to figure each one out. Might be fine if you owned it, but there’s no standardization. This manufacturer has a traditional gear shifter, that one has a knob instead, this one has a shifter but you have to push some damn button somewhere too… > > And the radios are infuriating. One time my work partner and I couldn’t figure out how to turn off the radio for five minutes. Turns out the controls for it weren’t on the radio itself, but on the pedestal below. Same thing for window controls sometimes. Stop trying to make cars unique! OMFSM - this!! Car “user interface” designs are now the most inconsistent mess, after almost a century of simple standards. I had a rental car with the speedometer off to the side and blocked by the steering wheel, but centered on the dashboard was a display of engine temperature, and I think the price of bitcoin. My last rental car I had to google how to turn on the emergency flashers. Not joking! Good thing I had a data connection, it was day light, and it was not a real emergency. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/63 "2019-05-27T20:15:29Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > OMFSM - this!! Car “user interface” designs are now the most inconsistent mess, after almost a century of simple standards. I had a rental car with the speedometer off to the side and blocked by the steering wheel, but centered on the dashboard was a display of engine temperature, and I think the price of bitcoin. > > My last rental car I had to google how to turn on the emergency flashers. Not joking! Good thing I had a data connection, it was day light, and it was not a real emergency. > Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Yeah. ( chuckles ) My car has a good sized touch screen in the center of the dash, and I rarely touch/interact with it while I’m moving. Every now and then ( every couple of days? ) the tile icon or navigation screen will go black, with a pop-up warning that basically says, and I’m paraphrasing: “Keep your eyes on the road idiot. It’s unsafe to interact with the infotainment system while you’re driving”. You must then touch a big “OK” button/icon to acknowledge it so that you can have your normal display back. So I’m cruising along paying attention to the road, but a pop-up _forces_ me distract myself by touching a screen. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/64 "2019-05-27T20:23:01Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Buying a reasonably priced 12" ruler is amazingly difficult. (Preferably clear plastic.) > > The major problem: Almost all 12" rulers are _longer_ than 12". There’s little bits of wasted space on each end. I measure a _lot_ of stuff by butting the end of the ruler against something. > > Getting a 12+" ruler and trimming it has issues: squareness, accuracy, messing with the cm scale, etc. > > The cheapest one I can find on Amazon costs $6 (!) and several negative reviews go on about how floppy it is. This is something where charging a buck is overkill. When a tape measure doesn’t quite work - And you need to be in the 1/16" range - [Something like this perhaps](https://www.amazon.com/Stabila-80010-Folding-Ruler-Modular/dp/B00009OLIU/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=carpenters+ruler+folding&qid=1558988213&s=gateway&sr=8-8#customerReviews) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/65 "2019-05-27T20:49:48Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > When a tape measure doesn’t quite work - And you need to be in the 1/16" range - > > [Something like this perhaps](https://www.amazon.com/Stabila-80010-Folding-Ruler-Modular/dp/B00009OLIU/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=carpenters+ruler+folding&qid=1558988213&s=gateway&sr=8-8#customerReviews) Thanks, but … I already have a couple of those. _Very_ useful. (I remember as a kid one of my grandfather’s had one in his shop and I was amazed by it. Ah, life back when.) But I need something that can take up nearly zero space in a small drawer, lying up against the side. And being clear would be a big plus. And metric, too. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/66 "2019-05-27T21:22:36Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > I do not need things to nag me with the beeps! Why does the microwave have to beep? I just put something inside for one minute to warm up and I am probably standing right there. Beep! Beep! Beep! I know it is done, I am standing right here. I managed to silence the beepers on the washer and dryer. But unneeded BEEPS just burn may ass. Someone sleeping in the other room? Not any more because you didn’t get back to the device before the un-silenceable BEEP went off. Fuck beeping devices, they are annoying and add nothing. I heartily endorse this position, with tremendous vehemence. ---
**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 27, 2019, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/67 "2019-05-27T21:36:14Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Buying a reasonably priced 12" ruler is amazingly difficult. (Preferably clear plastic.) > > The major problem: Almost all 12" rulers are _longer_ than 12". There’s little bits of wasted space on each end. I measure a _lot_ of stuff by butting the end of the ruler against something. > > Getting a 12+" ruler and trimming it has issues: squareness, accuracy, messing with the cm scale, etc. > > The cheapest one I can find on Amazon costs $6 (!) and several negative reviews go on about how floppy it is. This is something where charging a buck is overkill. Have you considered cutting the extraneous buffer part off yourself? Otherwise, look for C-Thru Graph rulers. Amazon isn’t the best place, though. Find a local art supply shop or go to Blick. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/68 "2019-05-28T13:28:57Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Wait a minute. I thought you worked for a store owned by Jewish people. Why would they order a pizza with ham? 😕 > [@snfaulkner](#): > > Maybe it wasn’t ordered by the owners? Or the owners ordered it with no intention of eating it? Or, OR, who gives a shit and it’s none of your business? Okay. The store rules are strictly enforced on this subject. Any food brought into the store has to be wrapped and taken immediately to the break room before being unwrapped. The only food that can be eaten in the store is the food the store sells, which is all kosher diary or neutral. Eating anything in the store from outside, except coffee, is grounds for being fired. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/69 "2019-05-28T13:48:21Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Have you considered cutting the extraneous buffer part off yourself? > Otherwise, look for C-Thru Graph rulers. Amazon isn’t the best place, though. Find a local art supply shop or go to Blick. Have I considered? Um, reread the post you quoted. Thanks for the keyword search. “Graph” style generally isn’t going to work. It appears that Westcott has bought out C-Thru. Found some things that are almost right. But still $6 including shipping. But it’s a start in the right direction. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/70 "2019-05-28T17:49:23Z")
Paying my health insurance bill online. In theory, I should be able to put my account number here, my credit card number there, hit “Submit,” and be done with it. But no, I have to create an account with a third party payment clearinghouse, with a username that has to be an email address; an address that can’t use an email host like Gmail or Yahoo Mail. No, it has to be an ISP-provided email address. My password must contain at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number, a Viking rune, and the blood of a virgin. And I must change it every four weeks, lest some stranger attempt to pay my bill for me. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/71 "2019-05-28T18:14:24Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Okay. The store rules are strictly enforced on this subject. > > Any food brought into the store has to be wrapped and taken immediately to the break room before being unwrapped. The only food that can be eaten in the store is the food the store sells, which is all kosher diary or neutral. > > Eating anything in the store from outside, except coffee, is grounds for being fired. I’m confused- first you say any food brought into the store has to be wrapped and can only be unwrapped in the break room. Then you say eating food in the store from outside is grounds for firing ( except coffee) Are you using “store” in a way that excludes the breakroom or is the breakroom physically separate from the store or (some other alternative) ? ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/72 "2019-05-28T18:19:44Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Eating anything in the store from outside, except coffee, is grounds for being fired. I see what you did there. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/73 "2019-05-28T18:34:27Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Paying my health insurance bill online. > > In theory, I should be able to put my account number here, my credit card number there, hit “Submit,” and be done with it. But no, I have to create an account with a third party payment clearinghouse, with a username that has to be an email address; an address that can’t use an email host like Gmail or Yahoo Mail. No, it has to be an ISP-provided email address. My password must contain at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number, a Viking rune, and the blood of a virgin. And I must change it every four weeks, lest some stranger attempt to pay my bill for me. And people wonder why I still write checks and put them in the mail. You forgot the one about finally getting to the payment screen, hitting submit, and having . . . nothing happen. No order receipt, no confirmation screen. Did it go through? Do I try again, and risk being charged twice? You also forgot the version in which there’s an error message – and every bit of information has to be entered all over again. On six different pages. All of which are slow loading. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/74 "2019-05-28T19:22:45Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Getting children to do anything. Go to bed. Get dressed. Do homework. > > It really shouldn’t be that hard, and you can buy a thousand books which guaranty that if you follow their advice it will all be smooth sailing, but it ain’t. You are right but you forgot taking a bath and sometimes eating an actual meal instead of just candy. You can explain it to them until you are blue in the face but kids will go feral without firm parenting. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/75 "2019-05-28T20:57:22Z")
So my tale of ruler woes has a couple more twists. 1. I have found that the Westcott No. 36 suits my needs. (Some of this deserves another thanks to **garygnu**. Which is **ungyrag** [backwards](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=847477). Is that a word?) Problem 1a: Some pictures show no extra on the ends. Some show the extra gap. Errgh. Well, which is it? (Also, too many sites cut off the ends of the image in zoom mode. Thanks for nothing.) Problem 1b: I can find it for as little as 83 cents. Plus $10 shipping. :eek: Nothing under $6 total so far. (And I can get a dozen for $13.) And then I’m still not sure which version I’d get. 1. Hobby Lobby has it on their website and there’s a store near me. Shipping is a killer, so is it in-store? Sorry, Charlie. They don’t want to tell me that. (And good old WalMart: I checked to see what they had in-store. Something promising showed up. But marked “not in stock”. If I ask to see what’s “in-store” I really don’t need to see all the products they _don’t_ have.) ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/76 "2019-05-29T00:20:25Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > Splitting a check when a group goes out to eat. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve paid the whole check because somebody resented that his GF didn’t drink any of the pitcher of beer…only soda from the pitcher of that we ordered. > > Seriously. The guy is paying $8.00 for two shares of pizza and drinks and is pissed off because he thinks it should be $7.50? > > I refuse to go out with my wife to have lunch with her friends because they do exactly the same sort of thing. Out of five people at the table, only three had any of THIS specific appetizer. “Really…I only ate the free bread, so I should not have to pay that extra 84 cents!!” This still happens? Doesn’t everyone just get a check for what they ordered? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/77 "2019-05-29T01:50:49Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > This still happens? Doesn’t everyone just get a check for what they ordered? That works in some situations, where you order what you want, I order what I want and nothing is ordered “for the table” . It doesn’t work so well for family style restaurants , or groups that order appetizers to share, or when ordering pitchers of beer/soda. I’ve encountered people who want to figure out how many people shared each dish and pay only the proportional amount for what they ate - 1/8 of item 1 , 1/6 of item 2, nothing for item 3 and so on. They don’t get invited a second time. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![sjankis630](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@sjankis630](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjankis630)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/78 "2019-05-29T02:14:57Z")
> [@](#): > > Just don’t turn it off. This. Why in the world would you ever turn off your computer? Set it to hibernate after a few minutes if you must but there is no need to turn it off that wouldn’t add unnecessary time to actually using it. This goes triple for a laptop/tablet. I went to a McDonalds for the first time in a great while. How much simpler can it get? Well I found out when the nice young lady behind the counter showed me how I was going to have to ring up my own order on a kiosk screen. Well I think this will be just like ordering off of the large menu behind the cashiers now. No it was not. It seemed I had to select a hamburger and list/unlist everything I wanted on it individually as well as the individual items I wanted along with it. Whoever created this interface should be forced to take and pass 20 UX courses first. The young lady was not that helpful as of course she whipped through the process to “help” me along so she could get to helping the other “dummies” like me who were expecting someone else to put their orders in. Also has no one else though of the cleanliness of these things? I don’t know if I want to be touching a screen multiple times after someone has used it after fixing their car, wiping their kid’s nose or picking up their dog’s crap. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/79 "2019-05-29T02:33:04Z")
> [@sjankis630](#): > > This. Why in the world would you ever turn off your computer? Set it to hibernate after a few minutes if you must but there is no need to turn it off that wouldn’t add unnecessary time to actually using it. > This goes triple for a laptop/tablet. When I was issued my current work laptop (Win10), I was advised to reboot it every day. AYFKM? This is 2019! Surely I can sleep my laptop. No, and I shouldn’t call you Shirley. In addition to the occasional crash or hangup of the laptop, MS Outlook will not access the server if I have it open for more than a few hours. Or more than a few hours out of every 24. Unless the wind is blowing the right way, or tea hits the exact correct price on the Beijing exchange. So no new emails in, no new calendar reminders, and no emails out. A full reboot fixes the problem. My usually helpful company helpdesk did not fix the issue after two sessions of two hours each. It’s faster if I just power cycle the thing every day. Dammit. OTOH, it doesn’t cost me that much, because the time to power up is not much slower than the “wake up enough to actually do something useful” time. :mad: This is why I drink. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401/80 "2019-05-29T02:51:18Z")
The fact every single website now openly tells you to use it’s APP instead of using the web browser and will sometimes even lock features away that normally would be accessible within the APP (Yelp is the worst for this) Yes, because I want a dozen different APPs to visit a dozen different websites all taking up memory in my phone. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-should-be-simple-but-which-are-not/834401.md?page=5)