# Your current first-world problems
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [October 5, 2021, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904 "2021-10-05T02:44:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 8
### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2021, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/141 "2021-11-13T00:47:16Z")
> [@SurrenderDorothy](#):
>
> So, in order to minimize waste and not let any of my stuff go bad, it’s burritos and burrito variants for lunch and dinner every day until I run out of, at least, beans and rice.
>
> I’m so sick of burritos and burrito variants.
Next time (if you can stand to have a next time) try freezing the extras. I’ve found that they freeze well.
---
### Author:  [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2021, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/142 "2021-11-13T03:41:40Z")
> [@needscoffee](#):
>
> Next time (if you can stand to have a next time) try freezing the extras. I’ve found that they freeze well.
Some components do, but not all. Although I’ve pretty much resigned myself to having lettuce usually go bad before I can finish it in general in life.
I’ve officially had it with burritos and burrito variants, though. I think my beans and rice are past their prime anyway. I will try freezing those if I try this again- the rest of the ingredients are a little more versatile and/or keep a little longer and I can avoid, at least, the intensity of burrito week. I did not feel anywhere near the same level of burnout during falafel week or tofurkey sandwich week. And I have yet to decide what next week will be.
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### Author:  [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2021, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/143 "2021-11-13T14:44:19Z")
We had an old (at least 15 years) landline phone/answering machine that annoyed me because the timestamp on messages would just be day of the week and time, but no date. (Like, “Monday, 11:07 am”.) So for any messages more than a week old, there was no way to tell _how old_, which was helpful when deleting old messages that had piled up.
A few months ago we were having trouble with our landline, and as part of troubleshooting I went out and bought a new phone/answering machine combo. Surely in the last 15 years the technology has improved to where they can add a date stamp, right? Nope! Still just day of the week and time.
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### Author:  [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2021, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/144 "2021-11-14T02:32:48Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#):
>
> The horror!
Oh please! The refridgerator in my kitchen went kaput a few years ago, and now I have to walk 25’ to another refridgerator on my front porch.
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### Author:  [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2021, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/145 "2021-11-14T20:11:34Z")
My Keurig has stopped giving me a full 8 oz cup of coffee. I checked the manual and it recommended that the first thing to try is to descale (even though the descale light isn’t on). Of course, this involves running vinegar through it, letting it sit for several hours, then running water through it until it no longer tastes of vinegar. So it’s an all day project, and I keep forgetting to start until it’s too late in the day to be able to finish.
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### Author:  [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2021, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/146 "2021-11-14T20:43:39Z")
My Saudi telephone insists on using degrees Celsius. I have been unable to change it.
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### Author:  [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2021, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/147 "2021-11-15T04:27:26Z")
I was given an old fashioned wood and graphite pencil which I took to work. Having only used mechanical pencils for decades, and as my daughter has failed to adequately train her hamster to gnaw on command, I have no way to sharpen the damn thing. I suppose I could whittle it.
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### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2021, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/148 "2021-11-15T04:40:50Z")
Apparently I was the only person in the world who liked sugar free vanilla Coke. Can’t get it any more.
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### Author:  [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2021, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/149 "2021-11-15T14:03:16Z")
Took me ten whole minutes to get the damn balsamic vinegar bottle open today (that stupid wrapping tight over the cap — what, are they still worried about that Tylenol cyanide thing in the 80s? Get over it!).
I’m not even kidding.
(Yes, I know about that little pull tab. Wouldn’t budge.)
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### Author:  [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/150 "2021-11-16T01:25:39Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#):
>
> I’m not even kidding.
I’m just glad they have a seal over the bleach so it can’t be poisoned.
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### Author:  [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/151 "2021-11-16T01:56:01Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#):
>
> Took me ten whole minutes to get the damn balsamic vinegar bottle open today (that stupid wrapping tight over the cap — what, are they still worried about that Tylenol cyanide thing in the 80s? Get over it!).
A friend injured his dominate hand enough to require having a finger removed. He came home wearing a baseball mitt sized dressing on his hand and a bag full of pill bottles, all of which had child proof caps.
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### Author:  [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/152 "2021-11-16T03:47:41Z")
My 3 year old had an occasional cough last week and as an over precaution my wife decided to not let her go to preschool until she got a negative pcr test so I spent 3 days last week trying to work around a bored kid. Friday she went back to school and on Saturday it was announced that there was a positive COVID case in her classroom. We took her in Sunday and held her out of school today awaiting results. This evening we got her second negative PCR. About an hour later the school announced they had 4 more positive tests in her classroom and they (and the county) were declaring a COVID outbreak and shutting down the preschool until after Thanksgiving.
On the plus side my kid is healthy and got lucky not being at school during what appears to be a super spreader event. On the other hand I’m going to spend three plus week trying to work while entertaining a bored 3 year old while trying to not go crazy myself.
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### Author:  [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/153 "2021-11-16T04:11:03Z")
Attempted to open a new bottle of soy sauce, discovered it was not a twist top. It was thick rubber that I couldn’t pry off with pliers or a screwdriver. Ended up using a blade to slice the cap off. Now it’s stored with a doubled up finger cot taped over the spout.
Then! Went to open some bean curd paste, purchased this past weekend - didn’t see the Best Use date of 2018.
Ended up replacing by increasing the oyster sauce and hoisin, but my noodles just didn’t taste right.
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### Author:  [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/154 "2021-11-16T14:30:46Z")
> [@JaneDoe42](#):
>
> A friend injured his dominate hand enough to require having a finger removed. He came home wearing a baseball mitt sized dressing on his hand and a bag full of pill bottles, all of which had child proof caps.
That’s cruel.
Sometimes, though, the cap is reversible, meaning you the consumer willingly take on the liability instead of the pharmacy, and then the flip side is easy to open.
Probably a bit late for your injured friend, but wanted to throw that out there in case others might like to know.
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### Author:  [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/155 "2021-11-16T14:45:14Z")
All the pill bottles I’ve gotten in the last 5 years have been like that. On the ones that are not, I use diagonal cutters to snip off the part that makes it childproof.
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### Author:  [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/156 "2021-11-16T14:52:53Z")
My hair hates humidity and is harder to manage, and I somehow lost my dark green mask that goes very well with an outfit I wear for school. Woe is me!
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/157 "2021-11-16T14:54:14Z")
> [@GaryM](#):
>
> snip off the part that makes it childproof.
I do this with medication, lighters, and my lawn tractors.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/158 "2021-11-16T15:17:12Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#):
>
> Good idea! I had a docking station in my office, but now we’ll be moving to full-scale post-COVID “hoteling”, so no more docking stations. It would be annoying to have to bring the power cord with me at all times.
I have three. One for the office, one for my home office, and one for wandering around the house, when i want to work in the recliner or at the kitchen table. That’s a first world solution.
> [@TokyoBayer](#):
>
> I was given an old fashioned wood and graphite pencil which I took to work. Having only used mechanical pencils for decades, and as my daughter has failed to adequately train her hamster to gnaw on command, I have no way to sharpen the damn thing. I suppose I could whittle it.
You can buy a little hand pencil sharpener for a few bucks on Amazon. And whittling works fine, too.
(I like wooden pencils.)
---
### Author:  [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/159 "2021-11-16T15:29:51Z")
> [@Princhester](#):
>
> Apparently I was the only person in the world who liked sugar free vanilla Coke. Can’t get it any more.
Rest assured, you are not the only person missing their Vanilla Coke Zero. ☹
---
### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-current-first-world-problems/951904/160 "2021-11-16T15:31:01Z")
@Oredigger77’s three year old is on her way over.
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