More Things That Don’t Work But That We All Seem To Think Do

Dishwashers: I mean, really, what’s the failure rate with your dishwasher? Around our house, at least 25% of the time, a dish or pot or fork or glass has to be rewashed by hand because it didn’t come clean. (Of course, my husband says that’s because of how I load our dishwasher and what I am willing to put in it. My theory of dishwasher loading is, “If it fits, it ships.”)

Plastic Shopping Baskets: I get shopping carts, but those little baskets stacked by them, meant for people, who aren’t getting a whole lot, to carry? These plastic baskets are heavy, in and of themselves, and are also cumbersome. They definitely don’t make grabbing a few items in the supermarket easier … particularly when you could just use a cart.

Pop-Up Internet Ads: OK, I don’t actually know anyone personally who thinks pop-up ads work, but someone must because companies continue to buy them. Here’s the thing: when an ad pops up and blocks my view of what I actually want to see, the thought that automatically pops up in my head is, “Don’t buy anything from this company, ever,” particularly when I have to search for the little “x” to get rid of it or when it starts talking to me or otherwise makes noise.

Spam: Like pop-up internet ads, I don’t know anyone who thinks spam works but there must be people out there who do. I realize they don’t cost a lot of money but they do cost some effort, if only to type the message. Honestly, is there anyone out there who would buy “herbal Viagra” from an anonymous email and then actually ingest it? Makes me despair for the future of the human race.