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View Full Version : The worst invention known to mankind, any seconds??



mark page
05-19-2007, 8:46 PM
Who ever invented this nylon webbing stuff that backs sodding should be flogged. It would not be so bad if the tensil strength of this stuff was like sewing thread or similiar. But there is not one square inch of my yard that does not have this hideous thing lying in anticipation of one day ruining my gardening experiences. Wanted to expand a 90 foot flower garden just by a mere six inches or so wide. Do you know what this stuff does in a rear tine tiller?? Instead of the tiller just chopping it up which would be great, but oh-no it yanks full sheets of this stuff from under established sodding and wraps it up in the tines which takes forever and patience to cut out.
I will be dead and gone 500 years and the poor schmuck who owns my place will still have to contend with this stuff. Whatever happened to just rolling sod bare??? They did not have this stuff when I was young. Three years in a new house and still cussing this stuff.
Most likely the inventor of this stuff is a multi-millionaire and pays for someone else to deal with his gardening/yard work, but if he's ever arrested for jaywalking, I want to be on his jury.....Life in prison or death penalty? sadistically lol!!!

Lee DeRaud
05-19-2007, 9:34 PM
My vote goes to styrofoam packing nuggets. Your sod-backing is possibly more annoying on a per-incident basis, but I seem to encounter those static-clingy, fly-in-all-directions, hide-the-stuff-they're-supposedly-protecting Tools of Satan just about every week.

Bubble-wrap runs a close second.

And for some reason, stuff that you can't break with a sledgehammer is usually shipped protected by both.

mark page
05-19-2007, 9:42 PM
Hey Lee,

Another one---The DREADED SHREDDED paper that people package in. I can handle peanuts and static, but paper and static (without being forwarn) are the worst too. As far as the non-destructible items, my kids could tear up an anvil in a sand pile with no further implements involved. LOL.

Nancy Laird
05-19-2007, 9:53 PM
My vote goes to styrofoam packing nuggets. Your sod-backing is possibly more annoying on a per-incident basis, but I seem to encounter those static-clingy, fly-in-all-directions, hide-the-stuff-they're-supposedly-protecting Tools of Satan just about every week.

Bubble-wrap runs a close second. No, Lee, bubble wrap is great for relieving frustration. I have a tee shirt that says "Therapy is expensive. Bubble wrap is cheap. You decide." :rolleyes:

And for some reason, stuff that you can't break with a sledgehammer is usually shipped protected by both. But the stuff that will break will be put into a cardboard box with no protection whatsoever. :confused:

My vote goes to packing tape used for other purposes than sealing a box. Have you ever tried to unwrap something wrapped in bubble wrap, then wrapped with that stuff. It takes a very sharp knife to get through it.

Peanuts? Hate the things!!!! And to think I used to save them.:eek:

Nancy

mark page
05-19-2007, 9:53 PM
On an add-too post--- Eight flower boxes octagon shaped appx 6 ft across, three flower gardens appx 20x20 ft, and the dreaded 90 footer appx 90x4 ft. I am at my wits end with this stuff. Of course all summed up over three years with dealing with it. LOL

Roger Bell
05-19-2007, 10:29 PM
I was just thinking today that I really would like to get my hands on the ### who first thought of putting stickers with SKU's on everything. Another would be that clear molded packaging that everything comes in. You can't handle or touch anything anymore....and if you can, you need GooGone to remove the sticker.

Packaging...........sheesh..............an environmental travesty for sure.

I really thought that my generation would make the world a better place....now, I am just not so sure.

Richard M. Wolfe
05-19-2007, 11:27 PM
The molded plastic packaging that just about everything smaller than a shoebox comes in. Impossible to open short of using a carbide blade and you stand a good chance of damaging the contents trying to get them out. Would make a good laminate countertop except it's never flat.

Jude Kingery
05-19-2007, 11:32 PM
Yep, I know one of the worst inventions ever . . . "your call is important to us, if you'd like x, y, z, press 1, if you know your party's extension, press 2, (10 minutes later) your call is STILL important to us, please hang on." HA! Not! I'll take my business elsewhere. Jude

Nancy Laird
05-20-2007, 1:22 AM
How about "Press 1 for English....."

Makes me so mad I could spit!!!!

Nancy

Jude Kingery
05-20-2007, 1:24 AM
Oh my goodness, Nancy, yes, I'll second that as well! If I'd wanted a conversation in Spanish I wouldn't have called a business in the United States!!! HA! Good one. Jude

Tim Wagner
05-20-2007, 5:32 AM
Peanuts? Hate the things!!!! And to think I used to save them.:eek:


I can't think of anything for the worst invention, but I love peanuts. I do save them, and If I could I'd fill a swimming pool with them and jump in. :)

Chris Barton
05-20-2007, 7:03 AM
The television

Doug Shepard
05-20-2007, 7:22 AM
Hmmm. Speed limits and the Porter-Cable inline sander.

Terry Dean
05-20-2007, 9:25 AM
While everyone is venting their "peeves" - here's mine.

Why can't you get a technical service rep, customer service rep, etc. who can speak without a foreign accent? They can't understand my east Tennessee hillbilly accent and I can't understand their slurred English. It's frustrating enough when you have a problem with your computer, phone service, cable TV, (whatever) trying to get it fixed without having to repeat what you say every sentence or ask the rep to repeat every thing they say.

One of my favorite commercials on TV is the one where the guy is trying to teach a class of foreigners how to order Bud Light at their favorite bar - at the end the Indian guy keeps saying Bood Lite as the instructor keeps repeating B-uh-d Light.

Lee DeRaud
05-20-2007, 10:32 AM
How about "Press 1 for English....."

Makes me so mad I could spit!!!!Actually, that one annoys enough people that most businesses have changed it to a (Spanish) message that says "press 1 for Spanish". ("Para Espanol...yada yada...numero uno...yada yada...")

Dunno how many Spanish-speaking customers are annoyed by that... :p

Leigh Costello
05-20-2007, 11:00 AM
The packaging on chips and candies and fruit snacks that tears from stem to stern while trying to open the bag comes to mind. I have no idea how the darn bags are supposed to be opened without using scissors! I keep scissors in every vehicle and every room of my house so I can open packages.

glenn bradley
05-20-2007, 11:46 AM
Along the 'press one for English' theme; there is a store here where the owner has recorded his message in Spanish following the English version. He speaks what I'm sure is grammatically correct Spanish but with a completely American accent. I don't know why but this really cracks me up. Folks who do speak Spanish have got to be rolling when they here this gringo-ish language recording.

P.s. It really ticks me off when they ask me to 'press one for English' . . what country did I call anyway?

Curt Fuller
05-20-2007, 11:57 AM
My vote goes to styrofoam packing nuggets.

Don't you know, those come from heaven. They're angel turds!

Terry Rodery
05-20-2007, 12:12 PM
The Flat Head screwdriver...I hate flat head screws!!!:mad:

Ken Garlock
05-20-2007, 12:49 PM
Don't you know, those come from heaven. They're angel turds!

When I lived and worked in Ohio, we call the them Polish Peanuts.

Yes, I hate the press 1 for English. Learn English or get out!!!! Our great grandparents learned English. If they wanted a job, they got busy and learned the basics.

Another is classes called "English as a second Language". Bull stuff, the primary language is English. The classes that should be taught is English as a PRIMARY language.

David G Baker
05-20-2007, 5:27 PM
Check out the medical profession. How many doctors have English as their second, third or fourth language.
I don't mind fine doctors where ever they come from but when I can not understand much of what they are saying it becomes an issue with me.

Mark Singer
05-20-2007, 5:32 PM
All of the vacuum seal stuff you buy that is imposible to take out of the package....you cut it with sissors and then pull it apart ...then the plastic is sharp as a razor and cuts you:rolleyes:

Jim Becker
05-20-2007, 6:14 PM
Mark hit mine on the head...have you tried to unwrap a Barbie lately? It requires a nuclear device placed "just so" and that's just for the tape. You then need to deal with the sewn thread and twistie tie thingies. And then you find some bandaids to cover all the cuts on your hands from the plastic packaging you had to get off first... :(

Doug Shepard
05-20-2007, 6:49 PM
...have you tried to unwrap a Barbie lately? ...

Oh yeah sure, but I've cut back to one or two per weekend.:D

Ben Grunow
05-20-2007, 8:59 PM
As anyone who has ever purchased a Marvin window will understand... the staple gun. There is a maximum I.Q. for these things I am sure. Over 20 and you cant use one.

Lee DeRaud
05-20-2007, 9:43 PM
...have you tried to unwrap a Barbie lately?I just eat 'em wrapper and all, easier and more nutritional value that way.

(What? Oh...I thought he said 'Twinkie'.)

Brian Kent
05-20-2007, 10:23 PM
The plastic wrapper on a plastic CD or DVD case.

Stanley tools, for not figuring out that if they just made planes like they always used made planes, everybody would buy them.

Don Taylor
05-20-2007, 10:53 PM
CELL PHONES! :mad:

DT

mark page
05-20-2007, 10:58 PM
As anyone who has ever purchased a Marvin window will understand... the staple gun. There is a maximum I.Q. for these things I am sure. Over 20 and you cant use one.

I think if I remember right that it takes about an IQ of 30 or so just to breathe!!!!

Dan Mages
05-20-2007, 11:13 PM
Home Depot?

Menards?

I don't have much experience with Lowes just yet, so they are not on my s**t list... yet.

Dan Mages
05-20-2007, 11:17 PM
My vote goes to styrofoam packing nuggets. Your sod-backing is possibly more annoying on a per-incident basis, but I seem to encounter those static-clingy, fly-in-all-directions, hide-the-stuff-they're-supposedly-protecting Tools of Satan just about every week.

Bubble-wrap runs a close second.

And for some reason, stuff that you can't break with a sledgehammer is usually shipped protected by both.

I dumped 15 cubic ft of Styrofoam packing peanuts in my brothers old Cavalier when he got married. It completely filled the back seat of the car. It took him 7 or 8 gas stations to vacuum that stuff out!! I kept a few and sent them attached to the anniversary card every year.

jeremy levine
05-21-2007, 8:57 AM
The molded plastic packaging that just about everything smaller than a shoebox comes in. Impossible to open short of using a carbide blade and you stand a good chance of damaging the contents trying to get them out. Would make a good laminate countertop except it's never flat.
YES !!! It is also a giant waste of material.

My son just had a birthday , we have more molded plastic then presents.

Al Willits
05-21-2007, 9:19 AM
Bunch of good ones, Ya, plastic wrap that's sharper than a razor and harder to get into than fort Knox, cell phones are alright, its just where the morons are using them that bothers me, either driving or at a restaurant, btw you don't have to shout into them and why do they always make a point to say they're on their cell phone...who cares???

And we quit buying Dell computers because the wife got somebody that barely spoke English on their tech line.

Press here for anything bugs me too, and as I answer the phone I hate the ones who call and ask if I speak spanish...nope, and don't wanna learn, thank you..bye..click.

Gonna put NWA right up there on the top of the list too, they reduced their employee's wages over 40% and still had the nerve to give the management millions in bonus's, while declaring bankruptcy....


Got a few more, but they either get political or personal so I'll just stop here...:)

Mark, can ya go around the edges/borders with a flat bladed shovel and cut this stuff, might make it a bit easier to deal with?

Al

Lee DeRaud
05-21-2007, 10:39 AM
I dumped 15 cubic ft of Styrofoam packing peanuts in my brothers old Cavalier when he got married. It completely filled the back seat of the car. It took him 7 or 8 gas stations to vacuum that stuff out!! I kept a few and sent them attached to the anniversary card every year.I saw in another thread that you're getting married soon...I'd keep a real close watch on your car keys. :eek:

Cliff Rohrabacher
05-21-2007, 2:44 PM
I dunno bout peanuts being bad.

Yah, they fly all over the place and static electricity makes 'em a real pain but the joy of sending an oversized box with a couple toys && jam packed full of little other than those things to my little brother's kids is like nothing else on the planet.

I can just see his face when his kids open the box~!!

Pat Germain
05-21-2007, 4:36 PM
- The Chevrolet 2.8 Liter V6: I have one in my truck and it's the worst engine ever made. (It also powered the DeLorean which I'm sure was a primary reason for that car's failure)

- My employer has a "Benefits Line" which forces me to contact some nameless, faceless, third-party vendor in the Florida swampland for all my HR issues. The greeting literally says, "Press one to report a death in the family". :eek: When I complained about this, a manager honestly couldn't understand what the problem was

Lee DeRaud
05-21-2007, 5:03 PM
- The Chevrolet 2.8 Liter V6: I have one in my truck and it's the worst engine ever made.Not even close: that honor has to go to the Pontiac (originally) "Iron Duke" 2.5L four. It's the answer to the question, "Can you make a gasoline engine as noisy and sluggish as a diesel of the same displacement?" And several of the cars using it were much better with the higher-cost optional engine...the 2.8L V6.

Ben Grunow
05-21-2007, 8:32 PM
Exactly my point Mark.

Pat Germain
05-21-2007, 10:23 PM
Not even close: that honor has to go to the Pontiac (originally) "Iron Duke" 2.5L four. It's the answer to the question, "Can you make a gasoline engine as noisy and sluggish as a diesel of the same displacement?" And several of the cars using it were much better with the higher-cost optional engine...the 2.8L V6.

Wow. I didn't think it was possible, but I guess another GM product was even worse.

My truck came standard with a four; it may have been the 2.5. It also had an optional diesel 4 cylinder. The "top of the line" powerplant was the 2.8L V6. 1986 was a bad year for trucks; especially Jeep trucks. I consider it quite an accomplishment that my truck is still driveable.

Belinda Barfield
05-22-2007, 9:44 AM
Adding my vote for cellphones, and molded plastic. Not technically an invention but the buy everything anytime superstore tops my list. I like the TV, but not the idea that one has to be in every single place I enter from the gas station to my favorite restaurant.

Jerry Clark
05-22-2007, 9:48 AM
Advertising!

Al Willits
05-22-2007, 11:50 AM
Worst GM motor had to be the 350 diesel, at least the iron duke motor usually made it 50k, not so with the 350.

I agree, advertising would be right up there, with infomercials and telemarketing coming on top of the list, or at least close.

Al

Marc Casebolt
05-22-2007, 7:26 PM
I don't know about the rest of the country, but here in S California some gas stations have mounted video monitors on top of the pumps. Not only do they charge too much for gas, but some smiley faced moron is trying to sell you more crap while you watch the meter run. (do I sound ticked off?) Get used to it, won't be long till they are on all the pumps. I think I'll walk more.
Marc

Jesse Espe
05-22-2007, 7:33 PM
Telemarketers who circumvent the no-call list. :mad:

Michael Gibbons
05-22-2007, 7:56 PM
Junk mail and Spam (computer spam) not the stuff you eat,although that might not be a bad idea!

Jeffrey Makiel
05-23-2007, 7:42 AM
CELL PHONES! :mad:

DT

More precisely..."other people's" cell phones.

...And commercials on cable TV. You know, the cable TV that I'm paying $100 per month for!

-Jeff :)

Jason Roehl
05-23-2007, 8:23 AM
Worst GM motor had to be the 350 diesel, at least the iron duke motor usually made it 50k, not so with the 350.

I agree, advertising would be right up there, with infomercials and telemarketing coming on top of the list, or at least close.

Al

The sad part is, the 6.2L and 6.5L diesels were an improvement...:rolleyes: Not many of those still on the road!

Rick Gibson
05-23-2007, 11:03 PM
Mine is those brain dead idiots who after a 1/4 mile on ramp pull out in front of you doing 20 mph under the speed limit. Second would be the companies that farm out their support lines to some co. in India. Bell Canada is a good example. I will give them some credit though they check up. I had email problems after switching to them and after 4 days of talking to support people that just read down a list and couldn't speak english well enough to be understood I got an email from Bell checking if the problem was fixed. I said no the support people didn't seem to have a clue (I've been playing with computers as a hobby since the early 80's) and they didn't speak english well enough to be understood. The next day I got a call from a women who not only spoke english but almost knew what she was talking about. She determined the problem was my router and as a gesture of good will for the problems she would send me one of their wireless router/modems free of charge. She had given me a couple ideas and 10 minutes later I had things working. I let them send me their router anyway. Good thing my son had a power surge or a lightning strike near his place that took out his router. Since I now had a spare I gave it to him.