Reminded of constant annoyances by CNET’s article on Technology’s 10 most inexcusable failures, I thought I’d list my own, if only to create some one-stop-shopping for those times when I’m feeling a little too upbeat.

  • Not being able to edit phone numbers on a landline phone – In recognition of the CNET article, I should probably start off with the one on that list that annoys me too. My digits aren’t dexterous enough to keep up with how fast my admittedly-failing memory recalls the number. 90% of the times I misdial, it’s on the last number. Grrrr!
  • Using PDF files for simple text – Adobe Acrobat Reader is worse than useless. I never need it as a standalone and the browser plugin is slow to load. Then, to add insult to injury, the damn AcroRd32.exe service is still running in memory long after the browser is closed. Thanks Adobe! That’s about as useful as the investor relations link at Enron’s website.
  • Web sites that require free registration to access free content – Do the ass-clown webmasters at these sites not realize that most of us are using throwaway email addresses? Catch a clue, Einstein; we’re not idiots. Well, OK, maybe Tron Guy is.
  • Popup windows – In the beginning there was the annoying popup window. Then came the popup window killers. Now there are annoying popup windows that occasionally circumvent the popup killers. Too late! By now the popup nuisance has become so well-known that I just immediately close them before the page even loads. So why do websites still bother? I’m not interested in receiving spam for a supposedly free dining card or a free IQ test. So stop it. It would be a different story, of course, if you enticed me with something worthwhile like, say, circus hamsters. I’d click on that.
  • Long checkout lines at electronics stores – The local Best Buy is a prime example of a store whose staffing policies only serve to as an impediment to collecting my money. Why is it that when I go there less than half of the twelve registers are open? Sometimes only 3 registers are open! There are always long lines there. Do the geek wizards in charge of this place not realize that the guy buying the big screen TV in front of me is paying the salaries of a fully-staffed register complement for the whole week? That just makes we want to go postal.
  • Telemarketers – I’m on every do-not-call list that exists and I’ve even traveled forward in time to make sure I’m on the ones that have yet to be written. However, I still get calls (mostly pre-recorded) from telemarketers. I like to combine revenge and altruism and lay the phone down on the table and walk away. The time that the message is sounding off to nobody is time not annoying someone else. I then use the time to relax doing Cthulhu Origami in my own Aunt Jemima Garden.

OK, I’m done whining. But I reserve the right to whine again at some later date.

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Filed under: Science and Technology

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