2A 20 Things That Bug Me That Don't Need to Happen

1. The McDonald's ice cream machine is almost always broken at any location toward the end of the day.

• This is sometimes because the ice cream machine really is broken, but it is often because McDonald's locations are open 24 hours and, at certain times of the day, the ice cream machine has to be cleaned so employees just say it is broken. Instead, McDonald's could have a set time of day for cleaning ice cream machines when customers would know ice cream is temporarily unavailable, and would not expect the machines to be working, which would result in better customer satisfaction.

2.  My car dashboard has anywhere from 1 - 6 lights on at any given time when the lights are not displaying for the intended reason i.e. the tire pressure light will be on even when the tire pressure is what it should be.

• The battery was recently replaced, but was installed incorrectly so now lights turn on that should not be flashing. When the dealership looked into it, they fixed the problem for 24 hours, but the lights recently began to flash again so the problem was not actually fixed.

3. Headphones that break in only one earbud or need to be held at a certain angle in order for the sound to play properly.

• Many headphones are made from a material that is not durable, which leads to them breaking and being on their last leg after only a short amount of time. For instance, I have a pair of headphones right now where sound only faintly plays out fo one earbud, but I have had headphones in the past that only played sound if you held the wire in a certain way. Problems, which could all be fixed by making headphones from more durable materials, both wires and speakers.

4.  Gas prices being priced differently in various regions.

• Gas prices are higher is certain areas yet lower in others as a result of regional based pricing that help owners to maximize profits. A way of avoiding this could be to have a card gas station members can pay for on a monthly basis in order for consumers to be able to receive the lowest price of gas that the company offers out of all of its locations. 

5. My social media will tell me it timed out, not load properly, or will not properly refresh the page.

• This happens when my connection is bad or the WiFi is weak, which is pretty much any spot on the University of Florida campus, specifically the Heavener building.

6. Headphones that get unreasonably tangled after one minute of sitting around or being in a pocket.

• Headphones are not designed to have a feature that prevents tangling, and due to the fact that they are made of curly wires, headphones often curl up into a tangled mess that takes a lot of time to untangle every time you want to use the headphones. Every time headphones are put into a pocket or a purse, ten minutes is wasted detangling them before they can be used.

7. Paying $40 for a HITT Clicker that is only needed for one class during one semester.

• This only occurs because the bookstore is one of the only places you can buy the clickers, but it does not have a rental option for clickers needed for classes. The clickers are able to be reused, and often students buy the clickers from other students who have previously owned them anyway so it makes sense to offer a rental option at the bookstore.

8. Socks that get wet from stepping in puddles of water that were created by melted ice cubes under the fridge.

• This happens when ice doesn't make it into the cup of someone dispensing the ice from the freezer, and it is instead left on the floor to melt and create a puddle. The socks become uncomfortably wet because they are made of a material that is not water proof. This then leads to slippery socks that are extremely uncomfortable to walk in.

9. Hand dryers in public bathrooms that do not properly dry hands.

• Some bathrooms do not offer any paper products to dry hands, and instead only have an air blowing hand dryer. However, many of those hand dryers are not effective and one is left to walk out of the bathroom with sopping wet hands.

10.The chat feature on snapchat!!

• The most recent message disappears after it is read so most snapchat conversations consist of asking what was last said. This mainly happens when the person you are chatting with does not respond right away. This feature needs some kind of method of seeing the last message sent by the account that the chat is being viewed from.

11.  Florida pools become over and under filled at different times during the year depending on the amount of rain or heat that occurs.

• In Florida, most homes have pools and these pools need to be filled by a hose or drained at certain times of the year due to heavy rainfall that overfills pools, or extreme heat that evaporates the water causing an under-filled pool. A way of automatically monitoring and adjusting the pool to the right level should be built into the pool so that homeowners need to do less maintenance each year.

12. Beach picnics always seem like a good idea until sand is in both the food and the drinks.

• This happens because most containers and coolers do not effectively keep the sand out, and even if they do, once they are open, sand seems to still find its way into both the food and drinks. Also when individuals go swimming at the beach, sand gets stuck to their skin and can transfer into the food that way. This adds an unwanted texture to the picnic food.

13. Fuzzy pants and blankets get ruined and become no longer fuzzy after being washed.

• The material is the kind of material that cannot undergo an intense wash because the water causes the fuzz to clump up and then it comes out of the washer being no longer fuzzy. There should be a cycle available on a washer that is less intense than the normal wash load that would not ruin a fuzzy fabric.

14. Every year I am unable to eat the mangoes grown on my mango tree.

• Every single year, without fail, the squirrels and raccoons in my neighborhood enjoy the fresh mangoes that should have been mine. Due to the fact that there is no way for me to protect the fruit tree fully, I can do nothing but watch as the animals eat the fruit before it is ripe enough for me to pick it and eat it myself.

15. Some companies interview applicants, but then do not send out emails informing the individuals who do not make the next round in the hiring process. These companies will only notify applicants of rejection when the applicant calls to ask about the status of their application.

• These companies only inform those moving on who absolutely must know the information in order to be prepared for the next step in the process. However, this leaves rejected applicants wondering about the status of their application when all that is needed is an automatic system to send out rejection emails.

16. Jupiter Donut Factory sells out by 10 AM, and then the shop closes down once the doughnuts are sold out meaning individuals have to wake up very early to get the preferred doughnuts. 

• The shop does not produce more doughnuts once they are sold out because it would cost more in labor and utility costs to keep the business open for additional hours.

17. Hat Hair.

• The weight of hats can be very heavy and the rim of the hat is often tight on the head leaving imprints and what is more commonly referred to as "hat hair". This could be avoided by a change in materials used in making the hat. Using lighter materials that do not weigh the hair down as much would eliminate the issue at hand. 

18. Having freshly painted nails get messed up or having nail polish chip in less than 24 hours.

• Most nail polishes purchased at drug stores are made of cheap ingredients that are not made to be durable. What needs to be bottled is nail polish that will paint like the gel polish received when getting a manicure in a spa because that kind of nail polish lasts for a long time.

19. At the University of Florida, the route for bus 9 is never accurately displayed on the Rider app.

• The bus 9 route changed this year, and has not been updated on the Rider app so it is never accurate regarding arrival times or approaching locations. 

20. The UPS guy always leaves before an individual has time to answer the door and sign for the package meaning the package is not received.

• This happens because UPS employees have a large area to deliver to so they are in a rush. As a result this means that postal workers making deliveries typically do not wait very long at the door. Many times individuals receiving a package they have to sign for have to chase after the postal delivery man or simply miss the delivery altogether.

At first I thought listing 20 things that bug me would be easy, but when I started to think about it, I realized I could only think of about three things. I then put it at the back of my mind and went through my day, and suddenly I had a full list of 20 items. I do not typically think of the world in a "how could this experience be better" way, but thinking that way was very eye opening and I realized there were so many areas where products or companies could be invented or improved, and as a result life would be improved. 

I will admit that paying attention to the complaints friends were making to me throughout the day, and paying attention to jokes being made on social media sites like Twitter helped to give me some of these item ideas. However, I realized those methods are some of the best ways to look for inspiration on which industries to improve because the feedback on certain companies and experiences in everyday life were widely shared by a mass number of people. Instead of joining in and agreeing on the problem and then simply moving on, this assignment helped me to see the potential those complaints give entrepreneurs.