Room 101

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

Explanation from Wikipedia

"Room 101 is a BBC comedy television series based on the radio series of the same name, in which celebrities are invited to discuss their pet hates and persuade the host to consign those hates to oblivion in Room 101, a location whose name was inspired by the torture room in George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four which reputedly contained "the worst thing in the world". Orwell himself named it after a meeting room in Broadcasting House where he would sit through tedious meetings."

What would you like to see put in Room 101?

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

I'll kick things off with - packaging you can't get into without extreme effort.

An example would be the type of plastic packaging cables are often sold in. You're aware while you fight to get in that the stupidly thick plastic it's bad for the environment and ruining your scissors at the same time.

It always amuses me you need a pair of scissors to get a pair of scissors out of it's packaging.

Cables are right up there though because they're often bought on the hoof to replace a broken one or one you forgot to bring and you get back to your vehicle/hotel to realise you have the solution in your hands but no way of getting that solution out of it's packaging

 

[TastyReuben]

Similar to yours above - food packagers who, in this day and age, don’t use resealable bags and pull-top/tab cans/tins when possible. I’m tired of getting the scissors every time I open a new box of cereal or raisins or whatever.

Along with that, small appliance manufacturers who don’t make their short cords retractable. Why, there oughta be a law <shakes fist>…!

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

Similar to yours above - food packagers who, in this day and age, don’t use resealable bags and pull-top/tab cans/tins when possible. I’m tired of getting the scissors every time I open a new box of cereal or raisins or whatever.

Along with that, small appliance manufacturers who don’t make their short cords retractable. Why, there oughta be a law <shakes fist>…!

Yep and then the bag splits slightly and there's not enough available to get a clip on to keep them fresh.

 

[Morning Glory]

Ketchup, mustard etc. in little plastic sachets as provided in restaurants, hotels etc. Apart from the packaging waste, the used sachets litter and leak on the table and look so unsightly. What are you supposed to do with them? Putting on the side of your plate is really not appetising.

 

[JAS_OH1]

Grooves inside of jars (like condiment jars) where product gets trapped and is hard to scrape out. Peanut butter, mayonnaise, and other thicker substances are the worst. I think the manufacturers do it to make it look like there's more in the container than there actually is.

 

[Morning Glory]

Grooves inside of jars (like condiment jars) where product gets trapped and is hard to scrape out. Peanut butter, mayonnaise, and other thicker substances are the worst. I think the manufacturers do it to make it look like there's more in the container than there actually is.

Never came across that here. Well, not yet, anyway!

 

[JAS_OH1]

Never came across that here. Well, not yet, anyway!

It's darned American manufacturer's. I noticed some years ago that they started putting less product inside of the jars/containers of some products and when they did, they changed the design by including grooves and indentations so it didn't look like they were cheating their customers. Kraft and Best Foods/Hellmann's changed the mayonnaise jars from 32 oz. to 30 oz., for example.

 

[JAS_OH1]

Ketchup, mustard etc. in little plastic sachets as provided in restaurants, hotels etc. Apart from the packaging waste, the used sachets litter and leak on the table and look so unsightly. What are you supposed to do with them? Putting on the side of your plate is really not appetising.

I also dislike it when I go to a restaurant where they roll the flatware in a napkin and then don't provide an additional napkin (at least a few paper ones would be nice) to set the flatware upon after placing the napkin in one's lap. I really don't like setting my flatware flat on a restaurant table, I have seen how some servers/bussers clean the tables after guests leave and it isn't up to my standards most of the time.

 

[rascal]

It's darned American manufacturer's. I noticed some years ago that they started putting less product inside of the jars/containers of some products and when they did, they changed the design by including grooves and indentations so it didn't look like they were cheating their customers. Kraft and Best Foods/Hellmann's changed the mayonnaise jars from 32 oz. to 30 oz., for example.

I'm a label reader. 20? Years ago the juice sachets my wife buys contained 100gms. A few years later it was 95gms, fast forward 90 gms and now it says approx 80grams.
I add an extra sachet now.
Downsizing is big money .

Russ

 

[JAS_OH1]

I'm a label reader. 20? Years ago the juice sachets my wife buys contained 100gms. A few years later it was 95gms, fast forward 90 gms and now it says approx 80grams.
I add an extra sachet now.
Downsizing is big money .

Russ

Me too. It is irritating, though. I'd rather they just increase the price by a few cents. Seems like that would be more cost effective than changing the packaging.

 

[caseydog]

I'll kick things off with - packaging you can't get into without extreme effort.

An example would be the type of plastic packaging cables are often sold in. You're aware while you fight to get in that the stupidly thick plastic it's bad for the environment and ruining your scissors at the same time.

It always amuses me you need a pair of scissors to get a pair of scissors out of it's packaging.

Cables are right up there though because they're often bought on the hoof to replace a broken one or one you forgot to bring and you get back to your vehicle/hotel to realise you have the solution in your hands but no way of getting that solution out of it's packaging

Almost twenty years ago, my biggest customer was JC Penny. I did freelance design work for them, all packaging. Those nearly impossible to open "clamshell" packages are designed to keep people from opening them in the store, and stealing the contents. Of course, the person who buys the product has to fight to open the package at home. It's a Catch-22 - Wikipedia situation.

The worst, to me at least, are the "blister packs" that drug companies use to enclose individual pills and capsules. They belong in Room 101.

CD

 

[rascal]

Used to be really funny to me, laughing to myself when my wife tried to open those plastic bags. Watching her fight the bag, her problem not mine, until she had to get up and go in to the en suite in our bedroom and come back with scissors. Every time, went on for ages, then suddenly a small table appeared next to her seat with small scissors. Lol
Shes happy now.

Russ

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

Almost twenty years ago, my biggest customer was JC Penny. I did freelance design work for them, all packaging. Those nearly impossible to open "clamshell" packages are designed to keep people from opening them in the store, and stealing the contents. Of course, the person who buys the product has to fight to open the package at home. It's a Catch-22 - Wikipedia situation.

The worst, to me at least, are the "blister packs" that drug companies use to enclose individual pills and capsules. They belong in Room 101.

CD

I understand why they do it but there are other ways around it like a larger cardboard box that's sealed either end. A thief would have to stand in the shop tearing open a box or risk sticking the whole lumpy thing in their clothing.
They put far more expensive small electronics out on display in little cardboard boxes, the super thick plastic torture seems to be reserved for cables and the like.

The blister packs for meds annoys me so much I recently bought a pill popper gadget from amazon so I can remove them from the stupid packets into a container.
They have a point though, it stops the meds degrading by protecting them from moisture so I only do a few at a time.

But they're still going in room 101!

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

Those tags that they use to hold pairs of socks together or put labels on clothing/towels etc.
Sometimes they break off easily and sometimes they pull a thread on the fabric and you've damaged the product before you even use it.

They are also sometimes pushed through the clothing in a stupid place that leaves a hole in the item.

They need to go one way or the other, be easily broken by human hand or definitely require a pair of scissors, the awful in-between nature of them tempts you into having a go and when it ends poorly you feel like an idiot.