Things That Really Make Me Mad.

And since I'm in the ranting mood (I mean, did I just post about Angelina Jolie for crap sake?!), I thought this would be a good time to kick off a series I've been thinking about.  I'm not together enough to do it on the same day of every week like lots of bloggers, but I was thinking about some great titles:

Bad Design Mondays,

Crap Idea Tuesdays,

Pisses Me Off, Wednesdays.

Wait, those all suck, so I'll post randomly like I always do.

My first "how on earth did this get passed the design team" product is baby cereal. Every brand I've seen has the same opening sequence:
Peel off the sticker,

Jam your thumb into that tiny little hexagon at the top, without ripping through the attached "spout": 

Then pull the "spout" out without ripping through the entire box (I actually use a knife to score through the outside perforations without cutting through the bottom layer.  I'm serious.):

Revealing the fish food "cereal" inside:

The entire system relies on perforated and overlapping layers of THIN CARDBOARD.  I mean, REALLY?  This series I've shown above is after almost SEVEN YEARS of practice.  You can see in the last photo that I also cut the top of the wrapping plastic off of only the top because the floofiness is not relegated to the silly opening, but shoots out of every corner of the crappy box.  Leaving the plastic wrapper on the rest of the box contains it a little.

As horrible as the opening is, it doesn't hold a candle to what a disastrous mess this box is for the rest of the time you have to spend with it.  It is like the WORST laundry detergent box of old.  Every time you pour out the dry flaky nastiness, the same amount that hits the bowl floofs out into the air.  Some pours out the sides, some gets trapped in the ridiculous cardboard spout, and some clings to the remnants of the "sticker" that held the contraption closed.

Here is a challenge to all of you unemployed industrial majors out there:  MAKE A BOX THAT CAN BE OPENED AND USED.  Just an idea...