When you think about how we all live in 2021, it’s just hard to wrap your head around it. The age of advanced technology, social and gender equality, creative economies, possibilities, you name it. So how on earth does it have a place for things like telemarketing and unpaid overtime?!
When someone asked “What has no reason to exist in 2021 and yet it does?” on r/AskReddit, the answers started rolling in and each was more eye-opening than the previous one.
I mean, people are not saying 2021 is totally overestimated, but in many ways, it kinda is. Let’s see some of the most thought-inducing responses right below and be sure to add a thing or two to this list in the comment section for everyone to see!
things-that-have-no-reason-to-exist-in-2021
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Child beauty pageants
It’s something that could be OK if the kids just played at being like the grown-up pageants and had fun with it, but instead it’s this profoundly disturbing adultification of these little girls
Load More Replies...Yeah, these things are creepy AF. Just let these kids be kids and not a product that the parents live vicariously through.
Do they have those outside the US? We certainly don't in my country.
Bullfighting.
Yup, it's absolutely disgusting. Does it make me a bad person if I don't care when someone gets injured by the bull? I just think "serves yourself right".
Many people in spain call it "culture '. Disgusting.
Load More Replies...It's 2021, for Pete's sake - either ban the "sport" or replace the bull with a robot.
There was a "Phineas and Ferb" episode where they had a bull rodeo, and all of the "bulls" were actually robots. Come to think of it, it's a really great idea.
Load More Replies...If the horns of the bull are covered to protect the matador from injury they should als cover the weapons they use to torture the bull. And when the matador goes down, we cheer and applaud the bull.
I was once in Spain on holiday and a bull fight was on the television. The Matador (?) was gored by the bull and all the waiters cheered, so not all Spanish agree with this animal torture.
well, of course we don't, actually most of us don't agree. But there is a whole industry around this and it's very difficult to dismantle it. Especially because since most of the followers are upper class the goverment support this unconditionally.
Load More Replies...Any day I see a matador severely injured, or even better, gored to death, is a good day. I have been to Spain a few times and have asked locals about this in various parts, met tons of Spanish people over the years, and it has always seemed something most Spanish people hate, and they say it is an awful thing, so why is it still happening? And don't give me that f****n tripe about tradition, we are constantly re-evaluating things and changing them for the better.
The same is with trophy hunting, why is it still happening? it's very hard to root out any form of animal cruelty. Those "people" who do not care are especially concerned about themselves, do not realize or admit that the link between animal cruelty and violence among humans is undeniable.
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Taking 3-5 days to put money back into my account after you took it instantly.
I went to test drive a car recently and the dealership wanted a £500 deposit. It was for the insurance (rather than pay it in event of a crash) but they said it could go towards the car if I liked it. I asked them if I don't like it how long would it be before I got the money back. They told me at least 7 working days. Politely declined and walked out.
I have NEVER had to pay a deposit to test drive a car, and I am old! Sounds like a scam.
Load More Replies...Since I deal with this almost every day let me drop some knowledge on you all. The problem is your bank, not the store or other entity doing the refund. When I do a return my company's system tells your bank that we are returning what ever the ammount is back to your account/card, the bank is the one that takes that information and turns it in to $$$ in your account. Why does it take them 3 to 5 business days to do that? No idea. Same thing when you order something online but then cancel the order, when the order is placed a hold is placed on that dollar amount by your bank, we do not get the money till you pick up your item, if you cancel the order we tell the bank to release the hold, again, how long it takes them to do so is up to them, not the retailer. I have had people see their money back while they are still standing in front of me and some that still have not gotten the money a week later. Again, the fault is with the bank not the retailer.
I work for a bank. Thank you for explaining it, so I didn't need to :)
Load More Replies...This annoys me, we have taken too much of your money by mistake, it will take 3-5 working days for you to receive your refund. This should be illegal, if you can take it instantly, you can refund it instantly.
Or processing withdrawals (like checks and EFTs) before processing deposits—-even if the deposits were actually submitted BEFORE the withdrawals were made!
FYI the system is seriously designed to make consumer transactions breathtakingly fast. I mean you could be at Walmart and the money is out of your account before you get back to your car. Refund-wise it can easily take 10 working days. Just not enough for them to worry about a rush.
Takes two seconds to take it out of your account and often up to two weeks to return it!!!
Goes right along with charging you 15% interest on your credit card and paying you .2% (yes that is a decimal point) on your savings account.
The fact that some people still don't have access to fresh water.
Or to close water : having to walk daily more than 10 km to get water from a well
To get *dirty* water from a well, or a glorified puddle.
Load More Replies...Access to drinking water should be a fundamental right. Meanwhile, Nestle claims the property of drinking water.
A right means no one is stopping you from working for it. It does not mean you can force someone else to give it to you.
Load More Replies...That people waste so much water on lawns or plants, or pools when there are droughts.
And those who does are willing to pay for bottled water to companies that greatly contribute to the fact that many people don't have access to drink water in first place
Unpaid overtime
This is time theft by the employer, plain and simple. Though it’s usually done to salaried employees, there have been numerous examples of hourly employees being required to work off the clock as well. The truly infuriating thing about this is that the very same company that robs you of your time will rush to accuse YOU of time theft if, for instance, you take an extra long break, whether it was intentional or not (like if you’re in the initial stages of pregnancy and experiencing morning sickness—-do they really want you vomiting in the wastepaper basket?).
I'm an adjunct professor on my "Summer break". We don't get paid for between quarter class prep. "Spring break" for me was about 45-55 hours of unpaid work to prepare for my upcoming classes (about 15 hours per class for me). I laugh when people say "oh you must enjoy all that time off".
FOR REAL. I’ve done some crazy amounts of overtime but it’s always been paid.
there's salaried and hourly...it depends on what you sign up for/are offered
Homophobia. Seriously.
New Zealand is currently working on a bill to make 'conversion therapy' a criminal offence. Hopefully other countries will do so as well.
Fortunately we have that bill in the United States. One of the hundreds of bills that shouldn't need a vote or discussion.
Load More Replies...At least not outright hate. Discomfort, disappointment, confusion, sure. It’s just human nature to be wary of things we don’t understand or that don’t fit with our beliefs. But outright hate, meanness, discrimination, bullying? Not okay, no matter what you believe. I personally believe that homosexual acts are a sin, but that doesn’t mean that I get to condemn anyone who either doesn’t believe that or can’t resist the temptation. It’s God’s place to judge, not ours.
Why anyone give a flying fig who another consenting adult has sex with is beyond me.
If who I lay down with (or DON'T lay down with) at night bothers other people THAT much they need to get a hobby.. or smoke a bowl and calm down...
Hate of nazis? Hate of white nationalists? Hate of terrorists?
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Why insulin is so expensive
It is not. It is cheap or free in every country but one. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/cost-of-insulin-by-country
It's striking how insuline in the "shithole countries" is actually much more affordable than in "the greatest country of the world"....
Load More Replies...It's free (supported by Social Security) in France and most of Europe. I don't need it and my taxes pay for it, but I am happy that allows insulino dependant people to get it for free
In the USA, there are three companies who have the ability to manufacture it as their formulations are the only ones approved. All three companies lobbied corrupt government to prevent the approval of any other formulation of human insulin to be accepted by regulatory bodies and bar the import of insulin from other countries. Then went about price fixing. They are being backed up and protected by bribed, lobbied, and corrupt government officials who have effectively made cheaper insulin federally illegal. Something needs t be done about the corruption part first.
I agree. UK resident all my life and type 2 diabetic. I take 3 doses of 30mg Humalog, 1 dose of 112mg Degludec daily and img of Ozempic once a week along with 1000mg of Metformin twice daily. Cost £0.00
Load More Replies...Only in US. Civilised countries have it for free for all insured .
My boyfriend’s insulin for type 1 diabetes is $700/month without insurance. It’s a life saving drug for godssakes….
My bf is type one diabetic too. We live in Greece. He just pays 1 euro per prescription for the farmacy. I never get why people emigrate to US...
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Celebrity worship
this needs to be its own post....seriously
Load More Replies...I also think many celebrities should not earn the money they do. People like nurses, fire-fighters, paramedics, teachers etc should earn more than celebrities do.
Political worship is far worse as the real world impact is much greater.
Especially these days...Myself, my mom, and my grandmother have never seen anything like this in our lifetime. I mean how many times in American history have you seen someone flying flags, wearing merchandise etc. of the LOSER of the last election. I think the most I have ever seen was a few bumper stickers (but those things are a b*tch to get off once on your car.)
Load More Replies...We should never hold anyone in that type of worship. They are human just like everyone else.
Yes why worship celebrities. They do mundane things like the rest of us. Some of them have scandals
Having to call to cancel a subscription you signed up for online
Netherlands: You must be able to cancel a subscription in the same way you started it and cancelling must be just as simple as starting. So 1 click to start, means 1 click to cancel.
What's your job market look like? The longer I'm in the US the more the stupidity bleeds into my soul
Load More Replies...And trying to find the right phone number to cancel some service... and fighting with CS reps that have been "trained" to retain customers at all costs short of canceling the service... as opposed to doing what customers want.
What’s so maddening is that you sometimes end up being subscribed when you didn’t actually physically do so. It’s the thing where, whether you say yes or no, you’re automatically opted in because you clicked on the website—-which often looks deceptively harmless, btw (like it looks like a news website, but it’s actually an ad). I got caught by a couple of these in the early 2000s, and quickly learned to vet websites to be sure they’re legit.
Despite my social anxiety, I'd quite happy to fully cancel a subscription with just a phone call. Here in Italy lots of companies (especially telcos) requires registered mail or, drum roll, FAX. Who the f*x still have a fax machine at home in 2021?! Talk about obstructive bureaucracy!
Just went through a 2 hr cancellation process with Dish last night, with 20 minutes of them trying to upgrade me, after a 90 minutes wait to get to a representative, and finally the last part of cancelling where I had to repeatedly confirm I did actually want to cancel
Single use plastic
Once upon a time, a lot of items came packaged in glass, paper, or metal containers. Many of the glass containers were collected, washed, and refilled by the manufacturers. People found uses for containers that could not be returned or recycled. Then there were concerns about the environment...yes the environment. Plastic bags were a response to cutting trees for paper. As plastic was light, disposable, and cost less to ship (no return or deposit), manufacturers switched to these for cost and convenience. The idea was it saved trees, fuel costs of shipping, and emissions. The extent of the damage the overuse of plastic causes was not known. Now we are back where we started with environmental impact.
In some countries they have and it's cut trash considerably. Everyone should.
Load More Replies...Single use plastic would be fine-- IF it was biodegradable. The main problem is that it sticks around forever and isn't digestible for the wildlife that end up eating it.
Research how much crude oil is used to make plastic bottles.
Load More Replies...Just had a weird idea. What if the entire world had a silicone, or multiple use plastic bottle with them at all times, and drink dispensers would be common among streets and places that sell drinks, so instead of buying drinks, you could fill your reusable bottle instead?
If only...in fact if they were all earth composite for disposable
Paying $4.99 delivery fee to the pizza place, and they say DELIVERY FEE IS NOT A TIP FOR THE DRIVER. The drivers use their own cars and pay for their own gas, and they sure as hell aren't getting any of that $5.
We have nothing like this thankfully. Food delivery people get proper salary, no need for tips.
But, living on fourth floor (old building -> high rooms - > many steps) without a lift, of course they get a tip if they don't screw up very badly. They don't earn that much here and I usually get food delivered when I don't want to leave the house. On the other hand, if there is a delivery fee it's maybe 1,50 Euro or maybe 2 if you don't order it in a different city. It's really strange how money just seems to vanish in the USA - does everything belong to huge chains? Especially food (eating out, delivery...) seems pretty expensive to me but still people don't earn any money.
Load More Replies...I NEVER tip through apps or put a tip on my card, when I pay for a meal. I always tip the server in cash, so that the employer has no record of it and the employee gets the entire tip.
When our guests came to visit one evening we ordered a "Just Eat" Pizza delivery online. It arrived within 1/2 an hour and I asked my better half if she had a £5 note I could borrow as I only had large notes in my wallet. Our friend's husband asked why I needed £5 and I said it was to tip the delivery driver. They both seemed amazed that we always tip for food deliveries. They said they never tip as they already pay a delivery charge online. Trying to explain that the drivers don't see any of that but just get a flat-rate wage just fell on deaf ears. It was also lashing down with heavy rain and the young girl was on a moped! We always tipped a minimum of £5 and consequently, our food was always delivered early, hot and never missing any items! Most drivers near us are struggling students and deserve every penny!
Former driver here. I worked for the big three and multiple others over my life. The driver usually gets a small portion of the fee. When I worked for Domino's the fee was $2 and we got a whooping $0.60 of it. The fee was originally introduced to offset the increase in food cost. They keep increasing the fee which keeps screwing over the driver. The thing that really sucks is most of the big three don't employ staff for specific jobs except for shift and store managers. So the drivers are responsible for answering phones and making food between deliveries. So remember your driver is not just your driver. They're also the host and cook and have to drive their own vehicle to get paid minimum wage +tips. As a former driver I always tip $5 regardless of the fee.
I used to deliver pizza in the USA (Papa John’s) and I got $1.25 of a $1.99 delivery fee, then when they raised it to $2.49 I got $1.50. Still wasn’t really enough to cover gas and expenses, especially considering my hourly wage got cut from $7.25 (min. wage) to $4.25 when I was out of the store.
Actually they do receive that delivery fee but the pay is so low it doesn't equal out. Former delivery guy
School lunch debt. Feed the kids already!
So true. Both my son's got a 3000 dollar hospital bill for their birth. It was addressed to them. I called the hospital and asked if this was a joke. So I said they are unemployed and unable to pay. The confused person on the other end of the line said we the parents are responsible. So I said okay, send my wife the bill. I hoped her insurance may have paid a portion. They never did! And it got sent to collection. Nothing but a criminal enterprise the US healthcare system is.
Load More Replies...School lunch debt? you f*****g what ? is there anything the U.S wont corrupt and commercialise ?
Yet another reason I don't mind paying my "socialist" nordic taxes.
quit subsidizing wealthy assholes and provide free healthy lunches to school kids
In the US you have to pay for school lunches unless you get on a program for parents that live in poverty
Load More Replies...In my country its free for the people living with less. And very affordable for everyone else. Public school its around 3 euros for the full meal
Poverty and homelessness
At least in California, a lot of homelessness is caused by drug addiction that caused a downward spiral in these peoples lives to the point of where the addiction was so strong, they lost everything to get their fixes. Need more drug rehab programs among many, many other programs to help curve homelessness.
Today I learned about a High School Senior from my State who is receiving a $600,000 + sign on bonus for major league baseball. THAT PISSED ME OFF ! when we have poverty, hunger, Outrageously priced medicines.....etc. IN AMERICA !!
It is growing alarmingly with the Covid Delta and the high costs of rentals out of perspective that are increasing as people lose more.
If people in the US start getting evicted because the moritaurium has ended, I'd somehow find my way, maybe "Indivisible" would help with that, to stand outside my Reps home with a sign saying "Room needed. Evicted because you wouldn't do your job."
Just to check in, how many of us are willing to give a meaningful share of our lives so that someone/others can exist?
Ulimately there is no solution for this because the root cause is overpopulation.
Homelessness when they're are so many empty buildings, all while some places make being homeless illegal, like it's some choice people are making to sleep on a roadside with cardboard for a blanket
Fax machine. Some doctors won't accept email only mail or fax. Some govt related stuff too
Good grief, most of ours is online. We can book online, even have online appointments (face to face), renew prescriptions etc. All in a portal called My Health connected to your own medical centre.
I do things online and get texts via my GP and hospitals. Referrals, appointments - I order repeat prescription meds online. This is in the UK.
Load More Replies...Let me guess, someone is desperately trying to keep the fax machine industry alive. It's an outdated technology. Just let it die.
I don't think there's some shadow Fax industry pushing it, it's just inertia - FAX is already accepted and approved for HIPAA protected data, building a secure electronic message transfer system for a small doctors office costs a lot more than the $200 price of a FAX machine. Even if they want to use email for non protected communications, if a patient sends sensitive data in an email, the doctor still has to protect it.
Load More Replies...I can assure you it's not, at least in my country. Luckily digitally signed emails are getting more and more accepted by businesses, but due to excessive bureaucracy (for it to be legally binding you must use a state-certified provider) it's still not a widespread thing among people.
Load More Replies...We have EU GDPR (general data protection regulation) I can chat to my doctor. Last time I got sent to lab tests and before that I got prescription for painkillers. No need to call, mail or meet the doc. They have all needed information. (Although I am sure if I asked painkillers all the time, I would need to go to the clinic. That was just one time thing.)
That depend on what country you live in. Here in Sweden, authorities will not accept paper in some instances. And if you can use paper, it is way more easy to do whatever online. Most Swedes also have a digital identification to use for signing documents.
TELEMARKETING
I don’t even get any other type of call, yet I still get this s**t daily
I don't answer calls from numbers I don't know for this reason, and now there's been a wave of scam phone calls in the last few years.
All telemarketing calls are handed to my cat. She loves to meow to them when they talk.
I only get scam calls as I'm on a list that says it's illegal to call (TPS-Telephone Preferencing Service) and I like to wind up the scam callers
[Bad Indian accent] helo this is jack from amazon we received a purchase for over $1,000 also who are you
There used to be one where they said you needed to renew your Windows 7 license for a certain amount of money. I wonder how many people fell for that scam.
Load More Replies...The problem with the Do Not Call List is it applies only to *legit* businesses. That creates 2 problems: 1} The scammers, phishers and Aholes don't follow any "rules" or actual, legit business practices. Most are Overseas callers. 2} Any time you sign up or buy *anything* from a legit business, you are giving them permission to sell, share and market your info to their partners, subsidiaries and outlets. You have to Opt OUT and even then it won't remove you from it all. If you buy a car though a dealer, that dealer sells your info to all those annoying "your car warranty is almost up! OMG!!" calls, texts - real companies or scammers. If you DL an app, if you use anyone's Cloud Service, if you're on FB or IG or TicToc - you have given them permission to own everything you have on your phone, in your photos and your contact list, those people's contact list, on and on. Never, ever answer a call you don't recognize. Not even just to mess with them. Then they know you're there
Phone scammers that can't be caught, and yet we spend trillions on fighting wars.......
Also selling your contact details to telemarkers. When I bought a website on Weebly, they sold my information to literally hundreds, maybe thousands, of companies. I would get upwards of twenty emails, and at least three or four phone calls, every day from spam or telemarketers. It took over a year to die down. That, in my opinion, should not be legal.
My dad is a world champion in keeping the sellers from haning up. I have seen him keep the call going for way over 1 hour.
Convenience fees being applied when you pay a bill online.
Seriously? We used to get a discount for doing this until someone decided it wasn't fair on those people who can't do things online.
Gee, you must live somewhere that doesn’t worship Profit For The Already Rich. Aka, not the U,S.
Load More Replies...Blame this on credit cards, credit card processor companies, and banks. There has always been an extra fee that gets charged. Usually bigger companies eat the cost, however not every company and this includes services. The convenience fee you're paying is what it costs for the company to run the actual credit/debit card. This also applies to what service they're using to run the transactions as well and also adds to that convenience fee.
It cannot reasonably cost more to process my credit card automatically via an online system than it would to process my credit card if I phoned in to the billing department.
Load More Replies...This is only-in-the-USA thing. I pay my bills for free, I send money abroad for free, my card is free, and all the things I need I can do online. Murrica is just a behind-the-times country.
MURRICA? Really? No need to be obnoxious about it. (Not that I don't agree with you).
Load More Replies...As I commented the other day, fees are banks' ways of increasing profits without having to do anything.
This - it is so ridiculous! It should be the other way - charge extra for the trees that die to send and receive a paper bill.
You can always avoid the fee and pay the old fashioned way, which actually costs more in every way to process.
Or the fee to have a rep process the payment because their system won't process a card that you know you have entered correctly
OMG!! Big time!! "Convenience"? Really? Convenient for whom, exactly??
For profit prisons.
Not specifically American what I've learned from a recent documentary on this topic. There's a British company (G4S) running prisons for profit. World wide. Hope you have a strong stomach: https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/06f1755f-8666-4c54-92fa-c0009e87d472/prison-for-profit
Load More Replies...To me it's just inconceivable that a government decides to let private companies take care of their prisoners. It isn't saving any money and it corrupts the judicial system as the harsh reality has shown. Besides that: private prisons get paid per bed, regardless if the bed is occupied or not. So basically the government gets taxed for a low crime rate.
Capitalism at it finest. Making money off of the sick and criminals.
Having no idea how much you'll pay for a minor medical procedure
It's hard to believe that in 2021, in the so called greatest country in the world, someone can be bankrupted because they need medical attention. What's worse is that most people in that country will actually fight any attempt to fix this.
Dude , where do you get your information from?? Nobody but politicians are fighting universal healthcare . The pharmaceutical industry pays for our country's defense , so the likelihood of universal healthcare is slim to none. Most places where there is "free healthcare" the taxes are exponentially higher than ours are ... so it evens out. Even so, nobody wants to pay ludicrous amounts of money for medical care. Our government is corrupt , our people are not
Load More Replies...Up to 20 euros is the answer. If you can pay - otherwise the goverment will cover you.
In my country it's 25 euros but only if it's a very, very minor thing. It was introduced to discourage people to rush to the hospital (risking to clog them) for silly stuff. Everything else it's free of charge.
Load More Replies...Only in a certain country where corporations are the true power and screw people over.
Time for the US to smarten up about universal health care. NO, IT IS NOT COMMUNISM.
This happens in the UK too. The car park charge at my local hospital is £2.50, but this one time I went to a hospital where they wanted £7.50. I was GENUINELY outraged by that, and complained about it all the way home. The price of car parks at UK hospitals is a genuine British political campaign issue.
40+ hour work weeks. The technological improvements should have made it so we could have a more leisurely society where we could dedicate less of our lives to pointless work, not so they could increase profits indefinitely for the business owners while we spend all our waking hours on labor that doesn’t even need doing at this point.
The worst are middle managers who expect you to give 100% of your time to your job.
No. They expect you to give 150%, plus sacrifice all your personal relationships to your job. Oh, and they won’t pay you a penny more to do it.
Load More Replies...This only works for people who can get their work done quickly … healthcare, teachers, customer service, etc are careers that do not involve getting things done quickly , they require offering services more than four days a week ..
Load More Replies...If you’re going to act on this, for Christ’s sake figure out how to do it without leaving people behind. Lots of people already can’t afford to only work 40 hours.
Seriously, everyone should be able to live on a 30 hour per week job. Instead people work 60-70 hours and are still poor or other sit in an office doing busy work to fill their 40 hours
Good luck getting people to agree to increasing my wage enough that I can afford to work only thirty hours a week .. I can’t afford my life working 50 fifty hours a week .. four day work week works great for salary jobs where production is the result … it does not work in healthcare , customer service , etc
Load More Replies...37,5 hour work week and liveable wages negotiated through the cooperation of the authorities, the employers' organizations and the unions. Yes, thank you.
If you reduce the working week down from 40 hours per week who will make up for the shortfall in employee wages... You can be curtain the employers are not going to increase the hourly pay rate as they reduce the weekly hours
You aer supposing that people give 100% for the 40 hours. That's not true for most jobs.
Load More Replies...Won't work in some industries. My hubby is a concreter and can't just up and leave after 8hrs. He has to make sure the job is completed first, doesn't matter if he works 5 hours or 13 hours. He also gets paid a day rate, not an hourly rate.
Which should be illegal in any type of work where working overtime is the norm. I'm quite sure your husband rarely comes home at 2 PM because the job was done and his boss sent him home. Because they always have another job lined up.
Load More Replies...In Iceland, they did trials with 4-day work weeks, and productivity INCREASED. (Thinking of it, I should migrate to Iceland)
The worst are the employers that hire you then tell you that you're now a team player and the success of the company depends on you to work as if you're an owner. That should be a warning to anyone applying for a job.
Commercials for prescription medicine
I especially liked the commercial for a drug listing "bleeding" as a side effect at least 5 different ways. So Doc, should I worry if I get cut?
Load More Replies...Only in the USA. In Europe the doctors decide what medicine they are going to prescribe and they sure as hell won't go into an argument with you about what brand it's going to be.
They will consider problems mentioned with certain brands of course, it's not lke they stand their ground on a certain one either
Load More Replies...They used to be illegal here but Big Pharma spoke and Congress obeyed.
Load More Replies...do you have dry or itchy skin? do you dream to be this middle-aged white woman playing with her kids? try trapezoid. just one injection every three minutes will keep your skin clear and smooth. 96% percent of patients saw a difference in the first 7 years. do not use if you sleep, breathe, or drink water. side effects include seizures, back pain, neck pain, and death. talk to your doctor about trapezoid today!
I believe this isn't really a thing in most countries. I know it's illegal in Australia.
This is a pet peeve, for me. The public doesn't need to know about prescription medicine, until the person's medical provider wants to prescribe a medication. All that the advertising does is fill people's heads with the idea that the drug could be their "miracle drug" and then they put pressure on their providers to prescribe it.
I hate those ads. Its always some family that are barbecuing or going to the beach. The names of these medications are weird. Why should I ask my doctor about medication?
Low quality surveillance footage
No, you see, every bank robber is technically a cryptid, so all the cameras lower in quality significantly when they're nearby.
Load More Replies...If TV has taught me anything, it's that you can just zoom and enhance on any footage!
That's just penny pinching. I bought a camera for £70 and the picture quality is excellent. It even came with a solar panel so the battery won't run out
It's not just the cameras. You also need a back-end capable of storing footage from all the cameras you have for however long you are required to keep it. Even if this is in the cloud, it can still be prohibitatively expensive. One individual camera is not so much a problem - I have a battery powered one (battery lasts 1 - 2 years) and it detects movement and dumps the footage in the cloud - but this wouldn't work for a large building or shop.
Load More Replies...Most of the problems with poor CCTV quality is down to the fact that they are not fitted properly, and the recording medium is not up to the task. For example: a 25-foot range 4K/UHD night vision camera is mounted 10 feet up a wall and focused on an area 25 to 30 feet away, so it's already out of range by about 7 or 8 feet, and then it's connected to a recording system set to record at a maximum of 720p. You end up with a very poor quality CCTV footage despite a having a high-end camera
You just pause the video, and keep saying, "Enhance, Enhance, Enhance more..." Like they do it TV shows 😎
This is another one for greedy america. This isn't realy a problem in most countries from what I have seen.
This annoys me, even today bank/police pictures of a criminal they want you to keep an eye out for is so grainy it could be anyone passing me on the street and I wouldn't be able to tell
Yeah, we keep getting told that satellites in orbit can read a newspaper headline, and yet the average CCTV camera has difficulty in reading a license plate from 100 meters away,
I spent years working in the CCTV industry. Why do time lapse VCRs still exist?
E-ticket processing fees. Seriously, do these have any function other than making money for some middle man?
It’s very naive to assume electronic systems don’t have overheads.
If you're talking about an airline ticket...then yes, they are needed. Someone has to actually look at that flight reservation at some point. Your fee pays their salary
I know for concerts it's because the venues hosting the concerts get very little share of the money. Freakanomics did an episode all about why concert tickets are expensive.
Junk mail, just filling up the mailbox with [stuff].
For some reason my hotmail account I've had since 2006 is now very bad at filtering spam, it's annoying since I still use the account regularly
Sometimes I think it's not bad filtering, but the volume lately is so big that we can't cope with so much trash thrown on us... scam after scam after scam
Load More Replies...Make a fresh email address(es) and give 1 to Friends, Family and those you actually want to hear from. Use another to sign up for what will be junk but you have to give an email (amazon, eBay, all that, too) Never hit "unsubscribe" on the bottom of emails you're not familiar with from a legit place. Spammers just send out tens of thousands of emails, using bots. If you get it and ask to unsubscribe, they know you are there and it's a working address. Just mark it as SPAM and let it go to your junk mail. Do this with all emails you don't want. Funnel them away. Arrange your emails by SENDER, then see who you want to add to SPAM. and can delete dozens at a time, page by page, by seeing them all there. Long, long ago you could put a short code into email, hit "reply" send it to the Spammers and it'd send THEM 1,000s or their own copies. It'd blow them up, and they'd leave you alone. I miss that :)
Yes and some of the topics and 'offers' are ridiculous I wonder how they ever get a response.
Targeted advertising. i noticed that when I search for something Specific, on-line, even on Ebay. The ads on my laptop target those items for me. Thanks but NO THANKS.
I don't get a single junk email these days, It's actually not that difficult if you're not a massive turd.
It takes me 20-30 minutes a day to clear out the daily junk emails, just so I can get to the ones I really need/want to read. I usually don't have much more time than that to spend on it, so I end up stacking up the emails I want and can hardly get to them the next time I have time with all the new ones pouring in. Unsubscribe on some spammers doesn't work.
I like how everyone in the comments thinks they’re talking about email just because of the picture shown. Read the words. They’re talking about real junk mail in real mailboxes…I think…pretty sure! Haha
Your race on forms. I'm so mixed I just check them all.
Most ethnicity forms here don't have me as any option aside from "Other". Sometimes not even that and then make it required. Ew. Why do you need to know that I am Malay, company not allowed to discriminate based on ethnicity?
Why? It's exactly because the company is not allowed to discriminate based on ethnicity. Say your town is 10% Malay, but the forms show that only 2% of your company's workers are Malay. That could 1. Inform the company there could be discrimination embedded in their hiring processes. Hopefully they'll want to fix that. And 2. It could create the base for the government (or legal team depending on where you live) to intervene if this becomes a prolonged and unresolved issue. Questions about race can feel gross on forms, but really, the only reason they're there is to ensure equity.
Load More Replies...A lot of people seem confused by this. Post Civil Rights Act in the U.S., a lot of places pretended to ignore race but still definitely discriminated. Questions like these started popping up to prevent that. Information from these surveys can show who is really getting loans, getting grants, getting jobs, getting medical care, attending certain schools, etc. For example, if a town had 50% Black residents, but only 10% of employees at the largest company in town were Black (which you learn through these surveys), you'd suspect there's a racism problem at that company. Hopefully, HR sees that and fixes it. If not and if this discrepancy persists year after year, the company is setting itself up for a discrimination lawsuit. Stats like these are important. There is no wrong answer. If you're mixed race, check as many boxes as you want and write in the margins if that is more accurate for you. It can feel gross answering these questions, but the reason for them is important.
The race is great for tracking disparity in hiring and education. That check box is what is used for us to measure the percentage of different races who graduate, get jobs, houses, etc. Without statistics it would be impossible to prove systemic racism. Also would make affirmative action impossible. If you don't think we need affirmative action, then look at the statistics you just wanted to throw out the door.
This does actually have a use though- as so much stuff in the past was designed with straight white men in mind. It's important to know if some groups are not using a service so that they can find out if there are barriers they need to address. Even if it's a survey- the results aren't worth anything if you are only getting opinions from a skewed sample that don't represent diversity of the wider population.
Isn't that illegal? Where would that serve a purpose? (Only thing I can think of is in a hospital maybe? I know some disease are prevalent in some "races" only and your heritage may be so mixed you don't look the part, but may carry the genes)
Nope, it's not illegal, and it's extremely common in the U.S. Demographic forms are optional and submitted without names attached. Think about it. If you learned from these forms that 90% of upper management positions went to men, you'd realize there's probably a sexism problem in your workplace, right? The same is true for race. If 30% of your local community is Black but demographic surveys show that only 10% of your company's workforce is Black, there's probably a racism problem in the hiring process. Hopefully, you'll want to fix that. If not, and if the discrepancy remains large and unresolved, your company may be looking at a lawsuit.
Load More Replies...These questions are now optional (as least in the UK), along with questions about religion and gender identity.
When I got my first flat, I rang the council up to get the single occupancy discount. One of the questions was about my ethnic origin. Which has no bearing on getting a single person's discount
Load More Replies...I put White British because well, I am, and let's be honest, that's never going to detrimental to me, which is extremely sad but true, and being a dude as well, well I got the three easy ones right there.
Door to door sales people. If I want lawn care I’ll google it dammit!
We used to have them. But that was back in the 1950's and 1960's. And they didn't try to sell idiotic stuff like lawn care.
No now they just try to scam you into more expensive electricity or gas contracts.
Load More Replies...I was once was a doorbell salesman. And I went door to door with my products. Some people didn't want a new one because the old one worked fine, and other people couldn't even be bothered to open the door.
I thought that job became obsolete with the rise in two income families, and the decline of stay at home wives. A make much of a living if your customer base has dwindled down to practically nothing.
I had 3 LARGE guys come to the door and wanted to check some meter in the basement. The conversation went something like this. Can we check the meter? What the 3 of you? Yes. Ummmm NO. Okay two of us will go down and I will stay here. BUDDY I wasn't even on the turnip truck. Fek off. They left.
Especially when you live in a gated complex where No Soliciting signs are posted everywhere. I've actually told people (who always seem to interrupt dinner) that I wouldn't trust my business to someone who obviously can't read. Seriously - if I need the service(s) you're offering I will find them.
We don't get these at all anymore in my area, with the one exception being religious types trying to push their particular church onto you. One particularly likes to do their canvassing the day before Halloween-- perhaps to save souls who would become demonic sacrifices without their intervention? Poor misguided judgmental little creatures.
I work for USPS. Went to request a day off and the form required carbon paper to copy.
My adult acne
I have noticed that since wearing masks I am breaking out a lot more, especially around my mouth and chin.
That's a disease, not something that "shouldn't exist in 2021". Actually it shouldn't exist at all like all illnesses, but...
Ugh acne as an adult. I decided I wasn't getting any older and stopped celebrating my age because of that. If mother nature isn't letting me out of puberty, then I'm not getting older. Eff that.
Bah, I hear that. I'm 45 , and mine just stopped like three years ago
My wife used to love popping my back spots when I used to have lots that she once said "I wish you had adult acne on your back so I could still squeeze spots" and laughed, cheers mate I love you too.
Tax software in the US. Seriously should just be a simple form on the internet that takes 5 minutes.
Netherlands: Log in into a secure site. Check what the government has already filled out. Let the program figure out in which way you get the biggest refund, electronically sign the tax form and submit it. Takes 15 minutes, if you're a slow reader. Wait a few months to get your refund in your bank account. No charges, no fees.
Yeah the dutch forms are extremely easy to follow. The first time i declared taxes there I was not fluent yet in dutch and with just some google translate it was super easy for me to follow it. I find the belgian ones much more difficult.
Load More Replies...Bro what you described is basic free TurboTax. This is an already fixed problem.
This is because if lobbyist from H&R Block and Jsckson Hewitt. It is 100% FREE to file your taxes using tax software provided by the IRS if you make below a certain amount (I think 50k). TAXES ARE NOT HARD OR COMPLICATED!!! You can do it yourself. The chance you'll be audited if you make a mistake is slim. And if you do make a mistake and are audited, you only pay for whatever the difference is and you can even make a payment plan.
"we know how much you owe but you have to work it out yourself, and if you get it wrong we will f**k you in the bum-bum" so glad I don't have to do that nonsense.
Free Tax USA is free to file the Federal 1040. They only charge for the State Prep & filling
Tax accountants -- the only people you ever pay to tell you how much your bill is.
This will never happen until law makers have to do their own taxes. Without help. Using TurboTax. Gathering their own tax info and all paperwork.
We have turbotax online in Canada (and only one filing. we don't file separately for Provincial and Federal). No need to buy software if you're just doing a basic return. If you want extra perks, you can give money to turbotax, but I haven't paid for my tax filing for close to 8 years.
In the UK, personal tax returns are a form, but not everybody needs to complete one. For businesses, there is a move towards using software to submit corporate tax and VAT returns. There are a lot of sections to the personal tax return, most of which don't apply to normal people, but it is still a rather painful thing to fill in, expecially if you are self-employed.
I do one as a business and one as personal - both are online and not that complicated. I suppose it depends on how well you keep your records.
Load More Replies...Companies like Intuit have lobbied heavily against the gov't doing taxes for us, because they make money off their program TurboTax.
Gas stations charging 10 more cents per gallon for paying with a debit/credit card.
The credit card companies charge them what amounts to ten cents on each gallon, or 2.5 percent.
They do in other countries as well. It is just illegal for them to make a charge for the way the you pay. This actually results in a marginally higher price for everybody, but the price you see will be the price you pay.
Load More Replies...In Norway it's the opposite. You get benefits paying with certain cards.
Gas stations only make a few cents per gallon. Gas companies (Mobil, etc.) and state taxes get all the rest. So if they didn’t charge for the credit card fees they wouldn’t be making anything on those sales. My Dad used to own a gas station in Massachusetts.
Lousy printers. It's like no one ever tried to build a good one and humanity just agreed they need to be louder than a Lambo for 2 minutes straight before they can print my Amazon return ticket.
Again a matter of watching what you're buying. My old laserprinter just makes a humming noise that's barely noticeable while printing .
The older ones are the best! Newer ones - not so much.
Load More Replies...ERROR OUT OF MAGENTA "please i'm not even printing in colour" NEED MAGENTA PATHETIC HUMAN "please" I AM YOUR GOD GIVE ME MAGENTA NOW
That last bit especially made me gigglesnort xD
Load More Replies...Like many modern electronic devices, these are made to break over time. They are also designed in such a way that it is almost impossible to have them repaired.
I've recently experienced the tragic age-related failure of my two favorite printers, and HP LaserJet IIP (1989) and a LaserJet IIIP (1993). The printers themselves work just fine, particularly the IIP, but there are no longer any working toner cartridges left on earth due to the rubber parts having perished. I bought a new one, and it seems SO flimsy and awful. It doesn't even print very well.
Load More Replies...The patents for the modern printers were filed almost a hundred years ago. But during the last 20-30 years the development of their basic functions seemed to stop. They might have wifi and maybe a little cheaper, but they aren't much faster, or more quiet, or use less expensive or longer lasting toner or ink. Their parts aren't better quality either, they need regular maintenance or they broke relatively quickly. But did you know after Edison started to produce lightbulbs they were too good? They worked so long people didn't buy new ones. There are bulbs still working after a hundred years. So they started to produce them in lower quality so they needed regular change.
Mine went in the trash. I'd use it once, then it would sit until the ink dried out. Not worth $30 a printing session. I just go to the library and pay 10 cents/page.
I have an Apple ImageWriter II dot matrix printer I got in 1985. The plastic has yellowed and it is loud, but it still works.
And you can go Energizer Bunny with the cartridge and print and print and print and print...
Load More Replies...
Gas cans that seem deliberately designed to not work and that spill gasoline everywhere.
Yep...most can around here have some kind of vapor lock that makes it near impossible to use without spilling. Kinda defeats the purpose. On a side note, love the picture. I love my Jeep Cherokee.
You can buy nozzles to work with these cans. Still not perfect, but much, much better!
Load More Replies...Hmmm! I wonder why the hole for pouring is off to one side? One would think that would be a hint for pouring.
User error. People don't use the nozzles or don't fit them right. Even plastic 5L / 1G cans have a "right way" to rotate the nozzle so they breathe instead of glug.
Even if you can’t find a nozzle surly you could find a funnel to make it easier not to spill anything
Having to call to make bill payments.
I work in medical billing. Trust me, this is very much a thing. My company does billing for hundreds of offices across the country and we still have some clients that don't accept credit cards! It's exhausting. As if medical services weren't enough of a disaster in the US, paying your bill is yet another headache!
There are a few doctors' offices who still haven't updated their office technology. :(
You don't have to. Here in Canada I've have paid things online for years
A lot of these are only relevant in the USA, definitely the biggest 3rd world country
Came here to say that too. A lot of the problems mentioned here are very USA-centered.
Load More Replies...ABSOLUTELY !!! But then they would have to probably address the Child Cruelty and sale of women and children (Human Trafficking) that STILL exists and is ignored.
Load More Replies...They forgot Pay Day Loans. They forgot banks allowed to charge 27% and higher on a consumer credit card. Thank deregulation and your conservative sell outs in congress.
Royalty. Why do modern, progressive nations like Sweden and the Netherlands have to have a royal family?
Thank you! I find worship to royals even more disturbing than celebrities! Those are governance structures which have all been banned decades ago and I don't get why ppl who literally do nothing and are wealthy just for birth reasons, while having their diamonds and expensive clothes paid by society, are being worshipped!?
Load More Replies...I'm surprised no one said "cancel culture" or "social justice warriors".
"cancel culture" has a bit of a "mob mentality" to it that makes me uncomfortable, not to mention "guilty until proven innocent". Although I do appreciate people's frustration that this is the only method they feel they have "power" to influence change. As for "social justice warriors"... social justice is a good thing, always has been. Why would we want to stop promoting it? Would you prefer "social inequity warriors"?
Load More Replies...Half of these I agree with, half don't really apply as I'm not American
Do some places actually require you to select race on forms? I've only seen the question about whether you are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in Australia, which is asked because those who are, are entitled to certain things or there may be more relevant services for them
Load More Replies...The company "Autism Speaks" is one of them. They don't even support autistic people at all, they just continually call them burdens and even advocate for parents that kill their autistic children. I still can't believe it's not classified as a hate group yet.
A lot of these are only relevant in the USA, definitely the biggest 3rd world country
Came here to say that too. A lot of the problems mentioned here are very USA-centered.
Load More Replies...ABSOLUTELY !!! But then they would have to probably address the Child Cruelty and sale of women and children (Human Trafficking) that STILL exists and is ignored.
Load More Replies...They forgot Pay Day Loans. They forgot banks allowed to charge 27% and higher on a consumer credit card. Thank deregulation and your conservative sell outs in congress.
Royalty. Why do modern, progressive nations like Sweden and the Netherlands have to have a royal family?
Thank you! I find worship to royals even more disturbing than celebrities! Those are governance structures which have all been banned decades ago and I don't get why ppl who literally do nothing and are wealthy just for birth reasons, while having their diamonds and expensive clothes paid by society, are being worshipped!?
Load More Replies...I'm surprised no one said "cancel culture" or "social justice warriors".
"cancel culture" has a bit of a "mob mentality" to it that makes me uncomfortable, not to mention "guilty until proven innocent". Although I do appreciate people's frustration that this is the only method they feel they have "power" to influence change. As for "social justice warriors"... social justice is a good thing, always has been. Why would we want to stop promoting it? Would you prefer "social inequity warriors"?
Load More Replies...Half of these I agree with, half don't really apply as I'm not American
Do some places actually require you to select race on forms? I've only seen the question about whether you are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in Australia, which is asked because those who are, are entitled to certain things or there may be more relevant services for them
Load More Replies...The company "Autism Speaks" is one of them. They don't even support autistic people at all, they just continually call them burdens and even advocate for parents that kill their autistic children. I still can't believe it's not classified as a hate group yet.

