Assignment 2 Bug List

Assignment 2: Sarah Wittman's Bug List

1. Public bathrooms are super quiet, making all “bathroom noises” quite audible to fellow patrons. Specifically, at the AMC bowling alley, when leaving the very noisy lane area the bathroom seems unusually quiet making pizza/beer farts overly obvious. Some piped in 80’s music would be very welcome here.

WHY? The extra expense of maintaining audio feed to bathrooms might be prohibitive. There also may be safety concerns that I am not considering.

2. It’s 2020 and we still have to endure bathrooms that smell like poop. There should be an exhaust fan below the seat of the toilet that captures odor and vents elsewhere.

WHY? Engineering challenge of combining running water with airflow, as well as the possibility of creating a dangerous vacuum could be factors.

3. In the stalls of most ladies’ rooms, right at head level, is a spot to stash used feminine products. GROSS.

WHY? Something akin to a diaper-genie to capture and seal away used feminine products should be available but requires expensive installation and maintenance.

4. I can hear every noise in my house.

WHY? When building, I did not know to request more insulation or thicker walls on the interior.

5. Some GPSs often bring people/deliveries to an address that is not my house, it exists on the county’s plat drawings but doesn’t exist in real life.

WHY? The original civil engineering was a conjecture, not actual planning, not all GPS systems are standardized to existing addresses.

6. Customers in the drive-through often get served before customers at the counter. This happens at CBTFL Bank in Ocala and most Dunkin Donuts that I have visited.

Why? There is greater volume through the drive-through lines than at the counter, there is beeping in the ear of the server until the drive-through gets service, a person at the counter can only give the stink-eye.

7.Servers who touch their hair, eyes, or noses while handling cups or plates. (Starbucks, College Road Ocala)

WHY? Improper hygiene training.

8. Tech support at Sprint that have no intention of resolving my issue but can’t end the conversation.

WHY? They must be trained not to hang up on you but know that they can wear you down by either prompting you to repeat the same unproductive series of steps or transfer you laterally, starting your process all over again. Maybe there’s a lack of training or upper level support that are authorized to make any decisions.

9. Healthcare Marketplace- if you have a “life change” and need to adjust your coverage, they automatically recalculate your premium based on next year’s numbers.

WHY?  You would be penalized if you didn’t declare life-change, but you essentially get penalized with a higher premium by self-declaring. Might be a type of indirect processing fee, and as a self-employed person, the marketplace is my only option, so I have no recourse outside of dropping coverage altogether.

10. Winn Dixie on 441 and 326.  I clearly have my own shopping bags and Jason still uses the plastic bags. When I ask him to use my bags, he takes the groceries out, then throws the plastic bags in the garbage, defeating the purpose of reusable bags.

WHY? Lack of training, oversight, and possibly insufficient staffing/ breaks provided. Jason seems hurried and flustered.

11. Flies in my kitchen

WHY? I live on a farm, where there are animals and poop, there are flies.

12. My well water is always changing.

WHY? In Florida, the aquifers are sensitive to “invasions” of iron or sulfur so the filtration system that I have cannot consistently balance the water quality.

13.When running on 329 in Reddick, it is often the local Sheriffs that buzz me, sending me running down the rough shoulder of the road.

WHY? He/She (they have all done it to me) drive over the speed limit while looking at their dash-mounted laptops.

14. In spite of my 30+ years of happy training, non-runners will “inform me” of the dangers of running. This includes anecdotes of all sorts of unfortunate events ranging from roadside sexual assault to knee injury.

WHY?  They may be well-intentioned yet unaware of the effect their “information” has on a seasoned runner. They may also feel the need to justify their own inactivity.

15. People are still starting to smoke.

WHY? There continues to be an image attached to lighting up; defiant, invincible, and sexy. Marketing to young people is effective.

16. Triple packaged products.

Why? Design and marketing support overuse of packaging to make a small product seem pricey and precious. More products are being shipped directly to consumers in small quantities requiring padding and protection.

17. Items that define themselves as “GLUTEN FREE” but actually contain gluten.

WHY? GF is a popular diet trend that appeals to the self-declared gluten intolerant. However, for those that have serious celiac conditions, even a trace amount of gluten can trigger dangerous reactions.

18. Grumpy/ arrogant bartenders at microbreweries.

WHY? They somehow feel they are doing you a favor by interrupting their evening to pull a pint of foggy, overpriced hoppy brew of uncertain alcohol content. They have not had to actually live off of tips and are most likely part owners of the soon to fail enterprise.

19.Large appliances that can’t be repaired.

WHY? The engineering supports complete replacement as opposed to repair. Service and replacement parts typically exceed the price of the cheaply made complete product.

20.Thoroughbred horse breeders that seem horrified by the lack of options for retired racehorses yet continue to produce offspring year after year.

WHY? Horses live for 30 years yet their limited useful racing careers have become shorter and shorter due to irresponsible breeding practices, medication allowances, and need for immediate ROIs. It’s relatively easy and cheap to produce a horse but expensive and time consuming to maintain one for its entire natural lifespan.

REFLECTIONS

I almost hate to admit that I had no problem at all listing 20 items that bug me. I’m not sure when looking at the world critically crosses the line into seeing the world in a negative way, but I sometimes worry the I am guilty of the latter. I’d like to think that I am solution-oriented and part of problem-solving is identifying the issue to be resolved. I liked this exercise for that reason, this was not just a place to vent, but also a chance to explore the conditions that allow these “bugs” to exist.

This list reminded me how often we use complaints to connect with others, not looking for a solution, but just to hotwire a connection- knowing that others like to kvetch as much as we do. I am not proud of this behavior that I sometimes indulge in. I like the approach of using my list of annoyances to find an open space in the market, an unmet need that could be an entrepreneurship opportunity.

I tried to apply the Five WHYS to some of my bugs. It is amazing how quickly the creative juices start to flow when distilling a problem down to its root cause. If I wasn’t arriving at a possible solution, I was arriving at a better understanding of the motivations behind annoying behavior and circumstances.