Assignment 2A: Bug List

1.     When my dog knocks a cup off of the table with his tail. – Exists because his tail is long and strong, and the cups can’t stay stuck to the table.

2.     Getting my white shoes dirty. – Exists because my shoes don’t have aren’t necessarily meant to be covered by anything.

3.     My roommates leaving their dishes in the sink. – Exists because they’re probably lazy or intend to do it later.

4.     People reading my texts over my shoulder. – Exists because there’s no screen to cover your screen otherwise you wouldn’t be able to see it yourself.

5.     My roommates eating my food. – Exists because there no way to lock my food away in a fridge.

6.     Getting a flat tire on my bicycle. – Exists because debris in the road often isn’t cleaned up.

7.     The lack of parking on sorority row. – Exists because of the overflow of students with cars and the city not providing enough parking for them.

8.     My dog freaking out when he hears another dog bark outside in the middle of the night. – Exists because my windows aren’t sound proof.

9.     Having to use my hand to lift a toilet seat. – Exists because there’s no tab/string or button that lifts it for me.

10.  Microwaves only heating a certain area of your food. – Exists because either I don’t know how to properly use a microwave, or the heat is distributed unevenly.

11.  When someone calls me and I don’t want to immediately ignore them so I have to let the call finish ringing. – Exists because my phone has no option to let the call ring while simultaneously being used to do other things.

12.  Having to clean pots and pans. – Exists because food often gets stuck at the bottom of the pans and brushes and sponges sometimes aren’t strong enough

13.  Having to clean my retainer. – Exists because there are many tight spaces that make it very tedious

14.  When I don’t’ send a message because I forget to press the send button on a text. – Exists because the send button is small, and there’s no notification that tells you that you haven’t sent your message.

15.  When I can’t find the meme I saw and need at this moment. – Exists because there are so many memes and it’s difficult to locate the specific one you need.

16.  People who run into the elevator without letting you out first. – Exists because some people are rude/in a hurry and because elevator doors only allow a single person to pass at a time.

17.  Getting sand stuck to my feet and legs. – Exists because there isn’t a sand repellant.

18.  Spam phone calls about the insurance I supposedly inquired about. – Exists because people want to scam me and get my credit card information, and will call from different numbers to even if I block them I continue to get calls.

19.  When it rains and I just washed my car. – Exists because I don’t plan very well and spontaneously wash my car without considering weather.

20.  Getting caught in the rain. – Exists because Florida has very unpredictable weather patterns and I don’t necessarily pay attention to the weather alerts.

Why did I have trouble coming up with this list?

My difficulty with creating this list stemmed from two things; the fact that many things have been invented specifically to eliminate many of these “bugs” from our daily lives, and because I am relatively easy going in terms of annoyances.

Innovation stems from the need to find solutions to everyday problems, even the most minute. For example, the spatula probably revolutionized the culinary world because it allowed cooks to flip food. What’s not considered a simple task today probably wasn’t as easy a while ago. But this is because people recognize these issues and work to solve them. It’s innovations like these that make my life easier and make it difficult to think of things that “bug” me today.

These very small bugs are often things that we can’t really fix because they often relate to human nature. Coming to accept this has helped me be more easy going about things that annoy me.