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Wednesday, July 27, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Commentary...
Of a certain age...
By diane Goble
Columnist
I’m not big on conspiracy
theories but I am convinced
there is a plot afoot to drive
people insane — especially
those of us of a certain age.
The perpetrators are the peo-
ple who design protective
product packaging for con-
sumer products.
Now maybe younger
folks don’t find this so
alarming, but us older folks
are often driven to bizarre
behaviors involving a pro-
fusion of expletives and the
complete destruction of the
object encased in this plastic
protection.
The ones that say Easy
Open are the ones to really
watch out for.
Remember those innocent
days before that nut-case put
poison in the Tylenol bottles?
Now it seems the idea is to
make it as difficult as pos-
sible to open almost anything
to prevent unauthorized prod-
uct alterations.
On many bottles and plas-
tic tubs, once one is able to
break through the outside
plastic covering using sharp
instruments that with one lit-
tle slip can leave one’s digits
bloody and bruised, there is
more on the inside sealing the
product against the potential
abuser. Even when they add a
tiny notch meant for the con-
sumer to be able to begin to
tear the lid open, like an aspi-
rin bottle or a spice container
or a tub of margarine, it isn’t
enough for arthritic fingers to
grab onto, which makes scis-
sors a necessity.
I usually end up taking a
sharp knife and stabbing the
top, leaving me to peel off
several pieces to get to the
contents that lie beyond a
huge blob of synthetic cotton.
The other product packag-
ing aberration is shrinkwrap-
ping to prevent shoplifting.
Good idea, but it also prevents
the purchaser from being able
to actually use the product
once he gets it home because
it is so well protected. I took
windshield wiper blades back
to the store because I couldn’t
get them out of the packag-
ing. Someone had to design
a special tool just to be able
to open these hard plastic
encasements.
Then there are plastic bags
… once you get the bag open,
just try to reseal it. Those
little plastic seams don’t line
up. Oh, they make you think
they’ve lined up but as soon
as you pick it up, it comes
apart and the contents spill
all over the floor.
I think I was trying to
unravel the plastic wrap
that had become one with a
head of cauliflower when it
occurred to me I should make
a YouTube video of myself
opening packaged goods
in the kitchen to show the
lengths a person my age has
to go through to open almost
anything these days.
Don’t they bother to test
these things before they
unleash them on the unsus-
pecting public? I bought a
cone-shaped air freshener
with a plastic twist-off top,
but my hand couldn’t per-
form the directions. The item
was too fat and too smooth
for me to grip and turn it to
unscrew the cover. I used to
buy more items in jars, but I
found so many with lids so
tight that even when using
available tools they have been
screwed on too tight for me to
open.
About the only time I need
to find a man!
If packaging designers
would just take their prod-
ucts home and ask their
grandmother to open them,
they would understand why
older folks don’t buy their
products.
suPPLY DrIVE:
School tools help
Sisters youths
Continued from page 3
Fiskars pointed scissors,
Prang and Crayola water-
c o l o r p a i n t s ( c h e a p e r,
low-quality paints are not
usable).
• Elmer ’s glue sticks;
yellow highlighters; pens;
pencils; crayons; basic cal-
culators; dry-erase markers;
white erasers; and colored
pencils.
• Backpacks are always
needed for all ages.
Student school supplies
distribution for those in need
will take place the week of
August 22 from 9 a.m. to 3:30
p.m. at the Sisters Family
Access Network (FAN) office
located in the Sisters School
District Administration
building, 525 E. Cascade
Ave.
Sisters FAN distrib-
utes school supplies to
over 100 financially strug-
gling students/families
each year. For many local
children the “Tools for
School” drive provides
their only means of obtain-
ing their necessary school
supplies.
Call FAN at 541-549-0155
for more information.
the classic rolls through...
photo by Jerry baldock
Hundreds of cyclists headed up the mcKenzie Highway on
Wednesday in a leg of the Cascade Cycling Classic.