My “Bug” List
1 . People not following traffic rules
·
This often happens not because of ignorance of
the law, but because people try to exercise courtesy over common sense. This
would mean letting a car through at an intersection ahead of their turn, even
when it is your right of way. There is no clear way to ensure that all the
drivers involved can communicate effectively and this often leads to a face-off
where both cars aren’t moving. Being courteous is a great thing to be, but not
when all it does is lead to confusion, traffic, and angry drivers.
2.
Young people hanging out in the streets, doing
nothing in the middle of the day.
·
The value of education past the bare minimum
requirements isn’t stressed in some parts of the country, in some
neighborhoods, in some households.
3.
People claiming equipment at Southwest Rec but
not actually using it.
·
People end up talking to other people or on
their phone for extended periods of time without paying attention to the fact
that others are waiting for whatever equipment is being “used”. People should
keep interactions to a minimum or step to the side while they do it, at risk of
losing their turn, especially in a shared gym like Southwest.
4.
McDonald’s ice cream machine always broken at
night
·
The demand for ice-cream probably reaches peak
capacity around this time, which either leads to the machine over-heating or to
employees not wanting to deal with it at all.
5.
Pedestrians not caring where they walk and when
they walk, on campus.
·
Pedestrians always have right of way, which
people understand as translating to ultimate power on the roads and leads to
them walking without proper care, with full trust that any approaching vehicles
will see them and stop.
6.
Hospital bills for seemingly every little
service
·
People not being aware of what can be taken care
of at home, and not being able to differentiate between this and what actually
needs professional care.
7.
People who stop at “turn right on red”
·
People fearing that they won’t make it before
they get hit by oncoming traffic or people who just aren’t aware of traffic
rules. This also happens when the road gives you an option to go straight or
turn right.
8.
People who do not allow you to merge, when there
is clearly a merging lane.
·
The mentality that “I don’t have to do it,
because the next person will’. In reality, its every man for themselves, and in
this case, courtesy is very much appreciated.
9.
People who don’t treat people in the service
industry well
·
People not realizing that servers, waitresses,
cashiers, etc are also PEOPLE rather than just people who bring you your food,
products, and services. These people are also usually the ones who didn’t have
these jobs growing up.
10.
62nd street during rush hour
·
It’s a single road with many intersections along
the way, meaning that there are cars who end up waiting to turn but also end up
backing up the whole line as they wait.
11.
Potholes in the road
·
I looked this up and apparently they are caused
by the expansion and contraction of ground water under the pavement.
12.
Lack of proper parking options in highly visited
tourist vacation spots
·
This is very calculated as these places are
often designed as “tourist traps” with the intention of bleeding incoming
tourists out of every spare dollar. Parking is a giant source of income at
these places like Key West, etc. when individuals are forced to feed the meters
every day.
13.
Quick or fast-food means low quality
·
This is pretty self-explanatory. Good, healthy food
takes a while to prepare, however Americans are constantly on the move and seem
to always want things one second sooner then they get them. Hence, fast food
will stay in business without people paying attention to what they’re eating.
14.
People who text and drive
·
The culture of rushing leads people to always
strive to multi-task even when it endangers their lives and the lives of
others.
15.
People who wait till the last minute to decide
to switch lanes
·
Caused by people who aren’t from the area, and
therefore don’t know their way around or by people who aren’t paying attention
and take it for granted that people will accommodate them.
16.
People who eat with their mouth open, noisily
·
People may have a cold, prohibiting them from
breathing through their nose; also, I’ve noticed that people who do this don’t usually
recognize that they’re doing it and therefore don’t see the problem.
17.
Narrow parking spaces
·
People who design the lots strive to cram as
many spots as possibly in the same lot overlooking that not every car is a
compact or tiny vehicle. Equal rights for trucks and minivans!
18.
Florida’s unbearable sunny/rainy bipolarity
during summer months
·
Probably because of how close we are to the
coast.
19.
Not much privacy in off-campus apartments
·
The walls are extremely thin, and you can hear
everything. This could probably be fixed by finding an upper-scale apartment,
however.
20.
The prevalence of junk food in America
·
This is most definitely caused by a lack of
proper education on what we should be eating/consuming. People want what looks
attractive and companies capitalize on this, knowing that these things are
often not that expensive to produce but highly demanded, leading to a greater
profit.
One of my biggest difficulties with this assignment was that
it was very hard to remind myself that I was trying to explain why these “bugs”
occurred or existed rather than going into detail about the bug itself and why
it annoyed me personally. However, going about the assignment with this
perspective actually had me thinking about solutions rather than just focusing
on the issue itself, and magnifying the problem.
A lot of things also
just seemed to be grouped under the collective issue of not being able to
control day-to-day interactions. I am, by no means, a control freak; however,
the fact that I can control everything I do with the goal of getting though the
day and completing tasks successfully but still get thrown by what other people
do is hugely frustrating. My biggest concern based on my list seems to be
driving etiquette (minor incidents of road rage might be a tendency of mine)
and even here the lack of control is everything. For example, you might be the
most alert driver but still get into an accident because of the actions of
another individual on the road with you. Likewise, you might try your best to
do everything right in everyday life, but there are certain things that will
happen or interactions that will occur that will stop you from achieving what
you want to do.
