2A- Bug List

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.   62^nd 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.