Pet Peeve #154219503

Ok, I don’t have that many. Maybe we can just call it a serial number. This way we can log it, Google it, and reference it later.  That’s right, people are that interested in my peeves.

Buttons.

Not those squirrely flower shaped ones that don’t fit in button holes on little girls dresses. While I might get a little peeved, they don’t qualify as a pet peeve.

I’m talking technology. Buttons on copier machines, coffee makers, computers and DVD players. You know exactly what I mean.

You push the button. It goes *click*. Nothing happens.

You wonder, “Is it broken? Did it just stop working for no reason? What do I do?”

Well, you do what any normal human being would do. You push it again.

It makes me wonder if the engineers that designed such things do this on purpose. You know the pop-up window that asks, “Are you sure?” Well, you can’t do that with coffee makers. 

Are you sure you wanna make coffee? Click OK again.

I’ve come to the conclusion that people become conditioned to do this. Engineers began this early on. Case in point: elevator buttons.

Bill Engvall uses just such a situation in one of his “Here’s your sign” bits. You push the button. Nothing happens. Of course nothing happens; the elevator car is on its way. You stand and wait. Somebody else comes along thinking about their coffee maker and having to press the button twice to get it to wake up and sees that elevator button lit and you standing their like an idiot. Without even considering the engineering involved and the safety codes the elevator manufacturer, installer, and owner have to continually pass they push the button again. It’s only natural. After all, I had to threaten my DVD player with an uncertain future before it gave up the Red Box movie we watched last night.

And my laptop. I tried turning it on this morning. I pushed the I/O button. I pushed it again. It clicked both times. I gave it moment to think about what it might be doing wrong and let it have one more try. It finally booted up.

I’d compare it to a woman… but I think we all know that that is a slightly different situation.

If they only had a button.