Hotels
Why do hotels seem to take so many steps to confuse their paying guests? Checking in to a lot of places nowadays seems to involve a 20 minute lecture on parking, how the keys work, security, etc. I've been on Army bases that have shorter procedures before they let you loose.

In particular, I have a thing about showers. The last thing I need when waking up first thing in the morning on some godawful conference, is to have to decode a shower control that looks like something you'd get if Ikea designed submarine steering wheels.

The procedure is always the same: I call reception and sure enough, smartly attired bloke turns up and smugly demonstrates his ability to operate the shower, which I had so miserably failed at:

'Oh, I see, you have to remove the catch, press the dial in, then out, and rotate exactly 63 degrees, before shifting the second dial to moderate temperature- can't see why I didn't work that out, in hindsight!'

I have mentioned this before in hotels (because I'm a miserable moaning twat), and the response you get from staff most often is:

'Yeah, a lot of people say that'

Which just makes me want to bang my head on the Reception until their lovely walnut desk is stained with blood as a mark of my utter and everlasting frustration.
(SnowyTheWereRabbit the Leporid from Hell, Sat 17 Jul 2010, 12:14, 2 replies)

It's at this point
I give up and have a bath.
(Petite chien is going to do science to it, Sat 17 Jul 2010, 12:47, closed)

Most shower designs puzzle me.
One button/dial to switch it on & regulate the pressure.. One separate dial to manage the water temperature. How hard can that be?

(I'm probably going to get some plumber replying with a complicated reason why they've designed it that way. You're lying. It's because you hate humanity.)
(Big D, Sun 18 Jul 2010, 14:05, closed)