2A - Bug List

A list of 20 things that bug me and why these bugs exist.

1.     During the afternoon, every McDonalds Drive-thru I’ve been to has parked me for hash browns.

            Why: Despite McDonalds offering all-day breakfast, most people don’t order hash browns after traditional breakfast hours, so they take longer to make, and the workers have to get orders out as quick as possible.

2.     There are no four seasons in Florida.

            Why: Florida is the southernmost state in the country aside from Hawaii. It's hot and humid all year long aside for about one week long cold front in January.

3.     The American school system focusing more on standardized test grades than their students achieving a quality education and learning.

            Why: Many state laws require students to pass certain subject tests with a certain grade in order to graduate. This creates a culture of studying to pass the test rather than studying to learn the material. Student’s test grades are also used to determine which teachers and employees receive a special bonus at the end of the year.

4.     The college admissions process is extremely unpredictable.

            Why: With the help of the internet, there are way more resources now than before that provide students to opportunity to apply to as many schools as they want which skyrockets the amount of applications a school receives. For example, UF received over 40,000 applications for the Class of 2023. With many applicants having similar resumes and UF can only accept around 14,000 of those applicants, they use a “holistic” approach to their admissions which makes it seem like any arbitrary reason can be used to deny or accept a student. Various schools around the country use this same approach which makes it seem as there is never any consistency in the whole process.

5.     When you attempt to use a website’s free trial, such as a streaming service, and they ask for your credit card information so they can charge you before you even start your trial.

            Why: These services have to make a profit somehow and they’ll do so in a “gotcha” kind of approach. Why would they only give out free trials unless if you are willing to pay for the full-time service.

6.     The Tampa Bay area, my hometown, has a sports team for every sport except for the NBA.

            Why: The only other Floridian basketball team besides the Miami Heat is the Orlando Magic. Orlando and Tampa are both cities located in Central Florida. It would make no sense for there to be 2 teams from the same geographic area because you are essentially splitting the designated target market in half. Having another basketball team in Florida wouldn’t happen or make sense because there are other metro areas in other states that a franchise could target.

7.     TV shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy, or SpongeBob that have been on the air for 30 and 20 years with no signs of ending that produce episodes that lack in interesting storylines.

            Why: These are shows that have been on the air for decades due to popularity and its influence on pop-culture. When a show has been on the air for this long, the writers start running out of fresh ideas and eventually recycle old plots or come up with something strange that viewers don’t like. It would’ve been better to have ended these shows a long while ago, but they continue to bring massive revenue for their networks.

8.     Bad drivers and car accidents in Florida, from my personal experience, always happen to be from old people.

            Why: As they say, Florida is God’s waiting room. A lot of older people move to Florida to retire or escape the northern coldness when their kids are all grown up. Florida law states the drivers who are 80 years old or older are required to pass a vision test in order to drive but there are some 60 and 70 years old who don’t know how to drive and cause near or head-on accidents.

9.      Being assigned random people to work with in group projects.

            Why: In theory, I understand why this is done. In the real-life working world, you’ll be forced to work with people you don’t fully know or like and this prepares you for those scenarios. Teachers and professors also use this approach to make sure you don't deliberately choose your friends so you can slack off and joke around. In practice, I don’t like it because when I work with people I don’t know, communication always becomes a big issue and trying to establish common ground can be difficult at times. I always find I work best with people I’m familiar with.

           

10.   Fire alarms that end up being false alarms

            Why: You can be cooking something and the steam accidentally triggers the alarm. It's annoying when you have to stand outside for 30-40 minutes because of an alarm and there's no actual fire.

11.   Walmart having as many as 20 available checkout lanes but only as few as 5 are open.

            Why: Whether it be that customers have grown more impatient or have adopted a faster-paced lifestyle, more people using self-checkout lanes instead of being assisted by a cashier can lead to lack of available checkout lanes. It also doesn’t help that people would rather sit at home and order from Amazon than go to the stores.

12.  There’s never any parking on UF’s campus

            Why: A lot of students go to UF. It consistently ranks as one of the largest campuses by enrollment in the country but there’s not enough parking spots to accommodate every student.

13.  Never having a growth spurt.

            Why: Most of your height is determined by genetics and majority of my family on both sides is short. It sucked having to watch my friends and peers shoot up like tree roots and then there’s me who only grew a single inch all throughout high school.

14.  When people touch my hair, especially when I was a kid.

            Why: I can grow a mini or full-on Afro and it’s rude and disgusting when people feel the need to touch my hair. I don’t know where a person’s hands have been, so I don’t want them near my head. It makes me feel like some kind of zoo animal. This occurred to me a lot when I was younger because kids would say they’ve never seen hair like mine before and it looks cool.

15.  When you push on a pull door or pull on a push door.

            Why: It happens a lot to people because they got confused by the handle or it doesn’t say push or pull. It’s irritating when it happens to me because it makes me look dumb.

16.   When a baby is crying in public and their parents does nothing to stop the crying.

            Why: Crying is the only form of communication babies can use. They cry when they hungry, upset, lonely, in pain, need their diaper changed etc. There are parents that do nothing when their babies cry in public because “they’re supposed to cry”. It’s irresponsible parenting to not do anything to calm your child when you are in public.

17.  Florida is overrun by snowbirds and tourists.

            Why: As mentioned before in Bug #8, Florida is typically the go-to place to move to retire or escape the cold weather. The year-long warm weather and attractions such as Disney, Busch Gardens, Universal, and sunny beaches attract a lot of visitors from up north which makes the state overcrowded with old people and people who complain that 70 degrees is a heat wave. The traffic is the worst part because the highways are constantly backed up.

18.  Writing down a bunch of notes from my textbooks or lectures and none of it is relevant to what’s on the exam.

            Why: I want to write down and keep note of as much information there is because it may be useful for the exam and want to study as much as possible but unfortunately that info is not on the exams. It’s frustrating when all the notes I wrote and studied from were all for nothing.

19.  People that leave their trash in their seats or on the floor at the movie theaters  

            Why: People who do this say it’s the janitor or ushers’ job to clean up after the guests and customers but it’s extremely rude to purposely leave your trash out when you could’ve taken the time to throw it out yourself. It shows a lack of manners and disrespect to the ushers whose job you’re deliberately making difficult.

20.  The on-campus Chick-fil-A at The Hub is always overcrowded.

            Why: Chick-fil-A is a popular restaurant and its location on campus makes it convenient for a lot of students to grab a quick bite.

Reflection: It was difficult coming up with so many different bugs to list. There were times I could think of a potential bug but then took it out because it was either too petty or wasn't significant enough to explain. It took me a lot longer than I expected to compile this list.