February 27, 2004 12:59 AM

Broken: Office toilets

 Brad M. writes:

We moved into a brand new building, with brand new toilets, about a year ago. Since we've arrived here, the toilets have never worked well--note the plunger conveniently located to the left of the toilet (broken 1x).

There have been plumbers here on many occasions, but they have failed to rectify the problem (broken 2x). The symptom is that when there is a certain degree of, uh, solid material shall we say, things don't go down well.

If you look at the sign above the toilet, it ironically identifies that we must flush twice, as this is a new 'low water type toilette (sic)', thereby defeating the low water goal (broken 3x).

To make this seem like something truly out of Fawlty Towers, however, the recommended fix (flush twice), doesn't work either (broken 4x). To make it work, you need to hold the flusher down so that more water than designed flows. Even this doesn't always work. So, the problem seems to lie in the original engineering of the toilet itself.

In a final twist of madness, the public toilets available a floor below us are now locked, so even our emergency outlet is blocked.

February 26, 2004 12:47 AM

Broken: Gym entrance

Matt Wilkie sends in this picture forwarded to him by a friend. (We're not sure who took the picture or if it's legitimate - if you have details, please write in: broken at goodexperience dot com.)

Update 2/26: Alice Matsumoto points us to this page (scroll all the way down), suggesting that the picture is legit.

Update 3/9: Micah Dickerson writes, "I can corroborate the legitimacy of the photo. I've actually worked out at that location while visiting a friend."

February 25, 2004 12:42 AM

Broken: Movie ticket

Jonathan Barsook writes:

AMC has been printing tickets like this since 1999. I received this "Movie Watcher Reward" on 1/2/2004 but it expires on 12/1/1999? I think it's time for them to upgrade their software. Most of us made sure our computers were Y2K compliant back in '99 :)

February 24, 2004 01:06 AM

Broken: Redundant Amazon page

Kathleen Balson writes:

I saw the title of a book I might look to buy (on a site - not Amazon), so I clicked on it... And Amazon (being so helpful) dutifully told me that I had clicked on the book... I know I clicked on it, because I clicked on it! It's not like I would forget that I clicked on it...

So what do I do next?

I ended up scrolling down (the rest of the page offers some other books I might like to click on, and other unrelated and useless links), then finally clicked on the title to see more about the book. Why does this page exist? I've never encountered it before now. It certainly didn't help me in any way - except for a laugh.

By the way, for those This Is Broken readers living in New Orleans and other places that celebrate the day: Happy Mardi Gras!   -mh

February 23, 2004 12:56 AM

Broken: Madrid Metro TV screens

Mark Waters writes from Madrid:

The Madrid Metro (subway) TV channel runs on Windows 2000 Professional, that is, when it runs at all.

The attached picture shows an error message 'File Not Found', proclaimed proudly for all the world to see. This appears on screens at the subway stops and on the trains themselves.

I have also witnessed the following:

- 'It is now safe to shutdown your computer'
- Memory address errors
- 'Loose cable or connection' errors
- 'Cannot find Wireless Network'
- The Windows Desktop with Explorer open and the directory structure and files visible to the world.
- and of course the infamous 'CRTL-ALT-DEL' blue screen

I imagine that commuters who are computer users and are travelling home from the office after another day of struggling with Windows must feel they are living a waking nightmare. I can't imagine how those commuters who are not familiar with Windows digest all the warnings and alerts which the Metro TV is spewing at them.

I hope they're using something more robust for the signalling system.

February 20, 2004 12:50 AM

Broken: Amex forgot-password form

Susan Herbst writes:

I was trying to log in to my American Express account but couldn't remember my password. When I followed the "Forgot your Password?" link, I was asked to answer a security validation question. Problem is, not only did I have to answer the question, but I also had to choose the correct question to answer. If I can't even remember my password, what are the chances I'll remember what question to ask?

February 19, 2004 12:43 AM

Broken: Gas pump sign

J. Michael Riley sends in this picture of a professionally printed label on a gas station pump. (Pity if they're paying by the letter; they could have saved some money.)

February 18, 2004 12:39 AM

Broken: Elevator buttons

Andrei Sedelnikov writes:

This is a picture of an elevator cabin in our office building in Filderstadt, Germany.

"U1/U2" mean underground floors, "E" usually stands for "Erdgeschoss" - the ground floor. Up above there is a shield with companies' names on each floor - very useful for an occasional visitor. The problem arises when the visitor wants to get out of the building: which button should he press, [E] or [0]?

Recently I have indeed observed a visitor, who has pressed both buttons because he didn't know which one would lead him to an exit.

February 17, 2004 12:30 AM

Broken: Microsoft Excel clipboard

Vanya Tucherov writes:

Just found a really annoying and severely broken behaviour in Excel involving data placed on the clipboard.

To reproduce:
- Open two or more Excel spreadsheets.
- Select multiple rows and columns in one of the spreadsheets
- Copy this data (Ctrl+c)
- Switch to another sheet.
- Type something in a cell on the "target" spreadsheet.
- Attempt to paste the data from the "source" spreadsheet via the clipboard to the "target" spreadsheet.

Broken: Excel behaves as if the clipboard is empty. Opening the clipboard shows that, indeed, it has no content on it. The clipboard was erased!

Of course, adding data to the target spreadsheet shouldn't empty the clipboard. This is a silent failure within Excel for no apparent reason.

February 16, 2004 12:22 AM

Broken: Barcelona sign

Jesus Encinar writes:

A friend sent me this picture from Barcelona.

February 13, 2004 12:17 AM

Broken: Interstate sign

Scott Yates writes:

Here's a picture of a sign over eastbound US 36, the main highway that connects Boulder to Denver.

The problem is the order of the panels. Any reasonable person would look at the sign and think that the exit for northbound I-25 is coming up on the left side. It turns out that it's a right-side exit [seen in the distance in the picture], so traffic is often terrible because drivers have to cross the through lanes in a real hurry to get to the right side to be able to exit. There have been a number of accidents.

Scott Yates also sent the "after" picture at right. He writes that "CDOT fixed the sign after MyTrafficNews made a big stink. All the problems with people zooming over two lanes of traffic in 100 yards stopped the first day they made the fix."

February 12, 2004 01:05 AM

Broken: Shower squeegee

Doug Anderson writes:

In an effort to reduce humidity and the unicellular organisms that thrive with it, I decided to buy a squeegee with which to remove the water from my bathroom shower enclosure. Clean lines, smooth stainless steel for durability and low maintenance, nice heft in the hand, soft blade that glides across grout lines without chatter, seemed perfect.

After several months of satisfied use, a design flaw appeared - suddenly. Standing in the shower, bare feet softened by warm water, wet hands grasping smooth & hefty stainless steel. Only problem: the stainless steel wrapped around the blade extends about 3/16" (about 0.5 cm) past the end of the blade.

When dropped just right (or just wrong), the u-shaped end of the stainless steel readily penetrates the water-softened skin of the toe, leaving parallel lacerations.

February 11, 2004 12:58 AM

Broken: Caps Lock

Jan Jursa writes from Germany:

After years of suffering, trouble and pain I finally fixed my keyboard. I will never ever again touch the Caps Lock accidentally. The harassment's over.

Isn't the Caps Lock key one of the most annoying things on every keyboard? I think I can honestly say I have NEVER used this key purposely in the past 15 or 20 years.

February 10, 2004 02:48 AM

Broken: FrontPage banner ad

Kurt Morris writes:

Don't know how long this will be available, but this ad for FrontPage is priceless. Look at line 28. Oops!

February 9, 2004 03:38 AM

Broken: Dog medication label

A. Marks writes:

Here's a picture of my golden retriever's medication. Note the warning label. Don't worry, he has not operated a car nor heavy machinery since he's been on the medication.

February 6, 2004 02:57 AM

Broken: Modernist architecture

Architectural critic James Howard Kunstler lets fly some blunt words against modernist (and other) architecture in his Eyesore of the Month. Be sure to click Previous Month at the bottom of each page.

Pictured at right is Simmons Hall, MIT's newest dorm. Some MIT students call it the "Space Waffle," and apparently the architecture is so precious that students aren't allowed to move furniture around - furniture is actually bolted to the floor. Who's being served here?

Jim Kunstler, by the way, spoke at last year's Gel conference - see the recap page for a transcript of his talk. (This year's Gel conference is coming up soon, on April 30 in New York City.)

February 5, 2004 03:21 AM

Broken: Ad on barf bag

Jarrod Hepburn writes:

I'm sending a picture of a motion sickness bag I got on a Qantas flight from Sydney to Melbourne last year. The bag has a special offer for Kodak photo developing on it: "Please take this bag with you and pass on to family or friends if you are unable to use". I was feeling quite well on the flight, so I dutifully took the bag with me since I was unable to use it. It's still unused.

February 4, 2004 03:20 AM

Broken: CD-R label

Scott Palmer writes:

I took the enclosed picture of a new spindle of blank CD-R discs. The label says, "Data CD-R for Computer Burning". I don't want to burn my computer, I just want to use the CD's. :-)

February 3, 2004 03:20 AM

Broken: JavaScript error message

Thanks, but I'd rather not... I saw this strange JavaScript error today while shopping on the online FileMaker store.

(By the way, FileMaker is a great product. Its online store is not.)

February 2, 2004 11:45 AM

Broken: "Contact" page

Dana VanDen Heuvel points us to his review of the SPSS.com "Contact" page.

Upon clicking on the "Contact Sales" button, I'm asked to login. You want me to WHAT? Login? To your site? You mean, I have to get a username and password to your site just to have someone call me to try to sell me something?