My List of 20 “Bugs” That Irritate Me

1.      Sometimes during slow hours at the restaurant (and even rush hours), it always bugs me that there are certain servers or hosts that are somewhere else rather than greeting incoming guests to guide them to their seats.

A.      Perhaps employers are reluctant to hire more employees during slow hours and that leads to employees’ not being able to cater to some major needs of the guests.

2.      At West End golf club, one of two only golf clubs with ranges that support golfers and customers at late night hours, the last time to purchase a basket of balls is officially listed as 9 p.m.. However, it “bugs” me that at times customers, including myself, arrive at least half an hour before 9 just to find no balls to practice.

A.      Employees often explain that their last time to retrieve balls from the range is at 7p.m. and that they do not pick up balls after that. So, customers who come at 9 are left with the last wave of golf balls that employees have retrieved 2 hours ago.

3.      It severely “bugs” me that students’ cars (not trespassers’) are not allowed enter certain parts on campus at certain times.

A.      The increase in the number of students’ cars on campus might negatively influence the operation of the school employees. Nonetheless, I am still “bugged” by the fact that students, who pay a great majority of the school’s operation fees through their tuition, are not allowed to quickly go around a large campus like UF for a reason like that.

4.      It “bugs” me that all recreational and athletic facilities are closed before midnight at UF, which is a school that greatly emphasizes its athletic prestigiousness.

A.      University of Florida is a public school and may need to follow state statutes regarding public facilities’ official hours.

5.      It “bugs” me that I have to speak through the automatic operator multiple times before having the chance to speak to an actual person when I’m calling a company.

A.      The automatic operators might be more efficient in the perspectives of the company since it can increase employees’ work efficiency.

6.      Especially during holiday periods, airlines severely discomfort their passengers by delaying and even cancelling flights due to reasons that seem simply solvable.

A.      Flight systems must be dealt with extreme caution since they are, most of the times, endangering life events if fallen into untrained, and unexperienced hands.

7.      In United States especially, there are many events and facilities that are often suddenly cancelled or unavailable due to sudden weather conditions.

A.      Due to the immense size of land and its availability, most event organizers and facility managers do not think that the benefit from the event/facilities’ improvement in versatility exceeds the cost of planning and installing protection from rain, snow, hail, etc.

8.      It bugs me that “emergency” maintenance hotline staff never receives tenants’ calls on time, and never returns their calls quickly.

A.      Emergency maintenance issues are sent into the voice-mail box of the personal phone number of the on-call employee on duty, and he may not be able to receive the call, nor return it right away.

9.      It bugs me that smartphones are much more fragile than the phones of the “older generation.” I feel that there should be built-in frames or screen protectors to protect customers who currently have to buy all kinds of protective gears in addition to the purchase of the phone.

A.      The rise in the cost of phones may be one major issue, but the fact that it might ruin another separate industry in protective case manufacturers may be another major reason.

10.  It bugs me that consumers and people exposed to advertisement do not have much information about the amount, method, and the reason they are watching certain advertisements, compared to the amount of information that companies who make the advertisements get.

A.      In the perspective of companies, if customers get too much information about what kinds of products are being overly advertised, it may leave a bad impression for the brand and the product.

11.  It bugs me that all religious institutions do not pay tax.

A.      Under the federal law, all religious institutions are exempt from income and property taxation since they are considered public charities.

12.  It bugs me that passports have to be present hardcopy instead of being able to prove one’s identity digitally.

A.      Although it does bug me, in a modernized world where we face the danger of identity theft and hacking, certain things are safer and more efficient to be used the traditional way.

13.  It bugs me that you have to transfer your own luggage at a connecting U.S. airport from foreign countries to a U.S. final destination.

A.      I really couldn’t think of a reason why. Perhaps the carousels from the international terminals aren’t connected to the domestic ones.

14.  It bugs me that fireworks on the beaches are illegal in most states in the U.S.

A.      Fireworks can often disturb natural life including birds and plants. They are also often used for airline, social, and military purposes and have to be controlled strictly in some states, considering the immense amount of size the U.S. has.

15.  It bugs me that women’s sports are almost “never” broadcasted on television or online.

A.      Women’s sports are often neglected due to its small number of interests and revenue raised for their events.

16.  Being a Korean who lived in New Zealand, Singapore, Australia, Korea, and United States, it severely bugs me that the United States’ public transportation system is almost non-existent.

A.      The geographic size of the United States’ is incomparable to other countries mentioned above, and thus the cost to install the same quality of infrastructure in the United States will be humongous.

17.  It bugs me that restaurants in the U.S. often do not carry their own delivery employees other than pizza and fast food.

A.      There are already separate delivery services that cater to both restaurants’ and consumers’ needs, such as GrubHub.

18.  It bugs me that electronic car charging spots are still almost non-existent in the United States. Even if there are spots, they are either put in a corner or severely lack in numbers.

A.      Electronic car charging spots are expensive to install, and the comparative ratio of electronic cars over traditional cars make facility managers reluctant from installing such expensive infrastructure.

19.  Preparing for potential “hurricane” Dorian, all major supermarkets selling water and necessities have emptied their inventory within hours of update that the hurricane was going to be more severe than it was expected to be.

A.      Supermarkets and major retailers did not expect this sudden increase of demand in water and necessities. To satisfy the majority of the demand, they should’ve put a limit on how much water or necessities one customer could purchase.

20.  Also preparing for potential “hurricane” Dorian, all gas stations were full of cars waiting for their turn to charge their cars with gas. When it was my turn, the employee suddenly said that there wasn’t gas any more and that all people would have to find another gas station.

A.      This happens because the waiting cars do not know how much gas is left at a gas station in emergency situation like today. However, this should be solved, looking at the number of hurricanes that Florida meets in a span of 5 years.

To be honest, it wasn’t as difficult as I expected this assignment to be. In all honesty, I just wrote 5~10 bugs every time I’ve thought of something and I was done in a couple of days. Perhaps the only challenge in completing was coping the fact that I was a person who found “bugs” way too often.