Thank God for the manufacturers and retailers that use discretion when they label products.

How many times have you purchased a product and said #!%*X#$%&* or something similar when you tried to remove a price label or a bar code label or some other sticker stuck in an inappropriate place? What is it about the glue that manufacturers and retailers use that makes it so darn difficult to remove? I recently bought some poster board and smack dab in the middle of the poster board was the bar code which rendered one side completely useless. Sad to say, once you manage to remove a label from certain products then you have to deal with that infernal sticky residue that remains. Sometimes WD-40 removes it. Sometimes not. Turpentine might or might not. A scraper or sharp putty knife might also. Watch this procedure though because in all likelihood you will scratch the product. Once in a while it is necessary to remove a label a little at a time because it tends to come off in layers. You end up with small bits of paper under your fingernails. Thank God for the manufacturers and retailers that use discretion when they label products. The others need their mouths taped with duct tape, tied to a chair and made to LISTEN to a instruction recording on how to affix a label to a product. Common sense?

Have you ever been asked for the serial number of your product while on the phone with a manufacturing rep? And many times you search for that number. Then if you are lucky to find it...it is in such small print that you need a magnifying glass to read it. Plus many times there are so many other numbers, with it, that you don't even know which one it is. Here's a test. In one hour try and find the serial number of the products in your home without the service manual in front of you. I realize that the best way is to: AS SOON as you purchase a product and before you even use it- write the number down!!!!! Saves a ton of looking and crawling under your desk, amid the wires, and searching for numbers. Often with a flashlight in hand.

Why is it when you call your cable company, their computer asks for all your data and then when you get a "live" person you have to repeat it all again to whomever you talk to and if you are transferred to another person you have to repeat it all once again? All in the name of security I guess.

I'll admit that product manuals are great as far as the information they convey regarding cell phones, cameras, IPods, Blackberries, computers...well you get the picture...but the pictures and text leave something to be desired as far as their size! Many are so small that, once again,...get out the magnifying glass or have the eyes of an eagle. It's nice when the manufacturer includes a CD and that is very handy...unless of course you have the product and NO computer. I guess they assume (great word...NOT!) that everyone has a computer. Many times I have taken the miniature manual they provide, to a printer, and had them enlarge it to an 8 1/2" x 11" size that saves eyes! I guess you can't please everyone in all this, but a little more forethought by certain manufacturers and retailers, in many instances, could be used since the consumer pays the bills. I guess we have to grin and bear it? But watch how you "bare" it because some clerk, somewhere, will stick a label on it!!!!!!