Made By Monkeys

An engineer-friend sent me this photo -- I'm filing it under User Interfaces From Hell." It's almost as funny as the instructions on this ATM display-- anyone up for solving a complex algebraic equation on the fly?

And you think you're having a bad day? A witty, entertaining, and rather gorey take on life at work -- courtesy of our IT department. Click to play

Although I think I'm pretty easy to figure out, my husband (who is an engineer) would almost certainly agree with this definition of the female species, as explained by engineers.

An extremely complex GUI and instructions not included.
John Volanski won an auction on eBay for Arturia Moog Modular software (an emulation of the Moog Modular analog synthesizer.) It showed up in his mailbox in brown paper wrap (never a good sign) sans the 300-page manual, which can't be purchased separately. "Can you imagine using this thing without any instructions?" says Volanski. "I get mad everytime I think about it!"

Our sentiments exactly.

With minutes to spare, I was attempting recently to check in at a Eurostar kiosk at Waterloo Station in London. A prompt appeared on screen to hit the "enter" button. After many precious seconds of fruitless searching, and after having to enlist the help of a Eurostar employee (who so didn't want to get off his comfortable chair), all to no avail, I concluded it had to be some French person's idea of some kind of sick joke.

That experience reminded me of an extremely funny challenge that the Photoshop Phriday Forum hosted awhile back called "Increased Difficulty." Readers were invited to make everyday items more difficult to use, like the ATM terminal shown above:

"Sensing that life is too easy and lacking in proper challenge, the Something Awful Forum Goons set out to make everyday things and activities more of a hassle, either to keep you on your toes or encourage you to commit suicide to avoid the constant toil. If you enjoy frustration and eternal woe manifested in the form of challenging snack foods and household items, then you're in for the treat of your life. Also you're insane."

Many of the entries are fiendishly ingenious, from the pennies-only coin slot to the upside-down vending machine, it makes the lack of a mere enter button seem like the stuff of amateurs. Hope you enjoy them!