Life is full of annoyances and sometimes you just don't have the energy to deal with everything thoroughly. That's when you decide to give 35% and just do something almost halfway. However, that doesn't mean that because a solution is quick and possibly dumb it's not going to work.
These people witnessed that with their own eyes. When the occasion called for it, they took action that might've seemed dumb, but worked wonders. They shared their stories in an online thread where a person asked: "'If it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid.' What's a good example of this?" And, as it turns out, most of these solutions to problems weren't stupid at all.
#1
I once used one of those drinking bird toys to keep a motion detector from turning the office lights off.
91points
#2
A friend of mine was about to move to a new apartment. Neither new nor old apartment had a washing machine and it was a trek to the coin-op laundry.
They called up a local laundry service. The service came to the old apartment and picked up almost every bit of clothing, bedding, towels, etc they owned. The service washed, dried and folded it all. And delivered it back again.... **To the NEW address!!!**
Friend saved a bunch of effort moving it all, a ton of time doing the laundry and the total cost of the service wasn't much more than the cost of all the quarters for the coin-op machines and the detergent. And it made moving so much less stressful too.
This was in a big city with a lot of these laundry services. So YMMV. But it was beautiful and brilliant.
They called up a local laundry service. The service came to the old apartment and picked up almost every bit of clothing, bedding, towels, etc they owned. The service washed, dried and folded it all. And delivered it back again.... **To the NEW address!!!**
Friend saved a bunch of effort moving it all, a ton of time doing the laundry and the total cost of the service wasn't much more than the cost of all the quarters for the coin-op machines and the detergent. And it made moving so much less stressful too.
This was in a big city with a lot of these laundry services. So YMMV. But it was beautiful and brilliant.
87points
#3
A coworker said her screens weren’t working. She has dual monitors and couldn’t get her mouse to go from one to the other. I sat at her desk... same issue.
Just before I get into her display settings, she bursts out “Oh wait! Maybe my monitors aren’t close enough” and proceeds to close the 3/4 inch gap between the screens. She is very blonde (blonde is a personality, not a hair color) so I didn’t laugh in her face.
As God as my witness, it immediately started working.
This was 5 years ago and still haunts me and everything I know about computers.
Just before I get into her display settings, she bursts out “Oh wait! Maybe my monitors aren’t close enough” and proceeds to close the 3/4 inch gap between the screens. She is very blonde (blonde is a personality, not a hair color) so I didn’t laugh in her face.
As God as my witness, it immediately started working.
This was 5 years ago and still haunts me and everything I know about computers.
66points
#4
I was doing a painting job for an elderly woman, and when I went to move the clock above the sink in the kitchen, lifting it from a nail on the end of a board that extended past a cabinet, the entire.. Thing mounting it up there fell apart. Upon closer inspection I could see that it was this random conglomeration of wood, tape, and an old whetstone. Fashioned into a perfectly shaped weight from which this wall clock had been hung.
I was kind of laughing at it, I mean it looked like something a well meaning toddler would have crafted, but then the old lady tells me that this thing had been assembled by her husband *50 years ago* when he built the kitchen. He'd slapped it together, always meaning to replace it, added the whetstone to weight it down, and slid the whole mess on top of the cabinet with a nail sticking out to hang the clock from.
He'd never gotten around to replacing it, and here we were now where it was still functioning just fine even a few years after his passing.
So I did the logical thing and put it back together. Taped up and hung the clock back on its nail. I figure he must have known something I don't to last that long.
I was kind of laughing at it, I mean it looked like something a well meaning toddler would have crafted, but then the old lady tells me that this thing had been assembled by her husband *50 years ago* when he built the kitchen. He'd slapped it together, always meaning to replace it, added the whetstone to weight it down, and slid the whole mess on top of the cabinet with a nail sticking out to hang the clock from.
He'd never gotten around to replacing it, and here we were now where it was still functioning just fine even a few years after his passing.
So I did the logical thing and put it back together. Taped up and hung the clock back on its nail. I figure he must have known something I don't to last that long.
62points
#5
They sent an order for a rover on Mars to hit itself with a shovel. It worked. Percussive maintenance.
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60points
#6
The one I always hear is for pills you take twice a day.
If you forget constantly (some disorders just make that happen a lot), flip the bottle after you use it. At certain times of day it's upside down, at other times it isn't. If it's facing the wrong way, you forgot to take them.
If you forget constantly (some disorders just make that happen a lot), flip the bottle after you use it. At certain times of day it's upside down, at other times it isn't. If it's facing the wrong way, you forgot to take them.
57points
#7
As college student had a [terrible] car. Wouldn’t crank and found the copper tab from the solenoid to the starter had broke, leaving a gap. Thought “copper.....pennies is copper” so jammed a penny in the gap and it started right up. For months I kept a cup holder full of pennies so I could crank the car.
53points
#8
Engineering story time - A toothpaste factory had a problem with empty boxes making it to packaging. They got the engineers working on a solution using mobile scales to flow along with the conveyor belt and eject the empty toothpaste boxes. Several months later, after testing and prototyping, they were ready to install the system.
At the one place in the conveyor line the unit would fit, they found a desktop fan sitting on a stool blowing the empty boxes into a laundry basket. The full boxes were too heavy to blow off the line.
At the one place in the conveyor line the unit would fit, they found a desktop fan sitting on a stool blowing the empty boxes into a laundry basket. The full boxes were too heavy to blow off the line.
48points
#9
Fake security cameras for a fraction of the cost of real security cameras but with a huge decrease in theft or vandalism.
46points
#10
In the florida keys, they have old cop cars on the side of the road to prevent speeding. Most of them don't have cops inside them, or engines for that matter. One of them actually had a mannequin dressed as a cop inside.
44points
#11
One time my dad was cutting jalapenos and his hands were burning afterwards, so I told him to rub milk on his hands because "if it works on your tongue spicy it works on your hands spicy". It did.
41points
#12
Any fix involving only duct tape and/or WD-40.
40points
#13
Eating Cheetos/Takis with chopsticks to avoid Cheeto fingers.
40points
#14
My dad fixing my car muffler with a soda can. I forgot about it until just now and I sold that car 5yrs ago.
38points
#15
Underhand “granny” shot in basketball. Pretty sure it’s the most effective way to shoot free throws but nobody will do it for fear of looking silly.
36points
#16
Only being able to spell beautiful by saying "be a u tiful". Same with Wednesday as "Wed nes day".
33points
#17
I’ve got a sailboat, and we switched out the conventional style head (toilet) that had a holding tank to a composting head that’s like a fancy bucket that makes dirt. We had removed the holding tank, and were out sailing, when I hear my dad call for help down below.
It turns out that when we have heavy wind coming over the left side of the boat, the vent for our holding tank goes underwater, and it was just letting in lots of water. Dad’s there plugging it with his finger, but we need something to stop it up so he can get back above deck so we can actually sail.
Fortunately, we had drank some wine aboard a few nights prior, and the cork was still on the corkscrew. It fit the hole perfectly, and we figured “that’s good enough to get us back home so we can make a proper repair.”
That was 3 years ago, the cork’s still working great!
It turns out that when we have heavy wind coming over the left side of the boat, the vent for our holding tank goes underwater, and it was just letting in lots of water. Dad’s there plugging it with his finger, but we need something to stop it up so he can get back above deck so we can actually sail.
Fortunately, we had drank some wine aboard a few nights prior, and the cork was still on the corkscrew. It fit the hole perfectly, and we figured “that’s good enough to get us back home so we can make a proper repair.”
That was 3 years ago, the cork’s still working great!
31points
#18
Cutting pizza with scissors instead of a pizza slicer.
31points
#19
In the zoo keeping world it was zip ties and baling twine and if they couldnt fix it you really were up the creek. Occasionally you would just see pieces of baling twine tied places but you dare not touch it in case it's holding something important.
28points
#20
As a mechanic, I see a lot of these.
One of my favorites is seeing a spark plug used as a drain plug. Absolutely not what it was designed for, but it has a crush-washer so it seals properly and the threads line up.
One of my favorites is seeing a spark plug used as a drain plug. Absolutely not what it was designed for, but it has a crush-washer so it seals properly and the threads line up.
27points