What do you think of the uselesstrifles? ppsx

What do you think of the useless
trifles?
What do you think of the useless trifles?

Nowadays, nearly every household in the country receives
a barrage of various catalogues selling everything from
electric golf carts to padded coat hangers. The
descriptions of these items suggest that they, too, will help
improve the quality of our lives by providing convenience,
comfort, and shortcuts to improve our appearance. But so
often these items are just superfluous, absurd trifles.

Whoever does the cooking has a great deal of work to do
and anything to ease that workload is certainly
appreciated by any home maker. Unfortunately, some of
these clever items that claim to save time might actually
end up making us waste time. Take, for example, devices
to save time cutting. A specially designed cutter will slice
six pieces of pie at the same time, each piece at the same
size. Another device cuts an apple in thin slices and
removes the core all in one shot. Still another removes the
corn from the cob easily and quickly. Although these
devices may save time in the actual cutting, just think of
how much time the person lost trying to find the device in
the first place and the cleaning it up afterward. The same
problem applies to a hand-sized electric drink mixer. It
might save the host or hostess some muscle but not
aggravation when he or she finds the batteries are dead
and there are none in the house.

Certainly anyone would also appreciate items that make

our lives more comfortable but some of the items for the
bath room border on the absurd. For about $8.00 you can
buy an inflatable pillow to rest against in the bathtub. (It’s
held secure by suction cups). An inch thick foam rubber
pad will cushion you from the hard bottom of the tub as
you bathe. Of course if it gets mildew on it. It might be
better located in the trash can. Finally you can sit in
comfort on the toilet on a plush toilet seat cover and listen
to music from a radio built into a toilet paper container.

Comfort and convenience are carried to extremes in the
area personal care. Without any real effort at all, or so the
ads in these catalogues claim, you can go to bed and
wake up feeling and looking better. After taking special
pills to melt away excess pounds, you can crawl into your
bed and let it massage you all night long (A curious
electric device makes the bed vibrate). In addition you can
rest your head on a wedge-shaped pillow that is supposed
in help you sleep better. To protect your hairstyle while
you sleep, you can do a special cap. To keep your chin
from sagging, you can wrap a band around your face,
under your chin, and up over the front part of your head.
Finally, to prevent your eyes from getting puffy, all you
need to do is slip on a water-filled face mask. Of course, if
you wake up to find your mate gone, do not be surprised!

All of these items, whether they are designed to help us in
the kitchen, comfort us in the bathroom, or improve the
way we look and feel, are for the most part unnecessary.
Rather than improve the quality of our lives, such items

detract from it by wasting our time and money and
cluttering up our cupboards and closets. And cluttering up
our coffee tables are those stacks of catalogues offering
more such useless trifles.