When you think about how we all live in 2021, it’s just hard to wrap your head around it. The age of advanced technology, social and gender equality, creative economies, possibilities, you name it. So how on earth does it have a place for things like telemarketing and unpaid overtime?!
When someone asked “What has no reason to exist in 2021 and yet it does?” on r/AskReddit, the answers started rolling in and each was more eye-opening than the previous one.
I mean, people are not saying 2021 is totally overestimated, but in many ways, it kinda is. Let’s see some of the most thought-inducing responses right below and be sure to add a thing or two to this list in the comment section for everyone to see!
things-that-have-no-reason-to-exist-in-2021
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Taking 3-5 days to put money back into my account after you took it instantly.
I went to test drive a car recently and the dealership wanted a £500 deposit. It was for the insurance (rather than pay it in event of a crash) but they said it could go towards the car if I liked it. I asked them if I don't like it how long would it be before I got the money back. They told me at least 7 working days. Politely declined and walked out.
The fact that some people still don't have access to fresh water.
Or to close water : having to walk daily more than 10 km to get water from a well
Unpaid overtime
Homophobia. Seriously.
New Zealand is currently working on a bill to make 'conversion therapy' a criminal offence. Hopefully other countries will do so as well.
Why insulin is so expensive
It is not. It is cheap or free in every country but one. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/cost-of-insulin-by-country
Having to call to cancel a subscription you signed up for online
Netherlands: You must be able to cancel a subscription in the same way you started it and cancelling must be just as simple as starting. So 1 click to start, means 1 click to cancel.
Single use plastic
Once upon a time, a lot of items came packaged in glass, paper, or metal containers. Many of the glass containers were collected, washed, and refilled by the manufacturers. People found uses for containers that could not be returned or recycled. Then there were concerns about the environment...yes the environment. Plastic bags were a response to cutting trees for paper. As plastic was light, disposable, and cost less to ship (no return or deposit), manufacturers switched to these for cost and convenience. The idea was it saved trees, fuel costs of shipping, and emissions. The extent of the damage the overuse of plastic causes was not known. Now we are back where we started with environmental impact.
Paying $4.99 delivery fee to the pizza place, and they say DELIVERY FEE IS NOT A TIP FOR THE DRIVER. The drivers use their own cars and pay for their own gas, and they sure as hell aren't getting any of that $5.
Poverty and homelessness
At least in California, a lot of homelessness is caused by drug addiction that caused a downward spiral in these peoples lives to the point of where the addiction was so strong, they lost everything to get their fixes. Need more drug rehab programs among many, many other programs to help curve homelessness.
Fax machine. Some doctors won't accept email only mail or fax. Some govt related stuff too
Good grief, most of ours is online. We can book online, even have online appointments (face to face), renew prescriptions etc. All in a portal called My Health connected to your own medical centre.
TELEMARKETING
I don’t even get any other type of call, yet I still get this s**t daily
I don't answer calls from numbers I don't know for this reason, and now there's been a wave of scam phone calls in the last few years.
Convenience fees being applied when you pay a bill online.
For profit prisons.
Having no idea how much you'll pay for a minor medical procedure
It's hard to believe that in 2021, in the so called greatest country in the world, someone can be bankrupted because they need medical attention. What's worse is that most people in that country will actually fight any attempt to fix this.
Dude , where do you get your information from?? Nobody but politicians are fighting universal healthcare . The pharmaceutical industry pays for our country's defense , so the likelihood of universal healthcare is slim to none. Most places where there is "free healthcare" the taxes are exponentially higher than ours are ... so it evens out. Even so, nobody wants to pay ludicrous amounts of money for medical care. Our government is corrupt , our people are not
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Up to 20 euros is the answer. If you can pay - otherwise the goverment will cover you.
In my country it's 25 euros but only if it's a very, very minor thing. It was introduced to discourage people to rush to the hospital (risking to clog them) for silly stuff. Everything else it's free of charge.
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Only in a certain country where corporations are the true power and screw people over.
Time for the US to smarten up about universal health care. NO, IT IS NOT COMMUNISM.
This happens in the UK too. The car park charge at my local hospital is £2.50, but this one time I went to a hospital where they wanted £7.50. I was GENUINELY outraged by that, and complained about it all the way home. The price of car parks at UK hospitals is a genuine British political campaign issue.
It’s free to the patient yes but due to severe mismanagement and lack of negotiation skills the cost to the nhs is waaaaay higher than cost prices, I had shoulder surgery and the wait for it to be done at an nhs hospital was around 18 months so the nhs paid a local private bupa hospital to do the surgery for me (common practice in the nhs to conbat long waiting times), I did some investigating and found that my surgery would have cost £5,000 if I’d have paid the bupa hospital directly but bupa charged the nhs £14,799! So that wastage goes to the patient eventually by way of tax and national insurance
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I know exactly how much I'll pay for *any* medical procedure. $0.00. Universal Health Care, because I live in a civilized country.
That is changing, in the U.S. Hospitals will soon be required to post their procedure costs.
This is where I thank the NHS in the UK. We pay minimal amounts for this via our pay packet, assuming we earn enough to do this. Then treatment is free. My husband had a heart attack and two strokes, had treatment for free plus three stents. He also had both knee joints replaced, all at no cost.
My uncle has had horrific rheumatoid arthritis for 30 years, had enough medication to fill a truck, cutting edge experimental treatments, heart surgery and has recently had the surgery and equipment given to him to start peritoneal dialysis which allows him to do his kidney dialysis in the comfort of his home. Never paid a penny for any of it. In the US he would have been on the hook for literally millions. I'm not even going to get into my Dad's recent two years of cancer treatment and participation in a clinical trial. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the NHS and will defend it to the bitter end. America, can I humbly advise that you need to stop putting up with all that dystopian s**t?
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Many times I regret that I live in the UK but free healthcare is one of the benefits and that makes me glad I don't live in a country that healthcare you have to pay for.
Only in the USA. In most other countries which have universal health care if there is a fee the patient MUST be told upfront how much it will be. Even then, it will be 10's or low 100's, not thousands of dollars.
In the US not knowing if the surgeon on call who is going to fix your emergency whatever is on your insurance plan. Geez! You're not? Never mind. I'm just going to make some calls to find out if there's a hospital in the area where there is one0
Being told the procedure will cost you after it has been done, when Medicare covered it before when done.
In the Netherlands you do. Regardless of the medical procedure, the most you pay is €385 annual deductable.
40+ hour work weeks. The technological improvements should have made it so we could have a more leisurely society where we could dedicate less of our lives to pointless work, not so they could increase profits indefinitely for the business owners while we spend all our waking hours on labor that doesn’t even need doing at this point.
E-ticket processing fees. Seriously, do these have any function other than making money for some middle man?
Door to door sales people. If I want lawn care I’ll google it dammit!
We used to have them. But that was back in the 1950's and 1960's. And they didn't try to sell idiotic stuff like lawn care.
I work for USPS. Went to request a day off and the form required carbon paper to copy.
My adult acne
I have noticed that since wearing masks I am breaking out a lot more, especially around my mouth and chin.
Tax software in the US. Seriously should just be a simple form on the internet that takes 5 minutes.
Netherlands: Log in into a secure site. Check what the government has already filled out. Let the program figure out in which way you get the biggest refund, electronically sign the tax form and submit it. Takes 15 minutes, if you're a slow reader. Wait a few months to get your refund in your bank account. No charges, no fees.
Gas stations charging 10 more cents per gallon for paying with a debit/credit card.
The credit card companies charge them what amounts to ten cents on each gallon, or 2.5 percent.
Lousy printers. It's like no one ever tried to build a good one and humanity just agreed they need to be louder than a Lambo for 2 minutes straight before they can print my Amazon return ticket.
Again a matter of watching what you're buying. My old laserprinter just makes a humming noise that's barely noticeable while printing .
Gas cans that seem deliberately designed to not work and that spill gasoline everywhere.
Yep...most can around here have some kind of vapor lock that makes it near impossible to use without spilling. Kinda defeats the purpose. On a side note, love the picture. I love my Jeep Cherokee.
A lot of these are only relevant in the USA, definitely the biggest 3rd world country
Came here to say that too. A lot of the problems mentioned here are very USA-centered.
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ABSOLUTELY !!! But then they would have to probably address the Child Cruelty and sale of women and children (Human Trafficking) that STILL exists and is ignored.
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They forgot Pay Day Loans. They forgot banks allowed to charge 27% and higher on a consumer credit card. Thank deregulation and your conservative sell outs in congress.
Royalty. Why do modern, progressive nations like Sweden and the Netherlands have to have a royal family?
Thank you! I find worship to royals even more disturbing than celebrities! Those are governance structures which have all been banned decades ago and I don't get why ppl who literally do nothing and are wealthy just for birth reasons, while having their diamonds and expensive clothes paid by society, are being worshipped!?
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I'm surprised no one said "cancel culture" or "social justice warriors".
"cancel culture" has a bit of a "mob mentality" to it that makes me uncomfortable, not to mention "guilty until proven innocent". Although I do appreciate people's frustration that this is the only method they feel they have "power" to influence change. As for "social justice warriors"... social justice is a good thing, always has been. Why would we want to stop promoting it? Would you prefer "social inequity warriors"?
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Half of these I agree with, half don't really apply as I'm not American
Do some places actually require you to select race on forms? I've only seen the question about whether you are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in Australia, which is asked because those who are, are entitled to certain things or there may be more relevant services for them
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The company "Autism Speaks" is one of them. They don't even support autistic people at all, they just continually call them burdens and even advocate for parents that kill their autistic children. I still can't believe it's not classified as a hate group yet.
It's called mass brainwashing and we are the results
Load More Replies... Today I learned about a High School Senior in my State, who is receiving a $600,000 + sign on bonus for major leagues baseball. THAT PISSED ME OFF ! when we have poverty, hunger, Outrageously priced medicines.....etc. IN AMERICA !!
Another BP article bashing the USA, it’s starting to get discouraging to come to this site. All everyone does here is talk down on the USA and it’s citizens.
Nobody actually mentioned the USA in the posts. Just because a lot of them are specific to the US, doesn't mean it's an article bashing the USA as a whole.
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Noting is wrong with socialism or communism, as long as the country is fully democratic. The thing that shouldn't exist is dictatorships.
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A lot of these are only relevant in the USA, definitely the biggest 3rd world country
Came here to say that too. A lot of the problems mentioned here are very USA-centered.
Load More Replies... ABSOLUTELY !!! But then they would have to probably address the Child Cruelty and sale of women and children (Human Trafficking) that STILL exists and is ignored.
Load More Replies... They forgot Pay Day Loans. They forgot banks allowed to charge 27% and higher on a consumer credit card. Thank deregulation and your conservative sell outs in congress.
Royalty. Why do modern, progressive nations like Sweden and the Netherlands have to have a royal family?
Thank you! I find worship to royals even more disturbing than celebrities! Those are governance structures which have all been banned decades ago and I don't get why ppl who literally do nothing and are wealthy just for birth reasons, while having their diamonds and expensive clothes paid by society, are being worshipped!?
Load More Replies... I'm surprised no one said "cancel culture" or "social justice warriors".
"cancel culture" has a bit of a "mob mentality" to it that makes me uncomfortable, not to mention "guilty until proven innocent". Although I do appreciate people's frustration that this is the only method they feel they have "power" to influence change. As for "social justice warriors"... social justice is a good thing, always has been. Why would we want to stop promoting it? Would you prefer "social inequity warriors"?
Load More Replies... Half of these I agree with, half don't really apply as I'm not American
Do some places actually require you to select race on forms? I've only seen the question about whether you are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in Australia, which is asked because those who are, are entitled to certain things or there may be more relevant services for them
Load More Replies... The company "Autism Speaks" is one of them. They don't even support autistic people at all, they just continually call them burdens and even advocate for parents that kill their autistic children. I still can't believe it's not classified as a hate group yet.
It's called mass brainwashing and we are the results
Load More Replies... Today I learned about a High School Senior in my State, who is receiving a $600,000 + sign on bonus for major leagues baseball. THAT PISSED ME OFF ! when we have poverty, hunger, Outrageously priced medicines.....etc. IN AMERICA !!
Another BP article bashing the USA, it’s starting to get discouraging to come to this site. All everyone does here is talk down on the USA and it’s citizens.
Nobody actually mentioned the USA in the posts. Just because a lot of them are specific to the US, doesn't mean it's an article bashing the USA as a whole.
Load More Replies... Noting is wrong with socialism or communism, as long as the country is fully democratic. The thing that shouldn't exist is dictatorships.
Load More Replies...