this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2026
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AssholeDesign

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This is a community for designs specifically crafted to make the experience worse for the user. This can be due to greed, apathy, laziness or just downright scumbaggery.

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[–] Vanth@reddthat.com 140 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

Shell gas stations in the US have been showing ads on the main machine for years, I've never seen them on the handle before. I hate it. I would expect them to break "accidentally" quite often.

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 68 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Fun fact for most of these on-pump advertisements: if you see eight buttons in two columns, hitting the third row(?) second column button should mute the speaker.

Fuck these abominations, fuck the oil industry, fuck the advertising industry, and fuck the snack and beverage companies that advertise their poison on these devices.

[–] Cris_Color@lemmy.world 55 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

Where I am it was the second down on the right side, but recently the button to mute stopped working around where I live. I have a friend who just sticks his keys through the the speaker grates to kill the speakers lol

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[–] possumparty@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

They've been disabling the mute buttons

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[–] GreenShimada@lemmy.world 30 points 2 weeks ago

I have, but smaller than this. This seems like it's straight up a safety issue.

[–] mtpender@piefed.social 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm so glad my country has strict rules around where advertising can be displayed.

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[–] i_am_tired_boss@lemmy.world 96 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] earlstilt@feddit.uk 91 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Looks like the perfect application for one of those awful shipping labels that tear into a million pieces when you try to remove them

[–] phneutral@feddit.org 20 points 2 weeks ago

Egg shell stickers!

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[–] ClamDrinker@lemmy.world 74 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

This company went bankrupt btw 💯 I can only hope whatever chain decided to try this shit got ostracized too.

[–] Cattail@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Reminds me of the company that did smart coolers for gas station coolers. It cost thousands of dollars and required proprietary service for this display. Idk if anyone is bankrupt but the company that made them essentially stopped supporting them so has stations have worthless screens blocking the merchandise

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[–] thingAmaBob@lemmy.world 68 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Damn, thought only the US was crazy enough to have ads at the pump. This is a whole other level.

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[–] ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works 52 points 2 weeks ago (11 children)
[–] SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today 40 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

I'm usually not in favor of this sort of thing. But I think there are some instances where that may be justified. This screen serves ZERO public benefit. It's just there to annoy you. So IMHO doing something like 3d printing a cover that you leave on the screen is a public service.

[–] ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works 41 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

99% of advertisements serve zero public benefit. Its in society's best interest to actively hinder them whenever possible IMO.

[–] asg101@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Advertisement is the ruling classes' graffiti. Obliterating it is a public service.

[–] SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today 1 points 3 days ago
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[–] mech@feddit.org 40 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

This is the first time I see someone actually use the gloves.

[–] cactus_head@programming.dev 18 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (7 children)

Didn't even know there were gloves, and like why? Is petrol toxic over time or something?

[–] mech@feddit.org 27 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I mean yeah, not just over time.
And it stinks, and you might not want it on your hands. Also, everyone touches that nozzle and no one washes their hands before or after. It makes sense that there are gloves, I just never saw anyone who bothered to use them.

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[–] BussyGyatt@feddit.org 36 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Have you considered vandalism?

[–] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 18 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Vandalism is always an answer. May not be the right answer, considering the question.

~~Hey Gina, what do you think would be a good fundraiser to help cover the funding gaps our shitty government leaves us with year after year?~~

~~Hey Bob, Joey's getting out of the hospital today and is going to have staggering debt because the purposefully inefficient private healthcare system has so much power over our elected officials.~~

Fuck it, I tried twice. Vandalism is the answer.

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[–] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 35 points 2 weeks ago

Do your neighborhood a favor and bring a can of spray paint next time

[–] Wilco@lemmy.zip 33 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

That screen would get "accidentally" cracked if I had to use it.

[–] bluesheep@sh.itjust.works 23 points 2 weeks ago

ah fuck did I really drop it a third time!? I'm sooo clumsy

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[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 33 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Worse in California.

I've been to multiple stations that have speakers on the pump and start blaring ads as soon as a credit card is inserted. Most of them have had "Mute" buttons on the pump, but the last one I went to did not and there was no way to silence the screaming advertisement. Will never go back.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 25 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

There's always a mute button. Sometimes it's through the speaker cone.

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[–] Sgt_choke_n_stroke@lemmy.world 28 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (4 children)

Can't do that in the US some crackhead would take it and sell it as an ipad

[–] SlippiHUD@lemmy.world 38 points 2 weeks ago

Crackheads doing community service

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[–] fraksken 28 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

"Smarternozzle", but still no cell phones near a gasstation ...

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[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 27 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

We don't have them on the nozzles, but our pumps blare out the audio at hearing damage volumes.

And they wonder why that brand of station is avoided.

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[–] AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world 26 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] Nindelofocho@lemmy.world 25 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

And gas is never cheaper because of it too

[–] justsomeguy@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago

The screen handles are expensive so you're just watching the ads to pay for those.

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[–] Birdwants@lemmus.org 25 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Next level : if you want it to fill your tank fast & ad free, you have to subscribe to a monthly card-club with Facial-Recognition, otherwise it keeps showing you ads & it fills your gas tank reeeeeally sloooOOOOoowly to make sure you watch at least 5 ads ^^

[–] musubibreakfast@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If you try to close the ad then the hose sucks the gasoline out of your tank but still charges you for the amount pumped. Also good luck getting the right fuel for your engine, the pump selection system has been replaced with a gacha game. Try again and maybe next time you'll get Diesel-chan!

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[–] raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world 23 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Sounds like something that could motivate me to wear a ring with a diamond. "oops. Seems diamonds really are a hard material..."

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[–] jet@hackertalks.com 23 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)
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[–] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 23 points 2 weeks ago

"smarternozzle" it could have shown the amount you're putting in your car and how much it would cost etc on there.

nope, ad.

[–] HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

I've started leaving if the thing shows me an ad, I just put the nozzle back the second the ad plays, gets me enough fuel to get to a non compromised station.

The most fucked is full serve stations with the ads. While my windows are up so Im safe, the poor staff have to listen to an entire gas station worth of pumps blaring ads all day.

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[–] redlemace@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Regardless the gas price i'd go somewhere else. When they all have it, i start ducttaping them to make mypoint (i know, it would not mute audio)

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[–] Ironfist@sh.itjust.works 19 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

To anybody thinking about vandalizing this thing:

DONT BREAK IT, not the screen, not the speakers and none of its electronics, you can create a shortcut, then a spark and YOU WILL KILL YOURSELF or the next person that uses the pump.

Paint and stickers are the way to go.

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[–] Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

Spray paint or hard to peal off stickers.

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[–] taytay@lemmings.world 18 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Advertising should be illegal.

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