Ever had that frustrating feeling when the delivery youβve been excitedly waiting for turns up, but you canβt get into the packet? Or youβve just bought a new shaver and the plastic casing is impermeable?
βOoh how exciting, my new video game has arrived! All wrapped up snugly in a bubble-wrapped envelope. Now to release it from its packet and pop it in my console…β
It was all going so well, but this vacuum-sealed plastic envelope had other ideas. I couldnβt open the damn thing with my hands, nor my teeth. It was impervious to my efforts as I tried to rip and bite at it.
Five minutes later, as I fell into a heap on the sofa after multiple expletives, I calmly looked a little closer at that packet. A packet containing a little video game box ordered online and shipped from Jersey, Guernsey or some other island. On the sticker was a description of the product and the words βmay be opened officiallyβ. May be opened officially? Well good luck to you officials, Iβd like to see you try!
Without scissors to hand, this innocent little impenetrable pack was consigned to my drawer, unopened. There it remained for well over a week until I got so worked up that I took a kitchen knife to it. Finally, my video game was free.
The trials and tribulations of prising open packets
Iβm sure this isnβt an experience limited to just me. I know scissors are quite a common and essential piece of kit for any household, but should you need to use anything other than your hands to get into the product you just bought? Using your teeth is bad enough.
One reader got in touch to say they had huge difficulties opening suppository packets. The reader added: βif you risk being poisoned and open one with your teeth, as an [elderly person] you are likely to lose or loosen the tooth.β
Sometimes it feels like these products are designed not to be opened. And maybe they are. That brings me to shaving razors β thereβs been many a time where Iβve wedged my fingers into these razor packets, and the only thing I have had to show for it is a bloody cut from the plastic. Perhaps itβs difficult to open for a reason β so that shoppers donβt get hold of a razor blade with only their bare hands.
Still, Iβm sure this phenomenon isnβt just relegated to potentially dangerous products β do you have any other examples of impossible to open packets? Iβm just off to buy myself a pair of scissors, but how Iβll get them out of their packet is another question entirelyβ¦