Note: this is a shit post. I still swear it is impossible.

https://imgur.io/gallery/yY59P

I just boil and eat the entire box like any normal person.

The one that kills me is when the glue they use to close the box is stronger than the box itself, so you wind up just ripping it open.

I swear to God, in all my life I feel like it's only worked fewer than 5 times.

You're not extending your chi through your finger when you push. The instructions take that for granted, but they really should be more specific.

I think you all just have weak thumbs. I've always opened them just as the package says to. Never had a problem.

As a kid, I would have thumb wrestling matches with my older brother, and sometimes, on weekends, I'd hitchhike. I used my thumbs a lot. I've had to replace 4 space bars on my keyboard.

Never skip thumb day.

It's possible, but it's a very high Dex roll.

90% of the time the whole box collapses before the perforation breaks.

Latest kitty litter I bought actually says "opens inward for easy pouring" 🙄. Worst part of the chore stabbing it with a finger and hooking the tab back through so it doesn't block all the litter.

I actually just recently, after years of frustration, figured out a technique that works. You squeeze the box near the opening so that it bulges out. Then you can poke it with your finger and rip the top open. Feels like gutting a fish, which I assume now is what they were going for.

It's not that your thumbs aren't strong enough, it's that they aren't sharp enough.

It’s not you. The only person that consistently works for is Freddy Krueger.

It's not just you.

Companies do a really bad job at product testing when it comes to opening stuff. The best ones are where you damage the product because it's so hard to open. It's like they never thought to actually try using the stupid little pull tab they give us to actually open their own product.

I just rip open the top of the box instead.

That's right, I'm a rebel.

You know, I was just thinking earlier this week that of all the technologies we have, it's weird how much we struggle with perforation.

I ignore these instructions entirely and just open the flappy bits. I am an agent of chaos.

Good God, the number of products where someone spent the time and effort to design in "systems" for opening/using the package, which are utterly ineffectual is mind boggling.

Did a flimsy cardboard box ever need some special tear tab to begin with?? Hell no, just glue the flap shut and we will open it like every other food box on the planet.

Shit that is infuriating.

I got a different brand of Mac and cheese once and it opened right up using the same instructions.

I feel like the name brand is just messing with people.

The Weaklings must be sacrificed to the pit of fire.

I have pretty strong thumbs and generally just end up tearing off most of the top and being pissed at the stupid design.

it aren't supposed to be your thumb just a thumb.

Here's the CEO of a company on national television showing off his company's new packaging design. The instructions are to mess with you. Even CEOs can't open their own damn products.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-p8YpR7rJc

no kidding the last box of mac'n'cheese i opened, that was the TOUGHEST spot on the box, i just ripped the lid off

You're supposed to use your thumb to lift that flap, as instructed, not try to punch a hole in it. Start at the side.

How is this mac? I've never had it, but I love (and hate) the Kraft stuff.