My wife's new 'smart' trash can is making me feel like an idiot.

By @karatbh · Family

She spent like $200 on this thing that's supposed to open with a wave. Half the time it doesn't work, and the other half it opens when I just walk by. Now there's a 'right way' to throw out a banana peel.

The full story

I don't get it. We had a perfectly good trash can with a foot pedal. It worked 100% of the time. But my wife saw this thing online and had to have it. It's a 'smart' can. Stainless steel, motion sensor, the whole deal. Now throwing anything away is an event. You have to wave your hand over it just right, like you're casting a spell. If you're too fast, nothing happens. Too slow, nothing. Meanwhile, if I'm just walking past to get to the fridge, the lid flies open like it's saying hello. Then it stays open for a minute, stinking up the kitchen. My wife keeps trying to 'teach' me the right way to use it. She'll stand there and critique my hand-waving form. 'It's a gentle sweep, not a karate chop,' she says. I'm a grown man. I've been successfully using trash cans my whole life. I feel like I'm losing my mind. Yesterday I just gave up and set my coffee grounds on the counter next to it because I couldn't get the lid to open. Is this my life now? Am I gonna lose a fight with a garbage can?

How people voted

OP Is Right — 32% (43 votes)
Both Messy — 44% (58 votes)
OP Is Wrong — 24% (32 votes)

Readers say “Both Messy” (44%) — 133 votes and 5 comments so far.

What people are saying

@brynnkay — return it and get a dumber trash can
@welpokay — I feel like maybe the problem isn't the trash can.
@avasorta — I'd 'accidentally' break the sensor and then say 'oops, guess we need the old one back'.
@jordan — The future is now, old man.
@niamaybe — A man's home is his castle, and the trash can is the moat.

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