Dear vacuum-designing engineers,
When I first got married 20 some-odd years ago, we purchased a Hoover vacuum from the Salvation Army store for $15.00. It worked tolerably well, which is to say that it sucked up dirt. The noise it made was tremendous, but maintaining it was simply a matter of changing the bag and replacing the belt. I never put any thought into the vacuum cleaner. I just vacuumed.
Present time: me vs. the vacuum cleaner. The cord (of the newly purchased, guaranteed no-loss-of-suction machine) has apparently been engineered to twist and kink with increasing fervor after every use. There are no hooks to attach it to the vacuum cleaner body after use, so I am forced to wind it awkwardly around the handle where it invariably falls off sometime before I vacuum again. Instead of simple-to-use dust bags, I now have to take the guts of the vacuum out (granted--this part is easy) and take it to a trash can and empty it without re-introducing the dust I just vacuumed up into the air.
Confession: I have a dog. She has hair. She sheds. So, on top of dust, we have dog hair lurking in every corner that must be eliminated if we don't want it to appear as if we are living in a cave. As I suck it up in the vacuum, it becomes trapped in the inner workings of the the guts of the vacuum. This necessitates a vacuum gut-ectomy wherein I have to unscrew various parts to shake the offending dog hair out, trying to aim for the trash can so I don't have to repeat the process.
If that weren't enough to anger the average American house-person (who also works full-time as a teacher, let it be known), I also have to periodically wash the guts of said vacuum as they become encrusted with the very dust they are supposed to be cleaning out of my house. Now the machine that is supposed to make my life easier has become its own chore.
In short, dear engineers, please go to your own house, let a dog and two or three children run around for a week, then vacuum. Do that every week (or twice a week as is your standard) for 20 years. Then design me a vacuum that I could be happy about. With a cord that doesn't tangle, with a belt that's easy to change, with a non-dirty, truly easy-emptying dust canister or bag or something. Oh, and it still needs to suck up dirt. This is exactly the kind of challenge that our schools should be training you for--so go out and conquer!
Thanks.
