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Ask HN: What is a small thing that would make your life better?
12 points by tennismath on Jan 21, 2021 | hide | past | favorite | 22 comments


If the senior lead dev at my company would be a little more workplace invested.

What I mean by this is: it's hard to say to the higher-ups "I would really like a Resharper license or a chair that isn't broken" when you're the most junior person, and your seniors aren't saying the same.


Is it one of those "austerity porn" work environments?

If so, I worked at a company like that once. Such a cringe. The office furnishings were from government auctions 20+ years prior. Worst chair ever.

Also, ants fell on my desk from the ceiling all day, so my seniors thought they'd buy me ant bait which I could place anywhere I wanted.

After all that, "why is turnover so bad," they wondered...


A co-worker was finally fed up with the crappy chair and bought his own. Its a gaming chair, with bright green. He also did not like his monitors, so he bought his own.

In a certain way I feel he is doing the right thing, why suffer. For a few hundred bucks he has a lot more job satisfaction.


Most gaming chairs are absolutely terrible ergonomically as well as poor value for money, but I hope he got a good one, for his sake.


Chewing gum or some kind of food that would clean teeth as well as brushing and flossing. I mentioned that to my dental hygienist and dentist years ago and they thought it was hilarious.


I think commit to self-improvement. The real challenge lies in doing the little things on a consistent basis and by taking advantage of all opportunities to change your life – one little step at a time.


The book Atomic habits gives a great framework on how to build great habits of making these small incremental changes that compound into big gains.


Not sure if small but less work (for less money, I'm fine with that).


Like less work, less earn but more work, more earn? Is that what you mean?


If BTOpenReach could pull their fingers out the shareholders and run full fat fibre to my place, that'd be awesome.


I wish I could quickly change the humidity level in any room, anywhere, without feeling like it (the solution) wastes resources. Random, but there you go.


Are humidifiers actually that wasteful? I can't imagine a fan (or vibrating nebulizer) with a water reservoir uses that much electricity.

Dehumidifying seems harder.


I'm thinking a bit more about the dehumidifying factor for sure. But when I used humidifiers in the past they were also frustratingly ineffective. For a small space like a two-person office, give it many hours before you notice anything. Might as well grow plants. Maybe that's changed in the last 10 years or so...not sure.


i love tea, so it would be having different kind of loose tea every day, without preparation :-)


A handful of close friends would be nice

Save that, a lump sum of money. Not even a lot, but more than a little.


A 3 day work week.


some good coffee every morning


A cat maybe.


cat? why not dog?


more money


^ that.


... a couple of vaccine shots?




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