Packaging, love it or hate it

It’s black as night here. That’s not the reason I bought a Yankee Candle diffusing thingy but I did need cheering up. I’d already bought one for one of my rooms but I wanted to extend the pleasant smell to others. Mercifully, I arrived back home before the rains came.

After a quick cuppa I set about unpacking my pretty purchase. I had at the ready scissors, a craft knife, and my trusted gripper that will undo anything except a Yankee Candle diffusing thingy. It wasn’t until I’d actually bought one that I found out how difficult it is to get into the package. First I had to remove a fancy bit of card that (I thought) was holding together a package of stiff cellophane (if that’s the right word) … sounds simple but I promise you it was a major task. Quite literally you have to fight your way in.

Next, having found no obvious opening, I jabbed the cellophane with the scissors thus creating a hole through which the blades could enter and take over. I literally had to cut off panels of the so-called cellophane before reaching bits of cardboard that held the bottle straight. That wasn’t so bad, I’m used to cutting cardboard. In fact, I’m used to cutting anything that’s cut’able since I became dedicated to making the un-recyclable waste as small as possible. I now have only half a black bag of trash to leave out for the bin men instead of several overfull bags.

Anyway, with great glee I pulled out the bottle of smelly liquid and attempted to undo the stopper. I had forgotten it was sealed with a lesser thickness of cellophane. It did have a mark though to indicate the point at which I should start this mammoth task. The craft knife dealt with that, slitting down the dotted line like it’s been doing it all its life. Using a short fingernail I managed to get some leverage and Wowee the seal unwound itself from the stopper.

Then came the really difficult part, as if the aforementioned procedure wasn’t bad enough, of prising stopper from bottle. Yes, I know I’m weak but I’m not usually that bad. I tried the gripper but it was too wide for the stopper. I wrapped the stopper in a piece of felt that I happened to have lying around, then tried the gripper again. Aha, I detected movement. I persevered, yanking the gripper left, right and upwards until in the end the stopper came out.

Here endeth the tale of unwrapping hell. No wonder the world is hard up if it has to use so much stuff to pack a simple bottle. Packaging? I hate it! But the worst aspect of the whole situation is that I don’t like the smell of the diffusing thingy and I can hardly take it back to the shop without its packaging. Can I?