What is the deal with umbrellas these days?

[MIButterfly]

I ordered an umbrella from one of the TV shopping channels a week or so ago. It's made by a company that sells hand painted handbags, of which I have several and like very much. The umbrella is very pretty with flowers on it. There was an instruction card that came with it, but it was nearly impossible to open it. I don't know if I got a defective one or what, but I had to press the button six times. It opened up but the metal prongs didn't flatten out so there were valleys all over the top. Trying to close it was just as difficult. The instructions said the top will go down (which was very sudden and made a loud noise that scared the hell out of me) but then you have to press the top and bottom toward each other simultaneously to get the entire umbrella to close. What fresh hell is this? Since when have umbrellas become so complicated you need instructions on how to open and close them? Whatever happened to push the button and it goes up; push the button and it goes back down?

I knew there would be things that would get more complicated for me as I got older, but I never thought an umbrella would be one of them.

[Lochloosa]

1. I would suggest a good golf umbrella.

Go to a golf shop and try them. They are high quality and they have pretty ones for women.

[ProfessorGAC]

3. Also Could Use Golf Galaxy On Line

If it's golf, they have it.

[Fla Dem]

2. Sounds like you got a defective umbrella. I'd return it.

[MIButterfly]

4. Oh yeah, its going back for sure.

In over 30 years of ordering from the TV shopping channels, I have never sent anything back, but I'm making an exception in this case.

[Xavier Breath]

5. A bit off topic, but I noticed some years ago that when it rained I was one of but a few even using an umbrella.

The younger folk, to my experience, seem to eschew them. As anyone else noticed this?

[Totally Tunsie]

6. Shhhhhhh...don't tell trumpie they're getting difficult to open and close.

Last edited Wed Feb 18, 2026, 12:35 AM - Edit history (1)

It'll just give him an excuse why he can't ever handle one. There have been several times when boarding a plane that he just dumps it at the doorway because he can't figure it out or he's just too damn lazy.

[JoseBalow]

7. A little rainy-day Lounge mood music

(3:09)