i cried, i laughed. unbelievable, maybe, the emotions this IDIOTIC & USELESS product can inspire. people: make sure the sizes of the things you receive are the same as those of the things you buy. whatever is the opposite of 'supersizing' is happening all over the place now, from boxes of rice-a-roni to all kinds of housewares. this bizarre broom/dustpan set is, perhaps, the most egregious example. the broom, from tip of handle to floor, is MORE THAN A FOOT SHORTER than is my normal broom. although incredibly flimsy, & looking as if it will detach at the first touch, the dustpan, itself, is normal sized--other, of course, than its height. from floor to handle top, it is at least ANOTHER SIX INCHES SHORTER than the broom. the length of the brush end is, perhaps, the eight inches or so it is supposed to be--although it is the shortest 8" you will have ever seen in yr life [unless, of course, you have a partner of yr own who comes complete w/ his own exaggerations]. the broom is only [kinda sorta] useful in under-areas: the lip under the counter, the very last bit of floor near the baseboards--areas that, maybe - possibly - occasionally, cannot be easily accessed by a real broom [something this broomlet is--emphatically--not]. if you want a whisk broom w/ an awkwardly long--but not long enough--handle, the quickie broomlet is for you. if you are a child, or are interested in buying a gift for a child, this broomlet might do the trick. in all honesty, its height & feather-weightiness might be helpful to someone who sweeps while seated in a wheelchair. i am not, in any way, being sarcastic. it is an excellent application for this broom. i can think of few others. if, otoh, you are at least as tall as am i--who comes into the ring -towering- at approximately five feet--& you do yr housework while standing, you DO NOT want to buy this broom. it is -extraordinarily uncomfortable- to use, it picks up almost nothing, its greatest trait is its ability to snap into its dustpan &, together, take up little space--newsflash: they take up so little room not because they are efficiently designed but, instead, because they would swim in midair inside most closets as dustpan & broom are, separately &/or together: TOO SMALL. WAY TOO SMALL. RIDICULOUSLY TOO SMALL. LAUGHABLE IN THEIR TINY SMALLNESS. i hope i have made my point. finally, i just could not believe what i saw when i opened the normal sized box in which they arrived. i spent the last year having dental surgery after dental surgery, during which--as you might imagine--the pain was relentless. due to the endlessness of that relentlessness, my house turned into an unfortunate pit. well enough now, finally, i can truly say that for the first time in my entirely too long life i was thrilled to do some housekeeping. sick & unable to do much other than sit & see for so long, you can bet yr bottomest dollar that i sat & saw--&, of course, -read- amazon's descriptions & amazon's reviews, lots & lots of them--probably all. &, in the way of most people, ill or well, i -could not imagine- any company could, or would, mess up the creation of a broom & a dustpan. so please believe me when i tell you that when i opened the box & first set eyes on these foolish things i almost cried. they are going back. as are the itsy bitsy teeny weeny oxo brushes, the infinitessimal umbro sink sack, & the extraordinarily heavy sunshine yellow eureka convertible hand vac that was described as being, of course, lightweight. my best & most honest guess is that houseware items are currently created in sizes much smaller [or at least other] than they were, perhaps, even a year ago. because of this, at least in part, i am sad to note that many amazon reviews can no longer be trusted. sometimes the person who wrote the review is reviewing an older, better version of a product. worst of all, though, & way too common now: sometimes that reviewer is not a customer but, instead, a sham buyer shilling for shekels from the manufacturer. caveat, now more than ever.
