Since when do pepper shakers come with directions?

My friend and I went to a trendy new place today for lunch. We both got trendy new sandwiches, hers on a "multi-grain," mine on "pump." My friend likes pepper on her trendy chicken salad with citrus, but could not figure out how to get the pepper out of the trendy McCormick shaker.

We finally figured out it wasn't a shaker, it was a grinder. She ground and ground. No pepper. She pried off what looked like some sort of cap and a handful of pepper plopped out. Being the expert at mechanical things after having such great success with my lawnmower, I offered to give it a try.

I ground and ground. No pepper. I took off the lid. Pepper plopped out. Duh.We gave up on the pepper grinder since we had enough pepper for at least 10 sandwiches and discretly brushed it onto the floor, into our purses, and the trendy trays that held our trendy sandwiches.

"Pssst," my friend said one octave above discrete, "that old guy behind you just did the same thing, but he shook the pepper grinder over his plate without removing the lid and nothing came out!"

Then I saw directions printed on both the pepper and salt container labels. Directions on how to get the contents out! Both the pepper AND the salt containers were grinders! They both had pictures with directions of how to convert the contents to a less dense form from the glass container, through the grinder, and onto your food. Directions! Salt and pepper "shakers" with directions!

Just remove the "lid," grind over food, and put the lid back on. Well, dang, we could trendy well do that. Well, how trendy, but I bet a pain to refill. Oh, says here they are not to be refilled.

Okay, and when the container is empty, just throw it away? Throw away a perfectly good glass container with this nifty grinder thing that comes with both pictures and printed directions?

How much do these babies cost, anyway? Is that why my trendy sandwich cost $6.95? Would this trendy restaurant knock off maybe a buck if I didn't use the pepper?

Am I so old that I appreciate the simplicy of the old metal containers with the dual purpose lid? Flip up this end and you can slip in a small measuring spoon or pour out the contents. Flip up the lid on the other end and just shake. When empty, recycle the container.

Maybe that's why there is so much frustration in the world. Too dang trendy!