Imagine a person who's trying to quit smoking. That person is already in a foul mood. On the one hand, he wants to quit. On the other, he doesn't.
He's going through the pangs of withdrawals. It's pretty serious stuff. He's shaking, sweating, eating everything in sight. He's driving his car like he's Mario Andretti, and he's not even out of the driveway. Anything could set him off at any moment. A simple "Hello" is returned with "WHAT THE F#$>@ DO YOU WANT?!" He's ready to do violence.
So what do you, as a nicotine patch vendor, do?
You seal the nicotine patch in a vacuum-sealed packet that requires the addict to use a pair of scissors or a knife to get the thing open.
Usability Advice: DO NOT advise an addict to arm himself with a sharp object in order gain access to the one thing that will quell his cravings.
<Queue up the music from Psycho right here.>
Rather, perforate the packets, and make them easy to tear open. When that guy needs that patch, he needs it NOW and he doesn't want to spend forty minutes on a mad search for something to open it with. By the time he finds something suitable, he'll likely want to stick it in someone's eye first, and then just sink giggling into a corner while he sucks the nicotine out of the patch.
Now, if you'll excuse me for a moment, I have to find a pair of scissors.
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