It often happens that you buy something with the price tag still attached. These small, pesky, cheap stickers are incredibly stubborn! Woe betide if you only tear off the surface of the label, because then the sticky residue won't come off ever, no matter how hard you try. Most of the time, you end up fiddling around for hours, treating the residue with foul-smelling substances like gasoline or turpentine, rubbing your thumb raw, and possibly even removing parts of the purchased product. Plastic, in particular, can quickly become dull doing this. But it doesn't have to be that way, because there's "Goo Gone," which removes everything powerfully and gently.

"Goo" is the American word for a stubbornly sticky substance. For example, if you don't clean a bathtub despite regular use, after a while, a thick mass settles at the bottom. "Goo" can perhaps best be translated with the Bavarian word "Baaz." And "Gone" means "disappeared," so "Goo Gone" means something like "Baaz disappeared." "Goo Gone" comes in a convenient spray bottle, is easy to apply, and has a pleasant scent reminiscent of a mix of tangerine and marzipan.

Take, for example, the padlock in Figure 2. There was a sticker on the back with the combination on it, and it didn't come off completely. A little "Goo Gone" was sprayed on, then I waited a few minutes, and it came off effortlessly. All that was left was attractively shiny metal and a mandarin-nut scent in the air. Hmm.

I know someone whose father runs a few movie theaters, and he always has to clean the floor and seats of stuck-on chewing gum and spilled coca cola after the show. He claims that there is a professional cleaner that dissolves stickiness even more powerfully than "Goo Gone," but that "Goo Gone" is pretty much the best thing the average person can buy. A nice gift from your next trip to America for your loved ones at home!

• More topics you might be interested in:

  	Visiting Vancouver, Canada
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• More topics you might be interested in:

  	Visiting Vancouver, Canada
  	Colorful life
  	Record of the Month
  	"Don't call it Frisco"
  	Cars in California
  	San Francisco Views: Noe Valley