popping buttons on Maytags
I had totally forgotten about this, but my parents had a Maytag washer that they bought when I was in junior high or high school (putting it firmly in the "classic" category, unfortunately) This machine worked great, but the buttons fell out fairly early on - I remember coming home from college and going to do laundry, and my mom handing me "the stick" - a piece of wood she used to push the buttons that no longer had buttons.
She got a new washer last year and had the old one put out on the curb for the garbage man, but some non-garbage people came and snagged it right away (Council Bluffs, Iowa is a bit on the poor side) My mom saw the guys putting it on the truck and went running out to give them "the stick" so it would work for them.