Worst remote nomination...

The remote on my early Shanling CD-T100. This was the same as the one on the early CD-25 that Mwilson and others mention above. It was truly a tough remote to use. To my shame, I did not point this out in my review of the player, which later got about 3,000 hits. I thought the button layout was fine, but I never mentioned how hard it actually was to push them.

I should add that I hardly ever use a remote anyway. (You'd think that would be a good reason not to emit an opinion, but no... .)

I managed with that remote when I had to, and the company later pulled it in favour of a much better one. There is another remote I still have two of, though, that I hate to use: the Cambridge CD-4's remote has the least intuitive layout I have ever seen. I feel like I'm learning it all over again each time I have to touch it.

Wadia 861 try handing it to someone who never used it before they are totally Lost because of the non standard weird icons they use should have actual words would really help. Oh and all Wadia remotes eat batteries like crazy.

NAD T550 DVD remote. I just donated the whole unit to the local shelter that needed one. The remote is so bad I feel a little guilty about it.

How about remotes that are "too good" (i.e. controls functionality that can't be accessed from the main unit). I had a toshiba DVD player a couple of years ago that had a little joystick button that let you navigate through DVD menus. The main unit had only play, chapter skip and stop. The remote broke in an accident and then my perfectly good DVD player wouldn't play a large number of DVD's because I couldn't get through the main menu. When I found out what Toshiba wanted for a new remote I ended up throwing away a perfectly functioning DVD player.

Agree with your assesment of the Wadia remote.
I upgraded my Wadia 16 to a 16i. New metal remote came with the upgrade. I used it twice before going back to the original plastic remote.
Metal remote was much more confusing and too heavy when compared to the plastic remote. Have had it for 5 years and never replaced batteries yet.