Issues with player-object collisions

I have been having consistent issues with my player controller. Basically my problem is that my player can either walk through objects or he can't get close to objects at all. Frequently, if I try to force the player to approach an object the camera will end up jerking up the side of the object as though it is climbing stairs. 

To solve the climbing issue I have tried setting my player controller slope limit to 0 and the step offset to 0 and in each case I still end up climbing the object.

To solve the issue of not being able to approach the object to within a distance that allows any interaction I have tried changing my skin width and the character control radius- no matter what I do I either am able to not approach the object or I end up getting stuck inside the object. I have also tried altering the camera clipping planes. Sorry I know this post is long but for the life of me I cannot figure out what is going on here so I hope one of you can tell me what I am doing wrong! Thanks! 

ps. Is there a way to attach pictures to these posts