READER REPORT:
The importance of following instructions
GERARD O'NEIL
123RF.COM
Do you always read the instruction manual or take a chance on figuring it out yourself?
Some time ago, after an embarrassing situation, I learnt the importance of reading instructions before operating something new.
I had bought a new PC and upon getting it home had excitedly connected everything, while totally ignoring the instruction manual. When I turned my new computer on, nothing happened.
After an hour of frustrating nothing, I rang the supplier to complain that my new PC did not work.
"Did you read the instructions," the receptionist asked?
READ MORE BY GERARD:
When I admitted I had not, she said she would take me through them. "Please read with me," she said, as if I was the fiftieth person she had said the same thing to that day.
First paragraph: "Your new computer was tested before shipment. However, to protect it during transport, the power protection button has been activated. Step 1: Switch the power protection button to 'off'."
When I did this, my new computer immediately sprung to life.
Since then, I have become an avid believer of reading instructions, even though the results have not always been the best.
For example, when I bought a new car and the dealership wanted an extra day to give it a final check, I asked the sales representative if I could take the instruction manual home to study.
That night found me happily telling my wife all the wonderful things I was discovering the "on board computer" could do. At around 1am she confiscated the manual and made me go to sleep.
The next morning, when I went to pick up the car, a specially trained assistant entered the car with me to show me how everything worked. This was my cue to impress her with my recently acquired knowledge.
She did not seem at all put out when I politely suggested that I really did not need her help and all I really wanted to do was hit the road.
I was feeling very proud and confident in my new car until I pulled into the petrol station to fill up. This was when I discovered I had no idea how to unlock the fuel cap. As I desperately searched through the instruction manual, a long line of irritated drivers formed behind me.
A POOR FIT
Sometimes, however, instructions leave a lot to be desired.
Recently my wife and I bought an Italian-inspired, Chinese-manufactured lamp. Before attempting to assemble it we carefully read the instructions. In fact, we looked at the pictures, as instead of written instructions there were wordless step-by-step diagrams.
Following the easy steps, my wife and I quickly had our new lamp assembled and only needed to connect the glass shade to the light support by screwing in three metal pins.
After an hour of trying to get the pins to screw into the larger than necessary holes, I gave up.
Back at the light shop, the kind assistant offered to replace the lamp as the pins were obviously the wrong ones. However, on opening a new box she discovered they too were also the wrong size.
Six boxes later and still without finding the right sized pins, she moved onto a similar but much more elaborate lamp.
This box finally yielded the correct sized pins but, to my surprise, it also contained exactly the same picture instructions as our smaller lamp. Even though that model was different and contained many more pieces!
Do you always read the instructions before using something new?
No comments:
Post a Comment