Instruction Manual

Dear Mrs. Higgins,

I recently bought one of those all-in-one printer, fax, copier, scanner, expresso maker, liposuction machines. It was under 300 hundred beans from Best Buy, and does everything but sell popcorn at half time.

It even will tell me when its low on toner. It has a reorder web site all queued up and tied to my bank account to pull out whatever it needs, whenever it needs it. (sweet!)

It didn’t come with a manual.

At all.

Not even one page.

Usually you’ll get 6 pages of pictures and instruction to inform you how to safely remove your new “whatever” from the box. Then another several pages dedicated to the safety concerns running that, ever so tricky, electrical plug in.

And, normally there is tons of “valuable information” safeguarding against using the product for something other than intended.

This, I find especially informative. It keeps me from using this computer printer as a life saving floatation device, a claw hammer, or a condom.

Knowledge is power!

Yet, even without the comfort of printed instruction, I’ve kind of figured out how to use the main features, and we’re getting along about as well as the rest of the office.
(aka, nothing has caught fire)

Adjusting to this Brave New World of having to figure out stuff by myself, I’ve pressed on.

Until today, when I bought a new coffee thermos.

It came with instructions.

4 pages. In, I think, 5 languages, hard to tell.

And, ok, I get it. The nuances and complexity of pouring a liquid which could be hot OR cold into a device, then fully expecting that same device to retain same hot or cold (whew!)

And I haven’t even touched on the intellectual labyrinth of trying to get something back out! (what is this, MENSA??)

Well, we soldier on. We play the cards we get. We do what we gotta do.

I’ll pour coffee in that bad boy tomorrow morning, and hope that somehow I can get it back out.
(may even learn a little Chinese/Korean/Farsi in the processes - thats how we grow)

Just hope I don’t receive a fax at the same time.

Much love,

Mike


Dear Mike,

Yeah. You're MENSA material alright. Good luck embracing the technology!

Love,

Mrs Higgins