Poorly written technical procedures

General Discussion
41

For me, some of the worst instructions are the pictorial instructions that come with replacement wiper blades.

1 Like
42

This is exactly why I like to read the entire procedure before I start the work!
:wink:

43

That was actually in a M.A.S.H. episode.

44

___________________________
Test
You have only three minutes to answer these questions.

  1. Read everything before doing anything.
  2. Put your name on the upper right hand corner of this paper.
  3. Circle the word “name” in sentence two.
  4. Draw five small squares in the upper left-hand corner of this paper.
  5. Put an “x” In each square.
  6. Put a circle around each square.
  7. Sign your name under the title.
  8. After the title write “yes, yes, yes”.
  9. Put a circle around each word In sentence no. 7.
  10. Put an “x” in the lower left hand corner of this paper.
  11. Draw a triangle around the “x” you just put down.
  12. On the reverse side of this paper multiply 703 by 9805.
  13. Draw a rectangle around the word “paper” in sentence number 4.
  14. Call out your first name when you get to this point in your paper.
  15. If you think you have followed directions up to this point In the test, call out “I have”.
  16. On the reverse side of the paper add 8950 and 9850.
  17. Put a circle around your answer.
  18. Count out loud In normal speaking voice backwards from ten to one.
  19. Now that you have finished reading, do only steps one and two.
    ___________________________
    Some teachers give tests like this one to teach the importance of what you do. Have you ever been in a class taking one? It’s great fun! :smile_cat:
    CSA
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45

Lots of those in military publications. All publications contained a form for reporting of errors preceded by a page so labeled. I found a manual where the page was labeled “REPORTING OF ERROS” LOL!

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46

I have to confess my crime and will talk to the Sheriff at church on Sunday. I reported on what the Harbor Freight manual said for assembling a welding cart. On closer reading of the manual after the above test, I discovered that everything in the manual is copyrighted and cannot be reproduced without written permission from Harbor Freight. Cannot be reproduced in any manner-written, verbal, copied, etc. I did it again. I don’t know what the penalty will be so I may be gone for a while.

47

You’ve seen the staff at HF, right? I was told that each and every one of them was guilty of copyright infringement. That’s where they get their employee pool. All of them are working off their sentences. It’s that or prison. :police_car:
CSA :scream_cat:

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48

I also hate those “universal” pictoral signs that sometimes convey nothing but puzzlement to me but I saw one in Ireland that made me really laugh, It was in a small town on Galway Bay about 20 km South of Galway itself.There is a large drive on pier that would probably hold 50 or 60 cars and no guard rails. To make up for the lack of guard rails is a yellow sign with a black outline of a car driving off the pier falling into the water, inside a red circle with a diagonal line through it.

49

Let us know what prison you are incarcerated in. I’ll send you a file inside a cake. Since it will be a HF prison, the guards won’t suspect a thing. Just get the file out before sharing the cake.

50

The town’s leaders were turning lemons into lemonade. If irresponsible drivers repeatedly damage the guard rails at the cost of local tax payers the ‘logical’ solution is to remove the guard rails and then charge a heavy fee for removing automobiles from the drink and thereby turning a problem into a profit.

51

Is he going to have at least two serial numbers for his prisoner ID? :smiley:

52

Thanks. I’d prefer chocolate but you won’t mind if I have someone else do a taste test first? Yeah that two stock number thing is something to be careful of. I wanted a hydraulic press and was going to just make one but I didn’t have the right steel and figured with all the hassle I’d go with the HF one for $100. I don’t intend to use it much. I read the reviews and the gist was that the orange ones with one stock number were junk but the gray ones with another stock number were OK for light work. So the gray was on the floor but they said the orange was what they had in stock. Guy said there was no difference except they were from different vendors is all. (Like one vendor that didn’t know how to weld.) Interestingly they hauled out the gray one. I was planning on reinforcing the thing and welding the joints instead of just the bolts for stability but actually it isn’t bad for light duty. Of course the jack was about 12 oz low on fluid but we’ll see if it folds up like a pretzel if I ever use it. So on sale for $119 but with a 25% discount on Memorial Day, less than $100 with tax.