Monday, January 5, 2009

User Guides

I am a "by the book" type of person. When I receive a new appliance, or electronic device, I always sit down with the user guide first to read all about my new possession. My son and husband are totally the opposite. They would only read a user guide in an extremely rare circumstance (of which that circumstance I'm pretty sure has never occurred). They like to sit down with their new toy and just figure it out on their own. And they do a great job at it. My way takes longer, but I just want to learn about it the "right" way; and I think most of all, I don't want to miss something. I want to read about all of the features, and see what possibilities are just waiting for me to enjoy. And then here comes the lame part. I actually read the "Important Safety Precautions". But my main intention in reading these is for my amusement. I realize that most likely the sole purpose in a company publishing these is to protect them from lawsuits, not necessarily to protect the consumer from harm. In reading through my safety precautions for my new cell phone recently, I came across the funniest precaution that I have ever seen. This still makes me laugh: "Never place your phone in a microwave oven as it will cause the battery to explode." Why would someone even think of placing their phone in a microwave?

5 comments:

Jennie and Julie said...

That makes me laugh too...obviously someone else has done that very deed. What stories these companies must hear...and the people expect replacement of course!

Anonymous said...

Someone probably did that to dry it out after dropping it in a puddle or something. I like the warning about not ironing clothes while you are wearing them.

womanofthehouse

Sheila said...

You would hate what my husband got me, the floor model of a dishwasher. I love it but it came without instructions. I am still trying to figure out the best arrangement for the dishes.

Funny warning! I laugh each time I go through the toll booth on our local toll road because on the sign for the amount due, there is a braille sing, too. I always have this funny image of a blind person slowing down to figure out how much they owe. Seems out of place.

Annie said...

There could probably be a whole book written on silly warnings like that! Too funny. The comment about the braille sign made me laugh out loud! I saw a sign when I was in Europe with illustrations to show that you should put trash in the trashcan. There was also a picture of a baby with a cross through it as to say NO BABIES in the trash. Obviously someone had given them reason to put up the sign. So did some blind person drive through the toll booth! Makes you wonder!!

love you lots!!!
xoxo
Annie

Sheila said...

Signs are entertainment as much as helpful information.