Has anyone had a bad experience with a new fridge?
For example where the delivery person does not even bother to explain to the person. 48 hours later . Finding out that the fridge has no power.
46-50, M
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swirlie · 31-35
@ArishMell
I actually have an entire external hard drive for my laptop that's dedicated to instruction-manuals! That's what I do as a sidelines is write descriptive explanation for how something works or is to be operated which is then published in different languages.
But I also have a drawer in a very large metal filing cabinet that's been dedicated to storing all the farm equipment manuals for farm equipment that my father has ever purchased, most of which he still owns! My father is Norwegian so believe me when I say that it's much better for all concerned if he phones me in the middle of the night and asks me to look something up in a manual that's kept him awake at night, than to leave the manual in his own desk drawer!
I actually have an entire external hard drive for my laptop that's dedicated to instruction-manuals! That's what I do as a sidelines is write descriptive explanation for how something works or is to be operated which is then published in different languages.
But I also have a drawer in a very large metal filing cabinet that's been dedicated to storing all the farm equipment manuals for farm equipment that my father has ever purchased, most of which he still owns! My father is Norwegian so believe me when I say that it's much better for all concerned if he phones me in the middle of the night and asks me to look something up in a manual that's kept him awake at night, than to leave the manual in his own desk drawer!
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@swirlie Writing technical manuals is a very valuable skill not really recognised enough - perhaps because we are all so familiar with imported ones for home equipment, written in second-language English but not edited to make better sense.
In my experience I have found industrial and laboratory equipment manuals usually much better than ones issued with domestic equipment. I expect that's true in agriculture too.
At work I once replaced a faulty sub-assembly in a large, complex electronics unit. This apparently caused raised eyebrows upstairs - am I qualified and all that. My line manager pointed out I had followed the official instructions for that work, used the proper tools, had assembly experience. The handbook was a model of instructions-writing, by numbered steps, clear diagrams, good-quuality text, etc. Yes, the repaired equipment did work! Phew!
At home my own family illustrated the value of the Instruction Manual.
My sister, Sue, told me this...
Her husband Mark "helped" their son-in-law erect a big garden shed, which had arrived as a kit. Mark can be a bit impetuous, is not always very practical, and seems to have taken charge. No careful matching parts to instructions, laying them out in a logical order, planning how to manipulate the bigger sections. They completed it, but with great difficulty, with some parts strained to make them fit, having muddled up some components and the erection order.
Meanwhile Mum and daughter, indoors, set to with a flat-packed bookcase. Move furniture to give working room, identify all the parts neatly laid out on the floor, follow the booklet carefully. The bookcase went together very easily and just as its designer intended!
In my experience I have found industrial and laboratory equipment manuals usually much better than ones issued with domestic equipment. I expect that's true in agriculture too.
At work I once replaced a faulty sub-assembly in a large, complex electronics unit. This apparently caused raised eyebrows upstairs - am I qualified and all that. My line manager pointed out I had followed the official instructions for that work, used the proper tools, had assembly experience. The handbook was a model of instructions-writing, by numbered steps, clear diagrams, good-quuality text, etc. Yes, the repaired equipment did work! Phew!
At home my own family illustrated the value of the Instruction Manual.
My sister, Sue, told me this...
Her husband Mark "helped" their son-in-law erect a big garden shed, which had arrived as a kit. Mark can be a bit impetuous, is not always very practical, and seems to have taken charge. No careful matching parts to instructions, laying them out in a logical order, planning how to manipulate the bigger sections. They completed it, but with great difficulty, with some parts strained to make them fit, having muddled up some components and the erection order.
Meanwhile Mum and daughter, indoors, set to with a flat-packed bookcase. Move furniture to give working room, identify all the parts neatly laid out on the floor, follow the booklet carefully. The bookcase went together very easily and just as its designer intended!