Does anyone read instructions anymore?

[bleedingheart]

Two weeks ago I sent one of my customers a very elaborate explanation of how to complete a task. I even sent along specialized code with an EXAMPLE!

Today this twit sends me an email asking why things aren't working...and I find out that he must have NEVER read the stuff I sent to him....

So I spent an hour creating a really nice help document and code for him two weeks ago...only to have that effort wasted....UGH!

I could just kick this dork.

[Canuckistanian]

1. I ALWAYS read intructions

On the things I know nothing about. I drive people crazy, sitting down and reading manuals instead of just plugging things in and pressing "ON".

[bleedingheart]

4. I do the same thing...

[DianeG5385]

5. I'm an instruction geek

I always tell people, there's a reason for that little white piece of paper that comes w/ the swing set. My ex-husband who eschewed instructions put our entertainment center together backwards. I had to wait until he was asleep to read the instructions, deal w/ the glued together parts and fix the dang thing. He never knew!

[bleedingheart]

10. I am always the one reading the manual while my husband

is hitting buttons and "experimenting"...at one point when he figures out that he can't get it to work he always turns to me and says..."okay...how does it really work?"

[TrogL]

2. People are getting very bad at following instructions

A number of years ago, I posted a huge sign above my desk.

RTFM

My boss made me take it down but got the point.

I help the newbies on a tech newsgroup. I cannot remember the number of times I've seen something like.

I just found this software. What do I do next?

Typical response (not from me).

Have you considered looking at...

• the README file
  
• the FAQ
  
• the INSTALL file
  
• the website
  
• the man pages
  
• the "docs" folder
  
• the "html" folder
  
• the newsgroup archives
  

:shrug:

[bleedingheart]

3. some of my coworkers are so lazy

so when they ask me questions I torture them by walking them through how to get to the help....and this process takes about the same amount of time it would take for them to have done it themselves.....it drives some of them nuts.

[dolo amber]

6. Meh

I say kick him. Kick him one for me too, I'm feelin' cantakerous. :D

On the other hand, consider the possibilities of the opposite:

From bash.org

"The problem with America is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?"

(Still one of the best quotes ever. :D)

[bleedingheart]

8. I love that quote!

if I didn't deal with him over the phone I would kick him..

[FloridaPat]

7. Those of us who are right brained don't read instructions. We

look at the pictures and figure it out. When that doesn't work then we read the instructions. And most instructions that come with things I buy are terrible.

[bleedingheart]

9. in this case I wrote customized instructions

with code examples that had even more information...I spent a lot of time on it just to have him ignore it........

At a former job I used to have to rewrite sections of Unix manuals to make them more "understandable" to the rest of the folks in the company....so I know that not all documentation is up to par.