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RE: Post-holiday reality: They don't need our stinkin' manuals??
Subject:RE: Post-holiday reality: They don't need our stinkin' manuals?? From:Sanjay Srikonda <SSrikonda -at- invlink -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 27 Dec 2000 13:46:48 -0500
I have a friend, he's an electrical engineer. He buys lots of techie type
toys. He's by no means computer illiterate, but guess what, whenever he
acquires something new, he lays the product, opened, aside, and reads the
manual, technical specifications, and any other piece of literature from
cover to cover. I've experienced the "we dont' need no stinkin' manual"
syndrome, as I'm sure a lot of us have in our TW lives. However, honestly,
I do believe that at some time in our lives, manuals WILL be read.
-----Original Message-----
From: Cook, Jenise [mailto:jenise -dot- cook-crabbe -at- pacificlife -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2000 1:39 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Post-holiday reality: They don't need our stinkin' manuals??
Happy Holidays, valued listserv members!
A curious event happened on Christmas Eve involving a "techie" gift and the
gift's user manual. This is the story:
On Dec. 24th, we were at my brother-in-law's house for dinner and gift
giving. He gave his daughter an inexpensive digital camera. Man, was she
excited! She ripped open the package, put the batteries inside the camera,
then tried to make it work. Zip. Nothing. No response.
As the lone tech. writer of the extended family, I suggested, "Read the
manual. It'll tell you how to arrange the batteries. Some tech. writer
worked hard on that manual." Chuckles came from the family circle. "Yeah,
some tech. writer wrote a manual that nobody uses," they sneered.
My husband took the camera to figure out the battery situation. In the
meantime, my niece wisely flipped through the small manual and found the
Batteries section. "Here's how they're supposed to go in," she declared. By
that time, by trial and error, my husband had already correctly inserted the
batteries. The camera's green light flashed, and my niece began to take
pictures.
<snip>
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