Day 14267

I have proof that at least some of the male species is too stubborn to read directions. I accidently erased a comment to the prior day's post. It was one of those "what the heck is this thing here" deals where I foolishly clicked on the link. The resulting message made me feel like a maroon. Of course, at that point I decided to search the site for instructions on how to retrieve the deleted comment. I was unsuccessful. I couldn't have researched the icon first, could I? Oh well, live and learn.

I know I am not alone, though. Today, I delivered some goods to one of my store's customers and watched a group of 50 to 60-something men scratch their heads trying to assemble the items while I continued unloading the rest of the merchandise. Every once in a while, one of them would look in the direction of an owner's manual, but none of them picked one up. The feminine aspect of my being found that it was actually kind of funny! It was like the manuals were pieces of forbidden fruit! After some time, they ended up yelling at each other in frustration. I couldn't take it anymore, so I handed them each an owner's manual, telling them that the instructions for assembly were at the beginning.

I had a lot of items to deliver to them and it required a 2nd trip to complete. When I came back I saw them ignoring the manuals (which were actually well-written), and still were arguing about how to finish what was already incorrectly assembled! I laid out the parts as they were to be assembled to the items that hadn't been started and pointed out where the wrong bolts had been used on the ones they had attempted. An hour later I left with their goods almost completely assembled and at a point where they couldn't be screwed up.

They could have had everything put together in under 2 hours if they had only followed the instructions. Those of us who have done it regulary would have been done in less than an hour. Mmmm?

Why, oh, why do we make things more difficult than they have to be? Is their really some sort of gene that increases the odds of being stubborn in men? Will it lead to the demise of the human species? Is it curable?

I don't know. There's probably an article written somewhere about this topic, but I'm not going to seek it out and read it! I am male! Hear me scratch my head!