Dear LPG, 

Some will say that there is not much of a connection, but I recently read a post on your pages which brought to mind the real difficulties that can be had now that the world has shrunk so much that we get our gadgets from all over it (►►►).  So many more of them now arrive unseen; sending them back is often more trouble than it is worth.

The subject of NR’s story had little to do with my thoughts, but the mention of instructions got my mind into gear.  

Do you remember when everything you bought was not a complete surprise because of the pitfalls and complications that only became apparent when you got home?   You would have visited a shop and had an honest look and the opportunity to sit on a sofa, work out just how easy the microwave’s buttons were to manipulate or how bright the LEDs were on the front panel of the washing machine when choosing which one would be best for you before you bought it.  There would have been an extensive demonstration offered at the shop before you chose the right vacuum cleaner, television or bread-making machine, and it would have been provided by a shop staff member who knew how it worked and had the time to do the job thoroughly and answer your questions.  Setting it up when it arrived home would also have been a case of following instructions written in understandable English.   

The first thing you would do when you got it home would be open the box and reach for the paperwork, focusing on the ‘before you start’ section of the instructions, but how things have changed.  

Over the past decade or two, we have learnt to accept that a picture and description are sufficient information when deciding on the best purchase.  There are few shops left where you can find a model like the one you saw online, so we all miss out on really experiencing the details of what the product can do.  If it arrives with any written work, you must search for the English and know that the translation will leave some of what is written not making complete sense. We don’t have MFI anymore, but we do have Ikea, who often offer ‘picture only’ instructions.   I suspect I am not the only person to have finished ‘stage 1’, only to find that once I have done ‘stage 3’, I attached the wrong bit and have to dismantle the whole thing and start again. 

That is bad enough, but it is now getting even more common to receive something electrical or ‘smart’, which comes with online instructions, and even if there is a video, you end up baffled.  And my favourite has to be the television which displays the ‘as you go along’ instructions on the screen in a language you don’t understand. 

I am asking myself what will be next. However, I noticed the answer online recently: You can now find professional flat pack assembly specialists and television and laptop engineers now offer ‘set up’ services.  

There is no doubt.  Getting something going or looking like it did when you saw it online has become a nightmare when you reach your home. 

   FB, Lewisham