Read the instructions!
Have you ever had to deal with someone who is incapable of following instructions? If not, you’re a lucky person. There are, unfortunately, a lot of people in this world who, when they buy something, toss the little instruction sheet upon opening the container and never give it another thought until they experience negative side effects or end up with leftover parts to whatever it is they were assembling.
I think the laws of statistical distribution are illogically skewed against me, because there seems to be more than my fair share of such people in my life.
Close to home, I have a very close family member—who I will not identify on the off chance they read this column—who never, and I do mean NEVER, reads the instructions that come with medicine, kits, or appliances. The result of this infuriating habit is conversations like the following:
“Why is my new vacuum cleaner not working like it’s supposed to?”
“I don’t know,” I reply. “Did you assemble it according to the instructions?
This question gets me a blank look.
“Where are the instructions?” I ask.
Shrugging, they say, “I don’t remember. I might’ve thrown them out, or they might be in the bottom drawer under the microwave.”
What follows is a frantic search for the elusive instructions, the complete disassembly of the offending item, and reassembly according to the relatively easy instructions. You’d think this would be a learning experience, but you’d be wrong. This is a regular occurrence.
The other situation I encounter is with my students. I have been teaching, either in a classroom or online, since I retired from government in 2012, and in every class, there is at least one student who seems incapable of reading and understanding the instructions that are provided for every submitted assignment, such as ‘write an essay of no more than 2 pages.”
In every class, there will be that one student who submits a 3 to 4-page essay and, when I send it back with comments and a reduced grade, they complain that they didn’t notice that requirement.
I’ve studied this phenomenon and learned that several factors contribute to it. Some people overestimate their knowledge and feel that instructions are unnecessary, while some ignore instructions because they’re trying to assert their independence, or they don’t trust the person or entity giving the instructions. Some people, though, just don’t understand the instructions, so they throw them away and forge ahead.
Understanding the why doesn’t mean it still doesn’t frustrate me. But, for the life of me, I don’t know what to do about it. I’ve tried things with my students, for example, such as rewriting instructions so that a six-year-old child can understand them, and there will still be that one student who doesn’t follow them.
All I can do is repeat the advice I find myself giving every term, or several times a year—read the instructions, and if you don’t understand them, come see me. | NWI
