Instruction Manuals

I have quite the collection of instruction manuals. They occupy an entire drawer that is filled to the brim with manuals for every appliance large and small that has ever made its way into my home. I probably have manuals for things that I don’t even own anymore. I’m afraid to throw any of them away lest they prove useful to me in the event of a crucial appliance breakdown, not that that situation has ever actually occurred. If something breaks, I just call for help. I’ve only referred to maybe two or three of them over the years when I needed a customer service telephone number because I couldn’t locate a repairman. That’s about it – until recently. 

What happened? The vacuum cleaner that had served me well for many years suddenly quit on me, and I chose to order a new one online. I found something that looked good – lightweight, cordless, inexpensive – and placed the order. A large package arrived a few days later, and when I opened it what I found was not a vacuum cleaner, but a box full of vacuum cleaner parts. I momentarily froze in horror. Surely I wasn’t expected to assemble this vacuum! That would be ridiculous. “Some Assembly Required” is not in my skill set. Then I got ahold of myself and realized that yes, that was exactly what I was expected to do.

Just as I was about to pack it back up and return it, I thought to myself, “Stop being such a wimp. It’s a vacuum cleaner, not a nuclear reactor. You can do this.” So I rummage through the box, found the instruction manual, and went to work. Believe it or not, I got that thing put together, and miracle of miracles, it worked!

I realize that a lot of you reading this are probably not impressed. Assembling a vacuum cleaner is not rocket science, but for me it might as well have been. I definitely count that as one of my proudest accomplishments.