Tab A

Years ago, in the before times, most things were fairly simple and easy to figure out. I'm speaking of things in the tangent world; not philosophy or politics or religion. I mean things you can actually touch and feel and build and fix. What usually happened was one went to a store, came home and opened the box they bought and put the thing together.

There was a lot of insert 'tab A' into 'slot B' sort of things. One could usually look at the contents of the box and within a reasonable time, figure the thing out. Likely that is where the joke about men came from; open box, put together, then read the directions. It would be nice if the world still worked that way. Unfortunately, it doesn't.

As most of you who follow this blog know, I am a retail manager and have been for thirty years. I have seen that evolve within my working time frame. Add to the fact that I used to run a local hardware store (best job I ever had) and you see where I'm going with this. Back then, most things were fairly simple and if you had a problem the kind folks at the store could help you out. It doesn't work that way any more.

Today's purchases are complicated, and, people either have no interest in doing things the right way or they are too lazy to find out how. I routinely receive calls from customers who can't get their device to work. My first question to them is always...did you follow the directions? The reply is generally one of three things; a long silence, a reply that has nothing to do with my question, or, no.

It is critical that modern electronic devices are set up or installed following the MANUFACTURERS DIRECTIONS! Gone are the days of taking home a radio, plugging it in and tuning to you favorite station. I beg, nay I plead, don't call the store asking for help if you haven't read the instructions and followed the directions. If you do it wrong the first time, you may not get a second chance to do it right.

I can't fix things I can't see. Modern electronics just don't work that way.