Date: 09/09/2026
All rights reserved by the author
There are two kinds of people in the world.
Those who read instructions.
And those who believe instructions are written for other people.
I belong firmly to the second group.
Recently, something arrived at home that required “simple assembly.”
Those two words should have warned me.
I opened the box.
There were screws.
There were wooden pieces.
There were several things that looked important but had no obvious purpose.
The instruction booklet was placed carefully to one side.
I began confidently.
Twenty minutes later, I had built something.
Unfortunately, it was not exactly what the picture showed.
I looked at the instructions.
Then at my creation.
Then back at the instructions.
Apparently, Step One was important.
Eventually, everything was dismantled and rebuilt properly.
The entire operation took twice as long as it should have.
But I learned a valuable lesson.
The instructions are not insulting your intelligence.
They are simply trying to save your afternoon.
Of course, next time I buy something that says “easy assembly,” I will probably do exactly the same thing again.
Some people learn from experience.
Others prefer to collect more experience first.
Rajat Chandra Sarmah
Guwahati, Assam, India
Email: rajatchandrasarmah@gmail.com
YouTube: Converse With A Smile
