Rant, OPP

[frayne]

Is it just me or do the instructions that come with any appliance these days have micro sized font that you need a magnifying glass to read.

Second rant, everything that comes in plastic packaging is damn near impossible to open without scissors or a utility knife.

Guess it is just OPP, Old people problems.

End of rant.

Got any you like to share ?

 

[harley]

1) Who reads instructions?


2) That's the point.

 

[easysurfer]

Not just you. Sometimes, I've found myself having to find a PDF version (if there is one), then magnifying that.

 

[Music Lover]

Not just you. Sometimes, I've found myself having to find a PDF version (if there is one), then magnifying that.

You can also take a picture with your cell phone and expand it.

That's what I do for those tiny 3/4" fuses that have the specs stamped on them in miniscule lettering.

 

[MichaelB]

Guess it is just OPP, Old people problems.

Yup. Symptoms of getting old. It ain't much fun but it still beats the alternative. One of these helps
.
.

 

[mpeirce]

Not just you. Sometimes, I've found myself having to find a PDF version (if there is one), then magnifying that.

For appliances where a manual is useful (like a TV or a anything that requires setup or repeated configuration) I always search out the manual on the web and download it. I have yet to find a device where this wasn't available.

DW used to keep a physical file folder with all our old manuals, but now the have a shared online folder where we keep them all.

The great thing is that there is no small type with PDF, you just set the size you need. And it's easy to access on a computer, iPad or even a phone (in a pinch).

 

[marko]

You sure the fonts are smaller or are your arms just getting shorter?

Seriously, what really bugs me is being told to go online for instructions ("go to www.xyz for operation manual"). Even though I spend a good deal of my day online, I want the instructions printed right there, not a website.

 

[ls99]

Instructions? My method is: when all else fails, bitch about the thing not being user friendly then read instructions. . .

 

[Bestwifeever]

Grandchildren's carseats. The thumb strength required to press down an immoveable button while simultaneously turning a magic lever to release a screaming squirming baby with a dirty diaper? There are not enough swearwords to get me through the ordeal.

 

[Amethyst]

So far, no one has come up with any other OPP's. Looks as if small fonts on user manuals is the only one. Hey, maybe getting older isn't as bad as we're always being told!

 

[Bestwifeever]

Well, I guess the manual for the carseats I posted about might be printed in a small font....

 

[samclem]

The illegible recycling symbols on plastic bottles, etc. There's plenty of room on the bottom of the bottle, it wouldn't cost them anything to make the "arrow triangle" and the numeral bigger. As it is, even with very good vision it would be hard to look at the clear plastic and see if that's a tiny "1" or a "4". If I have to struggle to see it, the jar/bottle just goes into the trash rather than risk contaminating the recyclable plastics.

 

[Midpack]

First world problems. Who uses paper instruction manuals anymore?

 

[Amethyst]

Ha! Good one. No, I hit the button on my post just as the carseat post must have been arriving.

Well, I guess the manual for the carseats I posted about might be printed in a small font....

 

[Telly]

Good topic!

I grumble regularly () while trying to open the bag for the first time inside the box of Bran Flakes. Often grumble "how would an elderly person do this?"

OK, how about a person older than me?

Not long ago, some of the bags were barely sealed. Now they require burglary tools to open. How someone "elderly" maybe with limited hand strength/mobility would do it, I don't know.

I have tried just cutting the top sealed area off using scissors, but then the bag is short to roll up, until the level of cereal goes down enough. We had an infestation of Meal Moths once, and always remember the mess that caused.

 

[Music Lover]

First world problems. Who uses paper instruction manuals anymore?

I do. The paper owner's manual for my car stays in the glove box, and I keep a paper copy of my keyboard manual in the carrying case in the event I need to look up something or change a setting. The last thing I want to be doing at a gig is look up how to change a patch on a 5" phone screen.

 

[Amethyst]

My long-departed Dad just employed the "growl and rip it to pieces" rule. Cereal would fly in all directions. I prefer to use scissors.

In an attempt to foil mice and meal moths, I store all cereal and similar dry goods in lidded plastic containers saved from the box store. The containers for Orville Redenbacher popcorn are particularly good for this: wide-mouthed, with built-in handles. If the item is going to take a long time to use up, I store the plastic container in the freezer.

OK, here's my rant: The box-store containers are shrinking! I used to be able to buy dry items in lidded containers that held half a gallon or more. Now, a measly quart is the preferred size. The company's "spin" is that they are giving customers...drum roll...Supermarket Sizes! Yeah, as if we joined buyer's clubs so we could get the same dinky items as in the supermarket.

Good topic!

I have tried just cutting the top sealed area off using scissors, but then the bag is short to roll up, until the level of cereal goes down enough. We had an infestation of Meal Moths once, and always remember the mess that caused.

 

[Sarah in SC]

When DH went out to that paramotor race last October, he downloaded a flight app for his iPhone to use while flying, as did most of the other (much younger) pilots. He kept getting lost because he couldn't juggle the kite steering lines, his reading glasses, and the screen on his phone, which was velcroed to his leg. Only after about half the race was over did he learn from the whippersnappers that he could double tap the screen to enlarge the map enough to see it. OPP, indeed.

 

[W2R]

Good topic!

I grumble regularly () while trying to open the bag for the first time inside the box of Bran Flakes. Often grumble "how would an elderly person do this?"

OK, how about a person older than me?

Not long ago, some of the bags were barely sealed. Now they require burglary tools to open. How someone "elderly" maybe with limited hand strength/mobility would do it, I don't know.

I have tried just cutting the top sealed area off using scissors, but then the bag is short to roll up, until the level of cereal goes down enough. We had an infestation of Meal Moths once, and always remember the mess that caused.

I use my scissors to cut across the top, and try to just cut a little bit off in the process. It's annoying, I agree. I think it's impossible to open cereal bags (inside the boxes) without scissors.

I always keep cold cereal in the freezer to keep the bugs out. This is a habit that I learned from my dear departed mother back when I was a teenager living in Hawaii, where bugs abound. I don't live in Hawaii any more, but old habits die hard and it is so easy to just toss the cereal box in the freezer.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Speaking of fonts--the labels on Google and other online maps that stay the same size no matter how much you zoom in on the map. Which makes the labels seem even tinier compared to the zoomed in area.

Speaking of packaging--"all-natural" products (yeah I'm looking at you, Jessica Alba, and that "Honest Company" schtick--but good for you for creating an empire) that come in five or six layers of difficult to deal withwrapping--the clamshell, the cardboard, the shrinkwrap, the plastic thingie around the neck of the bottle, the foil thingie under the cap). Thanks for saving the environment!

 

[mystang52]

Yesterday I put together my granddaughter's doll house. No words in the manual.....just exploded diagram. But the pictures were similarly too small. The small dowel looked identical to another small piece and it took me probably twice as long to put together as I had to triple check that I was using the right part at each stage.
My daughter doesn't know, but I ended up with three extra small dowels. I re-read the instructions and still don't know where they were to have gone.

 

[2soon2tell]

Reading the instructions first takes all the fun out of assembling your purchase. Yeah right!!

 

[NW-Bound]

One of the good things, no the only good thing, out of being near-sighted is that now that I am old I can still read something held to 18" from my face.

Have not worked with tiny electronic components lately, but as of a few years ago I could read the values imprinted on 0603-sized components by bringing them to a few inches from my nose.

I am going to try to see if I can still read values of 0805 components, the next physical size up. I hope I will continue to be able to work with modern electronics as a hobby, instead of reverting to old electronics with tubes.

See Web photo of various component sizes, as samples put on the head of a match stick.

 

[2soon2tell]

Seniors should never forget that great golfer and philosopher ChiChi Rodriguez who said "The older I get the better I used to be". At 69 I forget many things on a regular basis and I even take memory pills when I can remember to take them.

 

[RobbieB]

Clam shell packaging with heat welded edges is a PITA. Be careful too or you can slice your fingers up good.

I have many magnifiers around the house, kitchen, bedroom, office to read the small print.