I say we should never have to read the manual

Have you heard? Men generally don’t read the manual before calling tech support. Women do. It probably has something to do with ego or something like that, but you know what, I never read the manual and for a damn good reason.

It’s almost 2010. Gadgets and technology in general have been around long enough that we shouldn’t have to read a manual anymore. I expect products to work out of the box and I doubt I’m alone in that thinking. In fact, I make a point at not reading the manual when I’m reviewing a product. It says something negative if I need the help of the manual to figure out how to work a random gadget. I mean, if I can’t get it to work, how are my parents supposed to?

This isn’t too much to ask, either. Companies spend years and a boatload of money developing a certain product. They better have made the product well enough for me to open up the box, put it together and switch it on. But when that doesn’t happen, I still don’t open the manual.

Instead, I expect Google to give me the answer in one of the first search query results. If Google fails me, I’m already too frustrated to call tech support and so I throw the crapgadget on a table for another go later in the day.

Yes, it would help if men and women would read the manual before calling tech support. I agree. But we shouldn’t have to call in the first place. Oh, and can we please have the tech support phone number somewhere on the product just in case. Dyson does that and it’s how I know that the company believes and stands behinds its products.

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