More Stupid Directions

About a month ago I wrote a post about a set of directions I followed and how utterly stupid they were. Last night I stumbled upon another set of dumb directions.

They were for a product that was designed to preventatively clean out plumbing to keep pipes from clogging. The directions were printed on the back of the bottle, and I dutifully followed them:

1. Measure out 2 ounces of Pipe Shield.

The only measuring cups in my house were the ones I use for cooking (I used to have some measuring cups that I used for measuring chemicals, but I couldn't find them, and I'm assuming I threw them out when we moved two years ago), so I measured two ounces of water into a plastic cup and then marked where the water was in the cup. I then dumped that water out and poured two ounces of the drain cleaner into the cup.

2. Combine with 32 ounces of warm water.

I did so by filling a bucket with water to the one quart mark and then pouring the  drain cleaner into the bucket.

3. Pour the mixture into the sink you wish to clean.

Did it.

4. Allow the product to sit overnight.

That was an easy one. Slept right through that.

5. Run hot water in treated drain for one minute.

I did so, though the hot water was preceded by about 30 seconds of cold water before the pipes between the hot water tank and the kitchen sink warmed up and quit stealing the heat from the water.

6. Shake thoroughly before use.

That was the direction that got me. Instead of being step six, it should have been step one. The words "before use" should have clued someone in that making this the last step in the directions was a mistake.

And I know what you might be thinking--you should have read the directions before you started. Well, I DID, but the first time through I was reading them to just get an idea of the process that was involved, not to really take into account what the directions were step by step. I just wanted to see if I could do them without too much effort.

In the end, I doubt that shaking thoroughly would have made THAT much difference. Still, I'm starting to wonder about the competence of the people who write directions for a living.