Experiences with Bad Instructions?

[SharpWit 2,866]

Are you ever trying to complete something, but some poor wording, imagery, or even flat out false information leave you scratching your head, or evening riling you to the point of screaming it off because it's just left you puzzled or even ruined the task at hand?

Hi, not Billy Mays here! If you've ever experienced this sort of excrément de taureau, I'd like to offer this topic as a place to share such instructional shortcomings, and vent your frustrations over them! 

I'll go first with freshly fiery findings!

Spoiler

I'm getting ready for a memorial tomorrow, where we'll be celebrating the life of a late friend with a potluck style gathering. I've planned to make thematic options in honor of our deeply departed, and find myself having to be extra careful, as not only am I prepping food for more than just myself, but with limited ingredients, funds, and time all to boot! So I'm making sure to be extra careful. Any mistakes and that dish will not be at the event, no chances for recipe redemption! The food farce in question, involved the mixing of cinnamon and sugar for coating elephant ears. I want everything ready so that I may jump into action first thing in the morning, but I need to know the ratio to make sure this is a sweet and nicely Spiced treat, and not just sweetened dirt. Luckily the internet is there to help me with this! I check of course and am instructed to mix the two in a 1:4 ratio,,, that can't be right? Oh no, here's a second link saying the same thing, and a third? Thay seems awfully high for something so strong, best take a conservative approach. I start by adding just 1 tablespoon of cinnamon to my 1 cup of sugar, give it a good shake and stir in a closed container for a solid minute. Pop it open and wow, that's rather dark! A quick taste and it's,,, just acceptable. Honestly, only half that much was needed, but it'll work. Anymore and I would've been screwed, and a lesser experienced me would have absolutely fudged that up in the past, but we're nit making fudge so glad I didn't follow the three top answers given to me via Google. 

TLDR; Cinnamon to Sugar Ratio for Cinnamon Sugar should be 1:32, not 1:4. Those nearly responsible for ruining my dish may have the uncorrected version served at their forthcoming memorials.

[Retro*Derpy 3,397]

I was helping a teacher build an ikea shelf when the instructions on it were clearly wrong. It was okay most of the way but then on like step 13 of 17 wasn't right, it was like a misprint. It turned out there was a YouTube vid over the exact shelf, that showed how to build it.

[Fluttershutter 2,948]

My mom is really frustrating. I'll ask her were something is. she'll say "in the house", "in the kitchen", "on earth"(slight exaggeration). She shows me a bird "over there", points vaguely in the direction of what could be any of five big trees.

[Longhaul 8,446]

When I worked as a courier, I once got directions to a freight terminal at JFK airport to drop off some freight.  I ended up circling the airport five times and then wound up halfway out in Long Island before I finally gave up and headed home.

[Lunaholic 977]

Basically any 50+ years old giving driving instructions to somewhere. Instead of just giving the address they say "Drive 2 kilometers North, turn right from the old Esso (which haven't been there since the 80s), drive around 300 meters until you see Jake's grill, turn left and then from the 7th intersection turn right and when you see person X's home take a turn to the left.

[ExplosionMare 22,004]

Every set of directions are bad to me if I'm not given very explicit details of what I should do or where I should go. 

I can't remember any specifics off the top of my head but I remember a kid a grade lower than me in middle school asked for directions to his English class and I fired off so many directions that he gave up and asked a teacher.

[Dreambiscuit 11,326]

I’ve had some bad ones like printed instructions for assembling furniture or various kinds of equipment. I can guess at most things, but between broken English, microscopic printing and poor, inaccurate illustrations, it’s impossible to accomplish anything. I have to have at least one of the aforementioned aspects working to achieve success, and too often I get none at all.

As far as driving directions, I’m not sure which is worse; trying to make sense of someone’s inarticulate verbal instruction, or relying on GPS, which gives accurate instructions only a millisecond ahead of important turn-offs and exits.

I guess you have to think ahead of the curve, or use physical maps for travel, and be ready to crank up Youtube to look up other instructions as you go.

[Clawdeen 21,753]

Every job I have ever worked has had poor instructions and training. 

There were no training documents for this job when I took over. I got word by mouth training from the guy I was taking over for. Dealt with all the stressful nonsense that came from it. I complained to higher up data stewards about needing documentation only to be told we all know it's needed but nobody in the business wants to do it. So we don't have it. I had to fight the fires as they came up thanks to not knowing everything. Now two years later I just had a discussion with my leader this morning on how any training documentation for these roles throughout the entire company, we're going to have to create ourselves. Because the business isn't going to provide that at all apparently. If I left the company today whoever takes over for me would be in a bigger hole than I was when I took over thanks to no documentation.