Bystander

...so I am standing there visiting with this guy, watching him as he is making an attempt to figure out how to work the contraption that was sitting on the floor in front of him. It was purple and had lots of cool hoses. Do you need to know more?

It was obvious he did. I say that because he kept grabbing at hoses, flipping buttons and chatting to himself AND the contraption about how complicated the task was.

Did you read what I wrote carefully? The person I was observing was a man. Needless to say,the instructions were sitting on the floor nearby. Within reach. He never touched them or asked for them.

giggle

He is a friend that I don't know real well or I would have teased a bit but was not sure if I could enter than conversation without hurting his feelings. His next move made me laugh but I kept the laughter to myself. He called for his wife.

Another giggle. I guess calling for his wife constitutes as asking for help

By the way, the contraption was a vacuum.

On her way to help, she reached down and picked up the instructions, handing them to him. He did the only thing many men do and set them down in a new location while he grumbled to her how hard it was to operate this MacGyver Complicated Vacuum.

The box the vacuum came in was not in the room but I felt certain the vacuum was not called MacGyver Complicated Vacuum.

I did however, understand what he was saying.

End of that story is AFTER she showed him how it worked and left the room, he moved the file cabinet away to reveal the damage he had secretly done to the wall. She didn't want him to move the file cabinet to begin with. He moved it anyway and damaged the wall.

The day just kept getting better and better for my giggle meter.

He got the vacuum going. He cleaned up the mess. He moved the file cabinet into a permanent position hiding the puncture in the wall. I was thoroughly entertained.

I also learned a life lesson - There are a lot of MacGyver Complicated Days. Contrapitions and people who create complications, in our perhaps already semi-complicated life. Days like that are going to happen. How you handle them is up to you. You can grumble long and loud enough until someone shows up, ask for help or read the instruction manual.

which do you chose?