I’ve not tried it myself, but I heard from someone who did computer tech support that they never never asked “is it plugged in” because everyone would say “duh”, but instead said “sometimes it’s a bit loose, can you unplug it and plug it in again” or “can you try it in a different socket”. Then the client would do so, silently discover they’d not noticed it wasn’t plugged in, do so, and say “oh, ok, it seems to be working now, thanks!”
I think everyone makes this sort of mistake (I know I do and I so should know better), however expert they are, unless they literally use a checklist just to make sure they’ve not forgotten the most obvious thing. IME the problem is usually the most obvious thing, and if not, then the second most obvious thing, etc. It’s just the obscure things that take the time to find…
I don’t know if it would work for motorbikes, but could you do something similar: “Try flipping the kill switch, then turning it back on. If it’s still off, ring for an appointment” or something?
I did that in a McDonald’s drive thru. I pulled up to the speaker to give my order, and as was my habit, I shifted into Park and took my foot off the brake. I then tried to drive ahead to the window. The shifter wouldn’t come out of Park. It was then I said to myself, “Holy shit, the transmission’s stuck!” After maybe 30 or 45 seconds trying to muscle it into Drive, I noticed, yeah, my foot’s off the brake. I had the car for probably ten years by that time, so it definitely was a brain fart.
Once when I got gas I ran in the store to grab a coke. I came out and drove off, wondering what the clanking and banging was behind me.
Whoops drove off with the hose still in the tank.
In my defense I was working about 16 hours a day, I was so tired my brain was numb.
I did this once on a flight that was arranged for me by a prospective employer for a job interview. I was at home when the phone rang, and the company rep I’d been dealing with on the travel plans asked “what happened? You weren’t on the plane.” I answered confidently, “no that’s tomorrow, I’ve got the itinerary right… oh crap.”
Years ago, my brother and I lived in a house that we rented in a rural part of Indiana. The house had a two-car garage on the left side and a large grassy yard. I always parked on the right side of the gravel driveway and when leaving backed into the grass on the left side, then pulled ahead turning right so I was going forward when I got to the road.
One Friday evening a mutual friend (Mark) came over to go on a weekend camping trip with my brother. I normally went along on these trips but for whatever reason this time I was staying home. Mark parked his truck in the grass on the left side of the driveway, piled his camping gear into my brother’s truck and off they went.
The next morning I had to go into town. I got into my truck, put it in reverse and went to back into the grass the way I always did when WHAM! I smashed right into the passenger side of Mark’s truck. I put a huge dent in the door and shattered the window. My truck only sustained a relatively small dent in the tailgate.
On Sunday evening they returned from the camping trip. Of course they saw the damage as soon as they pulled up to the house. They both walked in with smiles on their faces and asked me what was new. I explained what happened and said I (or my insurance) would pay for everything. Mark was surprisingly calm. My brother later explained that about six months prior, Mark had backed into my brother’s truck on another camping trip.
It was shortly after getting my first car – a Japanese import, and it didn’t come with an owner’s manual. My partner and I were going out to dinner one evening. As I started to drive off, I noticed that there was a funny orange icon glowing on the dashboard.
No idea what it was, and that made me a little nervous, but the car seemed to be running okay, so I kept going.
I said that the car seemed to be running okay … except that actually, I kept noticing that it seemed a little sluggish. I had to push it really hard to get it up to 70 (km/h).
Eventually we stopped at the restaurant. My partner got out of the car and said, “Hey, there’s a lot of smoke coming out of the wheel.”
So that was how I learned what the parking brake warning light meant.
Epilogue: When we went home later that evening, with the parking brake off this time, everything seemed fine. Actually, the car seemed to be running fine for the next few months. But the next time I got it serviced, uh, it cost a bit to get the brakes fixed. Because yeah, that brake shoe had actually been on fire…
OK, I have my motorcycle dummy story too…
Just got my first bike, studied the manual, put it away and was riding around town getting a feel for the bike when suddenly the engine died. I roll over to the curb, put down the kickstand and check the gas, the carb, the sparkplugs…nothing wrong. I’m standing there literally scratching my head and another biker, bless him, a complete stranger, pulled up behind me and got off his bike to help. I explained the problem. Without hesitation, he turned over my bike seat and there was the owner’s manual, sitting on top the air filter/intake, completely cutting off air to the carburetor.
I felt like the complete idiot but he was real nice about it, said he’d done it to himself once so that was why he looked there first.
We were cooking in a college residence kitchen and I was telling my friends to wash their hands before touching the cooked food. My friend said, “I shook hands with a <race> today, should I wash my hands?” And there was a person of <race> standing behind him.
Another friend from overseas was visiting and as we were walking, I pointed a car out to him and asked if he had that brand in his country. He said, “Ya! They’re very cheap!” As we passed the car, someone washing the wheel on the other side glared at us.
On my year jetta there is an icon that looks like a light bulb with little lines around it. I had no idea what it meant until I looked it up. It means that somewhere is a bulb that is out [or is lit but is the wrong model. On my car it is still lit because somewhere on the damned thing is a replacement bulb that is lit up just fine but the car considers the wrong model and needs replacing :dubious::smack:]
At the Louvre a couple years ago, I stood staring at a particular interesting piece of art for quite a few seconds. Then I noticed it was just part of a display case or something, and was vacant. Then later during the same visit I accidentally used the women’s bathroom and had to hide out in a stall for 20 minutes until the room emptied again.
One time, when it was snowing, I decided to warm up my car before driving away. I was at work, and my office was on the second floor. Of a walk up. Behind two locked doors. In a terrible neighborhood. So, I figured I could lock my door and open it with my clicker when I came out. I found out from the triple a guy that my car (and apparently many others) has a failsafe to prevent the clicker from activating the locks while the engine is engaged.
