I just bought a new rubber bath mat for the inside of my tub. The instructions say to rinse off the bath mat, then take it off the tub and hang it out to dry… after each use.
I can guess why they instruct that, but I just don’t see myself doing that. Maybe occasionally, but not every damn time. My last one lasted almost nine years before it finally fell apart, and I didn’t remove it every single time I showered (though I suppose I could’ve kept it cleaner).
Actually, now that I think about it, Consumer Reports had an article on this (e.g. most people read their prescription medication warnings, but very few wear ear protection when using gas powered lawn mowers and leaf blowers). Are there instructions you usually ignore with products or whatever?
ETA: Goddammit, instructions. Can a mod fix, please?
We covered Q-tips in a thread not long ago. Hell yes I use them to clean the wax out of my ears. As long as I’m not shoving them in until it hurts, I’m ok.
Amount of Laundry detergent. IMHO they simply recommend that you use too much. I use a lot less than instructions and my laundry comes out fine. This is doubly true of Oxyclean.
Clothing wash instructions. I can’t wash 20 different loads every week just to give that one freaking shirt it’s special treatment. Fuck it, it’s going in with the rest of the colors.
Home hair dye kits and other cosmetic things, like facial masks, always go on about how you should test a bit of it first on a small area. I always assume this means “if you are a person that already knows you have very sensitive skin that might fall off” or something like that. Me, I just slather the stuff on.
I ignore my CPAP instructions about cleaning my mask and tubes daily. In fact, if they read “clean every month” or even “every week,” I’d probably clean it more often than I do, but “daily”? Get fucked, please. That just tells me to ignore your batshit instructions freely.
That reminds me that it’s been a while since I’ve done this, too. Although I know I should be cleaning out the water tank more often than I do. Particularly after the one time when I was packing for a trip and saw how funky it had gotten.
And add me to the list of QTip abusers. Even though several times I had the cotton come off the stick and had to fish it out with tweezers.
The instructions for my heating pad say not to use it under covers. The whole reason I use it is so that the bed is toasty warm when I get in and curl up on the pad. It also says do not use while sleeping which makes sense because there are enough people with diminished sensation who wouldn’t notice if it was burning them. But there’s nothing wrong with my nerves and the thing has an automatic shut-off so I ignore that too.
Just so you know – dryer lint is the world’s most perfect firestarter/kindling. You really do want to clean it out more often. Just sayin’…
As for me, uhm, well, pretty much all instructions from things I have used before. I will RTFM the first time, then figure out what works for me. I’ve dyed my hair since I was in grade, I am so not doin g a patch test. It’s hair fercryinoutloud!
I weed out unfit clothing that way. My wardrobe evolves.
Also, ‘pre-heat oven’. No matter how well I were to follow such instructions, it’s still just a deep-frozen pizza – as long as it’s somewhat edible, it’s good enough. No pre-heating will make a gourmet meal out of it.
No, but it’ll still be better than if you under-cook it. One highly recommended time to preheat is when you’re cooking poultry, and the recipe asks you to preheat to like 425 and then turn it down to 350 when you put the bird in. The higher heat sears the outside of the bird while the lower heat cooks the inside more gently, resulting in a juicier bird.
Any packaged rice or pasta dish that requires adding water. Nearly every time I follow the instructions it comes out too mushy. It doesn’t matter which brand it is either. So if it says that it requires 2 and 1/2 cups of water it gets 2 cups of water. I almost always drop the amount of water added by a half a cup. This especially applies if I want to double the dish and the instructions say to just double the amount of water. Um, no. That never works, if it needs a combined 4 cups of water it gets 3 cups from me…comes out perfect every time.
You should also know your clothes will dry faster with a clean lint trap. Not to mention a lot less strain on your dryer leading to a longer life of the machine.
New pots, pans or dishes. It says to wash them before use but I never do. I’ll rinse them but not wash.
Rarely if ever do I follow the instructions on the side of a bottle of (let’s say) Maalox or Pepti Bismol or Tylenol that say
If you are an adult 18-60 years of age and do not have chronic dumbass syndrome and can read this tiny print, continue to read the directions for several minutes as you squint in bad light, and take 2 pills under conditions elaborated on later in this sentence, meanwhile you are writhing in agony from whatever condition prompted you to pick up this bottle, and if you are not pregnant, or you suspect you may not be pregnant, or if you have irritable bowel syndrome, or if you have arms, legs, and/or feet, do not take more than 60 pills in a five minute period. Under no circumstances are you to take any pills before reading this label. Do not take these pills and then attempt to operate heavy machinery with your butt cheeks.
I ignore that and take the pills first. Then I see if I took the correct amount. I’m a busy man. Standing around in my stocking feet at 3 a.m. trying to read that tiny print, especially while in pain, just takes too damned long.