“It will only take four hours,” sayeth me to mine Bearded Spouse…

A few weeks, ago, my Bearded Spouse and I set out on a mission of mercy, helping a friend attach a new top to her Jeep. My spouse is good at things requiring tools. Our friend is good at reading directions. I am good at encouragement and finding the right pieces and bits of hardware. It took all three of us, a lot of focus and patience, and some grit and determination to pull it off.

“It shouldn’t take that long,” we thought… The company’s estimate of 4 hours assumed that we knew which bracket or piece was which, and how it attached. The diagrams were abysmal. SIX, not four hours later, the top was on with enough skill that it was (hopefully) waterproof.

I was struck by what was not included. The various pieces were not labeled. Unlike some Scandinavian build-a-bookcase companies I know, the directions were terrible. And working in the heat and humidity was taxing. Somehow, we managed. The Jeep had a top on it before it was dark outside!

Would I help our friend with this project again? Well, sure. That’s what friends are for. But next time, I might bring along a cooler with some food and drink, some tunes to pass the time, and the expectation that whatever the manufacturer says, I need to multiply the estimated time-to-completion by a factor of two!