Funny, but in a sad way...

I replaced a v-belt on a car recently, ('78 Olds Cutlass, if you must know), and got a chuckle out of what I read printed on the back of the sleeve. Yeah, I've seen that You Tube footage of the guy putting the belt on the running VW, but come on.... do you think having the "be sure the engine is turned off" spiel is necessary? Kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Hosted on Fotki

 

In the old days that help to thin out the gene pool

 

the last new tachometer i bought said "always wear safety glasses". the companies must cover their asses, so when some moron gets hurt doing something stupid, they can say they warned 'em. like the lady that sued mcdonalds because they didn't tell her that her coffee was hot, before she spilled it on herself. some people are morons.

 

You want to see the ultimate in CYA caused by attorneys - go buy a new handgun...read the instruction manual. As the OP says, it would be a chuckle if it wasn't so danged pitiful what this litigious society has become.

dj

 

But if you catch it right , the belt goes on much easier when it's running.
Ask my buddy 3 finger Larry.

 

If you really want to have a good laugh go buy a ladder. If you read all the warnings you will never buy another ladder again. They are just to scary to own.

 

Good !! But the operation instructions for a Curling Iron have em all beat !!! >>>>.

 

66- I actually did buy a ladder not to long ago! I had to peel off all those stickers because, well, every time I saw them, I lost a little bit more faith in humanity...

 

I always love any procedure outlined in a Haynes type manual. It doesn't matter what it is...could be changing brakes...but it starts with "Disconnect the battery..."

 

Well in the "old days" it was the other way. I bought a repair guide for my 66 GTO and was reading how to replace the rear main seal. The directions started:

Step 1: Remove Engine

that always cracked me up.

If it was written today, it might say:

Step 1: Make sure engine is turned off and then remove.


and the really sad thing? For each of those warning lables, there is some moron who got hurt doing just that.

 

Wow. Did they even refer you back to the chapter in which that little job was covered? Wait, no, first they'd refer you back to the chapter on "Shutting the engine off"....

 

Ha ha, amateurs. To get a great laugh at irony read the effects on over the counter pills like a headache medicine has the ability to cause internal bleeding. I would stick with the headache. Or you can buy power tools, the warnings are always fun on those.

 

Mother in law gave us a can of mixed nuts. Said on the can " caution, may contain nuts".

 

Like they say , as soon as you make something idiot proof someone finds a bigger idiot

 

Go find a Suzuki Samuri. A friend of mine had one and it had (not one word of a lie) - over a dozen warning labels just on the interior of it about it tipping over.

That was the funniest thing I ever saw.

 

Ah... medication warning labels. Side effect may include oily discharge from rectum, bleeding rash over 90% of your body, poor judgement, and certain types of death. Yeah- whatever illness I have seems better than the side effects brought on by the medicine that's supposed to remedy it!

Oh, yeah, and those anti depressants that just might make you kill yourself...

 

You know those little cans of compressed air for computer dusting?

Bought one once that said "This is a serious product", guess you can't laugh when using it.....

 

Somewhere I have a can of Aircraft Paint Stripper, with the warning "Not for use on aircraft." WTF!?

 

There's a video somewhere on the web of a guy replacing a belt with the engine running (i think it was on a volkswagen). Pretty cool vid, but one of those "don't try this at home" deals...

 

Here is the video...

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BQhfcdQf1QA&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BQhfcdQf1QA&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

 

Yep- that's the one I mentioned. And the one Hotrod95 was kind enough to post just now! Don't try at home, indeed!

 

I remember buying a battery hydrometer at a FLAPS a few years ago. Nothing in the paperwork on how to assemble the thing (had to access the old high school chemistry memory banks to figure it out for myself). There was a list of warnings though like "Don't use this as a turkey baster after checking your battery."

 

My favorite is the warning on empty 5 gallon plastic buckets that are sold by Home Depot, Lowe's etc. Paraphrasing it says "Please don't allow your child to stand on his head in this bucket when it's full of water".
My problem is that it allows another idiot to reach breeding age.

 

I saw an article in Readers Digest about the guy that puts out the "Dilbert" cartoon. He has a web-site asking for one sentence to describe your job. One was, "Ensure that stupid people stay in the gene pool - lifeguard".

 

Guess I should've read the whole post

 

"I just hate stupid people, they should all have to wear signs saying "I'm stupid", that way you wouldnt ask them anything, you'd be like: excuse me, whoops I'm sorry I didn't see your sign."

 

No apology required, my friend. It happens!

 

Hey, there was an article in the local paper several years ago about some genius that lost a few digits by trying to make his car stop dieseling by grabbing the fan belt and holding it still.

 

thats about like the genious that got killed a few years ago by trying to stop his truck from moving by standing in front of it and trying to push against it while he put a log under the tire because his e-brake didnt work

 

Just a part of the society we live in. very sad, however if the warnings were not there the consumer has the abaility to sue for lack of instuction or warning.