Yard table assemblage instructions
These “Yard table assemblage instructions” were included with a garden table we bought. 
Actually, the structure of the guide is good. There’s a list of parts and then the “how to”. It’s just the language that needs a bit of tender loving care. I love the way it degenerates towards the end, as if the poor author just gave up because it was too hard.
Assemblage parts:
1.One piece of iron flower pattern glass (in midst have a hole).
2.Four table feet.
3.Two fixed stators.
4.Eight screws.
5.Eight screw caps.
Assemblage method:
1.Use the screws and screw caps screw down the table feet and fixed stators.
2.Table top is upward.
3.half-round plastics of under the table top direct against the table feet, Then press it down.
We did manage to assemble the table with no trouble.
My first technical writing job (and I didn’t know it at the time) was to assemble flat-packed timber bunk beds that had arrived from the importer without any instructions. As there were several similar beds to be constructed for the showroom, I decided to document what I did so that my colleagues would know how to assemble the rest of them when the time came. The shop manager found my notes and asked me to type them up so that he could provide instructions to customers.
The beds in question were originally to be sold at a discount or pre-assembled (a service that customers paid extra for) due to their lack of instructions but thanks to my efforts and the manager’s judicious use of a photocopier, they went on sale at full price in flat-pack form. In case you were wondering, I didn’t get a share in the extra profits
Haitham
13 October 2009 at 12:10 am
Hallo Haitham
Thanks for a great comment.
Ha ha, what a lovely story! Someone should compile a book about how tech writers got started. I guess you thoroughly enjoyed writing those assembly instructions, so much so that you turned to tech authoring as a career. And that’s probably still the only way to share in the profits.
Cheers, Sarah
ffeathers
13 October 2009 at 6:00 am