Thursday, August 16, 2007

NEW BARBECUE

I'm the proud owner of a new Weber Q300-P barbecue. It's simple to use, cooks really well, is amazingly fuel efficient and easy to clean. It wasn't cheap but I'd highly recommend the Q300-P to anyone looking for a smallish barbecue that still manages to have a large cooking surface. Another thing the Q300-P has going for it is its corrosion resistance: it's an ideal choice if you live close to the ocean.

While assembling the barbecue I noted the lengths to which Weber-Stephen Products GOES to protect itself: the owner's guide contains five DANGER and 34 WARNING notices, amongst which:
!WARNING: Turn your Weber gas barbecue OFF and wait for it to cool before cleaning.
And:
!WARNING: Do not use a flame to check for gas leaks.
Such warnings seem pointless to me: anyone silly enough to do such things probably isn't able to read and understand the manual, and wouldn't heed the warnings even if they could read them.

4 Comments:

Anonymous steve at the pub said...

Sort of up there with Husqvarna's "Do not use hands or genitals to stop the chain" instructions for a chainsaw.

8:37 PM  
Anonymous J F Beck said...

This post isn't about funny warnings; it's about companies seeing the need to idiot-proof products. It can't be done: dummies are still going to misuse products and hurt themselves.

9:22 PM  
Anonymous the_real_jeffs said...

And those dummies will sue, because they are dummies. Those labels are simply self-defense measures for the manufacturers against lawsuit happy idiots.

9:33 PM  
Anonymous steve at the pub said...

I agree with JFBeck, if somebody actually requires a warning such as "do not use a naked flame to search for gas leaks", well, if someone is dumb enough to actually do this, are they likely to have had the foresight to seek out the warnings and read them?

6:44 AM  

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