Today it reminded me that I have to give a little to get what I want.
Why am I sharing this? I had the good fortune to assemble a cheap Chinese metal kitchen cart. Now it is a very simple design, you don’t even need to read the instructions. I was looking forward to a simple setup and using it. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
Simple things can go wrong. My life is a proof of that. :) What happens is that cheap items to assemble are not made with reliable quality control. In this case when I was almost done and putting on the top, the metal was bent and wouldn’t allow me to properly put it in place to secure it. I got out my tool kit and went to town on it for a half hour, bending it with my pliers and hammer claw to widen it so it would fit properly.
However, the metal was thick and my tools were not the ideal way to bend this thick metal. They sorta worked, but it was more brute force than anything. Finally, when they wouldn’t bend the metal anymore I thought it would work but it was still unaligned. I sighed because I didn’t know what to do. Then I realized if it was wood and it wasn’t aligned Norm would loosen the jig and try to make a rough fit before the final fit. At last a use for watching home improvement. So I loosed the screws on that corner beneath it and with that little bit of play, I was able to finally get it into alignment. I was thrilled because I was hot and frustrated with dealing with something that should have been simple.
Then as soon as I did this I laughed. It was entirely possible that if I had just loosed those screws below it, I wouldn’t have had to struggle even though the metal was bent. Often this kind of cheap assembly has room in it to move things around a bit. I should have given a little on the tightness of the screws and my original plan and considered my goal when I got stuck. Going back and adjusting something makes far more sense than trying to brute force something.
Life teaches you lessons if you are willing to hear them.