I actually read a post today that had a similar story about IKEA-like furniture.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;dirtsimple.org&#x2F;2009&#x2F;05&#x2F;how-we-get-stuck.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;dirtsimple.org&#x2F;2009&#x2F;05&#x2F;how-we-get-stuck.html</a><p>TL;DR: The author&#x27;s SO got stuck trying to assemble a kitchen cabinet, and couldn&#x27;t figure it out. The author looked at the problem, checked with the manual, discovered the solution immediately, and got called smart. The SO didn&#x27;t even bother. And the author realizes that if their positions were swapped, he wouldn&#x27;t bother either.<p>There&#x27;s something wrong with the whole class of people - that mostly seems to coincide with the &quot;non-tech&quot; group, though maybe it&#x27;s more about problem-solvers&#x2F;not problem-solvers. What&#x27;s wrong is that they get stuck on the first obstacle and give up. Instead of assuming that there must be a simple solution and searching for it, they assume it&#x27;s broken and quit.<p>Also, related, the famous XKCD chart: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xkcd.com&#x2F;627&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xkcd.com&#x2F;627&#x2F;</a>.