i cant follow vague instructions

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I can't at all and it's so crippling. Makes me sick to be honest.

I also have problems with vague instructions.

People assume I have the same knowledge they do, or that i will understand their words exactly like they do ....neither of these things is true.

I need explicit instructions that are written down, if possible with pictures.

yeah, i really do get frustrated by these when I do it wrong... my mom call me and my dad the smartest dumb asses ever.

I remember my mom showing me a picture from a woman complaining her husband was supposed to peel half the potatoes and boil them... each potato was half peeled and I totally sympathize with him.

I would not have been able to figure that out either. I would have had to have read the specific directions on the box and even then I might need a little help.

"Move that there" or "Bring me that" are great ones!

I will never forget this but one time when I was in the 5th grade I was in class and the teacher was talking about something. I raised my hand because I had a question. Well she called on a whole bunch of other kids and ignored me. Now I don't know if she was being racist since I was the only person of color in that class, one of only a handful in the whole school, and this was in the South, but after awhile of being ignored my arm started to get exhausted and hurt. So I sighed deeply and to myself said, "I don't care" and slumped my aching arm back down on the desk. Well after having made me feel like I did not even exist for the entire class, all of a sudden she zoomed right in on me, stuck her finger out towards my face and loudly and angrily yelled, "March!" I thought, "March?? Why would I march?" Did she want me to stand up and march in place at my desk or march around the room like in a parade? So I said "March where?" She blazed like a flame and yelled back, "You very well know where!" I just kind of sat there dumbfounded wondering if she had just lost her mind. How could I possibly know where? Then she said, "You march straight to the principal's office young lady!" I was confused and had no idea what had just happened but I figured it was a good opportunity to take a walk and stretch so I went. The principal asked me why I had been sent and I said that I had no idea. And since this was back in the days when kids were allowed to be paddled with a wooden paddle by teachers and principals I was pretty scared. So scared, in fact that I picked at my knee until it bled. Then my teacher showed up and was asked why I had been sent and she said that it was because of my attitude. At that age I did not have a concept of what the word attitude meant. But the principal must have realized that I really had no clue what was going on because she just let me go with no punishment or even an explanation.

Engineering isn't all cut and dried, it all depends upon what industry you work for. When I worked for specific companies (In my case Abbott Labs, and later GM) they had everything clearly defined in corporate specs as to what was desired. Engineering for those scenarios is almost a pleasure. You know how they want it set up, allowable vendors, suppliers, contractors, etc. Did this for years and was successful enough at it.

Fast forward about a decade after not being able to secure employment in engineering. I had been working retail and climbed the ranks up to a store manager. All was well until the organization hired in a new CEO and all things changed including my employ-ability with that company.

Took an engineering position in a panel shop after this. Worked seemed simple enough in comparison to what I have done. But they were designing one-off control panels for a wide range of vendors and government entities. All the specifications were in plain English and mostly written as to the general nature of how said system was to operate. Sounds easy enough right? WRONG! They all had their preferred vendors, panel types, operational sequences, etc. That and the way the sales force and owner bid them out also dictated what went into said panels.

Long story short it was a TOTAL nightmare. This company wanted it all this way unless it was going to state "xyz" or county "abc". Owner/salesman on some projects would low-ball them to get the bid. I dutifully designed it as I had done others for said company and was all WRONG. Turns out due to varying companies, situations, final customers, what state, what municipality, all would change. Immediate boss would be a pain never teach me. He'd glance at print and BOM and toss at me. Looks fine. Figure good to go right? Things got worse, I had each and everyone reviewed last 6 months by owner. Once he gave stamp of approval I would ship it off to the customer to have it critiqued approved, changed, whatever...

Still not right, I had so many things going wrong at the end I nearly had a total breakdown. Of course I got terminated for lack of job performance issues. And I did have some memory, sensory, and other things that came into play. First 6 months my office was next to machine shop. Total unbearable noise the whole shift. I was running every day with severe sensory overload and couldn't think. Highlighted everything, used post-its for bookmarks notes. I was still mixing things up and making a mess of stuff. Took much home to do where was quiet. Only could do so much. I'd get a phone call or someone in office as question and it took me literally 15 mins or more to figure out where I left off. In all my other engineering jobs, these weren't issues. I had quiet, I had set specs, goals, etc. These days the factories are gone and contracting is pretty much it.

Long story and I apologize for it but no, engineering isn't always a good thing to get into. I found this out the hard way. Just the thought of it makes me ill now. It has taken me forever just to write this as it has brought much of it back to me. I tend to suppress unpleasant things and this is one of them. I applied for SSDI as physically I have other conditions such that I can only do sedentary work. With breaks every hour for 15 minutes or so just to move around. I can't stand or walk for longer then 5 minutes and over 30 minutes in a chair and pain levels start escalating.

And tying this back into the OPs original thing about vague instructions, having a written specification of 5, 10, 15 or more pages that vaguely describe what the customer wants drives me NUTZ. Things can be done so many ways. How do they want it? How does my boss want it? I would rather clean toilets then to have to deal with vagueness like this. Especially since so many of these so-called specs were written by non-engineers, usually politicians, etc. I fall FLAT on my face when it comes to vague directions.....

sorry tl;dr kinda thing I know....

Other vague directions include being told to grab some dishwashing liquid or bread from the store. Apparently brand name doesn't matter, though every now and then I get a complaint that it wasn't the brand they were expecting. Which leads me to wonder why not get it yourself if you didn't like my choice.