i cant follow vague instructions

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sometimes when i try to clean and cook my dad will give me a really vague instruction my mind cannot process! for example

dad: Emily, put in the kraft dinner and then strain it when its done

that is TOO vague, i dont know when its dont, i dont know the temperature to start the stove, i dont know how much water to put in, i dont know if i should stir.

who else has an IMMENSE trouble following vague instructions

That is normal with ASD vague instructions are a puzzle to me also.

In my job they know to ask me exactly what is required.

That is normal with ASD vague instructions are a puzzle to me also.

In my job they know to ask me exactly what is required.

It is just this kind of thing that did me in on my last job. Completely vague instructions and moving targets. I'd learn it for a group of customers and then a different one would hit, seemed same to me. Get yelled at and verbally abused because "xyz" doesn't want theirs that way. But if I were to ask on every customer, I'd get screamed at for NOT using my head and figuring it out as that is what they paid me for. Early on I tried calling the customer on one spec for a particular project and the owner of my company grilled on me for over an hour giving me what for. Like why am I asking the customer that it makes us look like we don't know what we are doing. Had I asked where I worked, I'd get yelled at anyhow. Bunch of crap if you ask me. Give me clear directions or SOMETHING so I can make a valid decision on my own. I had ZERO experience in this industry and they knew it. Collectively they had like over 100 years between the 3 of them (the owners)

My trick is knowing how to do things, the instructions don't matter anymore how vague they are because I know what I am supposed to do.

As for cooking the mac and cheese. I always fill the kettle half way, I always turn the stove on high setting and wait for the water to boil and once it starts to boil, I pour in the noodles and I stir it frequently so they won't stick to the kettle. I also take little bit of the pasta on the wooden spoon and rinse it in the sink and taste it to see if it's done and if it's soft, I then turn the stove off and strain the noodles in the sink and then add in the cheese and butter and stir it until it's all dissolved.

If you were told all these steps and were followed through with them so you know how much water to put in, what stove temperature to put it on, etc. do you think you could understand those vague instructions next time because the steps do stay the same for each pasta.


I tend to ask a tons of questions for how to do things but what some people don't realize is once I know the steps, I won't be asking a bunch of them every time they tell me to do it if it's in my normal thing and it's stuck in my brain.

I quit my last steady job because I'd be given ridiculously vauge, unfathomable instructions and then when I asked direct questions to get the information I needed my co-worker, instead of giving me the answer I knew he had would lauinch into this whole long story about the account when all I wanted to know was what he actually wanted me to do.
Drove me crazy.

Apparently, though, some people think I ask too many questions, but I just want to get things right, you know?

Yeah this is my main issue in employment, and knowing what questions to ask to get the information I need.

Same here. Working in software, you're often dependant on other coders for info on how to get into their work. Some people presume that you know as much as they do about their code already, and don't have the patience for my questions. I hate that. I'm dependant on a very clearly stated roadmap to feel motivated and be productive. Whose fault is it really that I don't feel productive at the moment? Mine or my employers? Struggling with the moral issue there.

I have the same problem. But surely something like a Kraft dinner should have instructions on the packet?

I have been sacked for it.

I <3 Engineering. You just get to ask the relevant questions. "How long *exactly*?" "Send me the blueprints?"

Personally I prefer being given all of the information and a clear description of the problem and finding my own solution. Based on the ingredients in the kraft dinner, try and work out the requirements. Cooking pasta for example needs enough boiling water to cover the pasta (otherwise you'd be steaming some of it, not boiling). "When its done" to me means "when it is exactly how i like". the internet is a good source for actual answers to vague questions / statements.

good luck with dinner.

It got me in trouble once or twice (okay a lot of times) at home. It's not that I have a problem with vague instructions, its that in lieu of specific instructions I tend to submit my own solutions, based on what is most logically efficient. Unfortunately this often tends to run contrary to what 'normal' people do.

That just means that normal people do it wrong!

My office clerk didn't like my asking a lot of questions at my old job and would tell me things like "How long have you been working here" "You should know this" and I was expected to remember how to do something I was taught weeks back. But for it to stick to my brain, I have to do it all the time or else I forget. I used to think I had something wrong with me or something but apparently it's an AS issue since others have said at the group here they have that same problem too.

Vague instructions are a pain in the ass in general.

Ex: "Go get the crock pot," knowing there are multiple functional ones in the house.

"Which one?"
"Any one.."
*Grabs a random crock pot.*