I recently moved into my first "real" apartment, and realized that I had completely forgotten to get an entire category of furniture: surfaces. I didn't need particularly fancy surfaces, but something needed to hold up my computer, and I needed something to put my bowl of cereal on in the morning. On the recommendations of a few people, I went to IKEA.

I thought this image, on the first page of each instruction booklet, was somewhat amusing:

The first one is fairly obvious. You shouldn't try to vibrate while carrying boxes. Instead, you should invite a friend with a bumpy head to help you.

The third is also straightforward. If you cannot understand the 1-page instructions to screw 4 legs into your coffee table, you should immediately plug a phone with a 50-foot cord directly into an IKEA store while smiling.

But what is the middle diagram supposed to be telling me? As far as I can tell, if I set my box on the floor and I don't touch anything, the corner will fall off, causing me to become sad. But it will safely remain attached and I will become happy if I put it on an ugly area rug and put my hand on top of it.

Of course, the owner of IKEA recently passed Bill Gates as the richest man in the world, so I guess they're on to something.