How the tables have turned

Romina from Cultivate let us inside the Acton Gardens primary school where 6 of us were going to assemble some benches for the kids. Kash and Steph started opening the cardboard boxes and took out the wooden pieces. Madhan, after successfully avoiding getting crushed by the door few minutes back, took the Ikea manual and thought he would figure out how to do it. Michelle said she was just going to follow and didn't want to take the risk of leading this task. Sevan on the other hand opened a new box and paired up with Emma, who came with a rotten pumpkin in her bicycle, and decided to build a bench on their own as we had more hands on the deck.

The manual said it's a 7-step process. Kash and I decided to follow it step by step and assembled the first piece after many trials and attempts. Steph and Michelle on the other hand, after completing step 1, they went for step 5. Then we realized that the assembly was wrong and undo what they had done. We progressed to step 2. The holes were not properly cut, which made it harder for us to put a claw-shaped bolt onto the planks. Michelle, on the other hand, smashes the bolt onto the plank to her satisfaction using a wrench.

Sevan and Emma by this time finished assembling a bench. I could hear Sevan using a drill machine to screw the final pieces. They unpacked the second box and had a go at it.

We 4 figured out that the screws are fit on the wrong side. It's not a problem, but it affected the aesthetics. We couldn't take out the screw and left it as is and progressed to step 5. The Allen keys were hard to maneuver at tight spots and needed some brute strength to turn. It was a workout for our thumbs. I screwed up the screws in step 7. Kash then looked at the manual and explained that the long screw should go to the bottom and the short one to the top.

Sevan and Emma were working like a well-oiled machine and working on their 3rd bench. Their bench was smaller in size compared to the ones we 4 were assembling. After completing 1 bench, we did a quick quality check and checked the remaining time. We had 20 minutes left. After gaining knowledge from the first bench, the 4 person squad, started assembling the second one at a faster pace.

In the end, 2 big benches and 4 small benches were assembled.