Wettbewerb Grill
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The competition has ended.
Hard work for a sausage
12.9.2018
Translation: machine translated
Building a barbecue is new territory for me. But as I'm a skilled craftsman, I'm confident enough to take on the professional - and the time. But, as we all know, pride comes before a fall.
I can do that in no time at all. Left-handed, blind, if not in my sleep - at least that's what I thought. Despite having an office job and a Phil I qualification, I have a manual and practical demand on myself and it's not necessarily small. I've always enjoyed craft lessons at school: if I can build a guinea pig hutch and a doll's house myself at primary school and get to grips with lawnmowers, that's something. And if I don't stereotypically leave everything - apart from cooking spaghetti - to the nice male helpers in shared flats, I'll probably also be able to assemble a barbecue.
Well, you thought wrong, dear ego. But I'm not giving up that easily. Better still, I asked myself the question: how skilfully, quickly, productively and safely can I assemble a barbecue compared to a proven professional? The professional who agreed to take part in this challenge was quickly found. It was SZ Service Plus GmbH, a service partner that Galaxus also works with.
In the end, the test showed that the barbecue does stand up. You can certainly grill - but it's different when it comes to being skilful, fast and productive. I'll tell you why.
What was the reason?
For this barbecue challenge, we, the Digitec Galaxus AG service partner team, travelled to SZ Service Plus in Root D4 in Lucerne on a hot Wednesday morning. The dice had already been cast in advance: I had to assemble the grill. I didn't quite know whether to cheer or cry. At least I wasn't completely alone at the mercy of the professionals: The rest of the team took photos, supported me mentally and prepared the sausages.
My motivation for the upcoming task was definitely there, perhaps even too much. So was the nervousness when it came to the nitty gritty. I love speaking in front of an audience and giving presentations, so I don't get too nervous. But I massively underestimated what it would be like to stand in front of a camera. At home in familiar surroundings, without the thought of being captured on a mobile video by my team peeps, it would certainly have been more relaxed. Knowing that every slip-up and stumble could soon become a viral hit was a bit scary.
The biggest hurdle was my pride
The nervousness I just described didn't necessarily encourage the thoughtful and logical approach that was actually necessary. In retrospect, I would like to cite this as justification for generously overlooking the first steps of the instructions. Now to an if-then sentence: If this hadn't been the case and I hadn't skilfully ignored the first steps, then I would certainly have found the screws, which are an essential part of the assembly, straight away. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. I spent hours looking for the screws and felt stupid after solving the puzzle. They were in the pre-assembled lid and with them about 70% of the components of the barbecue. At the time when I cheerfully announced that I had now laid out all the individual parts of the barbecue in a sensible way and would start assembling it, there was in fact barely half of it. I learnt: always, really always look in the lid.
Another lesson I learnt: For a speedy assembly, it is advisable to first lay out all the parts, screws and tools and check whether everything is really there.
These mental obstacles have now been cleared away. Here is a practical tip. The space factor, i.e. the free space that the barbecue needs for proper assembly, is crucial. The thing would easily fit on my balcony, but it would definitely have been too small to assemble it and lay out the individual parts properly.
The right tool is half the battle
The right tool is also a crucial point. It always works somehow, but it's definitely easier with the right size spanner and an electric screwdriver. Mine could probably just about keep up with the professional's tools, but with the right protective clothing it's the end of the line. I regretted taking my gloves off after about two minutes - the sharp edges left their mark. I only realised this when I looked at my colleagues' smartphone videos. Incidentally, all the videos have been deleted - so that no one can prove how clumsy I was.
As the challenge is also about seeing how long it takes an amateur barbecue assembler to set up, the time pressure plays a major role. In my opinion, this also contributed to the starting and subsequent difficulties. And, more importantly, everyone was hungry and wanted to finally see their sausages on the barbecue. At home, of course, I would have taken a much more relaxed approach to the whole thing. Because of the high temperature and the non-stop work, I couldn't really enjoy my sausage at the end because I was exhausted. But I definitely couldn't have done it on my own. The pre-assembled lid alone was too big and heavy to lift onto the assembled rack and place correctly. I was glad that the employees from SZ Service Plus helped me with the final steps.
A helpful tip is also to use an underlay. This protection works wonders, especially for floors that can be scratched. You can also use part of the packaging box for this. As a small aside, I would like to mention the essential fact that instructions and following them are generally not my thing. Anyone who has ever eaten one of my cakes or other baked goods can imagine what I mean. If too much baking powder turns the sweet pastry into a savoury product, I should definitely have taken the recipe more seriously. As with baking, freestyle assembly is not worthwhile when it comes to grilling. It only leads to extra work when parts have to be unscrewed and reassembled.
Grill technical conclusion
The instructions are perfect. Everything you need is explained and if you can organise a helping hand, you can easily manage it. It took me about two hours and ten minutes to set up. I honestly admit that I couldn't have done it without the employees at SZ Service. I was also pleased to receive practical tips and useful tricks in between, which made the assembly easier. The tip to use the packaging as a base made kneeling and crawling around on the concrete floor much more comfortable. For the sake of completeness and for comparison: the team from our service partner set up the barbecue in no less than 25 minutes. Respect, guys!
For me, the case is clear: as I commute three hours a day, I don't even ask myself the question of time or money. I enjoy every free minute and I have no desire to dispose of the piles of packaging material. I want to throw my sausage on the service partner's pre-assembled grill and not spend two hours doing it myself.
If you feel the same way, you can find all the information about Galaxus services here. That's right, services in the plural. Because you can not only have your barbecue assembled and delivered. Together with its service partners, Galaxus offers a wide range of services. These range from TV wall mounting and dishwasher installation to bicycle assembly.
Have you got a taste for barbecuing and would like to win a Napoleon barbecue worth 599 francs? Then take part in our free prize draw. The barbecue was assembled by a professional, our service partner SZ Service Plus, according to the manufacturer's instructions and to the best of our knowledge and belief. If you are the lucky winner, we will contact you by e-mail. Take part in our competition until 20.09.2018. The draw date is 21/09/2018 and the barbecue will be drawn at random.
Header image: As soon as the grill was up, I too could laugh again.
Céline Meury
Service Partner Specialist
celine.meury@digitecgalaxus.chAs an absolute cheerful nature I love the cozy get-together with friends and family - best with a fine meal. Besides food & drinks I also enjoy snowboarding, surfing, golfing and hiking.
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