The garden-hose nozzle was set to “jet,” and I tested it from the wrong end

I connected a spray nozzle to the garden hose and turned on the outdoor faucet.

The nozzle had several settings printed around a rotating dial: mist, shower, flat, cone and jet. I wanted shower.

The labels were small. I twisted the dial until “SHOWER” appeared near the top, pointed the nozzle toward the flower bed and squeezed the handle.

Nothing happened.

I looked directly at the nozzle opening.

This was poor sequencing.

I squeezed again. A narrow stream hit the brim of my hat, sent the hat backward and continued into my forehead.

The nozzle was on jet.

I released the handle and stood in the yard blinking while water ran down my face. My neighbor, who had been taking out recycling, paused at the fence.

“Checking the pressure?” he asked.

I said, “Very good pressure.”

I pointed the nozzle at the ground and rotated the dial one click. Another jet carved a clean line through the mulch. I released it, rotated again and found a wide fan that watered the fence.

The third setting produced the gentle shower I had wanted from the beginning.

I watered the plants, retrieved my hat and discovered the dial’s indicator mark was a tiny raised triangle on the fixed part of the nozzle. I had been aligning the word with the top of the device, not with the indicator.

The nozzle had communicated correctly. I had invented a different interface based on which direction felt visually important.

The incident was harmless beyond a wet hat and a small trench in the mulch. It still offered a useful rule: never inspect a pressurized opening from the direction where its contents are designed to travel.

What is the sensible way to learn an unfamiliar spray dial? Turn off the water, find the actual indicator and test each setting toward the ground? And should “do not look into the nozzle” be printed in letters large enough to read before the demonstration?