90 minutes and dinner is not even close? That sounds off. Most beans soak in like 6 to 8 hours, or you go with the quick soak where you boil them 2 minutes and let them sit an hour. If you are really 90 minutes in and still soaking, you might be doing the cold water method, which is just slow by design. Here is the fast trick though, skip the soak next time. Rinse them, throw them in the pot with water, bring to a boil, then simmer. They take maybe an hour to 90 minutes that way and you do not lose a whole afternoon. The soak mainly helps with gas and cooking time, but it is not required.

Ha, I've been that guy bossing readers around and calling it art. What worked for me was swapping the commands for questions the writer has to answer themselves, like "what does this room smell like" instead of "you smell smoke." Still gives them a handle to grab without me telling them how to feel.