Stop in for a cup of coffee

Yes, all new cables and new trans so I expected some time to adjust. Park cable was easy-peasy... (had that sucker apart so many times before) Just need to invest the time and I'm sure it'll shake out. The transmission is a brand new build.
So I was reading some in the old pushbutton forum, some posters saying that using a stick to hold down the pushbuttons, held them in too far and would behave similarly to yours. Not sure how that’s possible