Were we ever this dumb when we were new to computers???

[ilovetheusers]

Ever get this?

How do I send E-mail to [email protected]?

Pardon maam?

I want to send a mail to [email protected] and i don't know how...

Move the mouse over the icon for Inbox.

Clink, Clink.

What was that noise?

Oh, I put the mouse on the icon.

On the screen?

Yes, on the screen, why?

It's all down hill from there.


Were you ever that new? I mean when DOS was the bomb I could understand. You had to know to do, but now with point and click how dang hard is it really? Where have people been for the last 10 tears??? I don't ever remember having new user problems with my machines like "how do I turn it on?" and "Right click, what do you mean?". I can remember back to age 3 and I've done a lot of dumb a$$ things but I don't remember being this new to computers. Maybe I just take to technology...

Can anyone explain this? Here in my 'vile we've been comming up with a saying "What, are ya new??? I mean, damn!".

[EvilCabbage]

I dont remember having trouble with the simple stuff.. turn on .. email..etc..etc.. but by the same token, I'm a terrible gardener, and I go to people with my gardening problems, that to them, probably seem extremely simple.

Its all a case of horses for courses.

[Budster64]

wellllll.......
I know I have said this before, and I don't want to upset any Engineers out there but I still cannot figure out how someone can go 4 years to college major in a field that uses a computer ALL the time ( hey I know some of the older guys are from the old school and did everything by hand I'm not talking about them...some of them have just recently begun to use AutoCAD) and yet they cannot do the simplest things on their own behalf?!?!?
Hey I drive a car and that doesn't mean I have to know everything there is to know about an internal combustion engine but I know enough to realize I have to put oil ( or at least CHECK the oil) in it every once in awhile.
And YES I have had one of them actually say to me " right click? what do you mean?"
People, these guys engineer the trays that hold IMPORTANT devices in airplanes ( like the black boxes and other instrumentation that's monumentally important) and they can't even get the idea, after I have explained to them numerous times how to map a network drive?!?!?!
Every time I have to fly I try like hell not to think of what might possibly be on the plane that MAY come loose

[EvilCabbage]

but can you design these parts for aircraft?.. I know I cant.

These people only need to be removelty computer literate to perform thier job, for the rest of the stuff, thats what WE are for, and I dont have a problem with that, it certainly keeps me employed.

[Budster64]

Dude, seriously I have been around these guys for years I kid you not it's not rocket science trust me. I know what you are saying but in all honesty they basically bend sheet metal in the form of a tray. the hrdest part to design is the specialized connectors they use to hold the instrumentation on to the trays, and those things haven't changed in 30 years, we hold the patent so we make them and grab them from the shelf when needed.
Hey, I'm not saying they should know any more than the basics, (but sometimes they even have trouble with that) but you would imagine that after having explained somethng to them 3 times they'd get the idea.
And yeppers your right it is the way I make my money but Jimminy Crickets!!!
Sometimes I fell like we have a whole dept full of Georges.

[EvilCabbage]

hrmm suppose..
I dont expect the lawyers I look after, or the geotechnical engineers i look after, to be able to rebuild a system, or do anything remotely taxing, but I would get a little worried if they couldnt email me, or change a background, etc..etc..

[Budster64]

AMEN!!!

[LPetrarca]

Originally posted by EvilCabbage:
hrmm suppose..
I dont expect the lawyers I look after, or the geotechnical engineers i look after, to be able to rebuild a system, or do anything remotely taxing, but I would get a little worried if they couldnt email me, or change a background, etc..etc..

I run into that ALL DAY long! And many of my users are Engineers and Executive Management!

Ever hear of F1?

[Wayward Clam]

Someone once said, a specialist is someone who knows more and more about less and less, until eventually they know everything about nothing.

[Kyr0n]

What really annoys me are the people who just cant seem to use a friggin mouse, they click once..and on the double click, while they're clicking, they move the mouse, causing the icon to go all the way across the screen.

[PuterGeekGirl]

Funny you should pose this question....we had this discussion just the other day here at work....I don't recall being that ignorant before either....but maybe I was and it was just so tramatic I have blocked it from my mind?

[cordon]

"Where's the Efwan key?"
"When you say look in the help, what do you mean?"
"Well it's your job to make the computer work right!"
"Oh, i skipped the introduction to windows, i mean I'm mot stupid! It keeps coming back every time i log on, how do i get rid of it?"

There are 4 stages to learning:-
1. Unconscious incompetence (I can't do it, but I've never tried so I don't know how dumb i am)
2. Conscious incompetence (I have tried and I can't do it, HELP!)

3. Conscious competence (I know how to do it, that nice man from tech support held my hand while i did it 5 times but it scares me, so maybe I'll call him to help one more time)
4. Unconscious competence (I don't know what all the fuss is about, I could do that in my sleep)

We're mostly at stage 4 for IT literacy. The problem is that most people get stuck at 2. They know they can't do it and for some reason they create all sorts of reasons why they can't learn it.
The only way round it is to write step by step instructions and then when they call you for support point them to the instructions...... of course then you have to teach them how to read plain text..
"which way up does the paper go?", "What do all these black shapes mean?", "Well it's easy for you, you like paper and ink."

As a last resort, there's always euthanasia.

[PuterGeekGirl]

Amen Cordon...it gets kinda old sometimes writing "ID10T Proof" instructions!!!

[mogul218]

Considering I, like most of us, started out on DOS where mice and GUI were nonexistent, the advent of Win 3.1 and Win 95 was pretty elementary to me. The concept of right clicking and drag and drop comes naturally to us, but for the novices, it's a concept they're still trying to grasp. Sure it's nutz that people can't seem to understand the most basic concepts, but don't be so hard on them. I bet some of you Linux experts would laugh your *** off at me if you saw all the head scratching and frowning I do when using Linux right now.

[Matt_29]

i asked when i first saw a computer how to turn it on