Well, sonny, back in the days, we didn’t even have silicon. We had little magnetic rings for memory.
(Now someone from the vacuum tube days is going to post and blow me out of the water.)
[quote]
How the fuck is he supposed to know what these things are if nobody ever explains it to him? Sounds like his real problem is that the person assigned to help him learn how to use the computer has an attitude problem.[\quote]
If your position requires the use of a computer then you should know how to use it. I would never apply for a job as a backhoe operator, even though the job is essentially digging a hole, because I don’t know how to use one.
It doesn’t sound to me like the guy in the OP was in an “entry level” position and therefore required training.
Fear not though…all of this “how do I” BS will stop soon enough as they’ll soon be able to plug right into the ol’ noodle.
Two new stories:
Yesterday my co-worker Paul came to my desk and said that his Netscape wouldn’t open and was asking him for a file name. Um. Okay. I go back there and it turns out that when he double-clicked his desktop icon for Netscape, he actually double-clicked the word Netscape. Windows 95 was ready for him to re-name the icon. He didn’t know what was happening. I explained it to Paul. He went, “Uh-huh.”
I’m outta here in two weeks. I can just see Paul calling up our Washington D.C. tech support office about stuff like this.
The second incident involved my co-worker Randy. He came to my desk and asked how to move a paragraph down in WordPerfect. I followed him to his desk. I then looked at the screen and told him to put his cursor after the period in the first paragraph. He did. I then asked him to press the “Enter” key. He did. The paragraph moved down. Randy is a great guy. He’s 50something and this is the first job he’s ever had that requires computer use. He thinks I’m the smartest person since Einstein. I have to remember to tell my boss that Randy needs to go to WordPerfect class.
I’m gonna miss these guys.
The problem?
It’s still fashionable to be technically inept.
I kid you not. Either you know what you’re doing or you’re a complete idiot… there is no public face for the interested or the learning-user that doesn’t make you “look bad” in the workplace. It’s much easier, when facing your coworkers, to blame it on some incomprehensible machine flaw than it is to say that you forgot how to give Windoze the three fingered salute.
I say let 'em learn by doing - show the coworker once, and direct over the shoulder so he has to do it himself. Show him in front of a couple coworkers. Call them over so they can see the miracle reboot as well. After that, he’s on his own… or tell him to send you an email detailing his problem. 
Hey, back in MY day we had Infotaters, rotating data disks…
How many of you out there played the Zork text games?
Lynn
If it’s helpful, I’ll compare everyone to Hitler so we can get this
over with as soon as possible.
as an over 40 person, I’m not happy with your generalization that if you’re over 40, you don’t know anything about computers.
I’m married to a person who is worse than your co-worker. I have to almost tell him how to turn a computer on. I don’t let him TOUCH my computer because I’m afraid of what he might do to it. The last time I was so inclined to be that adventurous, he shut the computer off without exiting anything.
one solution may be for you to get him started with a “Manual”. It works for my computer-phobic hubby. Have him write out each operation he has to do - have him use his own words. If he wants to call an Icon a “thingie” that’s fine… he’s the one who has to use it. Once he has an application in his “book”, tell him to consult the “Book” before he calls you. And then if he still has to call you, make him write down the steps for whatever you did. Don’t forget to write down what you were trying to do - nothing screws up a good step by step instuction like not writing what you were doing or which program it was.
You also might sprinkle praise in there when you see that he’s done something completely by himself. Positive stroking gets you a lot more places than negative stroking.
DebiJ
“If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research, would it?”
My grandmother was valedictorian of her class in 1947.
She used to drive teams of horses.
She doesn’t own a calculator. Doesn’t need one - she can do math in her head.
She was once given a tape player, but doesn’t use it - after all, her good music is on 78s.
When a secretary she typed 90+ WPM.
As a child she helped support her parents so they could make their way through the Depression.
When I first moved back home my gramma came over because the local news always bragged about www.<callsign>.com and she wanted to see what it was all about.
Now, gramma doesn’t use or need computers, but he OP makes it sound like my gramma is inane and inept and uneducated because she had no clue what I meant when I said “double click”.
I dare the OP to drop himself down into the middle of some place - how 'bout a village in Basque that doesn’t speak English? - and see how far he gets?
Just cuz someone knows nothing of computers does not mean he/she is stupid. Or stubborn. He/she just need guidance. Provide it, and life will be much easier
It’s not your grandmother’s job to know how to work a computer, is it?
What does Ctrl+Alt+Del do?
Are the same buttons on my tv remote?
Zork, Zork, Zork! Come on, Lynn, be serious. The relevant question is Collosal Cave. (“Your are in a maze of twisty little passages all alike”).
Please, don’t remind me. I played CC too, but not in the original form. Mazes and mapping in general are my major downfall…just ask my gaming partners.
Oh, and I LOVED Leather Goddesses of Phobos, I played as both sexes and all three naughtiness levels. How many other games give you such choices?
Lynn
Lynn
If it’s helpful, I’ll compare everyone to Hitler so we can get this
over with as soon as possible.
Given the above situation, the average caller I get would throw out the translation guide and then wander around talking English. He would get upset at the first person he ran into that tried to help him learn the native tongue, and demand to talk to person after person until someone talked to him in english. If given a life saving phrase such as “I would like a denver omlette”, he will use it once, eat his omlette, and then wander about several hours later, complaining that he doesn’t know how to order food.
http://www.madpoet.com
Clerks - Just because they serve you doesn’t mean they like you.
And what if, in your present job, your employer came along one day and told you that your job involves operating a backhoe? Would you immediately quit, or would you expect your employer to send you on a “backhoe basics” course?
The person in question isn’t somebody who applied for a job he wasn’t qualified for, he had been doing the job for 20 years before he was required to use a computer. Under the circumstances, I think it is the employer’s responsibility to provide adequate training, rather than to assume that everybody has absorbed a certain level of computer skills by some kind of osmosis.
A good point Tom, but attending training classes and latching onto a computer literate co-worker are two different things. In the backhoe scenerio, if I were required to use that piece of equipment from that point on, on a regular basis, I would undoubtedly request a training course and, if I felt I didn’t get all I needed from that course, I would seek additional self-training.
People who hold onto the notion that they are only going to be using their computers on a limited, temporary basis and therefore don’t take the time to learn their operation, are a burden to those who **have[\b] taken the time to learn them.
When I say “limited, temporary basis” I mean telling yourself,“I’ll only need to use this thing long enough to get a document created.” or “As long as I can open my e-mail I’m fine.”
This is the wrong attitude to have. The damn thing sits (in most cases) right in the middle of your desk!
I work tech support and believe me, companies (the ones I’ve been associated with) spend/waste **BIG[\b] money because folks don’t take the time to learn the basics.
Luckily I don’t support any HTML platforms.
Sheesh
I agree entirely. As I said, it should be up to the employer to provide proper training, not leave it up to the employee and his co-workers to muddle through.
But let’s face it - some people can’t (or won’t) be trained. I’ve had coworkers like that - it’s like pouring money down a hole.