Well, I’m no jello expert, but I do know there are some fruits and such that you CANNOT put in jello and have it set. I think pineapple is one. Somewhere on the box, where it tells you how to make molds or something, it mentions specific fruit not to put in.
I’m with you dude…sign me up. 
In the gas pump vein, while my wife theoretically knows how to pump gas, she has never AFAIK actually done it. We end up with a ritual every Sunday night where I drive her car to the gas station and fill it up for her; that’s usually enough to last her a week.
Holy. Crap. That is the first time in 21 years that I’ve ever tied my shoe that way. Granted, I gave up on it around age eight or so, but still…wow. Dang.
I don’t hold my pencil the correct way, either (essentially, I do the “leftie curl” with my right hand). Both those skills took me forever to learn how to do to correct way, and I’ve held my pencil one way for so long that I don’t think I can learn another way I was not a coordinated child. Can’t rollerskate, either.
I regularly get non-elderly people on the phone at work who are incapable of sending a fax, opening a computer file, or using a CD-ROM.
You’re damn skippy you can’t put pineapple in Jello!
The folks I work with are like that; I’ve lost count of the times they’ve typed a memo (ALL CAPS IN MS WORD), printed it and closed without saving, then come into my office, waving it at me and asking if I can show them how to email it to someone. Up until fairly recently, all of our company emails came in on a single computer (I worked long and hard to change this) and they would routinely open my emails, print and delete them, then hand me a stack of useless paper (ever tried opening a zip file attachment that exists only as a laser-printed icon?)
My college roommate taught me how to balance my checkbook.
I’m 35 and cannot:
• whistle
• rollerskate
• ice skate
• swim any stroke besides dog paddle
• dive
• or drive a stick shift.
Speaking of people who can’t tell time: I think many of us who grew up before digital clocks can’t really tell time from them. I mean, of course we can read the numbers, but it doesn’t really signify **time **unless we picture a little analog clock in our heads.
not compared to the ones you get from following the recipe on the back of the Nestle chocolate chips package.
Wow, I’m conflicted. This thread makes me feel really capable and really old all at the same time. 
Re the tying of shoelaces: I never knew there was another way besides the one loop method. Learn something new all the time.
As far as simple skills go I took Amtrak up to Chicago once and was amazed at the number of passengers who had no idea how to open the doors between railcars. I mean, I’d never been on a train before but the really big (larger than my hand) button on the door labelled “PUSH” gave me a clue. Yet I still ended up behind people just standing at the door and staring until I reached around them to PUSH the button.
I remember a school friend of my brothers’ from many years ago. This guy was skill-impaired more than most. He once tried making up a pitcher of KoolAid and ended up with some sort of weird sludge floating in it. I don’t know how he did it. Oh, and no one was brave enough to drink it besides him.
I am, to put it mildly, hopelessly uncoordinated. At age 20, I cannot:
-Jump rope
-Play clapping games
-Hold chopsticks properly (they still work, I hold them backwards)
- Go a full day without tripping (I’ve become good at catching myself for this reason.)
-At 12, in the archery unit in gym, I did not hit my target once. In fact, I hit someone else’s. :eek:
My dad the luddite used an ATM for the first time in 1993. I know this because I insisted that he learn so I wouldn’t have to give him cash for a check. I walked him through it. You’d think he discovered fire for all the pride he took in himself after that.
My brother recently asked me if there was any way to cook a hot dog when the microwave was broken. Same brother went to find a lint brush when I told him he needed to clean out the lint trap before operating the clothes dryer.
About tying laces… two ways here are mentioned. I must say there is a third way. I have no clue how to do it though, it’s my Dad who ties them the third way.
Somehow he gets three loops instead of the usual two.
I don’t hold my pencil correctly. It took me years to figure out even how to do it, but my way seems so much easier (although it does look strange).
I can’t jump rope or hoola hoop. I can’t whistle either.
I was in the seventh grade when I learned how to braid hair. My twin sister would have to do my hair in the mornings. Because I’ve had short hair for seven years now, I have forgotten this particular skill. If I have girl children, they will have to go to their aunt’s house for hair maintenance.
I was in the ninth or tenth grade when I learned how to snap my fingers.
I was seven-going-on-eight when I learned how to tie my shoes. I was well into the second grade when I learned how to differentiate the left shoe from the right shoe. (I still remember the magical moment when I finally understood the difference.)
Growing up, I always felt like a weirdo compared to my twin sister because she could do everything and she was always having to teach me stuff. But at least I can say that I learned how to tell time before she did.
Yes, I can boil water. But I never do. Boiling water is no good in and of itself – you have to put stuff in it, so I’m told. What? How much? For how long? That’s where the confusion starts. Frankly, considering how cheap and available fast food is, it doesn’'t seem worth the effort to learn. I see people spending enormous amounts of time to prepare meals and clean up afterword, and big bucks buying every conceivable kitchen gadget. And that’s cool because they obviously get pleasure out of it, but I wouldn’t enjoy it any more than I enjoy doing laundry.
I swear I haven’t used my oven, ever, even once, and I’m 45. I take that back, I think I used it once when the heat was out. I have used the stove top, but probably not in at least 10 years. I used to cook myself breakfast when I kept a late schedule. I learned to cook two things competently – pancakes (I could even mix the batter from a powder!, but usually I bought pre-mixed) and bacon. One time I went to a steakhouse where you grill your own. I flipped the steak over every minute or two until someone told me to stop. It wasn’t bad.
That is the sum of my cooking experience. unless you count heating frozen dinners in a microwave – which I don’t really do anymore either, BTW.
I’ve always used the two-loop shoe-tying method.
I’d like to be able to teach my brother how to hold a fork or spoon without his elbow sticking up in the air.
Thank God. I thought I was the only one. And I’m 39! And I had to learn how to drive manual transmission from my wife, but it isn’t as strange as it sounds…she is a certified driving intructor.
Jumping rope: I know I could do this as a kid, but I tried it recently and I seem to have lost that particular skill. It has been more than 30 years, after all.
OK, how about this: I never rode a bike until I was 25 years old?
I’ll join too. I also can’t do the French knots for cross-stitching…thumb, needle, I can’t make the wrapping and pushing parts work right.
I learned a new skill this spring:
How to get an oil change at VIP.
Now, I’ve had the oil changed in my car before, but always by my mechanic. But when I got my car inspected he was too busy to do it. :eek: I didn’t know what to do at the quickie places. Do you drive up to the bay? Do you give them your keys and they drive your car? If so where to they park it after? And when do you pay? The idea was so upsetting it took asking two different people how they got their oil changed and two weeks to get my nerve up before I brought it in. Did I ever mention I really hate surprises and new situations?
Boyo Jim, you remind me of my little brother (who at 21 isn’t so little.) He begged to know just this week how you know how much pasta to cook for one person. He didn’t like hearing “it depends” but he did successfully feed himself after I gave up and instucted him to add two handfuls of zitti to his boiling water. Hey, at least he knew to add a capful of oil first! (for the record how long is usually “about 10 minutes, or until tender.” Doesn’t matter what kind of pasta.)
No kidding? They don’t have self serve in New Jersey? Sheesh, they don’t have anything BUT self serve in Anchorage. When it’s really, really cold, along about Feb. I always look, but the last one went all self serve some time ago.
Sigh…