# Things you've been surprised you've had to explain at work
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [May 13, 2021, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959 "2021-05-13T02:42:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 7
### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/121 "2021-05-14T01:16:16Z")
> [@Max\_S](#):
>
> Definitely a smartphone, and definitely one that runs apps… just not Android/iOS apps. A browser is an app
True; and in fact it has a few apps built in. I didn’t say what I mean very clearly. What it doesn’t seem able to do is to get any additional apps which it didn’t come with; which means, among other things, that it can’t read bar codes, or get any of the assorted covid apps, such as the one New York State’s using to provide proof of vaccination.
It is a sort of Android system, but a limited one. It’s a Verizon Kyocera Dura chosen for its ability to fit in a pocket without risk of falling out and to survive being worn while I’m doing field work – it’s highly water resistant and shock resistant.
> [@Ranch\_Dip](#):
>
> If I don’t know left / right, I’m sure not going to know East. Or starboard.
Some people probably have no problems with east and west but do have problems with left and right. East and west relate to the sun, and don’t move depending on how the speaker moves. Left and right relate to the body, and switch around both relative to how the person’s oriented to whatever object’s in question, and relative to who’s speaking and how that person’s oriented to whatever’s in question.
There are some entire societies that don’t use left and right, only east, west, etc.
> [@Bootb](#):
>
> I use spreadsheets for certain types of lists, because the table/dividing lines are conveniently already there.
I use them for harvest check and weight sheets, because I can print the grid on a page (some of which gets filled in by hand on a clipboard). But it’s always massively annoying when I have to change anything more than the variety names for that week. Even trying to change the size of a cell never works the way I think it ought to.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/122 "2021-05-14T01:16:27Z")
Decades ago my boss told me about an interview he had just finished of a prospective new hire.
“Writing is an important part of this job. What can you tell me about your writing skills?”
“You can usually make it out.”
Not what the boss was wondering… but a useful answer.
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### Author:  [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/123 "2021-05-14T01:18:03Z")
I learned how to tell left from right because I can snap my fingers on my right hand, but not on the left; that was me in second grade. Now I’m much older, and I occasionally still snap my right hand when thinking about left or right, mostly out of habit.
I teach a Microsoft Office class, and you would be surprised (or maybe not) how often the cell in the answer has just a number, not a formula. “But it’s the right number!” I tell the students that it’s like math class - you have to show your work.
When I was a scoutmaster, on the first day at summer camp I had the first year scouts write a letter home which I then mailed. I supplied the envelopes, stamps, and paper, but most importantly where on the envelope the stamp, return address, and mailing address go. (I also had their home addresses, which some of the scouts didn’t know, especially the zip code.) Even though the scouts possibly got home before the letters arrived, my hope is that the parents kept the letters for many years.
(Now if anyone could show me how to do the fancy multi-quote thingy, that’d be useful.)
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/124 "2021-05-14T01:20:17Z")
> [@Kzbre5m](#):
>
> I knew an accounting woman from years ago that wrote letters and other documents in Lotus. It was her go to program for accounting, why not everything else?
A good friend of mine, who’s an IT consultant, is the same way about Excel. I once joked to him, “I bet that your will is in Excel.” He gave me a look, and replied, “No comment.” 😃
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/125 "2021-05-14T01:27:11Z")
I read a novel written in Excel once. The plotting was great, but the writing was formulaic.
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### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/126 "2021-05-14T01:33:56Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#):
>
> Now if anyone could show me how to do the fancy multi-quote thingy,
Highlight the first bit you want to quote; then click on the quote button that shows up in the post you’re quoting when you do that.
Type something into the resulting reply window; then put your cursor where you want the next quote, and go highlight that and click on the quote button again (whether in the same post or in a different one; and you can do this as many times as you want to, or as you think anybody’ll read.)
> [@JohnGalt](#):
>
> that’d be useful.
I hope it was –
ETA: but I keep trying to do it in another message board that’s not on Discourse, and getting frustrated when it doesn’t work!
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/127 "2021-05-14T01:45:20Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> It’s basic security, though some organizations don’t do security well.
In fact, some organizations do security so poorly, that they make users change their passwords on some regular schedule.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/128 "2021-05-14T01:56:30Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> I read a novel written in Excel once. The plotting was great, but the writing was formulaic.
_Rimshot._
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### Author:  [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/129 "2021-05-14T01:58:41Z")
I bet it had at most 65535 lines
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### Author:  [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/130 "2021-05-14T01:59:02Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> I read a novel written in Excel once. The plotting was great, but the writing was formulaic.
That doesn’t add up.
> [@thorny\_locust](#):
>
> Highlight the first bit you want to quote; then click on the quote button that shows up in the post you’re quoting when you do that.
Very cool - thanks! (Glad I don’t have to teach this in a classroom setting\_
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### Author:  [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/131 "2021-05-14T02:12:37Z")
> [@Ranch\_Dip](#):
>
> If I don’t know left / right, I’m sure not going to know East. Or starboard.
Well, you are not my dad. The man had an incredible sense of direction\*. And spending a World War on big ships ingrained port & starboard into the guy.
\*which I inherited… it’s a really fun skill. (Not a “gift”, I just keep track in the background).
.
> [@JohnGalt](#):
>
> When I was a scoutmaster, on the first day at summer camp I had the first year scouts write a letter home which I then mailed.
At our camp, the leader had us write a letter to our five-years-older selves. He then waited to mail the letters, long after we’d forgotten them.
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### Author:  [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/132 "2021-05-14T02:29:23Z")
Another L-R bit here-
When I was a kid (1st grade), left and right confused me. Also, I was always putting my snow boots (rubber ones worn over regular shoes) on the wrong feet at the end of the day. Mom wrote an L in one and a R in the other but that did no good! Eventually my dad showed me the difference in shapes of the shoes and why one fit on one foot better than the other. I pointed out to him that it was a much bigger difference in the shapes of the shoes and feet on grownups- the soles of my boots were nearly identical. Anyway, I didn’t have a problem with the L-R shoe thing again.
It is true my mom (also my kindergarten teacher) said I was left handed and the first grade teacher changed me. My old 1st grade teacher denies it. Perhaps Mom (a leftie) made me a leftie when I was really a righty- who knows?
I used to teach science, mostly biology and physical science. I lost count of the other teachers who would mispronounce meiosis, Mendeleev, pumice, and Punnett. Many also couldn’t understand why parts from new equipment kits would go missing when they would immediately separate and “organize” all the parts into little trays and boxes instead of keeping them in their original packaging! If you just return the parts to the box they came in, that’s where they’ll be!
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### Author:  [@Turki-lurki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turki-lurki)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/133 "2021-05-14T02:51:49Z")
I knew a very gifted biomedical scientist with the same issue. He got his wife to put his watch on his left arm every morning so he could keep left and right straight. This was ironic because he also could not read an analog watch! He was otherwise one of the most amazing intellects I ever met. Brilliant guy.
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### Author:  [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/134 "2021-05-14T03:01:25Z")
> [@solost](#):
>
> He showed me how he would open Excel and go into the “recent files” menu choice to access the file. It was the only way he knew how to get to it, and more recent files had pushed it out of the short list of the 5 or so most recent files, so to him it ‘disappeared’. It was safely where it had always been in the Documents folder.
I love being able to pin documents in Excel. I have a few files that I only need once a month or so, and this is so much easier. And with the newer updated procedure, I don’t lose my list of pinned files every time Excel is updated.
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> She holds her hands up, so that she is looking at the backs of her hands. Her left hand-thumb form an “L”, so she then knows that is her left.
Husband does this approximately once a week. He is very cross-dominant.
Years back my new boss was rather impressed at my computer skills. The previous person had said that she knew computers quite well. He turned on his computer and she said, “Oooh, pretty colors.” She had never seen Windows 95.
Currently there are still a lot of people who don’t know about keyboard shortcuts and still spend way too much time moving the mouse around the screen.
I’ve taught a number of people of how to add another language for their keyboard and then how to switch between languages to get special characters. Of course, that only works for people who can touch type.
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### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/135 "2021-05-14T03:14:28Z")
I had to explain to a co-worker why I couldn’t take the footage he shot in vertical portrait mode and make it fit a widescreen 16:9 image _without_ either adding huge vertical bars on the sides or zooming into the very center.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/136 "2021-05-14T03:21:00Z")
> [@Ranch\_Dip](#):
>
> > [@digs](#):
> >
> > If we had to give my dad immediate directions, left/right did no good. “Turn east now!” was better, or “Tack to starboard!” (ol’ WWII Navy man…)
>
> If I don’t know left / right, I’m sure not going to know East. Or starboard.
Port and starboard are objective, based on their relationship to the pointy end of the boat, just like driver side and passenger side are objective, based on the location of the steering wheel.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/137 "2021-05-14T03:24:41Z")
I had a friend that would do the thumb + forefinger = L trick palms in.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/138 "2021-05-14T03:32:13Z")
And not like hands???
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/139 "2021-05-14T03:47:54Z")
You can describe directions on a boat without making any reference to right or left.
When you stand facing the pointy end, the bow, you can point to port, starboard and stern and define them entirely by reference to the bow. There’s no need to mention left or right.
Now, define left and right by an objective standard, without using the terms “left” and “right” or any cognate to those terms. It’s entirely subjective, and ultimately tied to the brain structure and the very concept of handedness.
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### Author:  [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2021, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-been-surprised-youve-had-to-explain-at-work/941959/140 "2021-05-14T03:52:25Z")
But aren’t port/starboard just left and right by other names? If I consider my nose to be analogous to the bow of the ship, I can define my port, starboard and stern as well, I would just normally use different terms.
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