Computer illiterate colleagues really annoying me lately

helpdesk call came into a company i worked in about 14 years ago when anti virus was distributed via floppy disk to the branches.
One set of disks wouldn't install, helpdesk asked them to send up a copy of the disks via internal post. Copy arrived following day - a photocopy of the disks !!

I have all my work passwords written down on a post it in the drawer. I would love to tape them to my PC as I have to look them up everyday.

I have 3 different sets of password needed everyday for work systems. You have to change these passwords every 30 days and it's not the same day - for security reasons.

truthseeker said:

But I havent got a printer?

Seriously though - try working in IT - I got a call one day to fix a photocopier because 'thats a technical thing isnt it?'. Or another memorable one was 'youre in IT, youd know about radiators - why is this one cold?'.

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Likewise.

Q Can you calibrate the microwave?
A Yes but why would I?

Answer - you are IT aren't you.

A special prize for whoever can tell me why you can't insert images in Letting Off Steam threads.

Love this thread, it really made me laugh.

I work in an office with 8 other people and we have all been sent on computer courses.We really only use pcs for email and the intranet.

I'm the only one who admits to knowing how to use the computer system and believe me its very basic. The rest insist that memos etc are sent out by fax or internal post.

It got to a stage where my boss rang me in a meeting in town one day and asked me drive back to the office to print an email attachment that she wanted to send to my colleague. After that I decided enough was enough.

No prizes for guessing what sector I work in !!

Jim Davis said:

Now when I'm asked I say "did you look at the email I sent you" and the response is along the lines of "I havent opened my email in two days"

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I know how you feel, except I get "you send that many emails I wouldn't be able to find it".

Got a problem, the tray for my coffee cup will not slide out anymore

In a previous life in motor tax office public counter, my colleagues screen went blank.

It took me 2 seconds to realise the reason was that her copy of Heat Magazine which was sitting on top of her monitor had fallen down the back and unhinged the power plug.

I replaced the plug, removing the magazine in the process, all of which took less than 1 minute. As a result, I was called to the managers office, in front of all staff, and given a formal warning for being seeing to have a magazine in my hands during working hours and not calling IT as it was not my job to fix IT problems... enough said

I have sympathy with all IT support staff and those who end up dealing with stupid queries but its works both ways sometimes.

Once upon a time, I needed an issue fixed on my user account on our unix network at work. I was told to log out until it was fixed. Some time later I rang to ask it was ready and i was snottily told " But I emailed you 30 minutes ago to tell you that you can now safely log in again?"

I asked how I could have got the email, if I couldn't log in. Got a blank silence on the phone.

Its great to see the money invested in the smart economy is paying off !!!

We would be better off training our kids to be able to lift heavy things

Here's a handy technical support guide, enables anyone to solve any technical problem like a pro: http://xkcd.com/627/

(You might need to print it and hand it to them)

I have complete sympathy with OP. I used to be the one in the office that had a basic knowledge of computers and everyone else would come to me for the most inane issues and to do the simplest things.

So I know how to write formulas in Excel, I know how to format a doc so it looks good rather than the mixed sized, confused layout and general mess that they would create, I understood how to use very VERY basic HTML in e-shot emails we would send to clients... and when I left the company the boss actually said I should get a job 'in computers'.

The problem was not the lack of my colleague's technical knowledge but rather, their complete inability to learn and re-apply new information. These weren't middle aged or elderly people afraid of technology, these were a group of people that struggled even if the company introduced a new admin process (and usually just gave up and did it the old way anyway... causing problems that someone more competent had to sort out).

...and you're right OP... if you point them in the direction of the answer rather than just wiping their backside like you're their Mammy, forcing them, God forbid, to use their brain... they look at you as if you'd just spat on their Grandmother and proclaimed their first born the Anti-Christ....

This kind of culture usually comes from the top down. I often amazed at how ignorance of IT matters is a kind of 'badge of honour' for many senior execs and business owners. You'd rarely hear senior people boasting about how little they know about HR, or Finance or safety or marketing, but it seems to be acceptable for people to laughingly boast about how little they know about IT.

This culture needs to change from the top down.

I have come accross IT Managers who don't know the first thing about computers. I remember spending 45 mins on the phone trying to get one to setup an Icon for a program on the desktop. I kid you not, he did not understand the basics of directory structure and network mappings. This was not a small company, it its self had 3000 employees and the parent company is quoted on the Irish Stockmarket.

The you have an IT manager like ours who called to my office and cleaned by mouse of dust after I requested new one. He was very proud he saved €5 or whatever a new one costs. I didn't have the heart to break it to him that I knew how to do that, what with me doing it twice a week for a month or so before I decided I should get a new one.

I had many reasons for leaving the Public Service all those years ago. But, one of the things that made me leave was the inability of staff once they'd reached 27 they found it impossible to accept change.

The department was one of the first in the country to get 'computerised' (these were in the days even before a mouse was attached to a pc) and paper was to be a thing of the past. Because of failure to accept change paperwork work increased as a result.

Perhaps these are the kind of people asking simple questions?

On an off-shoot, I changed my refuse provider recently and there were no problems in the changeover. Being a person who pays bills before they hit the floor from the letterbox, a final account from the old provider came and for all of 0.75c.

It cost 0.55c to post it, more for the cost of the paper and envelope, more for the clerical input, and wait for it . . . around €2.00 process fee from An Post. If this bill had not been computer generated the refuse company would have saved themselves quite a few bob by writing off the charge.

Do some of the so called computer experts act in an elitist fashion?

I worked with a woman in an office where we had to input foreign exchange rates on to our computer daily. I discovered after a couple of months that only half of the rates were being changed, the other half were never changed at all. This was because the person in question didn't know how to move from Page 1 to Page 2 on her computer. It was a case of "the other person" in the office used to do it so "I never bothered to learn". Unfortunately the other person was transferred.

Tintagel said:

It was a case of "the other person" in the office used to do it so "I never bothered to learn".

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I see the IT side of this issue frequently - where I have to repair broken data because some user doesnt understand what the system they are using is doing.

However - its not an IT problem, its a lack of coherent training in the users department.

I have seen staff perform some task they were shown HOW to do, but never explained WHY they were doing it, over and over for months they do it, never understanding why (and never asking why). One day I come along in response to some problem and I ask them what they were doing, they tell me, I ask them why they were doing it that way - they look at me blankly.

But this could be applied outside of computer systems - its a general failing in training when someone shows someone how to do something but never explains why its done that way.

Chinese whispers can play a part too - person A passes the task to person B who passes it to person C and by the time person D comes along some fundamental part at the beginning of the task has been lost so the whole thing makes no sense.

Leper said:

But, one of the things that made me leave was the inability of staff once they'd reached 27 they found it impossible to accept change.

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This is a sweeping generalisation, as the section I work in has seen many changes in the 10 years I have worked here and most staff have had no problem taking it on.
However, I have recently been asked to do some in extra training in a specific area. It has been said to me by my line manager that a couple of other people were asked first but were not confident enough they would be computer literate. I did feel like this was a cop-out as I'm not a whizz kid and have just learned what I know from trial and error.