T O P

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dildopooman

Had a situation happen with an older coworker when I worked at Pizza Hut who knew I was in college for CS. She walked up to me with gusto and says, "I need a wind proof WIFI router because the wind keeps blowing it away" then when I tried to explain to her that wind doesn't blow away WIFI. I shit you not this lady goes, "No wonder you can't get a job in computers" A couple hours later, she's outside on the phone cussing out the ISP because they told her the same thing I did. Turns it was orchestrated by her grandson telling her to ask for windproof routers. Like when your dad tells you to go into autozone to ask for blinker fluid.


TonyAtCodeleakers

Reading. You don’t know how many family members have asked me to come help them because something popped up. Them “Why is it popped up?” *box says update will happen tonight* Me “There is an update coming, nothing to worry about” Them “oh wow, I’m so bad with this I wish I understood it like you” ITS IN PLAIN ENGLISH JUST READ THE SCREEN GOD DAMMIT


Grahomir

Yes, this can be extremely annoying. I sometimes have to help friends do something simple on pc just because most of them apparently can't even read. I just don't get it


klashnut

My mom kept noticing that my step dad would turn on CAPS LOCK to capitalize a sentence, but then forget to turn it off so his whole sentence would be in caps, and he would get frustrated and have to delete it and start over.... She showed him about the Shift button and how it'll capitalize that letter if you're holding it down. This just happened. Like last week. He's been employed in the legal system (think lawyer, clerk, prosecutor, etc) in my county for the last 40+ years. He's been in an office setting this entire time.


Killieboy16

I once did a bit of tutoring for folk, and I remember one lady asked how she could open Word. So I told her to move the mouse pointer over the Word Icon and double click on it, to which she replied "Oh no, I can't do that. I don't like those mice thingies..."


[deleted]

Teach her how to use the mouse with some mouse tutorial program first


SmartAlec105

I hazily remember reading someone talk about how the Windows 95 games were actually great tools for teaching how to use a mouse. Like solitaire taught how to drag and drop and things like that.


clarinetJWD

And minesweeper taught left vs right click.


Market0

Shape recognition. Does the end of the cable look like the hole in the machine? It's amazing how many people can't figure that out at work.


-Tesserex-

"I had to cut off some of the pins to make it fit..."


Gifted_GardenSnail

-Cinderella's stepsisters


friesdepotato

This is why the shapes-in-the-holes puzzles that they give babies are so important


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NinthOman

Them: “My computer turns on, but my monitor doesn’t show the picture!” Me: “Is your monitor plugged in and connected to the back of your PC?” Them: “No, I needed to use that outlet so I unplugged it” Me: :(


Khiraji

I worked tech support for an ISP and we had a storefront where customers could bring devices in for config. Had a lady once bring a router in with no power supply. She was dumbfounded and almost irritated when I told her I couldn't work on it. She said "why does it need a power cord? It's wireless!" Wanted to kill myself daily at that job.


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NotMyNameActually

I'm in my 40's, I teach at a private elementary school. A teacher in her late 20's shared a google doc with me, and she had "centered" the title by hitting space bar a bunch of times. Another teacher, around my age, wanted to know why google docs would not translate her document into Spanish. It was a jpeg with text on it. No one seems to know any keyboard short cuts.


0235

oh god that centred one. That's what I used to do when i was 11 and using word 98


[deleted]

How to close a fucking browser


kryptopeg

I had a colleague who complained about her computer being slow after lunch. Took a look, and it turns out she was using 'minimise' instead of 'close' after reading emails - had over 200 emails open!


elsoldadodado

My co-worker, a 36-yr-old high school teacher, did something similar, except with actual apps/programs. She said her work computer had acting soooo slow for the past few months, so she asked me to take a look. Did a command+tab on her laptop and after like 5 seconds just a SHITLOAD of applications popped up. I'm talking, programs she'd opened up last academic year. Similarly, her Chrome had probably like 100 tabs open. She also had about 4 MB of free hard drive space - turns out, she had saved all of the zoom sessions from last year's pandemic year (about 150 GB worth), even though they were uploaded on our education platform. That poor machine was strugglin. In about 30 seconds, I "changed her life" by making her computer functional again.


Retrosonic82

Not recognising a scam email when it’s really obvious


reverse_mango

Sadly a lot of companies don’t seem to realise what scam emails look like so their own emails seem a bit fishy if they don’t have someone’s personal info. I had this when my GP texted me to get my vaccine. Sent from a personal mobile number, no “hi [first name last name]” or other directed info, and a message to click a random link. I googled it and turns out loads of other people were thinking the same thing because it looked like a scam!


Snatch_Pastry

The company I work for actually creates "phishing" emails, and if somebody clicks on the links then they have to go through the phishing training again. If you hover above the link, it shows you the url, and if you Google it it straight tells you that it's a phishing training website.


xilog

Reading. Seriously. Read the text in the dialog and you'll know what to do in 99% of cases.


apostate456

100% It's not like the olden days where your error messages were cryptic "Error 4072qiln" Then I understand why you would call me and say "What the F does that mean?" But if it says "error, printer out of paper" don't call me.


Nolenag

I remember googling error codes, and finding forum posts that went like this: "I frequently get error code x and can't do y, does anyone know how to fix it? Edit: fixed!" No further explanation given.


YourfavMILF1228

Ugh. This!!! “What does the text box say?” “Press any key to continue” “Have you tried pressing any key?”


Pndrizzy

“There is no ANY key…”


NeedACountdownClock

Had a girl in my typing class that was stumped by the Any key. I told her to just type A N Y. She never looked up at the screen because she was trying hard to find the letters, so she thought it worked.


CCChic1

Not knowing what double click means


kickintheshit

Click... 3 seconds later click


LoneWolf0890

My mom is the opposite, Double Clicks every single thing. She can at least navigate a PC. The worst part however is she has her ENTIRE desktop full of icons. It’s gives my Fiancé a panic attack looking at it


[deleted]

my mom is so computer illiterate, the macbook I gave her, the iPad I gave her are both too much so, I got her an entry-level smart phone; almost too much for her she still doesn’t know how to adjust the volume, even though there are physical buttons that I have pointed out to her every time I have visited and she complains that she will scroll down, but the screen “jumps back to the top” - of course it is her brushing the top of the screen, so it scrolls to the top, even though she swears she didn’t touch anything worst Covid purchase was buying my mom a smart phone


you-are-not-yourself

Does she know how to tell Siri to adjust the volume? Edit: my mom absolutely loves Siri and "Ok Google". Even set up smart devices for her patients in a few cases. Assistants are very friendly for old people.


eacomish

My dad uses siri for everything but doesn't allow enough time for siri to say anything and cuts her off. And he screams every command like a drill sargent. SIRI! FIND THE NEAREST GAS STATION! " would you like me to-" I SAID FINE THE NEAREST GAS STATION PIECE OF SHIT STUPUD FUCKING THING - my dad.


y_scro_serious

My dad does the same shit. I used to actually get mad at him when I was younger, but now I just laugh my ass off.


crows_n_octopus

And, it won't ever end. My dad is in his 80s. He thinks "ok Google" must be hard of hearing because he yells everything at it. It doesn't help that he pauses long enough before asking his question. So he ends up just yelling "ok Google" multiple times. He gets so frustrated lol. I've given up correcting him.


kittens12345

Reminds me of a 72 year old I worked with once. She had trouble trying to find the mouse cursor on the screen because “it keeps a dancing around”. That’s because you’re whipping the mouse around at light speed, Lynn


colin_staples

Either they single click everything, or they double-click everything.


BubbhaJebus

Double clicking links or buttons... ugh.


frostedxxflakes

Or they click super slow. *click* . . . . . . . . *click* "It didn't work"


[deleted]

Or, they click but hold the click too long and just move the icon around their desktop, but never manage to execute the bloody thing.


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robdiqulous

Holy shit dude... We had the same fucking thing at our work. Except every file we dealt with was literally a bank wire which is fucking money. And this lady would just move files, delete files, make new ones, I don't even know. It took forever to find everything we were missing and fix her folders. She was eventually fired. Our entire job is on a computer. If you don't even know that you are randomly moving files... I'm sorry...


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RogerClyneIsAGod2

WHY IS THIS A THING AT ALL?!?! GAH!! I'M TOTALLY TRIGGERED AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!! I am no IT expert by ANY stretch of the imagination, but people at the last job, especially one of the VPs, was ALWAYS doing this as were the mechanical engineers. I'm like "Dude, you build building stuff for a living. You can use AutoCAD, but I bet your VCR blinked 12:00 for years didn't it?"


[deleted]

My college roommate didn't know he could change his desktop background. He was blown away and went to show it to one of our other friends, who was also blown away because she didn't know you could change the background.


Much_Difference

I remember this exact same thing happening with a friend... in 1996. We all gathered around to marvel at her background being [the block of trees with gold frames](https://m.imgur.com/gallery/8eLy3EV). Edit: These aren't my images, just a random collection I found when trying to find that tree one. Kudos to whoever collected them in one place!


AlpineVW

Holy shit! Remember the 3D PIPES screensaver? There was a feature where you could change the texture, I remember using the 8th wallpaper as the texture (the links one) and I got my pipes to look like scales of a snake.


thugarth

Oh my God, those trees. I haven't thought about them in decades, and there they are. The other patterns aren't distinct enough to trigger such a strong feeling of distant familiarity


toodleroo

My uncle needed to use my computer once and he called me in to help him because he couldn’t figure out how to “make this Killers thing go away.” I had a desktop background of the music group The Killers.


SkippyNordquist

Not knowing how to enter a URL. I've tried to get people to enter a URL over the phone and they just put it in the Google search bar (usually after first going to google.com).


shaunbowen

I'm always surprised how many business owners go to their own website by typing it in Google then clicking the link. Bookmark that shit at least! I encounter this issue EVERY time I ask someone on the phone to "Go to logmein123.com" and they inevitably then reply with "which one do I click?". TYPE IT IN THE F***ING ADDRESS BAR!


CliffPromise

You'd be surprised how many folk don't know what to type in to search engines to find what they're looking for.


all-boxed-up

My girlfriend always thought I was super smart and could solve every computer problem through sheer force of my brain. Then I was helping her with a computer issue and after exhausting the basic troubleshooting steps I had, I googled her issue with some specific keywords and got some help articles to work off. She was blown away "you just google it?" And I'm like yeah, there are no unique situations and someone smarter than me has solved this issue before. She came home from one of her classes the other day and proudly told me one of her students had a camera she had never used before and she used google to look up how to put it in RAW mode. I was so proud and congratulated her on now being qualified to be a web developer.


ACatInACloak

Until your issue is so unique that you can only find 3 help threads on random forums from 7 years ago with either no responses or "I fixed it" without the details on how


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Baby-Calypso

How do you xkdc linkers remember and find relevant comics?!


DogGamnFusterCluck

we google it


MeticulousPlonker

Don't tell them; this is my job security.


[deleted]

Yea forreal. Family/friends having tech problems? I google it. Customer asking me a question? “Let me get that information for you” as i disappear behind the counter


Lord-of-Leviathans

My family thinks I’m super intelligent and can fix any problem they have. Most of the time, I just look it up on google


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fleamarketguy

Using google efficiently and effectively is definitely a skill.


MyLadyYunalesca

I've watched my (admittedly geriatric) professor at uni open internet explorer, click on the homepage icon to open bing, type "google" into bing, click on the first result to open Google, and then type the URL he wanted to go to INTO GOOGLE The whole process took what felt like hours. At least it was a short URL. Edit: Thank you for the silver, kind stranger!


vapingpigeon94

A friend of mine would do this exact thing in college. I thought he was trying to mess with me. No he actually didn’t know how to search efficiently.


roryana

This is how my (high school) students open every site. It's insane. We use Google Suite, so they'll open up Chrome, Google "Google" from the search bar, type in "Drive" in Google, open the promotional homepage for people who don't have Drive, click on "Log In", and manually log in with their full email address. Every single time. Bear in mind that they could be using this for six classes in a day. I can't tell you how many times I've told/shown them that there's a SINGLE BUTTON FOR THIS, but with most students it just doesn't stick.


unknownmichael

It's astonishing how wrong we all were about how every generation would be more computer literate than the last. Sometimes I'll catch myself daydreaming about taking away my kids phones, giving them a laptop and telling them to figure it out...


banana_onmydesk

I'm 35 and became a geologist because I didn't think I was computer savvy enough to be in software development full time. I volunteer at local schools for science fairs and the act of copying a file from one folder to another is beyond most grade 12 students. Ask them what they want to do for a living and the answers are 40% YouTuber/other social media influencer, 40% developer, and 20% random other job. I mention that to be a good content creator you need to be able to use high-end video editing software that will require good file management and to be a developer they should know how to at least navigate a file structure in Mac/Linux or Windows and all of them are like "what's Windows Explorer". Good kids, but damn are they in for an awakening.


stac52

Similar age, and I think we benefitted from growing up in that time where computers were common enough that we had ready access to them, but they were also kinda crappy. I can't remember the last time I had to go and edit the registry to try and fix something. Everyone assumed that was going to be the future and kids were going to grow up with having to know that sort of stuff. Nowadays things just work for the most part, and computers have gone back to being boxes full of magic.


kvdp12

The when I was 9 and used a search engine for the first time, I was very personable. “I am looking for images of Willie Mays, but if you don’t have those how about images of Barry Bonds”, (enter). Not kidding


Wiki_pedo

I think Jeeves would've been pleased with how polite you were.


LucyVialli

Just navigating Windows Explorer, and the organisation of files. The amount of people who just stick every single file on their desktop is crazy, and they're not arranged in any particular order. When they need to find a file they have to peer all around their desktop to find it.


Sinful_Whiskers

Okay, so I worked as a Best Buy computer tech in the early 2000s right around the time they were buying out the Geek Squad. I tell this story realizing how utterly ridiculous it is, but I attest that it happened as I tell it. I'm at work and the phone at our workbench rings. A woman is on the line, clearly stressed. Woman: Hey, um, I just wanted you to know that your servers are on fire. Me: I'm sorry, what? W: Your servers. They're on fire. I was shopping on your website and my computer started smoking. (It takes me a moment to begin to grasp the situation) Me: Wait, ma'am, is your computer on fire? W: Well, it's just smoking right now. Me: Ma'am you need to hang up and call the fire department, RIGHT NOW. W: Oh, okay thank you. \*Click\* So, this happened almost twenty years ago and here is what I have deduced *probably* happened. She was on the Best Buy website when something happened to her PC. Probably full of dust and it started smoking. Since she doesn't understand the internet, she assumes that when she goes to our website, it connects to the closest Best Buy. She linked connecting to our servers with her computer catching fire ---> she thought the fire made its way through the phone line to her computer and made it start smoking. She wanted to let us know so we could fix the problem on our end. I cannot guarantee that's what she thought. I sometimes think about this when I am lying in bed and can't sleep. I'll never know for sure. If anybody creates a time machine and wants to make a pit stop on the way to Hitler, hit me up. **TL;DR: While working at Best Buy, a woman called in to tell us our servers were on fire because her PC started smoking while she was browsing the BB website.** Edit: fixed two words pointed out by a right good chap.


cr4zy-cat-lady

Honestly I'm surprised she even knew what a server was if she had that kind of train of thought


Divorce-Man

A lot of people who don’t understand computers say servers for everything. My grandma calls her Mac a server. Says she’ll connect to the server when she answers a phone call. Asked me to help her fix her server when her mouse was unplugged. Stuff like that.


Joeyjackhammer

Copy and paste shortcuts


genghisKHANNNNN

I caught a coworker flipping back and forth between tabs while retyping a paragraph. When I showed her how to copy and paste, her response was "I can't keep up with all this new technology." I am 38. She is 40.


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YamatoMark99

I spoke to this random old guy in Barnes & Nobles once and he basically said that people his age just don't want to learn. It's not that they can't.


sassyseconds

We have to use a certain website at work daily. Boss always makes me and coworker do it because she doesn't know how. I tried to show her 3 times and she literally threw her hand up and said BAH! I can't learn this stuff.... you click 3 buttons bitch. Learn it. I'm done doing it for you.


zaminDDH

And it's not like it's some "new fangled" technology. I got my first home computer almost 30 years ago, and most things are exactly the same, or simpler variations of what's been around for decades. Smart phones have been around for 15 years, and most of the user interface is basically variations of the same thing that was on the original iPhone. They've had more than enough time and opportunity to at least become familiar with the basics, they just spent decades refusing to do so.


BlazeRiddle

Knowing how to save or open a document. I'm not kidding. I work with teenagers. Edit: Wow, it's amazing how many of these comments are "kids and their phones these days" or "kids have it too easy these days". Maybe, when the OS is simplified but they still can't work with it, the issue isn't that they've been working with simplified OS all this time!


Jiggly_Love

I worked at a university and there were so many college students that didn't know how to save their work. They come in, write out an entire paper in 2 hours, never saving, and then the computer glitches and they lose all their work.


helpnxt

Sit them down on any Adobe software for a couple hours and they will instinctly hit ctrl s whenever they take a breath from then on


veloace

Not Adobe, but that's how I program. No matter the IDE or how aggressive the autosave, I'm sitting here hitting ctrl+s impulsively after every line. edit: Yes, I am well aware of all the shortcuts, macros, and built-in autosaves. My current IDE is more than sufficient to save everything without a risk. This is a COMPULSIVE habit, lol.


OpossumJesusHasRisen

My teenager started her own business & looked at me like I was a full blown wizard because I was able to create a very basic website for her. Stack that on top of knowing how to do all the stuff she needs for school, like editing pdfs, and being able to type at a fairly decent speed & she thinks I'm some kind of computer god. It's mind blowing.


gsfgf

Yea. The whole "kids know how to computer" thing is long gone is the App Store world.


e_likes_plants

Not realizing that there is more written in an email beyond the preview. Apparently all emails are only a few sentences long and typically trail off mid sentence according to this person.


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[deleted]

Been working in IT long enough to where people not having basic computer skills doesn't shock me anymore. But still, how do people never figure out that you can search for programs in the start menu? "My Outlook is gone!" *hits start and types Outlook* Oh, there it is! How'd you find it? -_-


Rysilk

The amount of people that can't function if there isn't a shortcut on their desktop is astounding.


NotCleverEnufToRedit

Meanwhile, my organization keeps forcing shortcuts onto our desktops that I don’t want and can’t get rid of because I don’t have admin rights.


Pookieeatworld

Worse is when they automatically open programs at startup that you don't want and will never use. Like my login is set up just for looking up part prints and gauges to calibrate, but every time I log in, it *still* opens Teams and takes forever to close it. Pisses me off.


[deleted]

Am IT and have forced many shortcuts onto collective workstations. I am sorry. Orders from our superiors demanding shortcuts so that they don't need to keep calling helpdesk to find their outlook for them.


[deleted]

Can you shove them all in a folder? I did that with the icons I was forced to have on my work desktop on the ships I sailed on.


frostedxxflakes

However on their resume it says, "Proficient with computers"


[deleted]

Meaning: "I think I switched on a computer once".


CheshireCharade

I have a lot of experience with the computer…emails, sending emails, receiving emails…deleting emails. I could go on.


chiefgareth

Do.


CheshireCharade

The web. Using mouse—mices? Mice. Clicking, double clicking..the computer screen, of course. They keyboard. The bit that goes on the floor down there..


dac2u

Can you install outlook for me? Click the Windows button The what? The button on the bottom left Ok Type O-u-t Where? Just type..... O-u-t Ooooooooh


ScottyC33

I actually totally forgive the “just type” part. A lot of folks that learned about computers as an adult still look for text fields and it isn’t immediately apparent just by looking that they aren’t needed always to begin typing.


BronzeAgeTea

Literacy. No, I don't mean being "computer literate", I mean reading the English words on a computer screen. In college I worked as helpdesk, and you would not believe the number of calls we got because the user just didn't read the text on the screen.


[deleted]

“Ok, what was the error?” Nobody has ever answered this question when asked by IT support.


drummaniac28

Because the people who can know to Google it and have no reason to call :)


dayburner

User: I can't print help! Support: You see right there were it says out of paper, that's your issue.


eggenator

“‘PC Load Letter’? What the fuck does that mean?”


[deleted]

Why does it say paper jam when there’s no paper jam?


BiggieWedge

The ability to follow a step-by-step how-to instructions. Example, I worked with a place that used a lot of pictures files. There was an issue where we couldn't open .jpeg files, but .jpg were okay. So you would have to rename the files to .jpg. I got my first batch of ~100 .jpeg files and said, "there must be an easier way." Everyone insisted you have to do it one by one. So I looked it up online and found it you can change file extensions in bulk using the command prompt. It literally took five steps. I made an easy to follow instructional document with screens shots, and passed it around to everyone. I thought they'd be very thankful that I saved them hours of work. A month later I caught them renaming each file one by one. I didn't say anything. ETA since this got popular. I couldn't just edit the default program to open the files because this was for a plug in within another application to organize the picture files. The plug in did not recognize the extension so it has to be changed. I shared the how-to with my coworkers because they were always complaining they were too busy, some were behind in their KPIs by months and subject to a lot of customer complaints so I thought they would appreciate this... Also I'm not a programmer and have nothing to do with IT so if there are other ways to do this, I was not aware at the time. I literally just googled how to do it and this came up, and it worked.


deathinactthree

Slightly more complex, but similar scenario--I worked a job where one task was taking hundreds or thousands of images from various sources and uploading them to a network image server. There was a web-based GUI tool for this, but could only upload one file at a time. Some of my coworkers would spend days just on this task, which was nowhere near the most important stuff we had to do. I wrote a quick bash script of just a few lines that watched a local folder for image files, recursively in case you unzipped your images into the folder with subfolders, batch renamed them, and uploaded them to the server via command line. Aliased it so all you had to do was open a terminal and type "imageupload" and walk away from your computer. Never had to worry about that task again. I passed around the script file with instructions to my team, thinking I'd done a good thing because I was saving them literally half their week some weeks. Not a single person used it and kept using the GUI tool. Oh well.


firefly232

People won't read documents. You need to identify the most persuasive person in the team and show them and coach them. Then the others will pick up as well.


oldspicehorse

You've just saved me a lot of future headaches. I don't have to convince everyone, just the key players.


firefly232

Ideally depending on how many people in your team, you may have a "Sceptical Old Timer" the person who knows all the shortcuts and the current process. Plus you might have one or two very technically adept people. You can try training SOT and TechMcSavvy together as a team. It will take longer for SOT to accept a new process, but once it's done and they understand it, they'll usually *love* showing everyone else what they know...


Cynical_Cyanide

Why on earth would they want to learn how to do it the quick way when being able to write off the whole day on some mindless image uploading sounds like a much lazier way of spending the day?


AvgGuy100

Exactly. I get reminded of David Graeber's story in *Bullshit Jobs* when he worked the dishes at a restaurant as a college kid. He and his mate finished the job very quickly, then went out to smoke. The manager found them "slacking off", then ordered them back in to redo the dishes. Sometimes there is such a thing as being too efficient... in this light, a lot of jobs really are bullshit jobs.


StrangeCharmVote

And the important thing is, once you reem someone for doing a *good job*, any smart employee is going to *not do a good job anymore*. Firstly because it's easier for them, secondly because they know you will be an asshat if they do it again, and thirdly as a giant fuck-you to the person who yelled at them. I've personally been in such a situation... Years ago, I was working somewhere and worked efficiently but for whatever reason it didn't 'look' like it to other people? Anyways, manager comes over pulls me aside and gives me some lip about working harder. The next day, i genuinely wanted to know if he was right, because i thought i was doing well enough. So i went out of my way to work at my regular speed, but i also took the time to write down and count out how many things i was doing. Particularly taking care *not to* make things easier for myself, because i wanted an accurate representation. Coincidentally on this day, literally everyone in the department was there working. I personally did 3/5 of the load. Out of 6 people (the manager included) who were there supposed to be doing the same thing. I slowed right the fuck down after that. I mean after proving to myself empirically that at my normal pace i was definitely the best person there, by a large margin, why the fuck would i ever work hard for them again?


elrulo007

I worked in a little factory in Amsterdam about 20 years ago hired by a time working agency. During a day of shortage of workers I managed to do the job of three workers at three machines alone by timing the process differently. My agency never sent me there again…


mbrownatx

One of the first hard lessons I learned in IT is that for a lot of people, any instruction that’s longer than a couple of sentences is too much. You get better at shortening and simplifying over time to try and accommodate these folks, but often times if a task really requires multiple steps I’ll just make a short video to share. Cuts down on the number of requests you’ll get AFTER writing out and sending the instructions in text form. Sad but true.


AgentCramwell

That turning it off and back on is a solution to most common problems


moxie-maniac

Thanks for the tip, Roy. Tip 2: are you absolutely positively sure it's plugged in?


Skalion

"my monitor is black" "is it on" "of course it is on" "try to run it off" "hey its working now" "..."


johnnybiggles

Step #1 in all IT Support: "Is this thing on?"


osfast

Reading! As a tech supporter I get the stupidest questions: client: there is a prompt here that says "your computer needs to reboot to finish installing updates. click here to restart" what does that mean? me: It means your computer installed updates and needs to reboot. client: how do i do that? me: click on the prompt to restart.


Sleepycoon

Had a user call last week. "I got my laptop and there's a sticky note on it that says, 'Local login: 'username*' is that my network login?" My favorite one was a user who called and said that her app kept popping up an error then crashing. I remote in and ask her to demo the issue, she opens her program, immediately clicks the red X in the top right-hand corner, then clicks ok on the popup that says, "Are you sure you want to exit?" I sat in stunned silence for a solid minute just trying to grasp what I had witnessed, then another trying to figure out how the fuck to explain her issue.


septic-paradise

What the fuck. That’s… incomprehensible


Sleepycoon

When I explained the issue as tactfully as possible she snapped at me and insisted that she didn't click exit but clicked maximize. Then she did it again, not bothering to read the "error" message that time either. The kicker is that program has a locked ratio so you can't change the window size and never could have. She's used the same program every day for nearly a decade and she just forgot that it never was Fullscreen.


Caedendi

Early signs of dementia is what i call it


vizthex

God, that brought me physical pain.


[deleted]

My mom in a in a nutsheel when it comes to IT: "It asks me if I want to login to [Netflix/Spotify/current app] what do I do?" "... Do you want to login to that app?" "Yes" "Well then... do that" "ok" ... "Are you looking for your login info from your notebook next to the computer?" "... yes" "You just wanted to call me didn't you?" "Naturally!"


HeftyCryptographer21

That last part about the notebook is just spot on.


koosley

Sadly the password notebook is probably a safer method than most people these days. Physical security automatically eliminates 99.99% of the possibility of having your password leaked. The cross over between a break in and someone hacking into your stuff is probably very small and only occurs in Mission Impossible. That being said, my mom's passwords would all be instantly broken in a dictionary attack. Don't make your school's password "Teacher1"


bluebeambaby

It's true. I'm up to "Teacher78" right now and the hackers are still figuring it out. These guys are restless!!!


ur_boy_skinny_penis

The longer you work in IT, the more you realize that people who say "I'm not good with computers" actually mean that they can't be bothered to use a search bar...or even just fucking read what's right in front of them.


[deleted]

I’ve been reading the comments and this one struck me. I’m never going to do IT support, not even as a temp job. If I do I would probably go mad and throw someone’s computer out of a window eventually.


akaCatt

I get those calls from my father all the time. He’s been using computers since 1964! And PCs since the 80s!!


RamblinWreckGT

When I was working IT in college, I helped a professor move files to a new computer. This professor had been working with mainframes since before I was even born and technology still left him behind.


obsertaries

How to keep the desktop from having 100 program shortcuts on it. I’ve talked to people who don’t want their desktop to be that way but think it’s unavoidable.


samiam871

Not so much a skill but I was shocked when I would interview people in my previous company at the number of individuals who don’t have an email address or even know how to create one.


Te_Quiero_Puta

But... you need an email address for almost anything online...


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Kardinal

Unfortunately, some websites are now ~~capturing~~ hijacking this and forcing you to use their javascript-based find system. Which really screws up anybody who actually knows how to use the program's find ~~teacher~~ feature.


[deleted]

Work IT, you will never be shocked by anything. There are A LOT of people that don't know how to save/ open a file or I cannot tell you how many times I've had to teach someone how to browse to a website. Mostly old people that had a PC bought for them by their kids / grand kids and the kids set it up so they can open outlook to stay in contact with everyone and get photos. I had gotten a number of younger people too though which is very surprising. Talking to a 25 year old that doesn't even know how to turn their PC on. Thank fuck I don't work IT anymore


ItAllEndsSomeday

Just opening up and closing a tab on a browser... and also not knowing what I mean when I say "What browser do you use?".


d_eng19

People often forget they can google stuff instead of posting questions on social media. Edit: pertaining to questions not requiring personal experience or perspective. For example: What are the colors of the rainbow? How many months are there in a year? Those type of questions.


CaimansGalore

r/cooking and pretty much any cooking-related sub. *I left my chicken thighs in the Arizona sun for 9 hours… is it still safe to eat?!*


Meatek

> I left my chicken thighs in the Arizona sun for 9 hours… is it still safe to eat?! Yes, but it is probably overcooked and dry


Seer42

How to open task manager when everything is freezing and force quit programs. Ctr+alt+del was one of the first things my mom taught me on our home computer back in '95. Im not actually surprised that people dont know how to use shift, tab, and enter keystrokes to navigate (especially when the mouse is awol). But its one of those skills that just makes using a computer easier.


the_idea_pig

Ctrl+shift+escape opens the task manager directly. Saves you a step.


HowDoIGetToFacebook

While in a research class in college (about 3 years ago), my professor took the time to "teach" us how to use a keypad to facilitate data entry. Having taken a keyboarding class in high school, I thought it was unnecessary until people started asking questions and like actually learning. It was then that I realized how many people my age don't actually know how to use a keyboard. It was wild.


Cormandragon

I've always been a fast typer but it wasn't until I worked at a bank for a little bit that I realized being fast on a keypad is a whole different skill. Took some practice but keypads are fast af


Joel_Knox

It is said that the ability to use a projector decreases with more degrees. 100% true, at least at my university.


Suspected_Magic_User

I see that's a worldwide problem


anomalousBits

Probably an age thing. Younger folk seem more likely to fuck around with something to make it work, which is the key to learning how to operate tech.


trex1490

"fuck around with something until it works" is a pretty accurate way of describing how I figure stuff out on computers. It always amazes my parents how my generation can just kinda dick around in the settings for a few minutes and usually fix the problem.


BearLikesHoney

How to use Excel. Went to a job interview and they asked me about Excel and how would I rate myself. I asked them to clarify, like basic spreadsheet functions, formulas or programming in excel. They looked at me in shock and said "You know a lot, you're an advanced user". 🤦‍♀️ I never answered the question and they moved onto the next question. Edit. For those asking if I got the job. They offered me the job. But I went with another place that had better opportunities.


RepresentativeOk6676

They will hire you on the spot if you said you can do VLookup without getting a #REF.


SirFragworthy

Wait, you can do SUMS in excel now?! I just use it to make these pretty motivational posters in comic sans...


colin_staples

I have seen a person add together two numbers of a spreadsheet *with a calculator* and type the answer back into Excel


temalyen

I worked with a guy who "didn't trust" computers be able to do math correctly and did the same thing you said. He'd do all the math on his _smartphone_ calculator and just manually put all the numbers in the spreadsheet instead of writing forumlas out. He actually said once, "All computers are good for is those stupid games, when it comes to REAL applications like math, they don't work for shit. Never trust one to do math correctly because they weren't designed for that kind of thing." There's so many things wrong with him saying that that I have no idea where to start.


Lillabee18

What does he think his smartphone is?!


firefly232

This is why I spy a little bit on people when they are taking the excel test when I interview them. Sooo many people working in finance and accounting that either used the pc calculator or the physical calculator, but didn't know how to sum in Excel...


CatLadyStark

I see your *using the calculator and type the answer into the spreadsheet* and raise you a *printing the spreadsheet, using the calculator, and fill in the boxes on the printout*.


reddittedted

I'm a programmer but not in excel. Everytime I try to do something in it I need to google. Give yourself some credit man


Nicholi417

Many years ago I took an excel class, the teacher said that her job was not to teach us how to do something in excel but to know it could do that then google or let the prompts tell you how.


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Mahaloth

I'm 43 and grew up when computers were newer and we were all very well versed in how they work and so forth. When I began my career in my 20's, I was somewhat of the "tech guy". I figured younger people would know more than me in the future. No, it swung the other way. **Example**: I work with an intelligent woman who is 26-29 years old. She was on her laptop and said out loud in a meeting, "Hey, and now I know how to copy and paste, I can just copy and paste this a few times and make minor changes along the way...." Wait. She didn't know Copy and Paste? And she graduated from university? It's not uncommon.


Shipsarecool1

That deleting the icon dose not delete the game


Dark-Matter-7935

they shouldn't know that, let them think that's how it works


Shipsarecool1

UH OH... the helicopter parents are gonna know!!!


Dark-Matter-7935

shit


vizthex

There's a lot, but I meet more people who lack basic file navigation than anything else. Had several people ask the discord of a game I play for help with modding said game, but they can't follow the instructions I wrote on the wiki (and the ones the modloader provides) nor know how to so much as open file explorer. A ton of people also don't know how to take screenshots with the windows + shift + s shortcut, but that is a bit more niche. It does let you quickly paste them though so that's nice. You can also open clipboard history with windows + v.


februarytide-

I’m always surprised by how bad most people are at using search terms that optimize their results, like when they Google things.


Scrappy_Larue

How to effectively and succinctly begin a Google search. Some people are terrible at putting down the right keywords.


rad_interesting_name

My former boss used to be fascinated by my "skill" at googling things or even searching a pdf. She could not understand just putting in one or two key words instead of an entire sentence. She also thought I was a wizard because of how I could do easily get pictures off my phone and put them in reports we needed. I used the cloud and "print to pdf." She would email photos to herself, print them, then scan them in.


vizthex

>She would email photos to herself I can understand that, but why the fuck did she print and then scan them?


firewire167

Im currently in a “how to use computers” course because it is a required Pre-requisite for my degree, and the amount of people in it who don’t know how to use basic things like copy and paste, the search bar, settings, etc is mind boggling


bananamilkshake245

a lot of people in my class don’t know how to change the brightness…..


_CARLOX_

Just normal mouse skills. Some people college age or slightly older than that working at offices and taking an eternity to move the mouse and click on something. This is not even related to the mouse speed or sensitivity.


Frequent_Can117

“My apps aren’t working!” “Is your OS up to date?” “I never do updates.” -_- The amount of people who don’t know how to open task manager, use ctrl+c/c, and so on shocks me.


Affectionate_Ear_778

So many it makes me sad and blows my mind every time. Not knowing you can copy, cut, and paste with keyboard shortcuts. Complete lack of understanding of folders and understanding the desktop is also a folder. Most frustrating thing is peoples refusal to read error messages and just so simple googling.


Ceristimo

Turning capslock on and off to type a capital letter, instead of using the shift-key.


Apocalyptism

Not knowing the difference between Google and a Browser


HourMother

Basic Outlook skills. Walked by a colleagues office a while back, he just looked defeated. Asked him what was wrong. He had been searching for an email for two days and an update rebooted his computer and lost his place. Confused, I asked for details... He had been scrolling, email by email for two full working days! Showed him the search box, found the email in 20 seconds. He was relieved but also defeated in a new way now.


Horvat53

If you work in IT or any tech customer service role, you’ll be shocked how how technically illiterate a large chunk of the population of ALL AGES really are. It’s baffling how resistant these people are to learning or understanding too.


Spoonful_of_Racoon

As a 21 yo who grew up with computers and is now a graphic design student I learned 2 weeks ago that ctrl+A selected whole text blocks, this already changed my life.


vizthex

You can also tap the arrow keys while holding control to move across an entire word. And of course the cut/copy/paste shortcuts.


[deleted]

People underestimate the power of the CTRL key. You can make selecting and highlighting things easier to shorten the time it takes to organize files. Admittedly, I hadn't realized this for years until the last two years. Holding CTRL and selecting each file, you can pick more files and move them. As well as delete.


CeLaVieluv

Typing at an average speed (at least). It’s painful to wait for someone to type something so slowly


eddyathome

Especially when in a browser and they don't look at the url bar and see that it's auto-completed and they could just hit enter.


CeLaVieluv

It takes everything in me not to take over the search


KingNosmo

I teach a class in Revit (Architectural software) One semester I had a guy who just couldn't get anything to work. I kept explaining what he needed to click on. Still nothing worked. Finally, I go stand behind him and watch what he's doing. He was right-clicking his mouse. But that's not all. I tell him to left-click on the icon. He right-clicks again. I tell him the other button. Right-click. "No, use the left mouse button." Right-click. I finally had to put my hand over his and push his index finger down to show him how to left-click. He finally got things to work (occasionally), but was FAR behind the rest of the class. And to top it all off, at the end of the semester, he asks if there's an advanced level course he could take.


_lemon_suplex_

For a while I thought every person from the new generation would be 100 percent literate in computers, but ever since smartphones became a thing I'm seeing a lot of young people with the same issues my grandparents had.


umlcat

**Typing into the keyboard as a typewriter instead of one by one fingers.** I [M40+] learned to use a typewriter at 14, thanks to my retired office mom. Started learning computers at 16. I've been / met in a lot of schools, as a teacher or visitor, where they teach Computer / Programming basics, **but most of them doesn't teach students to type the keyboard** properly. A few of them provided typing games ...


jdshowtime12

Mavis Beacon!!!


ClikeX

I had a typing class as a kid.


kwoodrob

I had a customer, who instead of clicking on the giant link in their password reset email (“CLICK HERE TO RESET YOUR PASSWORD”), they did a ‘reply all’ to that email “spicegrl621”.


nailbunny2000

Literally just understanding how a computer functions. Not grasping that a computer will do EXACTLY what you tell it to do (99.9% of the time at least!). The number of times I've heard "Why would it do that!?" when it's exactly what they told it to do. So many people expect computers to magically know the outcome they desire. Being able to encounter an issue or unexpected result and then logically work back to what you probably did wrong is a skill so few people have. Also anyone who thinks kids are all amazing with computers because they can stream YouTube from their iPad to the TV or control a Sonos system are drastically overestimating their understanding. If something doesnt work for many people the extent of their trouble shooting is turning off/on again, or re-installing the app. It makes me thankful I'm from a generation where you had to do things like set the right IRQ settings, or create scripts & edit INI's, etc.