Give it time. A co-worker who has moved on to another company (chemistry degree) could hardly go a day without a, “before I started here that would have never…” Now she reads change notes on updates for her phone, understands the joys of a basic text editor like Notepad, understands the basic nerd references, kinda gets the basics of hardware and software, will copy and paste VBA code into Excel although she calls it VB…
In 2.5 years we couldn’t get her to start wearing jeans, or a t-shirt or a shoe without some sort of heel to work, however, so more work needed to be done.
We now live in the land of Rainbows and Unicorns! After too many years in IT I finally determined it was usually a BDU error. After fixing the issue, whatever it was, I would nod and say it was probably a BDU error. A “oh, I thought was it” was the usual response
Hahahaha you get 1 million dollars for Goldies!!! They are so cute!
Thankfully my work isn’t as strict… As long as it’s not an offensive term. Although I guess some people can find Honey to be offensive? Then again… I think those may have bigger issues…
Whenever anyone has a problem with getting a piece of technology to work, I ask them if they’ve tried kicking it in the face. Sometimes it gets a laugh. Sometimes I’m asked to point out where the face is. I assume in all cases that they just think I’m crazy, but especially when I point to the “face” of a computer.
One of my favorite best ‘urge’ rejections was to a person who needed a pole lamp light bulb exchanged.
It was a neighbor of my brother. I had brought a ladder and went to examine the light. Wiring looked ok but the bulb was burnt. I extracted the bulb, stored the ladder, and headed to my truck to buy a new one.
The owner came running out, so I stopped to explain I would be back soon with another bulb.
He wanted no part of that. He chided me for leaving the fixture bare to the air.
He stated in harsh terms that he was not paying for electricity leaking all over the place, while I was larking off to the store.
I remember staring at him for a bit as he carried on, trying to figure my best response. Finally, I gave a nod. Went and got the ladder, replaced the burnt lamp, stored the ladder and off to the store.
I just figured that was easier than giving a science lesson to someone bouncing around in circles.
That light bulb story reminds me of the Comcast tech who tried to tell me that my coaxial cable was too tight, and was therefore restricting the flow of the internet.
I took a second, waiting for the smirk or chuckle… but no, he was dead serious. I just let it go, because all I could think was “what…?”
My father owned a tire shop. Replaced four tires on a Navy Lieutenant’s brand new convertible. The LT drove off but returned 15 minutes later irate that the mechanic didn’t orient the logos correctly when replacing the hubcaps. My father simply instructed his helper to pull the hubcaps and rotate them so that all logos were upright. The Lieutenant left our shop with the usual superior attitude over us locals. My father looked at me and said, “boy, that’s why I’m always afraid if you get one more degree you won’t have sense enough to come in out of the rain”.
I am truly impressed. I mean I agree, sometimes the high road is just esaier but based on past experiance I could just see myself staring until ask what I was staring at and then replying “I’m just wandering if you are pulling my leg or are really this stupid”. Needless to say, I am not alowed around custumers or sensitive mangament.
