People!

Okay, so today I hate being smart.

I'm not saying I'm smarter than you....or you, well...possibly you.

I work in an office with three people that are not computer literate. They (sometimes) know what they need to know to do their jobs, but beyond that the computer world is a complete mystery to them.

My boss, Jess, is the best out of all three. She takes it in stride that she doesn't know how to do things, but willingly tries to learn. Rarely does she call me back to her desk to help her figure out something. Even so, she tries to figure it out on her own before calling me.

The next two gals tie each other in the lack of computer skills department.

Marg will surf the web, but refuses to use e-mail. We have yet to figure out why, but my only explanation is that she's scared of looking inferior by asking for help. Today she was asking me to pull up something on Wells Fargo's website. What she wanted had been replaced with more current information and she was bound and determined that I wasn't looking in the right place! Because she's not the type to take NO for an answer, I went searched for her document playing along with the charade. She stood behind me and kept saying how she didn't understand why it wasn't showing up....I had to bite my tongue and just pretend I was as clueless as she was.

Then there's Chris...the annoyance that can make nails on a chalk board seem like music to your ears. Chris is in her 40's and has somehow made it through her life without any common sense. For the most part she knows how to use her computer, but as soon as something appears to be different than she's used to- she panics! For instance, earlier today she called me to ask how to open a Word document. I was stunned at the stupidity of the question! She went on to explain that the little yellow folder wasn't on her screen, and that's what she uses to open files. Seriously, she would have never made it the world before Windows became Moron-proof (but then again, she's testing it!).
I answered her mindless question by saying, "Go to File. Open."

"I already did, it wouldn't let me select Open!"

"Go anyway."

"Oh! There it is!"

See, being smart actually can be quite a bother. When challanged folks use me as their crutch! They eventually refuse to try and think it through, rather just call me and have me fix it!

Chris even has troubles with our copier/fax/printer. If the Error light is blinking she goes into shock! There are multiple reasons why this light would blink, and she's aware of all of them!

1. someone is trying to print something for manual feed, and there's nothing in the feed
2. it's out of paper
3. a document may require legal sized paper and it's set at letter size.

All Chris will do is open all of the paper drawers to ensure there is paper, if there is....she screams for me. Doesn't matter if I'm on the phone or engrossed in a pile of work, I must come to her rescue.

I've got to the point that I say, "If I fix it in under 5 seconds, you're buying me lunch!" She knows I'm not serious, but eventually I may have to be....just to force her to think for herself!