Low level whinging

"Uknown Error in Unknown Module"

Cc.

Bcc.

They had no computer at home and simply had never used one until computer use became compulsory at work. The training we got assumed a basic level of familiarity that they just did not have.

This is why I like tablets and mobile apps old school pc stuff is meh.

Person copies all users on email (probably about 20,000 people?)

For the next few hours, a succession of people reply, which can be divided into tiers:

Tier 1: "why am I copied on this?" x100
Tier 2: "why am I receiving all these emails, please remove me from this distribution list" x 200
Bonus tier 2b: people replying to the Tier 2 replies; "Yes, remove me too please" x200
Tier 3 (My personal favorite): "STOP REPLYING TO ALL YOU IDIOTS" (obviously, whilst replying to all) x500

I've only worked at one company where this used to happen..... and it happened pretty regularly, like once every few months.

I still have to use assembler code.

There, some proper low level IT whinging.

At least you don’t have to enter the op codes via a hex pad 🙂

Because how most people prioritize work should probably be more sophisticated than “who asked first”

That’s the point. They don’t care how work is prioritised, they need it doing now, because they’ve sat on it for too long before a deadline is about to pass.

The requirement for an entire industry has developed off the back of tools that were ultimately meant to save time and costs to organisations

The IT department isn't just looking after people's PCs and software. IT does an absolutely enormous amount of work in our current working society.

Many of the colleagues I referred to where not being wilfully useless at IT. They just had no use for one in their lives. They had no computer at home and simply had never used one until computer use became compulsory at work. The training we got assumed a basic level of familiarity that they just did not have.

Going back 20 years, I'd absolutely agree with that. My Dad was exactly like that in fact - his job had zero need for computers, he never used one so when he retired and tried to do anything, he'd constantly be asked for his email address etc and he simply didn't have anything like that, had never used it.

I think now, computers are so embedded in everyday life (even as phones/tablets) that people can use them but as phones are entirely based on touch and apps and ease of use, it still doesn't translate to using software like Excel / Word etc.

Person copies all users on email (probably about 20,000 people?)

Someone did this where I worked once announcing they were off on holiday, presumably just intended for her immediate team. Sparked off loads of reply to all e-mails with stupid questions about where she was going, wishing her a good trip etc. until the IT department put a stop to it because it was basically causing a denial of service attack on the e-mail server. 🤣

At least you don’t have to enter the op codes via a hex pad

punch cards

shazam!

My Dad was exactly like that in fact – his job had zero need for computers, he never used one so when he retired and tried to do anything, he’d constantly be asked for his email address etc and he simply didn’t have anything like that, had never used it.

Similar to my parents. My mum has, to be fair, learnt how to use a web browser (just about) and email (just about).

However. For comedy points, they refuse to put credit card details in to a website.

Preferring instead, to hand over those details verbally to a person on the end of a phone... who will then put them in to a website.

There's a surprising mount of folks who's computer literacy would drive IT teams to distraction, my parents and their partners all pretty much (with the exception of my mum perhaps who can at least use zoom and email) cannot use them, My Dad's wife has never sat at one, doesn't have apps on her smart phone (can text) and still uses cheques.

I think the frustrations from regular folks who use computers is just the knowledge that they're hard to use, and they always have been, and that doesn't seem to be improving. Connections drop out, stuff that worked yesterday doesn't work today, passwords, stuff not "seeing" or connecting to other stuff in the way that should...it's all just crappy and takes up way too much time and patients to resolve.

I'm pretty certain that programme wise, it's really really clever most of the time, the interface is shit, always has been, continues to be.

The requirement for an entire industry has developed off the back of tools that were ultimately meant to save time and costs to organisations

See "outsourcing". Where doing the task oneself is both faster and cheaper than paying another to do the same task, whilst having to oversee said task done to a lower standard takes at least as much time as just doing it. And to add insult to injury, the expertise is lost to the organisation who becomes a hostage to fortune!

Kerrrching!

However. For comedy points, they refuse to put credit card details in to a website.

Preferring instead, to hand over those details verbally to a person on the end of a phone… who will then put them in to a website.

I used to work with a race organiser like that. He would phone up and pay for things by reading his card details out over the phone or by faxing them through. The latter stopped when organisations could no longer receive faxes. He was very upset about that.

Took him forever to move to online entry as well, it was only when teams simply didn't have cheque books anymore that he (begrudgingly) went to online entry although he threatened to cancel his race several times before finally relented.

I’m pretty certain that programme wise, it’s really really clever most of the time, the interface is shit, always has been, continues to be.

See every home printer everywhere.

I think now, computers are so embedded in everyday life (even as phones/tablets) that people can use them but as phones are entirely based on touch and apps and ease of use, it still doesn’t translate to using software like Excel / Word etc.

Also not to stuff like One Drive, which everyone now uses by default now. People didn't (perhaps still don't) really understand what was going on - where are my files? Is it on my computer or not? - which has been compounded by the way MS has changed how it works several times in the last few years. My parents understand it, it's not particularly complicated, but I had to explain it. There's no way they ever would have known, and as far as I know it's not documented anywhere. You're just expected to know or to be able to deduce from what you see.

See also zip files about 15 years ago. When MS introduced automatic zip file unpacking, a zip file became a folder icon that looks almost the same as a normal folder. And if you double click on it, it opens just like a normal folder. And by default the .zip file extension has been hidden. But it doesn't quite behave the same way. Led to some serious confusion for my sister at one point over the phone. Again it was cleared up easily once I realised she was dealing with a zip. Again, no-one told anyone.

SSL is another one. Someone should teach kids what that padlock symbol means, in super basic terms.

I guess its not easy for folk like you immersed in it to realise that people like this are still around

often the answer to my requests for help includes terms and phrases that are simply meaningless to me.

Which leads to more questions. Or the dreaded inelegant or partially understood ‘work rounds’ for which so many are criticised!

I do my best, but support should understand that someone asking basic questions probably needs a non-jargon response!

And sometimes “it’s not working but I don’t really understand how or why. It’s just not doing what it did before” is the best reporting the user understands how to give without guidance.

I work for a bank. We now have an internal ‘Facebook for work’. It has allowed people to indulge in the urge to just shout about a problem and get somebody to fix it for them without any attempt at independent thought.

Recent example, ‘why have all of our cards stopped working in ATMs?!’ Visible to the entire company, senior managers start taking notice, this trickles down to the plebs in support like me who have to stop what they are doing and investigate. It looks like you have a single broken ATM in your branch, don’t you have a support guide for broken ATMs, including a number to ring so you get an actual engineer able to fix it? Takes some powers of persuasion to convince management that this is actually the case and all of our cards haven’t just stopped working. How many wasted man hours…

And sometimes “it’s not working but I don’t really understand how or why. It’s just not doing what it did before”

You have to understand that we need to know what it is doing now, not simply that it isn't doing what you expect.

We now have an internal ‘Facebook for work’. It has allowed people to indulge in the urge to just shout about a problem and get somebody to fix it for them without any attempt at independent thought.

I work in the IT Team in an NHS organisation. Comms rolled that Facebook Workplace out across our org and were surprised when none of our IT team activated their accounts (and most actively asked for them to be deleted). Cue us getting a bashing a month or so later when someone shouts about a problem on FB and no-one from IT pops up to handily resolve it for them. We pointed out we have an email, a phone number and a Service Desk that they can use to log a fault call, Social Media is not an approved channel...

molgrips

And yet, the boss at the partner is sending daily anguished emails complaining that his reputation is at stake and we need to fix it straight away.

More often than not because someone in sales sold them something unrealistic...or someone decided to promise the earth for less than the cost of the moon in a RFP response.

No mate, sorry, we’re not responsible for your lack of skills no matter how upset you get.

Possibly .. the RACI may or may not match what the sales person promised or the RFP specified.

My grandfather who worked in the NHS had this:
“I’ve done so much with so little for so long, that I’m now qualified to do anything with nothing.”

Qualified, or expected?

Cougar

Many of the colleagues I referred to where not being wilfully useless at IT. They just had no use for one in their lives.

Sure, but,

I guess its not easy for folk like you immersed in it to realise that people like this are still around

... this is exactly the point I was getting at. We assume a basic literacy that may not exist. Going back to the car analogy, we'd perhaps teach someone "this is the accelerator, this is the brake, this is the clutch" and simply assume that they understood what those terms meant.

Maybe 20 years ago I was working at a company whose head honcho was a notorious technophobe. IT gave him a computer for "basic stuff" like email. He never used it. When I got involved it turned out that he'd never used a keyboard before, never used a mouse, he was ostensibly frightened of it. I got him playing Solitaire so he could develop mouse-related motor skills.

What annoys me is not people who don't understand; nor the people who don't want to understand; rather, what irks me is the people who are proud that they don't understand. I've literally been told "I don't understand this computer shit, me" with a big grin like they expected praise. And this was coming from someone in Accounts with an Excel issue.

There's plenty of things I don't understand. As a random example I don't really understand Irish politics; I don't understand the north/south divide, proddy/catlick, who's for/against English intervention, and I _really_ don't understand how the ones doing all the exploding a few years ago are now seemingly the good guys. But I consider that a source of embarrassment, not something to boast about. (And I'd love it if someone were to explain it to me at a John Craven's Newsround level of complexity.)

no-one from IT pops up to handily resolve it for them. We pointed out we have an email, a phone number and a Service Desk that they can use to log a fault call, Social Media is not an approved channel…

I do love a game of chase your tail and waste a whole day...

Can you look into X, it's urgent.
Half an hour later, I can't find it, what's the reference?
Dunno
Is it logged correctly? it doesn't seem to be in the service desk?
No, it's probably on Jira...
Half an hour later, I still can't find it
Oh well check slack, theres a whole conversation about it
I can't see it
No, its on channel X
I'm not part of that channel?
Oh, ask so and so and they will add you
They are on lunch???
Is it fixed yet?
I can't tell if it's working to spec, it may not be a bug, where's the documentation/acceptance criteria?
Oh it's on the PMs spreadsheet
on sharepoint?
Cant find it...
no, on his laptop
but they are on leave!!!!

What annoys me is not people who don’t understand; nor the people who don’t want to understand; rather, what irks me is the people who are proud that they don’t understand. I’ve literally been told “I don’t understand this computer shit, me” with a big grin like they expected praise.

Our Continuing Healthcare nurses, who spend a chunk of their time dealing with emails, entering home visit details into a clinical system and transferring images of bedsores from mobiles onto laptops, but god help you if you ask them to log a fault via a web portal...

What annoys me is not people who don’t understand; nor the people who don’t want to understand; rather, what irks me is the people who are proud that they don’t understand. I’ve literally been told “I don’t understand this computer shit, me” with a big grin like they expected praise.

Accurate.
I had to self-teach a fair bit of IT, especially Excel. Spent ages with YouTube tutorials, example sheets and formulae and actually took pride in learning more and more about it. And at work, I saw people literally counting lines by hand or getting a calculator out to do some basic maths then inputting the result into the cell. Staggering.

punch cards

shazam!

Mind the generation gap!