(no subject)

[bekscilla.livejournal.com]

Is it seriously that hard to understand "triple zero"? We have servers that are basically XXXXXX0001. People can grasp the letters (normally because I say p is for paper, etc - people can never understand it otherwise), but people can't grasp triple zero. I had a guy today who repeated back to me "triple zeeero" as he was typing, and it didn't work because he typed 001. What is wrong with these people?

I've tried saying "letter letter letter zero zero zero one", but that doesn't work either. I more understand not being able to get zero zero zero one, because it kind of blurs in the mind a little, but triple zero should not be this hard!

Comments

[canray.livejournal.com]

"Please unplug your *Device*. ... Please unplug your *Device* from the power. ... Please unplug your *Device* from the ConEd. ... Please unplug your *Device* like you would a toaster or a hair dryer. ... Please pack up your *Device* and return it, you are too stupid to have it." - Overheard Converstaion when I was working for a New York Cable TV Company.

Never underestimate human stupidity.

[guinevere33.livejournal.com]

Starfish: "But zero times three is 0, so there must be only one of them."

[solradia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've had some luck by saying "The number 0" but it takes a beastly long time to get anything out that way. Even then, sometimes I have to go back and ask if they used O or 0.

[lihan161051.livejournal.com]

Or they ask, "OK, how do you spell 'triple' again? Is that all one word or should there be spaces in there?" Or they typed QQQ1. (The ones who used 'l' (lower case L) and '1' (digit 1) interchangeably seem to have moved on to better things, fortunately.) If it's possible to screw something up, someone will inevitably find a way.

There is no such thing as something too simple not to understand. The idiots will always win that game.

Serial numbers are especially fun.

Sometimes, though, it's not so much a literal failure to grasp an exact expression of a specific sequence of characters as it is a failure to wrap their head around some crucial concept. And in some especially frustrating cases, I've seen them build a complete fantasy model of how the system works in their heads based solely on tech buzzwords ..