I swear users are potentially dyslexic

[afreak2600.livejournal.com]

One of the most unusual things that I come across is that users cannot read what is on their computer screens. I can understand someone not being able to find the start button, Internet Explorer, or some other half-assed concoction from Microsoft, but it's another when one cannot read what is said on the screen.

For instance, I ask the subscriber what it says when she attempts to download their e-mail. I'll get something along the lines of "POP server has rejected the connection." What else does it say? "Nothing." Of course, just after that sentence, it'll say something along the lines of "time-out" or "password incorrect." Yes. It may be contained in that little section there that may be a bit complex, but it tells you why!

Or the other one where I ask what their browser is. If it isn't "Windows," I get "Foxfire." What the fuck is "Foxfire?" I swear to God that either users are supposed to be borderline dyslexic or they're actually illiterate and somehow can guess half of what it says.

Comments

[photosinensis.livejournal.com]

My father actually is dyslexic, and this is why he calls it "Forfire".

On the other hand, I'm just glad my users generally know how to read. Of course, tomorrow, they'll make me eat my words, and I'll be here complaining.

[prozacnation.livejournal.com]

When I hear that, I always want to say, "Are you referring to this movie?"
http://imdb.com/title/tt0116353/

[ptomblin-lj.livejournal.com]

tl;dr

[lilpeach.livejournal.com]

Or the other one where I ask what their browser is. If it isn't "Windows," I get "Foxfire." What the fuck is "Foxfire?" I swear to God that either users are supposed to be borderline dyslexic or they're actually illiterate and somehow can guess half of what it says.

i run a customer service/help desk hybrid - and one of my favorite interview questions for a new hire is "what is your favorite web browser, and why?" you'd be amazed at the number of people who answer that question "yahoo" or "google" .... who goes to an interview for a help desk (we call it internet support) and doesn't know the difference between a web browser and a search engine? i weep for humanity. :) (and giggle)

[emsporter.livejournal.com]

The same folks I worked with on a helpdesk. When confronted with a DNS issue (and me attempting to explain it), his first question was "What's an IP address?"

He'd worked there for two years.

[fuzzyr.livejournal.com]

Ouch.

BTW, much icon love.

[lihan161051.livejournal.com]

Some people give the name of a search engine when asked which browser they're using.

Some give the name of a browser when asked who their ISP is.

Some call the support for the browser or OS when they can't get their webmail.

Some of them aren't even that organized, and try to hide it by using all the names interchangeably thinking it makes them sound smart (which it probably does, to people who don't do tech support all day).

sigh ..

[valiskeogh.livejournal.com]

thank god 90% of the comps i support have vnc setup in the image.

i dont bother asking them questions anymore, beyond "click on the "my details" icon, what is your ip address?"

[jecook]

Our users are not quite that smart, sadly.

And by the time I can crowbar the computer name out of them (it's on the wallpaper of just about every machine on the bloody network), I've already trolled the AD database and gotten a pretty decent guess of what it is.

While we don't use vnc a whole lot over here, I will say that remote assistance is Teh Bawm. I still wish we had it at the last place I was at- it would have made life a hell of a lot easier.

[gilmoure.livejournal.com]

Hey, Foxfire's the default browser for non-Windows machines here at work.

Still, I get you with the lack of reading. I think that having someone else to ask how to do or fix the simplest things, in combinations with pay checks several times larger than mine tends to make people forget how to read.

Can't connect to the server (she means the internet). There's an error.

What error do you get?

Server's down!

I remote in, read out loud: "Firefox can't find the server at www.wwwcnncom.com" with an address of http://wwwcnncom/. I hate my users. They teh suck!

[lihan161051.livejournal.com]

Someone should buy that domain and use it to promote typing lessons .. :D

[loosechanj.livejournal.com]

Many moons ago, my mom asked me to setup her internet connection. I did, and outlook with her email. Next time I was over, she asked me how could she get into her email? I renamed the outlook icon "EMAIL". Take a guess how well that worked.

[matgb]

Friend of mine switched his parents to hotmail (before gmail) because they couldn't understand that different programmes were for different things online, and thus Outlook was some weird thing that had no use.

Gah!

[soruk.livejournal.com]

You gave your mother Outlook?

I hate to make any insinuations about your relationship with her when you foist such a piece of crap on her...

[loosechanj.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, I hate her. Plus this was like, 10 years ago so it wasn't like Thunderbird was an option.

[liber-cogito.livejournal.com]

A lot of america is functionally illiterate. It's depressing.

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think I read something the other day that said 15-20% of Americans are functionally illiterate, and that's exactly what I thought of when reading this post. Yes, I think a lot of them can read only part of it and do just guess at the rest.

Like the guy I got who told me he needed toner for an "X-Ron" printer/copier.

[wherdafux-d-cat.livejournal.com]

'Most unusual'?? I can only wish it were unusual!

[turningallblue.livejournal.com]

When I was working IT I made great use of "Okay, when you get on the Internet, do you click the little yellow man, a blue e, or a blue and orange ball?" And yes, even that failed sometimes.

[soruk.livejournal.com]

[paraphrasing a Three Dead Trolls sketch]

Okay.. what do you see in the top right hand corner of your browser window? Big blue E or a big green N? ... big black nothing? OK, what you need to do is switch your computer on...

....and there was me thinking they were joking.

[wherdafux-d-cat.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh no, 'The Internet Help Desk' falls squarely into the 'so funny because it's TRUE' category.