Mindless robots

[Loren Pechtel]

Why are people such mindless robots when faced with a task on the computer??

Problem: A woman in accounting was trying to print a certain report needed for paying commissions.

She had a written-down set of instructions and at the last level the menu was wrong.

After a bit of figuring out what was going on I realize what's happening: The report in question is password-protected and she's failing the password--which results in the system bouncing her back to the menu she was just on.

In other words, she went mindlessly through it and it didn't dawn on her that it wasn't the wrong menu coming up, it was the menu she was just on coming up!

Then to compound it, the password "worked" on a coworker's machine but not on hers.

After an hour-long battle with a fubared network problem I finally get my hands on the logs. The one time she typed it correctly on the coworker's machine it worked. The times she typed it wrong it didn't. Her mistake is consistent, every time on her machine she types it wrong.


What is this, switch off brain before approaching keyboard??? She's never struck me as one having a brain that matches her hair color.

[Puck]

I know a lot of rather smart people who keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Heh, I've been guilty myself now and then. Dumb will be if she forgets how to do it right tomorrow and you have to show her yet again.

We all make mistakes now and then, so maybe this was one of hers?

*trying to put a good spin on it*

[Loren Pechtel]

I know a lot of rather smart people who keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Heh, I've been guilty myself now and then. Dumb will be if she forgets how to do it right tomorrow and you have to show her yet again.

We all make mistakes now and then, so maybe this was one of hers?

*trying to put a good spin on it*

Once I realized she was seeing the same menu again it took me a while to get her to realize that's what she was seeing. She was robotically following the instructions that were written down rather than paying any attention to the menus she was going through. (Nor have I had any luck teaching more than a very few people the shortcuts built into the menu system. If you're going someplace often, memorize the number that will take you there, every menu option has a single-digit select-and-execute. This means that anyplace accessible directly via the menu system can be reached in about 1 second if you're any good at all on a 10-key--and the people who would get the most benefit from this most certainly know 10-key.)



This is also just the most blatant example of the problem I've hit recently. The salesmen do things that are variable enough they can't hope to do things by rote (other than one editor command that's restricted--it can simplify things in many cases but in a few it will make a mess and most of the salesmen don't have access to it because we don't trust them to recognize the cases where it works and where it doesn't. Making the code know if it's safe or not would be *VERY* hard.) but most everyone else operates it pretty mindlessly.

[DMB]

With regard to the short cuts, I have to say that OTW I don't bother to try to remember that sort of thing. As the years go by, learning stuff takes more effort, and I prefer to devote that effort to learning things that seem worthwhile to me.

I still don't know the registration number of my car, for example. Swiss car numbers are all numeric, apart from a two-letter code that simply gives the canton. I find it much easier to memorise car numbers if they have letters as well as figures. So i know the numbers of the cars I keep in England and France, but the Swiss one is harder. Of course, I could memorise it if I gave it any priority.

[RAFH]

What's wrong with robots, anyway?

[Lisa0315]

My pet peeve! This is not something you can train someone one. Either a person gets it or they don't.

I have a co-worker just like that. I have explained to her that Cost Accounting is not Steps 1-10, and that there are more exceptions than rules. Yet, if anything out of the ordinary occurs, she simply cannot function. She cannot even see that there is a problem much less resolve it.

Lisa

[Loren Pechtel]

My pet peeve! This is not something you can train someone one. Either a person gets it or they don't.

I have a co-worker just like that. I have explained to her that Cost Accounting is not Steps 1-10, and that there are more exceptions than rules. Yet, if anything out of the ordinary occurs, she simply cannot function. She cannot even see that there is a problem much less resolve it.

Lisa

I simply don't understand how not-stupid people can behave this way.


Since I had talked to voice mail I called her back to ensure that things were working. She still doesn't accept she was typing the password wrong but it's working now. The only thing I did to the system was look at the log and figure out what she was doing wrong.

[Lisa0315]

My pet peeve! This is not something you can train someone one. Either a person gets it or they don't.

I have a co-worker just like that. I have explained to her that Cost Accounting is not Steps 1-10, and that there are more exceptions than rules. Yet, if anything out of the ordinary occurs, she simply cannot function. She cannot even see that there is a problem much less resolve it.

Lisa

I simply don't understand how not-stupid people can behave this way.


Since I had talked to voice mail I called her back to ensure that things were working. She still doesn't accept she was typing the password wrong but it's working now. The only thing I did to the system was look at the log and figure out what she was doing wrong.

I have been working side by side with my stupid person for 11 years. Do you know what finally worked? I screamed at her. She told the boss. We got called into the office and I told everything I knew. She was cowering in a corner crying when I was done. I am not even exaggerating.

Her work has improved greatly since then. Then, just today, she called me with the stupidest question. She left a voice mail, and I haven't bothered to return it. Hopefully, my lack of response will translate into, "Figure it out yourself, you stupid cunt!" :evil:

Lisa

[sohy]

I simply don't understand how not-stupid people can behave this way.



Well, I was going to try and 'splain it to you but I think it might be a waste of time. Some of us freeze up when we get in front of a computer screen. We may be smart in other areas but simply don't see what you do when you get in front of the screen. I am one of those people and fuck y'all if you can't deal with it. At least I can type. :D Besides that, I've never had much training or had to use a computer at work very often. I would need a remedial course for slow learners if I did have to use one for more complicated matters. Don't expect people that don't share your area of expertise to learn as easily as you do in that area.

I've always had a learning disability when it comes to technical or mechanical things. I inherited that trait from my mother. That's why I had to marry an engineer. :D It might help if you try being really, really patient, repeat things several times and talk more s l o w l y. That usually helps me, usually but not always, and I'm woman enough to admit it.

I did something very dumbass the other day on the computer and my husband didn't even get upset or ask me how someone so smart could be so stupid. I guess he's finally figured out that I will always have this problem. That's progress. :cool: