There’s a difference between not knowing something and being just plain stupid. This has been on my mind for ages now. I’m a nice guy, and the chances of me saying something negative in a situation are slim to none yet that doesn’t stop me from thinking it. I have a problem with clueless people. I wrote an article related to it but it’s unpublished at this time for certain reasons. We have people in companies that are generally clueless as to what they’re doing, they’re fulfilling a job or requirement but do so in a sheepish manner, they are told how to accomplish their day to day tasks, they cannot think for themselves, they have their hands held while they do these tasks and if any task deviates from what they’ve been told they enter “halt mode” or they mentally get a STOP error and are unable to continue until an IT person intervenes. I’m talking about tasks as it relates to computer use…
At work we have a very uncomplicated network, it’s rather simple in structure. We have 2 primary web portals that allow people to do their work from just about anywhere in the world. These are Citrix and Webmail. In Citrix we publish apps such as Great Plains and other MS Access Databases, this along with Webmail are accessible by typing in http://access or http://webmail in a browser, these are just aliases that re-direct to their FQDN’s (which are accessible from any browser from any computer in the world). This is a SIMPLE process, just by typing in a word you can log in and do your work yet this BASIC process seems to escape a large portion of the company userbase and they are unable to do this without the use of a shortcut on their desktop. How difficult is it to remember the word “access” or “webmail”? How difficult is it to remember that you have to type that in the address bar in Internet Explorer? Is using a web browser higher grade stuff or are we back in grade school suddenly? I had a lady at work unable to comprehend this, I would tell her to type in access in the address bar and press enter yet she was stumbling over this simple task, out of complete frustration I had to eventually grab control of her PC and do it for her! This is but one example of many. I could probably fill a book with thing’s like this.
When we deploy new users it is the responsibility of the Client Services department to briefly train the user so that they are familiar with our network environment so that they have at least the basic knowledge to get working, things such as printer locations, shared folder drives, home folder locations, the difference between saving things to the desktop vs saving them to a network share, and how to access Citrix and Webmail among other things. I’m not sure if it’s first day jitters but everyone seems to magically forget what they’re been taught 10minutes after you’ve just spent 15mins teaching them. Wait, I digress, even after MONTHS they still don’t know how to get to certain resources.
So here’s some BIG TIPS for everyone that is everyone that will be using a computer in some form or another to do their job:
- It is in YOUR BEST INTEREST to LEARN how to use this tool that you will be using for 9 hours a day to access the resources that you need to do your job!
- KNOW your network environment, even if it’s just the basics, UNDERSTAND how to access resources (file share’s/databases etc), you don’t have to be in IT to understand this basic stuff. All you do is click ‘Start’ -> ‘Run’ and then type in \\servername\sharename
- LEARN the server names that host your work files.
- LEARN how to manually access a shared network drive. DON’T rely on shortcuts, when you come up to the IT dept and say “My N:\ isn’t working!, well, WHAT IS YOUR N: DRIVE? How are we to know what you or somebody else has mapped as your N:\. This extends to managers aswell, I can’t count on my hands the number of times a manager has sent an email out saying something like “The following people will need access to the I:\”. Um, okay?
Go on a computer course, it will stand you in good stead for future jobs that you will hold, learn how to use Windows effectively, learn all the shortcuts – you have no idea how much time you will save yourself. Don’t rely on the IT dept to hold your hands whenever you encounter a menial problem. My phrase is “Windows is windows is windows”, no matter which company you go to if they’re using Windows (the chances are high that they are) then accessing company resources are all done the same way, sure the server names and share names will be different but that comes with learning your network environment.
I intend my comments to be as friendly as possible so don’t take offense but it drives me nuts that the IT dept has to babysit employees whenever they bump into a so called ‘problem’. Knowledge is power, and I don’t mean that lightly, you will save yourself headaches and you will save yourself from certain embarrassment if you can learn how to fix basic problems yourself. Sure, there’s some things that you won’t be able to fix, and that’s fine, if it’s out of your control.
This seems to be a pandemic problem across the world. I lose faith in humanity when I encounter situations like this, and it seems to be occurring at an increasing pace. So my question is, how effective can in-company user education be when employees are unable to remember anything you tell them?
Filed under: Adventures @ Work, Life | Tagged: Adventures @ Work, Clueless People, Frustration
In my company we have a lot of older workers who work here on a voluntary basis. I find that generally if I take the time to teach them something once properly, they can grasp it and be on their way. (generally).
I have noticed that some of the middle aged workers are afraid to acknowledge that I as an IT person may know more than them. THis will result in them doing something dumb, and then trying to cover up the dumbness by “fixing” it themselves. I am all for users solving their own problems, but if you don’t have a clue and your ego is sensitive, you can do a lot of damage!
In a glimmer of hope, younger employees seem to grasp the technology faster.
However, I maintain that IWAQ Syndrome is alive and well in every age group.
Hear hear!
I find the world is becoming more of an Idocracy every day. It’s very subtle too.
For example, in my field of work, logging on to an Act database is as simple as entering in your username and password. Right? You wouldn think…
I can’t count how many times i’ve had support calls complaining that they’re seeing someone else’s schedule and contacts.
A careful investigation shows that all they do when they “log on” to the database is press “enter” at whatever name appears on the log on screen.
That’s right, the log on name says “Joe” not “Bob”, what makes you think you’re going to get “Bob’s” preferences and not “Joe’s”?
Cmon! When you do your personal internet banking do you log on as someone else? How can you be completely literate with logging on to MSN messenger and not log on to the database? It’s the same thing! When you purchase something at the store, do you accidently use your drivers license instead of your Visa? Wake up people! You’re all becoming stupid!
Maybe I’ve become somewhat immune to the average stupid person (I believe it’s a condition of my employment and relative sanity), with the exceptions of idiots in groups, and idiots in high places.
A large group of idiots can happily convince themselves that they are moving in the right direction, even if it means steering the Titanic over Niagra Falls to avoid the icebergs. Thank god for corporate ‘realignment’ and ‘cost consolidation’, otherwise these people will just gather in larger and larger groups, and watch Pinky and the Brain re-runs and call it a training seminar.
Idiots in high places. We all know them, we have all been tempted to hit the gas instead of the brake while they’re crossing the parking lot at their usual 3:30 in the afternoon. People in a position of power should have a relative knowledge of the business they are in charge of, but somehow that doesn’t always seem to work. It’s funny how giving orders for the sake of giving orders is not always productive (assuming the people executing the orders are not the previously mentioned large group of idiots). The only thing worse than an idiot with power is one with another idiot in a higher position that will back any brilliant schemes their cranially challenged underling spews out between 3 martini lunches and one of their 7 smoke breaks. Let’s see if you can read the next sentence and not cringe with bad memories. “I don’t care if it makes no sense, just make it happen!”
I should get back to my caffeine and Tylenol diet and plan ways to stop the voices in my head from telling me to,….. I’ll discuss that another day.
I do not complain about stupid people at work since if people were smart enough to do tech related things themselves I would be out of a job. Telling people to move the pointer on the screen to the box and click it is so simple. I would much rather be getting paid $100,000 for doing something so simple compared to working 18hr days in a sweatshop overseas for $0.25 an hr.