Monday, November 15, 2010

It's too long until Friday

Lazypants helpless people can FTFO.

I had someone come and tell me the printer was "broken." I walked down there to verify; it turned out it had been jammed and just needed rebooting. And I had another person tell me he "can't" do an oral presentation in class because he has no storage media that will hold a powerpoint presentation. I sighed and told him to e-mail it to me and I'd transfer it. He said he didn't know how to do an e-mail attachment.

I told him to make overheads.

Feckin' OVERHEADS. Welcome to 1972.

Helpless people make my blood boil because I'm already not getting the stuff I need to get done, done, and it makes it worse when some sad sack comes to my office and says they "can't" do something, and expects me to show them how.

2 comments:

Heroditus Huxley said...

My whole _family_ is just like this: "Nobody in this town likes me because of the terrible rumors your father started...no, of course I can't move away--they're everywhere, and besides, your aunt needs me here."

"Oh, I can't find a doctor that will take me seriously...no, of course I can't come to your city--I'd have panic attacks, and no one would take me seriously, anyway."

And I can't exactly tell my mother to STFU. I can, and have, told her that, as long as she will not do anything to improve her situation, I don't want to hear her complain about it, though. (Not that it helps--she usually finds something else.)

With students? My response is "Tough. You're an adult. Figure it out yourself, and if you can't, it's your parents' fault for not loving you enough to teach you how to solve problems."

Kate P said...

Lately I have been teaching my (middle school level) students the wonders of the "Go" button on the printer. I'm sick of hearing "the printer's broken" when the "offline" indicator is on. I hope the lesson sticks with at least one of them!