One of my favourite stories over the years is one that involved a CD, a computer and a user with a very basic skill set. I'll elaborate:
It was a dreary Monday afternoon in November (actually I have no recollection of when it was, but that sounds like a good start). We'd recently had a new girl join the company I was working for at the time and she'd been at her desk working hard all day. We had an open plan office, so it wasn't unusual to hear people cursing or muttering about something... often with too much clarity (okay... I was probably the worse offender).
On this afternoon I heard all sorts of grunting and panting sounds coming from her workstation. I couldn't see her very well as she was bent down and under her desk. After this carried on for a few minutes, I decided to investigate and walked over to her desk.
Me: Are you alright?
At this point, she moved to the side and I was able to see her clearly trying to force a CD into a 3.5" floppy drive. She was giving it her best too... she'd anchored her feet to her desk and was trying to push the CD into the slot by placing the palms of her hands on the discs edge, wrist inward. The disc was flexing to the breaking point.
Me: Okay you have to stop that right now before you slit your wrists!!
Girl: What's wrong with this stupid thing.
Me: Well, first that's not a CD-ROM drive you're trying to insert that CD into. That's a floppy drive.
Girl: Blank look.
Me: You know... a 3.5 inch floppy disk drive. A CD won't fit in that.
Girl: Oh... well I'm a mac user.
Me: That still doesn't explain why you were trying to fit a CD into a slot that was clearly smaller than the object you wanted to insert. You need to open the CD-ROM drive.
Girl: How do I do that?
Me: You push the button on the CD-ROM drive.
She pushed the power button.
I have to imagine by now she's backed over herself in her car.
It was a dreary Monday afternoon in November (actually I have no recollection of when it was, but that sounds like a good start). We'd recently had a new girl join the company I was working for at the time and she'd been at her desk working hard all day. We had an open plan office, so it wasn't unusual to hear people cursing or muttering about something... often with too much clarity (okay... I was probably the worse offender).
On this afternoon I heard all sorts of grunting and panting sounds coming from her workstation. I couldn't see her very well as she was bent down and under her desk. After this carried on for a few minutes, I decided to investigate and walked over to her desk.
Me: Are you alright?
At this point, she moved to the side and I was able to see her clearly trying to force a CD into a 3.5" floppy drive. She was giving it her best too... she'd anchored her feet to her desk and was trying to push the CD into the slot by placing the palms of her hands on the discs edge, wrist inward. The disc was flexing to the breaking point.
Me: Okay you have to stop that right now before you slit your wrists!!
Girl: What's wrong with this stupid thing.
Me: Well, first that's not a CD-ROM drive you're trying to insert that CD into. That's a floppy drive.
Girl: Blank look.
Me: You know... a 3.5 inch floppy disk drive. A CD won't fit in that.
Girl: Oh... well I'm a mac user.
Me: That still doesn't explain why you were trying to fit a CD into a slot that was clearly smaller than the object you wanted to insert. You need to open the CD-ROM drive.
Girl: How do I do that?
Me: You push the button on the CD-ROM drive.
She pushed the power button.
I have to imagine by now she's backed over herself in her car.
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