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So I was listening in on a conversation today, and.....

Abstract

Abstract

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Dec 27, 2002
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...there really are a lot of people out there who don't have the slightest clue about computers.

Listen to this winner. I'll paraphrase the conversation, but it was basically 2 old ladies talking about random things, and then they started talking about their grandkids, and finally, they started teaching each other everything they know about computers:

Old Lady #1: "My computer keeps getting these pop-up advertisements. I have to keep closing them."
Old Lady #2: "Well Greg tried to fix it by getting a pop-up blocker or something, but I still get them sometimes. Do you think I should just get a new computer? Mine's already over a year old."

#1: "I'm thinking about it as well, but I just got this computer 8 months ago. Do they break so quickly?"
#2: "I'm not sure, but if you get a new computer, it'll probably be a lot faster, and so the pop-ups will come even faster than before!"
#1: "Oh really? I guess that does make sense. It IS faster."


Oh man. :(
 
Abstract said:
...there really are a lot of people out there who don't have the slightest clue about computers.
Click to expand...

That was a good one. It reminded me of the time I was in J&R Computer World last year and an older woman said to an employee in the Apple section, "Would this one (a 14" iBook) be enough for me to write letters on and then send some e-mail to relatives in California?"
 
Deepdale said:
That was a good one. It reminded me of the time I was in J&R Computer World last year and an older woman said to an employee in the Apple section, "Would this one (a 14" iBook) be enough for me to write letters on and then send some e-mail to relatives in California?"
Click to expand...
Could the employee answer the question though ;)?
 
Not all grandmas are clueless about computers.
My kids regularly run and hide the second I start talking about Apple's latest and greatest.
I have persuaded two of them into using Macs though, and I have the grandkids hooked on iTunes already.
 
.Andy said:
Could the employee answer the question though ;)?
Click to expand...

I don't think that one required a consultation with the department manager, but at J&R one never knows since there are some mighty clueless ones over there roaming around.
 
Same here. At an AppleCentre nearby, I was buying something and I overheard a girl my age ask the salesperson if the 17" iMac (Pizza box design, rev A) would do everything she wants, like write essays in Word, internet, email, iTunes, photos, etc, and the salesman said, "Yes," as that is the correct answer. The part where he ****ed up is when he started trying to convince her to get the 20" iMac because it'll be better for her. When she asked if she'll see everything clearly with a 17" screen, the salesman said, "Yes, but not as well as on the 20" screen." He continued to make it sound like she would juuuuuust get by on her tiny 17" screen despite the fact that she already told him that she owns a 17" monitor at home and is fine with it. Actually, she shouldn't have been so easy to fool if she owned a 17" already, but she obviously wasn't that smart. Cute, though. ;)
 
Blue Velvet said:
Everybody's an expert... and everybody's also a designer.
Click to expand...


And teachers, too. Everybody thinks they know pedagogy better than teachers.
 
I personally hate people who want you to take your time (you being me, and I am not an IT professional...I'm a clinical psychology grad student) to help them solve their computer problems, and then when they can't figure out your explicit instructions, they start swearing. Yes, those people I am not overly fond of.... Become at least partially literate or go back to using a pencil and paper.... :rolleyes: :(
 
Blue Velvet said:
Everybody's an expert... and everybody's also a designer.
Click to expand...

...and a copywriter. People think they can write just because they're able to speak and use Microsoft Word.
 
Actually everyone is a designer... it's just that most of them aren't very good.

But kids are brought up being encouraged to draw and create things, teenagers decorate their school folders and produce projects, as adults they're encouraged to design their living space and with computers taking a bigger part in the home, they're told to create their own Christmas cards or their own CD covers. Is it any wonder that they think they can be designers too?

The problem is that the principles of design are rarely taught and it's only those who understand them and with a true sense of aesthetics that become designers. Unfortunately, good design looks so simple that people think they can create similar things without training but with the tools of the trade. Those same people would never consider picking up a scalpel and having a go at plastic surgery.

Same with copywriting; it's an artform done well and sadly, there are far more mediocre copywriters than good ones, even professionally. But people are told that there's a novel in everyone so they think they can write.

However, my favourite 'listening in on a tech conversation' is the one I overheard in a London dept store about the time that the Mac mini came out. A couple in their 50s were looking at the computer section and the wife commented on the size of the mini. Her husband told her not to be so stupid and that it was just the CD reader for a bigger one. :rolleyes:

Or there's the conversation that my camcorder overheard while I was at the Grand Canyon. I was editing the video with the most wonderful scenery and, for the most part, the sound of silence since the Canyon seems to swallow sound when this conversation comes onto the tape in broad Glaswegian about taking your digital camera to Tesco to see if you can get the pictures or is there no point in taking any more?
 
mkrishnan said:
I personally hate people who want you to take your time (you being me, and I am not an IT professional...I'm a clinical psychology grad student) to help them solve their computer problems, and then when they can't figure out your explicit instructions, they start swearing. Yes, those people I am not overly fond of.... Become at least partially literate or go back to using a pencil and paper.... :rolleyes: :(
Click to expand...

Oh, you've met my brother? :D
 
Speaking of popups and old people....

Last week, my grandpa called me complaining that he kept getting popups on his computer. I was thinking "WTF?" because I have antivirus and antispyware programs installed, set to auto-update and Windows Update is set to auto-update. It's pretty well locked down from spyware and viruses....well, about as protected as a Windows XP computer can get. And, the last time I used it for about 30 minutes and never got a single popup.

I went over to see what the deal was...he starts up the computer. Upon bootup, his SBC DSL software pops up a window for a second to say he's connected to the net..."Look! There's a popup!" Next, Avast! pops up a message by the system tray for no more than 3 seconds saying how it auto-updated it's AV definitions..."Look! Another popup! I'm sick of these damn things!". He opens up IE, and the right-click context menu magically appears...or so I thought, but there was no magic. He was trying to use the right mouse button to click links...."Look! Another one of these stupid popups!" I told him not to use the right mouse button, which went in one ear and out the other..."What's wrong with this piece of crap? I keep getting popups!" It took my dad (who's computer illiterate himself) and I five minutes to finally convince him to never, ever use the right mouse button unless told otherwise, and that is completley normal activity when you use the right mouse button.

So, none of these so-called popups were actual web advertising popups. Just a right click menu and useful system messages.
 
Abstract said:
Listen to this winner. I'll paraphrase the conversation, but it was basically 2 old ladies talking about random things, and then they started talking about their grandkids, and finally, they started teaching each other everything they know about computers:

Oh man. :(
Click to expand...

Very nice Abstract- thanks for the laugh! :)
 
I was in John Lewis (big department store in the UK) a year or so ago and was in the computer section where they always have a good selection of Macs just browsing through the new toys when i came across a really nice sales guys suggesting computers to this middle aged lady. She was asking about this PC and that PC and he asked if she had thought about a Mac as it would be better suited to her non-specialised needs. One of the first things he bought up was there were no viruses for Macs which caused her to flip! She just started ranting at this poor guy that mac users were so cocky about not getting viruses and always rubbing it in peoples faces and it was all a lie etc etc completely out of the blue! Poor guy just stood there like a rabbit in headlights whilst i pissed myself laughing behind her. That did cause me to get an "i'm going to rip your head off" glare from her but it was pretty amusing at how defensive people get about a pile of crap they no next to nothing about.
 
One time I was walking by an Apple store, and the people in front of me had this to say:

Person 1: That's the Apple store, you know, the computers?

Person 2: They still make those?

It took all i had to restrain myself from hurting them.:p
 
and some people should just stay away from computers and technology. they create more headaches than anything else.
 
I had just helped my grandma set up her celeron PC. She'd had a little bit of experience screwing around on my Pentium. I was showing her solitaire, and commented that my computer deals faster than hers. She told me it was probably because I had "that fast kind of internet" and she had "The kind that makes all the phone noises."


Also, this was a lot more common 10 years ago, but I always enjoyed watching somebody use a mouse for the first time and run it off the table.
 
Came across this in the Sunday comics several weeks ago. Made me smile. Then it made me think of my father when I try to show him how to connect to the internet every single time.
 

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Deepdale said:
It reminded me of the time I was in J&R Computer World last year and an older woman said to an employee in the Apple section, "Would this one (a 14" iBook) be enough for me to write letters on and then send some e-mail to relatives in California?"
Click to expand...

Aw, that's cute.
 
PlaceofDis said:
and some people should just stay away from computers and technology.
Click to expand...

And others would do well to avoid working at Apple. Case in point: I was at Apple Soho yesterday and went over to an employee in her upper 20s and asked for some clarification about the program called Grab. She looked totally bewildered and said, "I believe you are mistaken. I have never heard of any program by that name. Are you sure it is something from Apple?"
 
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