So. Senior citizens and technology. It's an old subject, the butt of so many comic strip punchlines. I know there are mature citizens out there who do just fine with computers, and some who are even more techno-savvy than I am. And I don't have a problem with older folks who don't know how to use computers. It's not their fault. We've gone from horse-drawn carriage to space travel in about sixty years, which is shorter than the average American's lifetime. People are bound to get left behind, and it's admirable to see them trying to catch up. But please, please, for the love of Pete, whoever he is, make an effort. There is a huge difference between the oldsters who come up to the desk and ask for a short lesson in internet use so they don't have to come and bother me every time they have a question, and the ones who come and bother me every time they have a question. I have no problem giving a little off-the-cuff tutorial to someone who is not familiar with computers. I can't expect everyone to come to me with basic internet knowledge. What I do expect is a willingness to help yourself. Didn't most people who are currently between the ages of 60 and 80 either go through the Depression or WWII? Or were at least raised by people who did? I thought the attitude of that generation was that hard work was key, and that you should always be polite to everyone, even idiots? Because even I, a "lazy, ungrateful youth" know how to do that. I guess what I'm getting at is that I'm surprised by the number of old people who expect me to do everything for them, right now, don't even bother teaching me this silly computer stuff because when the commies finally bomb everyone we'll have to live off the land like our ancestors, and who will be laughing then, eh? It's kind of inexplicable.
Case in point: A week or so ago a lady who was of a certain age, but obviously did not yet have the beauty of the old (Proverbs 20:29) came up to the desk and demanded that I come help her. I hate walking over to people's computers, mostly because I'm lazy, but also because dealing with computers is not really my specialty, and it's not what I get paid for, so I usually end up clicking on a few things, and then going and getting someone else's help. But there was no one else to ask at the time, so I went with her. Apparently someone else had been helping her earlier, a young man with considerably more experience with computers than I have, who was now in his lunch break. The lady (I'll call her that for the sake of convenience) pointed to her computer, and with a dramatic flair that may have gotten results a. when she was about 30 years younger and b. with men, informed me that someone else's graph was on her paper and she wanted me to dispose of it, like asking me to dispose of a dead rat. I peered at her paper, and all I could see was the default settings for a custom graph in Microsoft Word. I use Word a lot, being an amateur writer and all, but I have never been called upon to insert a graph into anything, and therefore had no idea what I was doing. Nonetheless I gamely fiddled around a bit and got some results. I told the patron what I had discovered, and suggested that if she fiddled around for a bit she would be able to get it to do what she wanted.
"I don't have time to 'fiddle around'," she snapped. "This paper is due in two hours."
I, greatly taken aback, told her that I had reached the limit of my ability, and that someone more skilled with computers than I wouldn't be back for about an hour.
"I guess I'll wait, then," she said, and turned away from me. I was clearly dismissed. I went back to my desk, greatly wondering. It was nearing the end of the semester at the time, and so I knew tensions were high and projects were due, but the lady had indicated that the paper had to have a graph in it, no exceptions, and it seemed to me that she had known about the assignment for some time, since it was nearly completed. Wouldn't she, I mused, have had the foresight to try to learn how to insert a graph, a nonnegotiable aspect of the assignment, at some point a little earlier than two hours before the thing was due? It was clear from her attitude that she had expected to be able to waltz in and do this with only hours to spare. It was also clear that she had been working with Word for some time, and therefore should logically know how difficult and arbitrary it can be. Yet more clear was her distress at finding that I would not do everything for her, and instead expected her to figure things out for herself. Pressed for time though she was, she obviously had time to wait for someone to enable her laziness.
I was raised by Baby-Boomers, and this is not what I was taught to expect from my elders.
No comments:
Post a Comment