Ask me to volunteer... at your own peril
Oct. 22nd, 2002 07:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
susandennisOk, this is the second day in a row that I've LJcut my entries. I really don't like it in other journals so this will be the last time, at least for a while, I promise.
Three times in the past three days people have asked me to volunteer computer skills and all three times these people have received a dose of me in return.
Six months ago my boss asked me to do a web page for her husband's new company. I was not happy to do it but couldn't figure out how to get out of it gracefully. Her husband, who is not my favorite person, and his partner took what should have been a 30 minute project and dragged it into a 20 hour deal because they couldn't make up their minds and they woudn't listen. Sunday night I got an email from partner saying that he had moved their domain name to another host and needed a copy of the page to put up there. Moved it before you copied the page? Expect me to keep your stuff for you? Negative. Fortunately he managed to find a copy somewhere.
My brother sends me an email that he wants DSL and should he go with MSN or Bell South? I live in Seattle and, although I did work at Microsoft and am a pretty loyal alumni, I wouldn't have an account on MSN if it were the only game in town. I don't know squat about Bell South. He's had DSL with both companies in the past and he's asking me??? It took me one 2 word search on google to turn up a website with all fo the dsl info he could ever want included a by-zip code directory.
Just now I walked in to an email from a co-worker asking for help printing a Word doc. She sits 2 cubes over so I said outloud, in my nicest tone 'how can I help?' She said she couldn't get the document to print all on one page. I got up and went over and she was 1. talking about a spreadsheet ('oh, she said, I didn't know there was a difference' and 2. talking about a spreadsheet with more than 800 rows. I said that there was no way that it could be printed out on one page. She said 'oh more than one page is ok I just don't want this part (pointing to two coluumns). I showed her how to delete the columns and then told her to hit the printer icon. I also suggested that she might use the 'help' function and/or take a class on the basics of Microsoft Office products. Everyone in this office assumes you know how to use them and there is no one here who's job it is to help you. She told me that she knows how to use them that she just forgot. I suggested that if she does know the programs so well, she might start with the help function next time. I don't think she's going to ask me again.
NOW: I understand that I am not being totally reasonable especially with Anne (the last one - but she and I replay this scene about once a week). But, really. Common sense? I've asked a lot of people for computer (and other) help in the past. My rules are:
1. I try hard to find the answer first myself.
2. I try again.
3. Before I ask, I make sure exactly what I want to know and when I ask, I quickly review the information I have gathered and
4. When shown the answer I make sure I understand AND then I express, in several different ways, how very grateful I am for the help.
My problem is that no one is following my rules!!! 1 and 2? Forget it. 3? Hardly. 4. Rarely.
If I have a problem of any kind that I don't know how to solve - plumbing, medical, electrical, - any kind... I follow those rules and offen add money or some other kind of compensation to rule number 4. What's with everyone else???!!!!!
Yeah, I know, I'm a mean bitch. But, I'm not quite as mean as I would like to be so I use Live Journal to fill in the rest.
Three times in the past three days people have asked me to volunteer computer skills and all three times these people have received a dose of me in return.
Six months ago my boss asked me to do a web page for her husband's new company. I was not happy to do it but couldn't figure out how to get out of it gracefully. Her husband, who is not my favorite person, and his partner took what should have been a 30 minute project and dragged it into a 20 hour deal because they couldn't make up their minds and they woudn't listen. Sunday night I got an email from partner saying that he had moved their domain name to another host and needed a copy of the page to put up there. Moved it before you copied the page? Expect me to keep your stuff for you? Negative. Fortunately he managed to find a copy somewhere.
My brother sends me an email that he wants DSL and should he go with MSN or Bell South? I live in Seattle and, although I did work at Microsoft and am a pretty loyal alumni, I wouldn't have an account on MSN if it were the only game in town. I don't know squat about Bell South. He's had DSL with both companies in the past and he's asking me??? It took me one 2 word search on google to turn up a website with all fo the dsl info he could ever want included a by-zip code directory.
Just now I walked in to an email from a co-worker asking for help printing a Word doc. She sits 2 cubes over so I said outloud, in my nicest tone 'how can I help?' She said she couldn't get the document to print all on one page. I got up and went over and she was 1. talking about a spreadsheet ('oh, she said, I didn't know there was a difference' and 2. talking about a spreadsheet with more than 800 rows. I said that there was no way that it could be printed out on one page. She said 'oh more than one page is ok I just don't want this part (pointing to two coluumns). I showed her how to delete the columns and then told her to hit the printer icon. I also suggested that she might use the 'help' function and/or take a class on the basics of Microsoft Office products. Everyone in this office assumes you know how to use them and there is no one here who's job it is to help you. She told me that she knows how to use them that she just forgot. I suggested that if she does know the programs so well, she might start with the help function next time. I don't think she's going to ask me again.
NOW: I understand that I am not being totally reasonable especially with Anne (the last one - but she and I replay this scene about once a week). But, really. Common sense? I've asked a lot of people for computer (and other) help in the past. My rules are:
1. I try hard to find the answer first myself.
2. I try again.
3. Before I ask, I make sure exactly what I want to know and when I ask, I quickly review the information I have gathered and
4. When shown the answer I make sure I understand AND then I express, in several different ways, how very grateful I am for the help.
My problem is that no one is following my rules!!! 1 and 2? Forget it. 3? Hardly. 4. Rarely.
If I have a problem of any kind that I don't know how to solve - plumbing, medical, electrical, - any kind... I follow those rules and offen add money or some other kind of compensation to rule number 4. What's with everyone else???!!!!!
Yeah, I know, I'm a mean bitch. But, I'm not quite as mean as I would like to be so I use Live Journal to fill in the rest.
(no subject)
Date: 2002-10-22 04:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2002-10-22 12:30 pm (UTC)I'm glad you are okay with being mean. Otherwise it'd be hell. As it is, we love it. And you.
(no subject)
Date: 2002-10-22 04:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2002-10-22 12:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2002-10-22 05:01 pm (UTC)If you think you are mean... You should hear some of the comments I have made to people who are determined to act like yo-yos in the labs
At work I get really frosted by office workers who look to me too often to help with things in Word, PP, and Excel. Those are the basics for any office person worth their stuff. And don't get me going on email attachments.
I think that we who take the time to learn things ourselves are too often asked to help out of laziness.
(no subject)
Date: 2002-10-22 07:09 pm (UTC)RTFM is the cry of the day. And it does help having the list flooded with the same questions over and over and over....