Stupidity
I just remembered this old story while browsing mock_the_stupid, and I had to share. Some of you may have already heard this one, but it's worth repeating.
[x-posted to mock_the_stupid
I just remembered a classic example of stupidity from several years ago, when I worked as a web designer for a local press company. To make sure that our pages were viewable in all different browsers and platforms, we tried to preview them in as many formats as possible. Thus I found myself attempting to install a version of AOL (*gag*) on my computer that was like two numbers older than the then-current edition. There was some difficulty, and when no one else in the office would figure out how to fix it, my supervisor suggested I call tech support.
Now, I'm sure working as an AOL support tech is just about the crappiest job you can have, and I imagine just dealing with that many morons lowers your I.Q. But this guy was still a grade-A dumbass.
The conversation went a little something like this:
ME: Hi, I work for a web design company and we'd like to install AOL version [whatever # it was] so we can make sure our pages appear properly for users with that setup. But I'm having some difficulty installing the free trial disk. [Add here some more technical info about the sort of error messages and our network setup.]
AOL TECH: Do you have a round disk or a square disk?
ME: *pause* Uh...you mean, a CD-ROM or a floppy disk?
AOL TECH: Uh...yeah.
I'm sure many AOL users are that stupid, to not know the different between a CD-ROM and a floppy, but what part of "I work for a web design company" did he not understand? I gave him a bunch of technical information about our end of the situation that should have clued him in to the fact that I'm not a total comptuer idiot. >_<
No offense to any intelligent AOLers out there. I know there are some, but they're a rare breed.
[x-posted to mock_the_stupid
I just remembered a classic example of stupidity from several years ago, when I worked as a web designer for a local press company. To make sure that our pages were viewable in all different browsers and platforms, we tried to preview them in as many formats as possible. Thus I found myself attempting to install a version of AOL (*gag*) on my computer that was like two numbers older than the then-current edition. There was some difficulty, and when no one else in the office would figure out how to fix it, my supervisor suggested I call tech support.
Now, I'm sure working as an AOL support tech is just about the crappiest job you can have, and I imagine just dealing with that many morons lowers your I.Q. But this guy was still a grade-A dumbass.
The conversation went a little something like this:
ME: Hi, I work for a web design company and we'd like to install AOL version [whatever # it was] so we can make sure our pages appear properly for users with that setup. But I'm having some difficulty installing the free trial disk. [Add here some more technical info about the sort of error messages and our network setup.]
AOL TECH: Do you have a round disk or a square disk?
ME: *pause* Uh...you mean, a CD-ROM or a floppy disk?
AOL TECH: Uh...yeah.
I'm sure many AOL users are that stupid, to not know the different between a CD-ROM and a floppy, but what part of "I work for a web design company" did he not understand? I gave him a bunch of technical information about our end of the situation that should have clued him in to the fact that I'm not a total comptuer idiot. >_<
No offense to any intelligent AOLers out there. I know there are some, but they're a rare breed.