I told her to do it again, but not dismiss the pop-up so quickly so I could see what it said.
I shit you not, I’ve had a user do worse.
I’ve done the same exact scenario as you with one difference. I told her the same thing you did. And then. She closed the message again. While I was pointing at it, and asking her to read it out loud.
I.
Pointed. At the screen. And said read this out loud.
Or for some, like my mom, it’s learned helplessness. She always misplaces her phone and keys (not because of dementia or something like that, just lack of attention) so my brother bought her one the Bluetooth tracking tags (air tags, but for Android). Since I work in tech, I’m always the one to set everything up. She said “Set it up for me, I don’t wanna know how to use it…” as if it required zero user input after I had set it up 🤦♂️ I just looked at her and said "… if you lose you keys and need to track them down, how do you expect to find them?!”
She has helped me out with stuff (school wise, life wise, financially, etc…) more times than I can count so I seem and feel like an ungrateful asshole if I just flat out say that.
In that case I think the only thing to do is something like this.
I asked you to read the message out loud to me.
Instead of following my instructions, you closed the message.
If you want me to help you with this issue, I’ll need that you explain to me why you did that instead of following my instructions. I won’t move forward until you do. I’ll wait.
Oh I did. Almost verbatim. Basically the excuse was they became flustered and misunderstood. Which is understandable, but still, damn… How do you pretend to be that helpless and earn a degree that qualifies you to save lives? Basic problem solving involves at least the attempt at a solution. Mindlessly repeating the task that is failing without changing any variables is bad scientific method, which we learned in like 6th grade.
I shit you not, I’ve had a user do worse.
I’ve done the same exact scenario as you with one difference. I told her the same thing you did. And then. She closed the message again. While I was pointing at it, and asking her to read it out loud.
I.
Pointed. At the screen. And said read this out loud.
She moved her mouse to my finger.
And closed the message.
I.
Can’t.
Hahaha for some people it’s just a habit I guess.
Or for some, like my mom, it’s learned helplessness. She always misplaces her phone and keys (not because of dementia or something like that, just lack of attention) so my brother bought her one the Bluetooth tracking tags (air tags, but for Android). Since I work in tech, I’m always the one to set everything up. She said “Set it up for me, I don’t wanna know how to use it…” as if it required zero user input after I had set it up 🤦♂️ I just looked at her and said "… if you lose you keys and need to track them down, how do you expect to find them?!”
The only proper answer to this is Then I won’t do it. We’re done. Don’t ask me again.
She has helped me out with stuff (school wise, life wise, financially, etc…) more times than I can count so I seem and feel like an ungrateful asshole if I just flat out say that.
If you feel you owe her, don’t complain.
If you need the feel to complain, do something about it.
You can’t have it both ways.
I do say something about it, but help her regardless. You can be annoyed about something but still help regardless of that fact.
Complain to her only, then.
In that case I think the only thing to do is something like this.
Oh I did. Almost verbatim. Basically the excuse was they became flustered and misunderstood. Which is understandable, but still, damn… How do you pretend to be that helpless and earn a degree that qualifies you to save lives? Basic problem solving involves at least the attempt at a solution. Mindlessly repeating the task that is failing without changing any variables is bad scientific method, which we learned in like 6th grade.