• Hilarious! Part of my job at the call center I work for is to help people with their logins. A guy called me one day and said, "I just signed up for this membership, but my username and password don't work. I've tried entering it a dozen times, and I can't get in." Okay, no prob. I take a look at the account, make sure his user/pass is valid and working, and tell him to try again. "No, still not working..." "OK, let's confirm your login info. Your username is [BLAH] and your password is [BLAH], right?" And the guy tells me, "No, that's not what the site says. There's a message by the login box that says, 'Your username and password is CaSe SeNsItIve.' So that's what I've been typing in." OMFG. /facepalm

• Great analogy I must steal it Light pollution can obscure the dimmer stars but on a clear dark night the longer you look the more stars you'll see as your eyes adjust to the light regardless of physiology (assuming you have eyes that is). Kind of like using a longer exposure on an old non-fancy-shamncy-digital camera (And remember don't go to botanists for ophthalmological facts ESPECIALLY not ethno-botanists: they're all off their faces on Khat and Salvia) I swear kids today.... they don't know they're born

• I will always prefer to babysit numbers over the idiots I have to share a taxonomic category with.

• Works for me.

• Totally adorable. Laughed really, really hard...but I have enough older relatives so I get it...

• Totally adorable. Laughed really, really hard...but I have enough older relatives so I get it...

• Of course, I wouldn't ride in a wright glider with you either. ;)

• I was on the phone and both my parents were at their pc and it was locked up. I tried to explain "hit cntrl, alt and del to bring up the task manager" and all I hear is "One, two THREE! No at the same time! One, two THREE! GAH!" So I ask them what in the world they are doing and my dad replies "She is trying to help me hit all three keys at the same time!" I couldn't stop laughing.

• YOU LIAR

• There actually WAS a 100% legitimate noise problem with the PacMan game on Google. The same thing happened with my father's computer (he uses IE - I know, I know, but some people who don't know better still use it) There was a bug with IE that if you opened Google and PacMan started, even if you CLOSED the Google game or surfed to another page the noise would follow and drown everything out.

• Maybe LIGHT POLLUTION is the problem. You can't see dimmer stars anywhere near a larger city because the ground light reflects in the air and reduces the number of visible stars massively. Most city dwellers, or even small town dwellers will never see the Milky Way due to the reflected light of their own community destroying the night sky. Geebus, people, it's not some mystical "primitive folks are in tune with nature" bullshit. It's simple physics. I hate this kind of credulous thinking even more than clueless users.

• Are you speaking English? I have no idea what you're talking about.

• I am tech support for our campus' classroom technology, and I get calls just about every day of every semester about how to plug in a VCR, DVD player, or a laptop in to the wall. Jacks that are just like on their TV for the playback units, and a VGA cable sticking out of the wall. They still keep calling, even though they HAD to have done this at home before, right? These are professors. These are supposed to be the people "teaching" the "future of America" how to do whatever crap they think they're there for. Yet they can't get how to plug in a VCR? Sometimes I hear from students also, though, so it's not like it's a generational thing. It is, however, often a Mac thing, but that's another discussion. There's one guy who calls me up almost every week, and demands I go out to his auditorium while the class is starting to show him how to project the DVD/VCR deck installed in the room. It's two buttons. And I've shown him at least ten times per semester the last three semesters I've had this position. These are people whose jobs it is to utilize these tools, and they don't think they need to know how. They just muddle through with the attitude "it should just do whatever I want it to". These are the people who deserve so much rage. As for the nice old people who have problems with their personal technology developed 60 years after they got out of the developmental stage of puberty...that's not something to be all pissy about. That's something most of the people bitching here have gotten PAID for. Stop thinking you're better than other people because they don't know your job as well as you do.

• Maybe us cityfolk can't see the dimmer (further away) stars, as our eyes have matured and grown under an environment where they never had to see beyond the artificial light we make ourselves? Perhaps it's not so much a mystery as it is simply what we're exposed to while forming our minds and bodies through childhood and puberty? We've seen this specific issue in eye correctional needs in western society. Surely you didn't think bad vision has always been around. This is why the fat guy gets winded on his way to the microwave, but the tribal member out in the jungle is confused by the idea of the need for padding on a bench.

• I.T. people? Don't forget. No matter what you get paid, no matter what your piece of paper you got from your college says you are, you are in fact nothing more than a babysitter for a string of zeros and ones.

• I have to admit, I don't get the vitriol so many of the comments have here. I have done tech support too, and yes, you get clueless people who don't understand tech. And yes, everyone should do their best to learn the tools they are using. But this woman was nice, sweet, and polite the whole way through. What drove me out of support wasn't the clueless questions, but rather the jerks who would be stressed, angry, frustrated, and rude. Give me a clueless sweet person over a well informed jerk any day. Besides, one way to learn something is to make a mistake, get help, and learn from that. Sounds like that's what she did.

• The COO of my company was having problems setting up wifi to run on his work laptop at home. So I went to his house one day to work it out. On the way back from Best Buy after buying a wireless router he bought me lunch. It was tasty.

• I'd have hung up when he told you to shut up. The image of him desperately, hopelessly trying to copy and paste text from a graphic file would have kept me warm on cold nights.

• Get Fucked You Young God Damn Cock Suckers?

• ah gotcha... you were doing the old switcharoo, reverse psychomababble thingamabob... See, as a tech for my mom, the first thing I make sure she does is install and use Firefox... I figure it cuts down her calls to me (crashes, security risks, etc) about 50%

• lol thank you for that truly fantastic image. "uh, uh, OH OH GOD YES OH- WOOOWOOOWOOOWOOOWOOOWOOOWOOOWOOOWOOwakawakawakawaka"

• lol I wouldn't know how to fix IE problems either because I live in Firefox/Mozilla. Just saying, I don't know too many people who suck with computers who veer away from the standard IE.

• It's not just the old people. I spent a looong time on the phone trying to convince my cousin that his wireless modem wasn't broken. He didn't have a wireless modem. He was stealing internet access from his neighbors. Then there was old Marvin. He must have inadvertently click the banner ad on Weather.com to install their dashboard on his desktop. The stupid installer was blocked by the firewall but wouldn't let him cancel the install. Every time he booted the computer it would start the app but, since it wasn't fully installed, it would put this giant immobile window up. He didn't have the password for the firewall so I canceled the process and deleted the software. Next week, he did it again. So who's fault is it? The old fart or the crappy software design? The crappy software design.

• Has anybody else read "The Serpent and the Rainbow"? Basically, this ethnobotanist named Wade Davis went to Haiti back in the day looking for a new super anesthetic. He ended up studying the vodun culture (specifically zombification) and then came home and wrote a book about it. Read it; skip the movie. Anyway, he waxes eloquent at one point about how this tribe in South America (or Africa? Can't remember, it's been a while and I'm too lazy to dig up my own copy) navigates by stars that western eyes can't even see. There is no physiological reason why people from more industrially developed cultures are unable to see these stars with the naked eye. Davis comes to the conclusion that mankind only has the mental capacity for a limited number of knowledge bases, and anything outside the knowledge base for any given culture is physically impossible to grasp, in this instance, to the point where their eyes cannot even see stars that should be just as visible. In the same way, we are on the cusp of a new knowledge base. Due to the longevity given by western medicine, we have a generation of people who simply cannot "see the star" that is modern computing, while the very same "stars" are completely natural to later generations, who simply cannot grasp the fact that some are blind to the light that is painfully obvious to them. Does this human limitation make old people any less hilarious? Hell and No.

• you have something backwards. I wouldn't ever help my folks or sister if they were in IE: Okay, go to your history. Where? Um in Firefox, it's under history, hell if I know where it is in IE. Never mind, it's an add-on conflict. Go to your extensions... etc...

• so you want them to go to the Best Buy help desk instead?

• Those damn kids bother you too?

• She did a good jorb running Alaskar, though, eh?

• Sounds like the lady paid good money for this tech support because she doesn't know much about computers..

• It sounds to me as if the company who does her tech support also baselines the computers with firefox instead of internet explorer.

• The guy who uploaded this onto the internet whilst laughing at this woman = what goes around. That same guy being shat on by a seagull whilst proposing to his fat ugly wife at a baseball game, whilst on the jumbotron, and ending up as ESPN's 'Highlight of the Night' = what comes around. /whilst.. /GFYYGDCS

• Yeah, sorry . . . no patience for people like this. None. If you don't understand something, you pick up a book and you learn. You take a class. You make an effort. You don't just make other people miserable because you don't know how to do something and won't take the time to comprehend.

• My mother was convinced for quite a while that the "Shutdown" menu on her Mac was only available through Appleworks. I finally got through to her with reason, "why would you need to launch a word processor, to shut down your whooooole computer mom?" "well, um... ok, yeah, that would be silly, you're right. i guess that menu is always there"

• Why is someone so tech-illiterate using Firefox!? Get on IE, crazy woman.

• I used to do tech support for C*mcast, and we'd get odd calls like this a few times a month. One dude called me in wireless tech support because the emergency broadcast test message was on his tv and he wanted to know what to do...

• I meant people born in 1980.

• One user will be the death of me someday.

• This is absolutely real life stuff. It's a mental disconnect. My mom does the exact same thing. I believe that it's got something to do with how many DIFFERENT things you need to know to make tech work. Old folks wanna do ONE THING and just don't seem to get how multiple things like applications (or like one remote for a DVD player and another for a TV) relate. I remember one time I was trying to demonstrate importing a photo on her Mac to my mom and she kept yelling at me I had to be in Mail... After repeatedly trying to talk her down I finally I told her it was probably better if I just did the photo work myself. She was insulted - "how can you say that? You don't think I can learn? I'm a smart woman!" (Which she is, outside of tech.) But I then gently asked the question, "Mom, have you managed to watch a DVD in the living room yet?" (I've showed her multiple times -plus written out, in order, all 3 buttons to push.) She stopped and hung her head. "No, I'm still afraid I'll accidentally erase it."

• Did anybody else just find the lady completely <i>adorable</i>? Between the midwestern accent and the complete ignorance, I mean, she'd piss me off if she was walking in Times Square, but otherwise, adorbz.

• OMG! They will sell one of these magic word boxes to anyone (it's powered by sorcery you know). Fail.

• it sounded from the video that the woman thought that with the pacman game on google she could not do anything else unless it was removed and nice the tech was so patient with her even though he proably wanted to laugh at how non tech the woman is when it comes to stuff like google.

• I work for directv in a tech call center... This idiot is the exact same type of customer that calls in to us... I have had customers call in asking why as satellite TV we cant just run a cable from the tv company to their TV... Or a customer that had their roof blow off their house in a tornado, and they were upset because their service wasnt working because they could see their roof with their dish attached about 300 yards away in their neighbors field...

• 1980s? My highschool didn't get it's first computers for students to use until 1986. I'd have to say it wasn't until the 90s when all children were being "ramped up".

• I like to think she had youporn.com on another tab and the pacman sound was keeping her from enjoying it.

• I work for [[!CABLE/SATELLITETVCOMPANY]]. Right after Katrina most of the major TV networks (ABC, CBS, TBS, etc.) simultaneously ran a 30 minute special with celebrities (George Clooney, Jack Nicholson, etc.) working the phones for donations. About a minute after it started I got a call from an irate gentlemen who insisted we get those people off the TV and put the regular program on. He continued notstop, ignoring my protests that we just show what the networks give us, until the special ended 29 minutes later and normal programming resumed; he then thanked me and hung up. Hominids are silly sometimes.

• Though my grandfather did have trouble figuring out digital cable with all the on screen menus and crap.

• Ugh... This is painful... Geez. And I thought my dad was bad trying to figure out the e-mail I got him.

• I feel bad for her, but this is hard not to laugh. It's weird to think someone could be so clueless about computers in this day an age.

• Aww. I feel sorry for the poor dear. I work on e-commerce and we get a lot of older folk who don't know how to work the web. They just don't know anyone who can help them, or are to embarresed to ask anyone they do know. I'm sure every help support / repair industry has the same thoughts. "This nerd can use a computer but can't fix his washing machine? Shouldn't be allowed one in the first place then."

• I agree with you, users are going to kill me someday!!!!!! x-(

• People who want their problems solved via phone deserve all the immolation the world can offer.

• Sometimes what's more frustrating is someone asking for your help who then tells you that you're wrong, or just won't listen to you. Confused old people I have infinite patience for. Someone who knows just a bit to fight you is what really yanks my chain. About 8 or 9 years ago, my bro-in-law called me up, his neighbor wanted to scan text and then be able to drop it into a document instead of filling the whole thing out. Could he do it? I said sure, if his scanner came with OCR software. I knew mine had came with it, but I had never used since all I cared about was graphics. But I was eager to try it and see how well it would work, so I said let's learn this together. Cutting to the chase, once I had told them how to scan the text, where to save it so he could find it (That's always important when you're helping over the phone I learned early on), the neighbor got excited that he had his text scanned and thought he could then just use it to copy and paste. I told him we weren't there yet, he actually told me to wait and then to shut up. I did a slow burn, but waited until the idiot tried to paste the graphic file. I kept hearing him mumble and curse, until he said gruffly, "It's not working." I let the dead air grow for about 10 seconds and then calmly asked, "Are you ready to listen to me now?" "Yes..." he answered petulantly. Jerk-wad. I told my bro-in-law the guy could kiss my ass before I ever helped him again.

• You know that he was putting her on mute and laughing is ass off though.

• I had a conversation with my dad once that went something like this: Me: Old people should NOT be allowed to use computers. My Dad (in a very snarky tone): Without old people, computers would never have been invented in the first place. Me: Sure, but I wouldn't want the Wright brothers flying the space shuttle either.

• You know what? I actually feel for this lady. I mean, she wasn't nearly as annoying or irrate or dumb as some callers can be. I also know the pain of that pac man game being up all day. It threw me off (mostly cause I'd start playing it instead of searching for whatever stupid thing I needed) And Kudos the the tech guy, he barely even laughed at her and ws super patient. If anything this was a nice glimpse into good customer service (even when the customer's completely confused)

• Well, I was never a Pac-Man fan back in the day. So the Google page annoyed me too. Two things helped me get through that traumatic time: yelling at kids to get off my lawn, and being able to leave the browser open on Google maps. Nice quiet place, that Google maps. Now, if they had put Galaga up as a header, all productivity by me would have been lost.

• about 2 years ago my mother did something to her tv remote and it messed up the colors on the tv. she called me to help her reset the colors so i got the specs online and tried to walk her through resetting factory settings for the color. [she said people were orange] so after 10 minutes of talking to her i ask...."is it working?" and she says..."i dont know i dont have the tv on". [i scream quietly on my end] so i have her put the tv on. we go through it all over again..."is it better now?" well i think so but the tv is on an old movie in black and white so i cant tell. i hung up the phone and had to call her back after i composed myself and had her put on a station that didnt have a black and white movie playing. really, i shouldnt be surprised, i have a go to my pc account just so i can log into her computer and fix it periodically. but still, a black and white movie?

• i agree, after all old people today can use tv and phone.

• lol!

• damn, silly cow sounds just like my ex

• So stop fucking them *ba-dum-tish*

• You know...I used to work helpdesk support in a callcenter. My favorite call I ever got, and yes, this is a call I personally got and not hearsay from the floor, was this guy who couldn't get his wireless router to work. (They were a lot less commonplace at that point) He had a bunch of junk open on his desktop, and I told him to "close all [his] open windows and go back to the desktop". He says "okay, let me put you down for a second", which I thought odd, until I realized I could hear him physically closing the windows in his house. It was all I could do to keep from laughing.

• ROB! THE MEGAN FOX TIP! GRAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR

• In fact, I'll probably be more impressed to! Even now I amaze and admire some crazy technologies that are available now.

• I think the difference is that our generation is usually more facinated with technology, and many of our elders, aren't as much... They want to USE a computer, but don't always bother and learning (although there are always programs that have intro to comps...) All a matter of interest! I'm pretty sure when I'm older, I'll still want to keep up with learning new and advanced technologies!

• Oh God it hurts. Fucking users will be the death of me someday.

• One time I was trying to help this old farmer couple use the computer. I sat them down in front of them, and they just stared at that mouse like it was an alien. Point being, I think the younger generations that have been spending a lot of time with computers (probably starting in 1980 and ramping up from there) will probably not be so technologically illiterate when we're old coots. I mean, we'll still hate young people's music and think they are all degenerates and whatnot, but we'll probably be fairly competent with computers.

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