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illiteracy
Of course, many only assume that understanding how to use a computer can't be so difficult, and refuse to accept any help in the matter.
Even if, in all actuality, they truly have no idea what they are doing.
Redditor ThatLasagnaGuy was curious to hear about the most woefully inept instances of computer illiteracy people have ever witnessed, leading them to ask:
"What’s the worst case of computer illiteracy you’ve seen?"
Maybe They Still Use AOL?...
"The whole family has used emails for years, the other day I had to send one for my dad, and he said something in the line of 'send both files in one email, so you don't have to pay twice'."- Professional_Gaping
The Long Route Isn't Always The Scenic Route
"My mom was trying to move ~200 pictures from one folder to another."
"Her approach was to open one picture, do Save As, save it to the other folder, and then delete the original."
"One by one."
"When I tried to explain that she could click-and-drag the whole thing over in two seconds, she said 'that wouldn't be any faster than the way I do it!'."
"She would also 'save' pictures she found online by copying them, opening Microsoft Word, pasting it in there, and saving it as a .docx file."
"And she would try to 'open' jpegs by right clicking on them, choosing 'Open With', and selecting Microsoft Word."- MrWaffles42
She Must Have Found The Description Two-Dimensional
"I was once trying to teach someone how Windows Explorer worked."
"For whatever reason, they could not grasp the concept of using folders to store documents."
"I had to get an actual folder and piece of paper out to demonstrate putting paper into the folder before she was able to grasp the concept."- psychkp
Ignite Black Cat GIF by Microsoft CloudGiphy
Amelia Bedelia Might Relate
"The instructions said to close the door... but it meant the latch on the floppy drive for the Commodore 64."
"My buddy got up and closed the door to the room."- Loftzins
Some People Are So Literal Minded...
"I was helping someone with a website for their small business."
"I told them I put an 'alt' tag on some of the photos that would show text when they put their mouse over it, and to try it out."
"He literally picked up his mouse and placed it on the screen."
"I fell on the floor and almost pissed myself."- VictoriaEuphoria99
The Very Mention Of The Word!
"A middle-aged lady got frightened after being told she needs a mouse to operate a computer."
"This was early 2000s."- launderingpileofcash
Mouse GIF by Hacker NoonGiphy
Do They Even Still Make "Floppy Discs?"
"I knew someone who once put their credit card in the floppy disk drive to make an online purchase."- ElvishMystical
Where To Even Begin... Literally!
"I work in a call centre, and one of my jobs is helping the call centre clients with basic computer troubleshooting."
"It is..an interesting task trying to explain to a man who makes more than I do and has been working the same job since longer than I've been alive where and what the start button is."- Silent_Ad_8672
Can't Help But Wonder How She Even Got The Job...
"My employer hired someone to work for me doing tech support."
"In the first few days I had to show her how to open Outlook, create a new email, where to put the recipient address, etc."
"Had to show her multiple times how to open Excel, let alone use it."
"She never did get the hang of email. Eventually, we concluded she actually couldn’t read, and we had to let her go."
"This was in the early 2000s and she was probably in her 30s at the time."- outcastspice
Work Working GIFGiphy
Shut It Down!... If You Can...
"This just happened last Friday."
"I am a new legal secretary in a small law firm where the partners have been in business for 50 years."
"Part of my job is to print every email that comes in and of course people always send big fat attachments Friday at 4:55."
"I had some emails queued up to print, and since it was already 10 minutes after I was supposed to be gone, I asked the managing partner if he would shut down the computer after it finished printing."
"He did not know how to shut down a computer."- BeepBopARebop
Lawyers... Am I Right...
"I worked for a law firm, and one of the administrators would print the PDF of the case from her email."
"She would then scan it back to her computer because it 'downloaded to the documents folder so she could move to the case folder'."
"I told her she could just click the down arrow and download it, then move the file, saving hundreds of sheets of paper."
"She said that was too complicated."
"She only lasted a few months before she was fired."
"I thought of another one."
"Lawyers are not smart when it comes to electronics."
"Same law firm, a lawyer was afraid the cleaning crew was going to steal her laptop."
"So she took her trash can and shoved it under her desk."
"Put her laptop in the trash and covered it with paper towels."
"Of course, the cleaning crew empties her trash."
"They find the laptop and put it aside in the cleaning crews supervisor's office because they thought it was weird we'd throw a laptop away that looked brand new."- ArizonaGeek
Even Browsing Incognito Wouldn't Help Him...
"My grandfather typed 'big boobs' as his Facebook status, like, 15 times in a 5-minute span."
"I think I understand what he was trying to do."- a_burdie_from_hell
Social Media Facebook GIF by Scorpion DaggerGiphy
Live Long And Prosper
"Growing up in the 90s, I remember seeing multiple adults try to yell commands at a computer screen."
"They didn't understand about standard I/O like keyboards and mice because their only concept of computers was from watching Star Trek."- 40_degree_rain
21st Century Child?
"I worked at the head office of a major UK company."
"They hired a woman as a website administrator and, on her first day of training, asked her to click on something."
"She just stared blankly, and they repeated, click on it with the mouse."
"The what?"
"Was her reply."
"They had interviewed her for the job, and it turned out that in 2004, she had somehow never used a computer that had a mouse."
"I don't think she made it past lunchtime."- MrSpindles
Can't Say She Didn't Take Care Of It...
"We got my grandma a computer so she could get emails with pictures of her grandkids."
"It had a sleep mode button and have with a cover for the monitor."
"She diligently would put it to sleep every night and place the cover over it."
"Sincerely thinking it needed rest and the lights out."- tristanjones
Sleepy Computer GIF by DropboxGiphy
Some people are simply more inspired and productive with a pen and pencil.
Let's just hope they don't expect a job in the IT sector...