When People See Words And Give Up
A kid brings me his laptop, saying he’s trying to launch a program, but a pop-up keeps blocking it. I take a look. The pop-up says:
Pop-Up: “This program cannot launch while [Other Program] is running. Close [Other Program] and try again.”
Me: “What happened when you tried that?”
Kid: *Gets embarrassed.* “Oh…I didn’t…”
So, I have him close the other program and try again. Magically, the problem goes away.
Later, a woman comes over and says she’s trying to log into a desktop, but it’s not working. I walk over and take a look, having her type in her username and password. She does so, and another pop-up:
Pop-Up: “Password must be changed. Click Continue to change password.”
Woman: “See! This keeps happening, I don’t know what to do.”
Me: *As politely as I can.* “Well, see here it says to change your password. So, let’s do that.”
I click ‘Continue’ for her.
Box #1: “Enter new password.”
Box #2: “Confirm new password.”
She is confused by the two boxes.
Woman: “What do I do?”
I had to point to each sentence before she would read them.
Later, a girl comes over and says the printer won’t release her job. I walk over to look at it. She enters her password, and the queue opens, displaying her print job. Then she stands there.
Girl: “See? It won’t do anything.”
I click the button that says ‘Print’. Her job releases. She is embarrassed.
Please. Please just read. Please read things on your screen before freaking out.
