Copy-paste? What's that?

[lukija]

Background 1: I'm doing a compulsory 6-ish-month work practice thing for my vocational IT degree, and working in (Uni) helpdesk.

Background 2: Since I'm not sure whether this is par for the course or a (Uni)-specific oddity, here's how it works at (Uni). The password you get from the (Uni) reset form for forgotten passwords is random, so you don't know whether that vertical line is a capital I or a lowercase L. The password change form, on the other hand, is the one where you set the password you want - within certain fairly strict limits.)

Overheard from a co-worker's phone conversation (I only heard T's side of the conversation, but that was more than enough to fill in the gaps!):

Neo-helpless Customer (NHC): "Help! I can't change my new temporary password!"

Co-worker (T): "So did you type it in, or did you copy-paste it from the password reset form? Capital I and lowercase L can be kind of hard to tell apart. Or, y'know, capital O and the number 0..."

NHC: "Copy-paste? What's that mean? How do I do that?"

T: *painstakingly walks her through the process a couple of times*

NHC: "WOW! This is what I've always needed! That's amazing!"

T: *tells her to try changing her password in about 15 minutes because she's entered the wrong password so many times, her account's been temporarily locked. Exchanges pleasantries and hangs up. Headdesks repeatedly.*

About 5 minutes pass...

T: "Helpdesk, T speaking."

NHC: "It won't let me change my password!"

T: "Um, it hasn't been 15 minutes yet. Of course it's not letting you do that, it's still locked and we can't unlock it manually before the 15 minutes are up..."

NHC: "I really have to wait 15 minutes?!"

T: "I'm sorry, but yes."

NHC: *grumbles, but acquiesces and hangs up, doesn't call back*

Me: "Good grief!"

[Jay 2K Winger]

...what was my mother doing calling a university help desk in Finland?

(I must have had to teach her how to copy-paste six or seven times before she finally got it.)

[Andara Bledin]

I am so glad that none of our dumb bunnies here are quite that dim.

And this is precisely why I use Verdana for my font; the lowercase L, numeral 1, and uppercase I all look quite distinct and even the uppercase O and 0 are different enough to tell the difference at a glance with only one iteration present.

^-.-^

[earl colby pottinger]

SC Time

I notice the use of SC time, you said to wait 15 minutes and they are calling back in five!

[Chromatix]

Not every Finn is another Linus Torvalds. Unfortunately.

[zenhashi]

No, because then we'd have taken over the world ages ago :P

[RottenFruit]

I am so glad that none of our dumb bunnies here are quite that dim.

And this is precisely why I use Verdana for my font; the lowercase L, numeral 1, and uppercase I all look quite distinct and even the uppercase O and 0 are different enough to tell the difference at a glance with only one iteration present.

^-.-^

I personally like DejaVu Sans Mono for that reason. But yes, I also encountered people who when instructed to copy and paste were quite amazed by the concept. Most of these were over 70 however.

[gerund]

(I must have had to teach her how to copy-paste six or seven times before she finally got it.)

Over 15 years since my mother has had a computer I have shown her how to copy-paste at least three times a year, and she has written how to do it in her computer notebook at least every second time I have shown her.

Every single time she has started to write it down again (What do you mean Control-C?) I tell her that she already has it written in her notebook and she tells me she must have lost that notebook and she is starting another.

The operations of keyboard shortcuts, formatting text, columns, draft folders in Thunderbird, starting a new instance of Thunderbird several times a day ETC and so forth equally do not stick in her memory. I can tell her today, explain it in baby words, and then tomorrow she will do things (or not be able to do them) just the same as she did today.

[telecom_goddess]

good god....I use copy paste at least a hundred times a day or more.....ctrl c and ctrl v are a LOT faster than typing the same shit out over again.

[Hyndis]

Over 15 years since my mother has had a computer I have shown her how to copy-paste at least three times a year, and she has written how to do it in her computer notebook at least every second time I have shown her.

Every single time she has started to write it down again (What do you mean Control-C?) I tell her that she already has it written in her notebook and she tells me she must have lost that notebook and she is starting another.

The operations of keyboard shortcuts, formatting text, columns, draft folders in Thunderbird, starting a new instance of Thunderbird several times a day ETC and so forth equally do not stick in her memory. I can tell her today, explain it in baby words, and then tomorrow she will do things (or not be able to do them) just the same as she did today.

I ran into the same problem.

I solved it by just making myself scarce. If I wasn't around, nor could I be easily reached for handholding then she would be forced to learn how to do things herself.

And she has more or less learned how to use a computer on her own simply by my ignoring her pleas for help after the umpteenth time. I don't mind if someone asks a question. But by the 10th time of asking the same question I no longer feel the need to answer it. By that time you're just being a crutch they can use.

[Wordsworth]

My company's temporary passwords are computer-generated and often contain a number of special characters. We recommend users copy/paste the temporary password in.

I'm pretty sure we do not work for the same company, but I have also lost count of the number of people I've had to teach how to copy/paste...over the phone.