Jul 08 2008
Common Sense Police: The first of many bits of advice
Everyday, there are moments where I find myself thinking: A little bit of common sense would have saved that person a bit of time and energy. We all have duh moments. However, there are some people who just need a little bit of guidence. These people need to read this blog…
Today’s advice: Do yourself a favor, read the instructions.
I recently bought a blackberry. Before I started trying to mess things up, I found a resource site and searched the forums. I read how to do things first and then I tried it. I was totally clueless about the phone, and I didn’t want to create more work for myself down the road. This seems like a no brainer right? Wrong. People young and old (I’m not just shaking my fist at the youngin’s here) seem to think reading the directions just does not apply to them.
I work in an Assessment Lab at a college. Before we seat each tester we point out the instructions, tell them to read them all the way through before they start the test, and then show them how to start the test. You would think, if people have never taken the test before, and the staff has told them they need read them before starting the test…they would gladly do so as to not look like an idiot later by asking a stupid question or screwing up their test. However, today probably 90% of my students told me they didn’t know their student number (something the directions tell them how to figure out) and 75% asked me what to put if their high school wasn’t listed. Now my common sense would have told me to pick the very clearly stated not listed option. Not to mention, the directions also say this.
It isn’t that these people are stupid. In most cases, they are just too lazy to listen and think the rules and directions do not apply to them. Wrong. They even get insulted when we point out the directions told them the answer…
Lesson learned: I don’t care if you think it is beneath you, you just don’t feel like it, or what ever your excuse is: READ THE DIRECTIONS…and if you don’t know that the employee you ask the stupid question to may not be as nice as we are…they may tell you to figure it out on your own
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