For Him, A Screenshot Might As Well Be A Moonshot

(One of our users from our engineering department phones me and describes a problem with a very specific piece of computer software. I know that one of our software analysts can fix the problem, but I also know they will want a screenshot of the error so they can troubleshoot. I know that for many of our users, “taking a screenshot” is a completely alien concept, so I always explain how to do it. Most people are happy enough to be walked through it.)

Me: “Hello, IT, [My Name] speaking.”

User: “Uh, yeah, hi. I’m having problems with [Specific System]; it’s giving me an error when I do [specific action he is trying to do].”

Me: “Okay, I can get that logged on our helpdesk for our software team to look at. Could I ask you to send me a screenshot of the error?”

User: “No, I can’t do that; I’m not IT literate!”

Me: “That’s all right. I’ll explain how to do it.”

User: “Yeah, but I’m not IT literate!”

Me: “Well let’s just try it, shall we? First of all, could you press…”

User: “Look. I told you: I’m not IT literate! Why are you not listening to me?“

Me: *giving up* “Fine. Let me just log this for you.”

(I took his details and logged a ticket on our helpdesk. I put a note on there asking whoever picked it up to speak to me. One of my colleagues did pick it up, noticed there was no screenshot, and did come and speak to me. When I explained what had happened, she was very amused. Apparently this particular user is always like this. Ask him to do ANYTHING he’s not sure about, and his standard response is to say, “I’m not IT literate!” repeatedly.)