Not Excelling In The Real World

(I work IT support for a company with around 250 employees. I get a call from one of them, a guy I know rather well.)

Colleague: “Hi, [My Name], quick question. Do you know anything about Microsoft Excel?”

Me: “Well, a little. The basics. Why don’t you tell me what you’re trying to do and I’ll see if I can help you?”

Colleague: “Okay, how do I subtract two numbers?”

Me: *trying to answer this without sounding patronising* “You just enter the first number, then the minus sign, then the second number.”

Colleague: “Where’s the minus sign?”

Me: *explains where it is*

(What he says next completely floors me:)

Colleague: “Oh, so, it is the same as in real life, then?”

(My colleague hangs up. One of our other technicians, who’d been listening to the call, turns to me.)

Technician: “Seriously?”

(The guy who called me was a management trainee.)