My friend/boss - let's call him Vegas - is one helluva character. I feel as if he was just lifted right out of a Fear-and-Loathing-esque novel and thrown into my life. God love him, he's the most disorganized business owner I have ever met. He also can't keep himself from giving customers unasked-for discounts, a habit I have yet to comprehend. His hair is wiry and wild and he forgets to zip his fly at least twice a day, but he is also wicked sharp and has a memory that has impressed me on more than one occasion (and I'm MemoryGirl, so that's something). Plus, he just happens to be one of the kindest and most thoughtful men I have ever met.
The one thing he really, really cannot do, however, is deal with the computer. He's been nabbed by that strange phobia that is common in members of any given pre-MTV generation, even though all of his friends are twenty years his junior (and he has more energy than any of us, to boot).
So, for all things computer-related, he turns to Kathypath or myself. We are very cool and understanding about this, mainly because it takes us two seconds - as compared to his two hours - to do whatever task he has asked of us, and office time gives us a breather from the clients and phones. I also like getting to see the inner-workings of the store; what I refer to in my own imaginary world as the real "guts" of the business to give it a sort of intense, cutting edge. And of course, there's that whole computers-are-fun thing that I can't seem to shake. So overall, I don't mind doing the online/computer tasks.
Today, however, I spent some quality time with Vegas, trying to work out how to set up an online account for some things he is selling, well, online. We had to respond to some emails and what have you, enter some numbers, change some passwords...
Um.
It was a little intense. I remember this one time, I watched a special on this random 50-something French couple in the middle of nowhere who had bought their first computer. It was a quasi-documentary, and it was both the most hilarious and the most upsetting thing to watch these people come in contact with a computer for the first time. They, of course, had to call the support line, and the poor person on the other line found himself explaining how to put in a CD-ROM in the most minute detail one could possibly imagine. The entire thirty-minute "documentary" was a battle between these people on the other end searching for the mouse ("I don't see anything that looks like a mouse in this box...") and then learning how to hook up the battery.
Well, my evening was sort of like that, only admittedly much better.
I think I just take it for granted that I type fast, that I know how to close old/open new windows, and that I know various file extensions. I really wanted to give Vegas the barebone knowledge he needs to be able to make his way through the technological jungle, but I can see that he has already decided this is something he just does not want to understand. It's too much, kind of like the answering machine was for my grandparents.
So what do you think it will be for our generation? When am I just going to say, "Do you know how to (fill in the blank)?" and when the youngster in front of me nods with a shrug indicating that my question is far too simple, I'll quickly follow with "Could you do that for me, then?" because I'm just too overwhelmed to learn how to do all of that by that point? What will it be?
Maybe you'll be one of those older people who eventually catch on after someone teaches them the same technique 20000000 times. Like my 70-year old colleague, bless his soul. Although it might take 3 years, he DOES eventually catch on.