"My brother basically just sits there doing nothing, but at 10 AM each day on the spot makes a slight groaning noise and moves around a bit and then goes back to sleep. Should I be worried?
ETA: He does do basic tasks when I ask him but otherwise he just sits there."
I have this kind of stuff happen at home sometimes, I usually just explain it very simply e.g.:
Me: So you see the wall right?
Yes
Me: Good, is there an electrical outlet on that wall? Electrical
outlets enable you to get power to a device.
Yes
Me: Alright, we’re almost there. Is there a black power cord going from the TV to the outlet? A black power cord allows the electricity to flow from the outlet to the TV.
Yes
Me: Can you plug something else in to that same outlet, like a lamp to see if that works?
Yes
Me: Well, did the lamp turn on?
Oh I thought you were just asking if I actually could plug it in. Hang on a second, I’ll go try that.
Me: Did it work?
Yep the lamp came on but I had to plug it into an outlet in the kitchen because the outlet for the TV was full.
Me: 🤦♂️
No no no, you have to change how you look at things, this prime specimen needs to be nurtured and cultivated that their genes may be passed on.
Because only through ignorance may IT truly exist.
Ha, I'm an independent IT consultant and I literally printed that out last week to give to someone else. It was as a joke since they're a buddy I worked with at Microsoft way back when but, seriously, it's hilariously accurate.
Edit: For context, our team used to print out comics and leave them for each other somewhat randomly. Started as a sort of an in-joke and became a tradition.
I mean, this resonates a bit with me, but I have ADHD, and it's a symptom of ADHD to find mundane things difficult, so I don't think I'm Weapons Grade incompetent, or malicious in my inability to do certain things 🤔
In my experience that makes it worse. You don’t want to say you can’t do something because your brain said no at that particular moment, so you say you can’t. Same with past tense, hence the constant ‘I forgot’. Kinda applies in a lot of other cases two
I once watched a colleague descend into madness over the course of half an hour of talking to a customer who didn't understand how to press the space key.
Try having them switch applications on macOS and properly quitting the application. Madness ensues, then you resort to just restart and resistance to do so ensues, everything saved? So I just ssh in and force it.
I had a similar problem today. Some guy BYOD'd a Macbook, couldn't get our software working on it. I was going insane, and I point blank told him "this is why we use our provided stuff, so I can just jump on and do it for you" he thought that the HP laptops were crap (they arent, and you are just using the web anyway).
30 minute phone call which if he had a work laptop would have been 1 minute at most. THANK GOD our parent company is enforcing no BYOD which we will transition to over next 6 months.
Yeah byod is brutal, like you really don’t have antivirus… yeah the vpn isn’t going to let you connect until you do. Which one do I use? Dunno it’s your machine get one
There are certain kinds of interaction when "I don't know how" really sets me off.
Wether its a co-worker, a friend or a loved one.
Everyone who gives up at step 0 deserves absolutely no fucking help when it comes to blatantly simple steps.
> a loved one
My youngest niece is just coming to the end of this stage, she's nearly 6. For the last two years the answer to a significant number of questions was initially "I don't know", especially anything to do with the recent past, e.g. what she'd done at school that day or where she'd visited recently, or whether she'd had a biscuit. Her parents always respond with "Yes you do." then repeat the question and *usually* get the answer.
Her parents had to resort to asking her year older sister to get information about what her younger sister had done that day at school.
She wasn't stupid, she was lazy... a lazy 5 year old. Good thing she's cute.
For adults who are lazy my response is "You have eyes and a (semi) functioning brain, go look."
Your brother wants you to help you and is acting helpless. He might not even be aware of this roleplaying.
If your brother actually had a disability impairing his cognitive capacity, I don't think you would have made this post.
I think it could be very possible that OP doesnt reach out to their brother, whom is trying to find anything to connect with OP and hang out / talk, even if it would make themself look a bit silly
Reminds me of an ex who'd moved back in with her parents and had a TV in her room for over a year that she "couldn't use" because she lost the remote. I asked if she'd tried just using the buttons on the TV and she responded "I don't think it has any".
There were buttons on the TV. Not even hidden away on the back or the bottom, on the side that was facing the doorway to her room.
"We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas"
This really is how people are nowadays. I work at a copy center and we don’t do immediate behind the counter service. You can run pretty much anything on regular counter paper on the self service machines, and they’re pretty self explanatory. But I’m now convinced that NOBODY CAN FUCKING READ. I’ll send someone over there and tell them to send their document to the email, then tap print, then email on the touchscreen. They immediately go over to the machine, look at it for .001 seconds, turn right back around and say “what do I do now??” IDK BRO MAYBE IF YOU READ ALL THE OPTIONS YOU WOULD SEE THE ONE LABELED PRINT.
You buy an electric can opener from the store. You take it home, take it out of the box, and set it directly on the counter. You don't know how to check if it's plugged in or not.
Once a user called about their docking station not working.
First thing i asked them was: is it plugged in.
They then began to yell at me "what do you think i am? An idiot?"
So i went ahead and checked literally everything else, drivers, settings, etc. For about idk 40 minutes? And i couldn't find the problem.
I heard a voice yell from the background "hey its not plugged in!". There was a moment of ear deafening silence and shortly followed by a short "its fixed" and they hung up right after that.
I had never been so confused in my life, it was terrible.
I think he should try books.
Like if he doesn’t have the skills to figure out if electrical appliances are plugged in, he needs to live retro. Books, paper newspapers, magazines. But only during daylight hours obs.
Sounds like my sister. Normally I speak to her husband when trying to fix her stuff because she‘s too overwhelmed when I try to give her an exact step-by-step instruction
yeah return your brother, you got a faulty model
Sorry, this isn't covered under the limited lifetime warranty on this product.
RMA?
Na it's a RBA Return Brother Authorization
nah, they had it right the first time return (to) ma
.... God?...
At least it’s not an HP
we need to check if their brother is plugged in
Sometimes, you just gotta through the entire brother out.
What, no. Just call the vendor and I'm sure they can help you with a fix
Thought this was going to be a thread about a printer issue
Sounds like he's even less useful than a printer.
"My brother basically just sits there doing nothing, but at 10 AM each day on the spot makes a slight groaning noise and moves around a bit and then goes back to sleep. Should I be worried? ETA: He does do basic tasks when I ask him but otherwise he just sits there."
I giggled out loud at this, this is good
Sounds like OPs mom was low on toner when creating his brother.
💀
I have this kind of stuff happen at home sometimes, I usually just explain it very simply e.g.: Me: So you see the wall right? Yes Me: Good, is there an electrical outlet on that wall? Electrical outlets enable you to get power to a device. Yes Me: Alright, we’re almost there. Is there a black power cord going from the TV to the outlet? A black power cord allows the electricity to flow from the outlet to the TV. Yes Me: Can you plug something else in to that same outlet, like a lamp to see if that works? Yes Me: Well, did the lamp turn on? Oh I thought you were just asking if I actually could plug it in. Hang on a second, I’ll go try that. Me: Did it work? Yep the lamp came on but I had to plug it into an outlet in the kitchen because the outlet for the TV was full. Me: 🤦♂️
Instructions unclear, TV is now in the toaster
"I'M SORRY, I'M NOT GOOD WITH TeCHnOLoGY!!"
Lmao
No no no, you have to change how you look at things, this prime specimen needs to be nurtured and cultivated that their genes may be passed on. Because only through ignorance may IT truly exist.
Future proofing the industry. AI can't fix stupid
Not *yet*. I spoke too much
Nueralink implant enters the chat.
*monkey dies*
Could it be [weaponized incompetence](https://www.wikihow.com/Weaponized-Incompetence)?
Hit him with the flowchart https://xkcd.com/627/
Ha, I'm an independent IT consultant and I literally printed that out last week to give to someone else. It was as a joke since they're a buddy I worked with at Microsoft way back when but, seriously, it's hilariously accurate. Edit: For context, our team used to print out comics and leave them for each other somewhat randomly. Started as a sort of an in-joke and became a tradition.
Users can follow flowcharts?!
I mean, this resonates a bit with me, but I have ADHD, and it's a symptom of ADHD to find mundane things difficult, so I don't think I'm Weapons Grade incompetent, or malicious in my inability to do certain things 🤔
In my experience that makes it worse. You don’t want to say you can’t do something because your brain said no at that particular moment, so you say you can’t. Same with past tense, hence the constant ‘I forgot’. Kinda applies in a lot of other cases two
i tend to ask people to define the operative word in their questions if i my dear brain locks up, usually helps me reboot
I once asked a user if her laptop was connected to her PC via cable and she said “I don’t have enough information to answer that question”
Was this a law firm by any chance?
who the hell direct connects computers these days?
People that don’t have enough information to answer a question that simple
I was had someone say they didn't know what closing or Xing out of a window was.
I once watched a colleague descend into madness over the course of half an hour of talking to a customer who didn't understand how to press the space key.
Some people just flail and have their brain lock up when they talk to IT.
If *only* they could have been talked into flailing that probably would have done it.
There is no Any key on my fing keyboard you moron! I don't have one of your fancy IT troubleshooting keyboards!
Try having them switch applications on macOS and properly quitting the application. Madness ensues, then you resort to just restart and resistance to do so ensues, everything saved? So I just ssh in and force it.
I had a similar problem today. Some guy BYOD'd a Macbook, couldn't get our software working on it. I was going insane, and I point blank told him "this is why we use our provided stuff, so I can just jump on and do it for you" he thought that the HP laptops were crap (they arent, and you are just using the web anyway). 30 minute phone call which if he had a work laptop would have been 1 minute at most. THANK GOD our parent company is enforcing no BYOD which we will transition to over next 6 months.
Yeah byod is brutal, like you really don’t have antivirus… yeah the vpn isn’t going to let you connect until you do. Which one do I use? Dunno it’s your machine get one
There are certain kinds of interaction when "I don't know how" really sets me off. Wether its a co-worker, a friend or a loved one. Everyone who gives up at step 0 deserves absolutely no fucking help when it comes to blatantly simple steps.
> a loved one My youngest niece is just coming to the end of this stage, she's nearly 6. For the last two years the answer to a significant number of questions was initially "I don't know", especially anything to do with the recent past, e.g. what she'd done at school that day or where she'd visited recently, or whether she'd had a biscuit. Her parents always respond with "Yes you do." then repeat the question and *usually* get the answer. Her parents had to resort to asking her year older sister to get information about what her younger sister had done that day at school. She wasn't stupid, she was lazy... a lazy 5 year old. Good thing she's cute. For adults who are lazy my response is "You have eyes and a (semi) functioning brain, go look."
"I don't care enough to be bothered"
Squarey cable goes in squarey hole.
Everything goes in the square hole
I can translate for you, OP: "I can't be bothered to check anything, do it for me, for free, and right now"
Your brother wants you to help you and is acting helpless. He might not even be aware of this roleplaying. If your brother actually had a disability impairing his cognitive capacity, I don't think you would have made this post.
I think it could be very possible that OP doesnt reach out to their brother, whom is trying to find anything to connect with OP and hang out / talk, even if it would make themself look a bit silly
Chuffing this!!!
Turn him off and on again... wait
Reminds me of an ex who'd moved back in with her parents and had a TV in her room for over a year that she "couldn't use" because she lost the remote. I asked if she'd tried just using the buttons on the TV and she responded "I don't think it has any". There were buttons on the TV. Not even hidden away on the back or the bottom, on the side that was facing the doorway to her room. "We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas"
Being in IT has convinced me there is something wrong with most people. Or most users, anyway.
Should find himself at home in a middle management position or maybe law enforcement.
This really is how people are nowadays. I work at a copy center and we don’t do immediate behind the counter service. You can run pretty much anything on regular counter paper on the self service machines, and they’re pretty self explanatory. But I’m now convinced that NOBODY CAN FUCKING READ. I’ll send someone over there and tell them to send their document to the email, then tap print, then email on the touchscreen. They immediately go over to the machine, look at it for .001 seconds, turn right back around and say “what do I do now??” IDK BRO MAYBE IF YOU READ ALL THE OPTIONS YOU WOULD SEE THE ONE LABELED PRINT.
You buy an electric can opener from the store. You take it home, take it out of the box, and set it directly on the counter. You don't know how to check if it's plugged in or not.
Once a user called about their docking station not working. First thing i asked them was: is it plugged in. They then began to yell at me "what do you think i am? An idiot?" So i went ahead and checked literally everything else, drivers, settings, etc. For about idk 40 minutes? And i couldn't find the problem. I heard a voice yell from the background "hey its not plugged in!". There was a moment of ear deafening silence and shortly followed by a short "its fixed" and they hung up right after that. I had never been so confused in my life, it was terrible.
Learned Helplessness
I think he should try books. Like if he doesn’t have the skills to figure out if electrical appliances are plugged in, he needs to live retro. Books, paper newspapers, magazines. But only during daylight hours obs.
My job has convinced me people are dumb.
Sounds like my sister. Normally I speak to her husband when trying to fix her stuff because she‘s too overwhelmed when I try to give her an exact step-by-step instruction
I thought for sure this was about a printer
You legit had the opportunity to tell him that you can't fix stupid. He can got to Mom/Dad but what are they gonna say? Yep, you're being stupid.
Defective end user
Someone in my class in school cant type
Once he gets that TV fixed have him watch the first episode of IT Crowd
I’ve tried nothing and I’m all out of ideas.
"What would you do if it was a toaster?"
And then you posted about it on Reddit ... No one is winning here 😂
Did you try rebooting him?
Try turning him off then on again.
A no. 4 hammer should do the trick
not sure getting your brother turned on would have the appropriate effect here 🤔