the MARTINI SHAKER

It’s a Friday, and I’m feeling a bit snarky. So, in the spirit of snarkiness, let’s talk about something that I thought about last night that really gets me.

A few weeks ago, I told a co-worker how to burn a CD. This has to be the 35 gazillionth time that I’ve told him how to do it over the six years that I’ve known him (and worked with him at other agencies). It becomes harder and harder for me to bite my tongue when people in the workplace – no matter whether it’s your own or somewhere you visit – sheepishly smile and blithely exclaim that they’re computer illiterate as an excuse for why they messed up your order or an invoice isn’t printing quickly or correctly, etc. Increasingly, I want to ask them how they can possibly survive in today’s marketplace. It totally escapes me how people in positions that require a bare minimum of technical knowledge can accept their computer inadequacies in a way that makes them feel that they’ll still be valuable and relevant in their careers for any amount of time.

I’m certainly not saying that everyone needs to be a computer whiz or able to set up a computer blindfolded. I’m just saying that after having the past ten years acting as the critical mass of computer integration in the workplace, everyone should have the basics down by now.

It’s a safe bet that if a car tire goes flat, most everyone at least has an inkling on how to remedy it. If they don’t know how to change oil they at least know that it’s important and needs to be done regularly. Computers are as much a commodity today as automobiles. With their proliferation comes a duty of familiarity.

Learn to burn your own damn CDs.

The snark-a-thon is finished for today!