I Will, Undeniably, Go Crazy...

It has been some time since we have written, which I attribute to a noticeable lack of humor in our day-to-day operations. I think some things are only funny when they happen to other people -- like falling down stairs or catching an STD. Oh, and this job!

The latest:

From: K
To:L
Subject: HELP PLEASE!!!


Dear L:

I need your assistance as soon as you are available – I am to send documents (PDF) to Contact Person. I undeniably tried to use your machine on Wednesday night to no avail and desperately need your assistance and another lesson when you are available. Many thanks and my sincere apologies.

K

I'm not sure where to start with this email, which was sent 2 hours after the close of business one day. If you've read earlier posts, you know that Special K isn't computer-savvy (or "machine"-savvy to use her word!), so it is understandable that after teaching her a dozen or so times how to attach a Pdf to an email, "another lesson" might be needed.

I was actually impressed with all the solutions K tried before sending this desperate email so late in the night. When I turned on my "machine" that morning, I saw several copies of the same document saved to my desktop, which I later learned was the product of a lesson or lessons I had taught K several weeks before about how to use a scanner. Since she couldn't attach the Pdf, she had used my scanner to scan the document (she was able to remember that after scanning something, it could be saved as a Pdf -- impressive!) and try and send it that way. Instead I ended up with 14 copies of the same letter on my desktop, and K ended up frustrated and unable to find her work.

She also used my email (no different from hers, mind you) to try and send it, in case my account was more agreeable. There were a dozen blank emails from me to her as she tried into the night to send the Pdf, probably racing from my computer to hers to check if the experiment worked.

When I finally showed her, again, how easily and flawlessly a Pdf can be attached to an email, she muttered something about how different our "machines" are and how she wasn't sure that anyone uses Pdfs anyway. Since this incident, I have had to do this exact same thing at least three more times.

Today isn't over yet. Maybe it will be four!