On the other hand, it isn’t unreasonable to expect individuals to at least understand what passwords and user names are for.  You remember them to get into something you’ll need.  That’s the whole idea.  Anyone who has ever used email or a combination lock understands the concept, you would think.  Which was why I was so surprised at a bit of commentary when I was in the process of reseting a lost password for an individual with the organization I provide service for.  The conversation went as such:

Caller: “Hi, like, I lost my password and username, can you, like, get me a new one?”

Me: “Sure, if you’ll give me your name and allow me to verify your identity we can do this without a problem.”

Caller: “Awesome! This is **** ****.”

Me: “OK, one second.  Your user name is ******** and your new password is ********.  Is there anything else I can help you with?”

Caller: (momentary silence) “Uhm, am I really supposed to remember this?”

Me: “Pardon me?” (at this point I’m really hoping I misheard that)

Caller: “Do I have to remember this?”

Me: “Uh…yes…that’s the point of the user name and password.  You use it to log into your email and computer.”

Caller: “OOOH! That’s what that is for?”

Me: “Yes.”

Caller: “Oh my gosh! That’s great! THANKS!”

I knew it was a bad sign when every other word was “like.”  I’ve determined that the number of times an individual uses that word in an opening sentence is a good indicator of the entertainment and/or annoyance factor the call is going to entail.

Au revoir! – Anonymously Judgemental

I’m in Student Affairs for the stories. I work in the Advising Office for the largest College at a prominent southern university. Yes, I dispense daily advice for career paths, professional and personal development…and on very special days my livelyhood is used for one thing in particular that I love: Stupid Questions.

Oh, sure. I complain to my friends and family about the ‘stupid questions’ I hear from students–students that can pass an organic chemistry class (most of the time) but have a difficult time reading and understanding (or maybe more appropriately, “accepting”) simple phrases from a course catalog designed to be read by a five year old. I complain and I moan and groan…but I secretly love it. Because when I hear that stupid question, I get to do my favorite thing. I get to whip out my favorite weapon-passive aggression. A heavy sigh is usually the route I take, followed by instructing the student to open their cataloge with me, finding the specific page, and reading to them–verbatim and veeeery slowly. Each conversation i have ultimately ends with the phrase “And you can find all of this yourself, right there in your course catalogue or curriculum guide, you don’t even have to call me!”

Other times, though I find it an amusing situation, I just can’t muster the passive agression. Sometimes I truly weep for our future. I’ll leave you with this story.

Student: I have a question about the General Education requirement of a non-U.S. history.

Me: *flipping open a curriculum guide which every student has and should keep handy, but is also READILY AVAILABLE ONLINE* Yes, I am familiar with that..

Student: Well, what can I take for that?

Me: According to your curriculum guide, on page 43, you’ll see that you can take Africana Studies 231-232, Western Civilization 241-242, Medieval Studies 201-202, or Latin American Studies 232-233.

Student: Latin American studies? So I CAN take that?

Me: Yes………*confused*

Student: Because it is a non-U.S. history requirement, that course says it studies Latin America.

(Yeah, he actually emphasized those words like I was stupid. Like *I* was stupid)

Me: Okay, well non-UNITED STATES history doesn’t mean non Latin AMERICAN history.

Student: But…………..

Me: No, Latin America is NOT IN the United States….

Student: I will just take your word that I can take this class, okay?

I’m not lying folks. I couldn’t make this up if I tried.

Welcome to the blog of the century. Anyone who has ever had to work with the general public has realized that, contrary to the popular slogan, there is most certainly such a thing as a stupid question. Our Sesame Street society might disagree, but common sense dictates that certain things simply should either go without saying, or be so blatantly obvious that only the most oblivious, ignorant, or idiotic would actually need to ask for advice.

You will find here the first hand stories of those who have to deal with this every day. Sometimes disconcerting and always worth a laugh, these tales are all true. After reading you might question the state of human development, or at least make yourself feel a bit more intelligent.