Nothing pushes my "rage" button at work quite like incompetence does. And lately, I've had to deal with a lot of it. In fact, I've become so familiar with incompetence that I can discern two distinct varieties.
Type 1: Complete And Unremitting Stupidity
The people I know who fall into this category are perfectly nice and sweet, and they try very hard. But in the space where everyone else has brains, these people have cotton candy or something equally unsuited to the purpose of thinking. Their incompetence is not due to lack of effort, but to a complete inability to grasp simple logic or exercise common sense.
One such person is a secretary in my department. She cannot seem to perform the simplest of tasks unless I provide ridiculously detailed instructions. And when I do provide such instructions in writing, she follows 40% of them, forgets 30%, and sends me five more emails asking for clarification on the last 30%. Frankly, I'm astonished she can wipe her ass without my telling her how many squares of toilet paper to use and how to fold it. I told my boss that if I ever have to work with her again, he'd have to supplement my salary with an allowance for alcohol. And I was only half-joking.
Type 2: Laziness And Apathy
These are the people who may be perfectly capable of competence, but can't be bothered to exert the effort. A prime example is a member of the IT support staff at my institution. On one occasion, I was having a computer problem which I had attempted to troubleshoot by doing the few logical things that occurred to me. When that failed, I went to consult the IT guy. As we walked from his office back to my desk, I filled him in on what the problem was and which things I'd already tried. We get to my desk, and guess what? He starts doing the very things I had just told him I already tried, and tells me it doesn't work. Well, no shit! He says he can't think of anything else to try, and leaves.
Other occasions follow this basic storyline: my boss wants to be able to do something--we'll call this "X"--on the computer. The most obvious way to accomplish X is by method A, so he asks the IT guy if the software can do A. The IT guy assures my boss that A is impossible--the program just won't do it. I spend 5 minutes with the program's help files and discover that (1) yes, it's true that the program won't do A, but (2) the program does do B, C, and D, any or all of which will accomplish X. So I end up having to teach the IT guy how to do his fucking job--using help files, for god's sake--when a few seconds of thought would've made him realize that X was the real goal. But heaven forbid he should go that extra step.
Honestly, I can't decide whether the stupid or apathetic version of incompetence is more infuriating. Can't we just have an Incompetence Deathmatch and let them knock each other out?
Currently ...
1 hour ago
12 comments:
Very good post. I think there's a third kind of incompetence that stems out of the "learned helplessness" category. It could be that your first type is a later stage of my addition. There are people who are so used to having everything handed to them that they cannot think for themselves about anything.
yeah, there is a grad student (already got masters, doing PhD) in my lab at the moment who is 'learned helplessness'. Hasn't had an original thought since he arrived, can only do experiments when people tell him what to do. He's a mocking bird - can display all the signs of research without understanding why he does any of them. His stupidity frustrates me.
Incompetence really frustrates me. The Type 2 that you describe infuriates me. I tend to avoid having to deal with these people at all costs. Otherwise my alcohol consumption increases exponentially :-)
I find apathy more infuriating, and avoid incompetent people at all costs. If only that were always possible!!
This might be my favorite post of yours so far. I agree with the content; how you've written it is cracking me up!
Academic--Good point! I does seem entirely plausible that "learned helplessness" eventually morphs into complete stupidity. Muscles atrophy, so why not brains?! :-)
Propter Doc--I've got one of those working for me, so I can empathize. I'll have to blog about him at some point.
Amanda and ScienceGirl--I used to find the apathetic kind more infuriating too. But after my most recent experience with the stupid secretary, I may have changed my mind. At least with the apathetic ones, you can usually get them to accomplish the task if you find a way to light a fire under their ass. With the stupid ones, there's simply no hope whatsoever. And unfortunately for me, my job has a management component which forces me to have to work with them.
EcoGeoFemme--Thanks! That's really all these experiences are good for--to amuse other people. :-)
As a guy who runs support desks, I have very little patience for this routine:
end user "Can this software do A?"
support guy "no"
[three days later]
end user "You should fire support guy! I want to do X and he didn't know how!"
me "The call log says you asked if the software can do A. It can't"
end user "well, yeah, but I asked 'cuz I want to do x!"
me "next time, ask about X"
the end.
Next time, have your boss ask the IT guy how to achieve X, not if the software can do A. As you admit, the IT guy was correct - the software can't do A. Since that was the question he was asked, he was correct. Asking the wrong questions is a form of incompetence, too.
I generally agree with you that asking the wrong question is a form of incompetence. In this particular case, however, the difference between A and X was minimal. And this was but one example of this type of interaction with the IT guy.
The whole point of having support, IT or otherwise, is to help people who are not experts accomplish whatever it is they are trying to do. Non-experts, by definition, don't always know enough about how the technology works to ask the question in the right way with the right jargon. And the difference between good and incompetent support is whether the person actually tries to help, or just does the bare minimum required to keep his job.
Working with this IT person is like stopping to ask someone for directions saying, "I'm looking for building A. Is this where it is?" and having the person say, "No" and walk off. Should the question have been phrased as "Where is building A?" Absolutely. Is the responder an asshole? Absolutely.
I'll take good old-fashioned stupidity over apathy any day of the week. The former is much easier to fix than the latter, and I've had some horrible experiences working with people who just don't care about the quality of their work.
How does one fix stupidity? I'll be eternally grateful if you have a solution, because I'm at my wit's end with this secretary!
I am a subcontractor and am therefore forced to deal with the idiots hired by the contractor. I thank God daily that my commute is over an hour. If I was able to get home in 10 minutes I would drink Budweiser dry.
John--I agree completely...except on days when it's the other commuters on the highway that drive me to drink!
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