When a PhD Meets the Red X: The Curious Case of Corporate Kevin
Remember the old joke about what PhD really stands for? “Push Here, Dummy.” It’s all fun and games—until you’re sitting in a Zoom meeting with someone sporting the title, yet genuinely baffled by the red X in the corner of their browser. Enter Kevin, the unwitting protagonist of a recent viral tale from r/StoriesAboutKevin, who proves that academic laurels don’t always translate to tech-savvy skills—or, sometimes, even the basics.
Kevin, armed with a doctorate in epidemiology and a résumé older than some of his coworkers, was hired alongside the Redditor u/powerlesshero111. What followed was a three-month corporate odyssey featuring loud apologies for “yelling,” browser tab crises, and a spectacular inability to locate that elusive red X. But is this just a funny story about a workplace oddball—or a window into something much bigger?
The Legend of Kevin: A PhD Versus the “Red X”
Kevin’s track record, according to OP and their coworkers, reads like a sitcom script. Meetings would begin with Kevin apologizing for yelling because his computer was “so far away”—despite the company providing headphones and monitors to everyone. During training, Kevin would pepper trainers with questions, sometimes about topics just covered. And when asked to share his screen, he’d have dozens of browser tabs open—sometimes multiple for the same site.
But the pièce de résistance? Kevin’s recurring inability to close those tabs. Even after multiple training sessions, he had to be reminded where the red X was and what it did. As the original post details, “He then had to be informed that the red X was in the top right hand corner.” This happened not once, not twice, but repeatedly—enough that it became a running joke among the team.
Yet, for all his struggles, Kevin seemed unaware of his own missteps. He claimed he hadn’t been trained on programs he’d just attended sessions for (receipts were provided). He insisted sites never contacted him about problems, even when the shared mailbox told a different story. After three months, Kevin was let go—only to resurface at another company, where a former coworker politely declined to train him again, saying her “teaching style does not resonate with Kevin’s learning ability.” Corporate translation: “Not my circus, not my monkeys.”
Is It Kevin… or Something Deeper?
Reddit, never short on opinions, quickly dug into the possible roots of Kevin’s woes. The highest-voted comment by u/NTropyS struck a somber chord: “It sounds like he might have been in cognitive decline… Many people his age—especially in the medical field—were never up to date on computer technology.”
Others echoed the possibility. u/bun-e-bee wondered, “Have you ever worked with someone with dementia? Each thing you described sounds like dementia. It doesn’t sound like he is willfully not learning. It sounds like he can’t learn new things and doesn’t remember how to do things he previously could do.” Some pointed to the tragic reality that many seniors are forced to keep working for financial reasons, even as their abilities fade.
Still, not everyone was so charitable. As u/DebrisSpreeIX bluntly argued, “No excuse. Even if you weren’t involved with computers as a profession, they’ve existed in this world for almost 40 years… It’s primarily obstinacy as a root cause of their technical illiteracy at this point.” Another commenter, u/CoderJoe1, lamented the “unshakable belief that computers were way too complicated and they simply didn’t want to attempt to learn them.” The consensus? For some, it’s cognitive decline; for others, a lifetime of stubbornness finally catching up.
The Great Divide: Tech-Savvy Seniors and the Rest
Perhaps the most telling insight came from OP themselves. They compared Kevin to their own grandfather, a nonagenarian who worked on the stealth bomber and could still code in C++ before passing away. “There is no excuse,” OP said, highlighting that some seniors not only adapt but thrive with technology.
Other commenters shared their own tales. From professors who need “idiot proof” travel instructions (u/J8766557), to relatives who can’t find bread in a grocery store even with a map, it’s clear the “Kevin Phenomenon” isn’t limited to one field, age, or even level of education. As u/Kale put it, “I worked with a guy… very smart… but didn’t understand Windows file-and-folder structure at all. I gave him a short lesson, and he never needed my help again.”
So what separates a “Kevin” from the rest? Sometimes it’s pure unfamiliarity—a gap that can be bridged with a patient nudge. Sometimes, though, it’s an unwillingness to try, or the slow, invisible hand of cognitive decline.
Lessons from the Land of Kevins
If there’s a takeaway from Kevin’s short-lived corporate adventure, it’s that a PhD is no guarantee of practical skill—or adaptability. But as the Reddit discussion shows, it’s easy to laugh until you realize how many people are quietly struggling, whether from stubbornness, lack of opportunity, or genuine decline.
The real punchline? No matter where you work, there’s probably a “Kevin” somewhere down the hall, squinting at their screen, one tab away from chaos. As u/TheMstar55 quipped, maybe “PhD” really does stand for “Push Here, Dummy”—at least when it comes to browser tabs.
But don’t be too quick to judge. For every Kevin, there’s a silent army of tech-challenged coworkers, just hoping someone will show them where the red X is—one more time.
What’s Your “Kevin” Story?
Have you worked with a Kevin? Or maybe you’ve been the office whisperer, guiding someone through the treacherous terrain of Windows Explorer or Gmail? Share your stories in the comments—because if Reddit has taught us anything, it’s that every workplace has at least one legend in the making.
Original Reddit Post: Kevin might have a PhD, but he can't actually do anything