When 'Click Here' Becomes Rocket Science: Tales of Tech Support Headaches
Picture this: You’re swamped with work, your inbox is groaning under the weight of tickets, and you get a request to install a piece of software. But not just any software—a Progressive Web App (PWA) designed for maximum user-friendliness. You send the user a link, a screenshot with a big, bright arrow, and instructions that basically boil down to: “Go here, click this.” Could it get any simpler?
Apparently, yes. Because for some users, even the clearest instructions are a cryptic puzzle from the Da Vinci Code.
Welcome to r/TalesFromTechSupport, where IT pros come to vent, laugh, and occasionally cry into their keyboards. Our story begins with u/Fine-Key4594, who just wanted to get through the day and maybe, just maybe, sign off for Christmas without losing faith in humanity. Instead, they found themselves trapped in a Kafkaesque loop: “Your instructions aren’t clear enough.”
From Simplicity to Stupidity: When Tech Support Meets Its Match
Let’s set the scene. Our hero, OP, isn’t trying to teach quantum mechanics. They send a two-step process, complete with a screenshot and a bold arrow. The response? “Not clear.” It’s the IT equivalent of handing someone a glass of water and being told, “Sorry, I don’t get it—could you drink it for me?”
This isn’t just a one-off. The floodgates in the comments open with similar war stories. As u/dna quipped, “If you don’t look at the instructions, they’re not very clear.” It seems the ability to ignore clear directions is a universal human trait, one that transcends geography, age, and job title.
Weaponized Incompetence or Genuine Tech Fear?
A recurring theme in the thread is what one commenter, u/NotAnOwl_, dubs “weaponized incompetence.” That’s when users act helpless to get someone else to do their work. Some are genuinely afraid of making mistakes—one user compared tech-phobia to a fear of heights: irrational, visceral, but very real. Others, however, are simply dodging responsibility. As u/Bcwar observed, “It’s an easy way for them to defend avoiding work.”
Sometimes, the helplessness is so performative it borders on satire. U/StoneyBolonied lampoons the situation by writing mock instructions that explain, in excruciating detail, how to move “the black plastic thing in your hand” (the mouse) and “apply pressure to the furthest left part” (the left-click). It’s funny—until you realize some users actually need this level of hand-holding.
Manager, My User Needs an Adult
So how should support pros respond? The wisdom of the crowd leans toward setting boundaries and documenting everything. U/JaschaE put it bluntly: “If you work in an office, and ‘Go here and click there’ is too complicated, you are not qualified for that job.” Others, like u/WizardOfIF, advocate training the problem user’s manager instead: “They made the bad decision to hire someone incapable of doing the job, they can deal with their own problems.”
There’s a practical side to this, too. U/Boss_Os suggests a clever psychological hack: offer to get on a call and have the user walk through the instructions step-by-step while you watch. Often, the user suddenly discovers that the instructions “magically” make sense when someone is watching. At worst, they’ll be forced to at least attempt the task—saving time for all involved in the future.
The Great Divide: Instructions Too Simple, Instructions Too Long
If you make the instructions too simple, users complain they’re not detailed enough. Make them too long, and as u/J_L_Y notes, “The instructions are too long, can you do a remote session?” It’s a no-win scenario. OP [u/Fine-Key4594] confirms this: “This is the next stage for sending anything more than a couple lines.”
Some commenters argue that part of the problem is IT’s willingness to bend over backward. U/Geminii27 warns, “Any such attempt to push boundaries… has to be pushed back on hard. The problem is that a lot of customer-interacting IT people… don’t actually know where the firm boundaries are.”
The Cultural Acceptance of Computer Illiteracy
Perhaps the most thought-provoking point comes from u/Moneia, who notes, “It’s socially acceptable to say ‘Lol, I’m not very good with computers’ before absolutely proving it, even in jobs that require them to use a computer all day.” Imagine a surgeon saying, “Lol, I’m not very good with scalpels.” Yet in 2024, digital illiteracy is still treated as an adorable quirk, not a professional liability.
The Takeaway: Tech Support Is a Battle of Wits
So what’s a beleaguered IT pro to do? Document everything. Loop in managers when necessary. Consider walking users through processes live, if only to prove the instructions work. And, perhaps most importantly, remember that for every user who can’t find the “install” button, there’s a whole Reddit community ready to commiserate, laugh, and share tips.
After all, as one commenter joked, “If all else fails, read the instructions.” Or, failing that, maybe it’s time to send over a box of crayons.
How about you? Have you ever battled baffling user incompetence—or been that user yourself? Drop your tales below and let’s keep the tech support therapy session rolling!
Original Reddit Post: I can't make the instructions any simpler...