'My new coworker needs to be fired': Office worker asks for advice for dealing with a technologically illiterate nepo-hire

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jul 27, 2024 3:00 PM EDT

This person has had it up to here with their new coworker. They shared that they were feeling conflicted about how to proceed after realizing that this new hire is pretty bad with computers. 

The new coworker in this story was a nepo-hire, brought into the job just because she was a long-time friend of the company's CEO. Instead of hiring a worker for their skills, the company chose to bring on this woman without actually having her demonstrate any computer competency first. 

Computers aren't like, the easiest thing to learn. It takes time! It definitely helps if you were raised with computers as the tech advances, but older folks are totally able to learn how to use them, too. If you don't know how to work a computer, it's hard to hide that fact. You're going to be stuck on questions like, "Where did my inbox go?" or "How do I move this paragraph around in an Excel spreadsheet?" This person, u/Best_Ryze_NA, realized that their coworker needed assistance with every little task on her computer… it's kind of a dead giveaway. 

After you check out this story, read about the people who were glowing with pride over their moments of pettiness, like the dude who went to his ex-wife's house in the middle of the night and "dug up all the plants in her garden and took them with him." 

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  • 01
    Keep trac 0000
    via Crew on Unsplash
  • 02
    AITAH for thinking my new coworker needs to be fired? We recently had an addition to my small office (3, she makes 4) and I can't help but have pretty negative thoughts towards her.
    via u/Best_Ryze_NA
  • 03
    She is very kind and seems like a good person, but completely technologically illiterate. Part of the reason for her hire was that she was an old friend of the CEO, who is nearly 60 YO herself.
    via u/Best_Ryze_NA
  • 04
    We are recruiters, so I get the tricky situation of discrimination regarding her age and maybe her gender though we have - a very good balance of men and women across our company.
    via u/Best_Ryze_NA
  • 05
    First of all, she claimed to be a "computer gal" who did accounting for many years. I've had to help her with tech related issues everyday from logging in to turning her mouse on.
    via u/Best_Ryze_NA
  • 06
    She functionally can't perform her job and is far from autonomous, so I can't help but feel like she is a burden. It and I feel like I am being an who is impatient and judgemental, but this position REQUIRES you to have an understanding of
    via u/Best_Ryze_NA
  • 07
    the tech to even apply - so I have no idea (besides nepotism) how she got the job in the first place. I came in one morning and she was on the phone with tech support. because her keyboard was "broken" and typing "d" over and over again.
    via u/Best_Ryze_NA
  • 08
    She was telling the guy she needs a new keyboard and she can't work while it is broken. I walked over and she had set her headphones on her open laptop, so the "d" key was depressed.... I silently lifted it off and gave her a thumbs up then said, "Mondays,
    via u/Best_Ryze_NA
  • 09
    right?". I dunno, am I am for wanting her gone? She would be so much better off in a job where she has familiarity and skills in my opinion. Or maybe I just need to give her time to learn.
    via u/Best_Ryze_NA
  • 10
    Honestly, she might just quit out of frustration. Edit: please judge my attitude. I am not familiar with this situation and I'm not sure if I'm being an Edit edit: well she just quit.
    via u/Best_Ryze_NA
  • 11
    Wild_Deb... She may need to be fired. It's not up to you. Keep your head in your business and if she asks for help, tell her as soon as you finish what your doing so that your not interrupting your productivity.
    via u/Wild_Debt_8065
  • 12
    BigComfy... Wow. You posted 48 minutes ago and she quit. That was a remarkably fast resolution.
    via u/BigComfyCouch4
  • 13
    Biffowolf If she cant do the job it will eventually be very apparent. If you did say something and she got fired I am not sure how you would feel. Personally I would help her as much as I could (but
    via u/Biffowolf
  • 14
    not to my detriment) and focus on the fact I tried to help.
    via u/Biffowolf
  • 15
    Proud-Ge... I had a rule with new employees. If they asked me the same question more than 2 times, I made them go back to their desk for a notebook to write down the answer. It's okay to
    via u/Proud-Geek1019
  • 16
    ask for help, but she needs to recognize she's in over her head. Been there, we all have, but then we seek out extra training on our own time!
    via u/Proud-Geek1019
  • 17
    Emayeuar... NTA. There is a woman at my job who is nearing 60, and she said she was "offline for two weeks" due to a computer issue. She brought her laptop in and explained she couldn't get onto her
    via u/Emayeuaraye
  • 18
    email. What she meant was she didn't know how to open the internet browser, go to gmail, and log in. She had a shortcut set up on her desktop before that was deleted.
    via u/Emayeuaraye
  • 19
    I almost walked out of the building that day.
    via u/Emayeuaraye
  • 20
    Fantastic_... If she's old friends with the CEO then it's not gonna matter what type of work or how often you have to repeat everything to her. She's never gonna lose her job.
    via u/Fantastic_Time8783
  • 21
    She is however somebody to keep nice with in terms of networking especially since she is old friends with the CEO and if you are very kind to her and show her kindness and the CEO will also learn
    via u/Fantastic_Time8783
  • 22
    of this. Lead by example and this will be beneficial for you in the future even if you don't really like her and it drives you crazy.
    via u/Fantastic_Time8783
  • 23
    Small-Exp... I think much worse things about much more competent people. Think what you want. NTA
    via u/Small-Explorer7025
  • 24
    SnooWord... We would have filed that DDDDDDDDDD workorder as a DFU. Dumb F'ing User.
    via u/SnooWords4839

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