'I'm not a computer person': IT department refuses to walk incompetent employees through basic tech issues, claiming it's 2025

In 2025, it's hard to justify not having basic computer skills in a modern office environment.

Yes, we understand that some folks have lived longer than the existence of the internet. Of course, everyone deserves grace and patience as they learn to adjust to modern technology. Still, there are some folks out there whose incompetence and inability to learn have absolutely nothing to do with their age.

In this office environment, a small but mighty IT department had instilled a simple, user-friendly process for reporting technical issues. Tech support requests could be submitted via email or over the phone, but according to this author, there were still a handful of individuals who refused to fill out those requests on their own. They needed their hand held every step of the way, including describing the problem they were having.

To combat this, the IT department decided to band together and collaborate with HR in order to enforce mandatory tech training. That way, these entitled coworkers wouldn't be wasting the IT department's valuable time with non-issues that they could easily fix themselves. You'll have to guess how this mandatory training turned out…

Author image for Ben Weiss Ben Weiss
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  • A man sits in front of two computer monitors.
    via Flipsnack

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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  • While it's understandable that some folks have developed an anxiety and a fear of what to do when there are technical difficulties, a refusal to listen and learn is the real issue here. After all, these are the kinds of coworkers who would not show any sympathy if the roles were reversed and someone constantly needed their guidance.

  • "It's great when HR has IT's back"

    We had a huge issue where staff were contacting IT staff directly via Teams, email, in passing or just straight up interrupting IT staff when they were doing other jobs to raise their incidents and requests.
    via speddie23
  • Like most large organisations, we wanted all new requests and incidents to come in via the service desk, and offered staff their choice of an email, via an online portal or calling through via a telephone call to do this.
    via speddie23
  • Whenever we were approached by staff directly as described above, we would always let them know they needed to log a ticket.
    via speddie23
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  • Problem was that 90% of the time this would result in "how do I do that?" And you would then spend 10-15 minutes with them going through logging a ticket
    via speddie23
  • with "It's asking me to describe my problem. What do I type in? OK now it's asking for my phone number. Do I type in my phone number in there?"
    via speddie23
  • I imagine about half of this was the of the "I'm not good with computers" (and apparently not good with basic comprehension)
    via speddie23
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  • type, and the other half of people being so difficult that the IT person they were speaking to would give up and just do their request without them logging a ticket.
    via speddie23
  • The solution? Anyone that has worked in a large organisation has probably dealt with mandatory online training/learning. The type that usually relates to safety,
    via speddie23
  • whistleblowing, raising grievances, etc. where you do a short online module and have a test at the end where you need to get something like 90% to 100% to pass.
    via speddie23
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  • In this organisation, this was part of the HR system and baked into the HR software package, so HR managed this. We worked with HR to develop a course called "Contacting IT" which was literally a course on how to log a ticket with us. And yes, there was a test at the end.
    via speddie23
  • All new starters would needed to complete this before starting, and all existing employees has 6 weeks to complete.
    via speddie23
  • This was great as after that 6 week period, whenever we got a "I don't know how to log a ticket", we could mention that they would have had an online module to
    via speddie23
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  • complete explaining how to do that, and if they don't know about this or forgotten what to do, they should contact their manager to request (re)training.
    via speddie23
  • A group of men work on computers in an office. Two men in the background watch as one man works on a large monitor.
    via Flipsnack

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Scrapheaper • 1d ago Honestly I think not knowing how to use a computer in 2025 is a sackable offence. They're essential for modern work
    via speddie23
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  • elPocket 1d ago . "I don't know how to log a ticket (he he he)" "Not to worry, I'll quickly reset your training status so you get an automated email to redo the course. Once you passed, you know how to file a ticket. Bye!" click "but... but.. sigh"
    via speddie23
  • froot_loop_dingus_ . 1d ago Saying "I'm not a computer person" in 2025 is the same as saying "I'm not a writing person" or "I'm not a talking person." It's an essential skill, if you have been left behind by society then the onus is on you to get educated if you want a job
    via speddie23

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