There’s always that one person who’s slow to understand technology.

Imagine a team lead asked you for help and insisted that you could open files stored on her personal desktop through a “link.” Would you get frustrated and lose your cool? Or would you come up with an easy way for her to understand why she’s wrong?

In the following story, one IT specialist finds himself dealing with this very scenario and chooses the latter. Here’s what happened.

My Desktop != Your Desktop

One of the team leads in my department was having trouble getting something to work in Excel and pinged me for help.

I asked if she could email me the spreadsheet so I could take a look myself, and she sent me a link instead…to the spreadsheet on her desktop.

As in, her C:\Users\username\Desktop\ desktop. I began rubbing my temples because I knew this particular person well enough to know that a simple explanation would not be heard, processed, and acted on. But I had to try anyway.

He tried to explain that her desktop was separate from his.

I responded, explaining that I can’t access files stored on her hard drive and that she needs to send them to me as an attachment.

She responds by saying, “It’s on the desktop. If the link won’t work, just open it.”

I again explain that her desktop and my desktop are not the same thing, and that I am no more able to open items on her desktop than she is to open things on mine.

At this point, he really needed to prove a point.

She responds (somehow arguing with the guy that she wants help from…if I’m so incompetent, why are you asking me for help?) that she’s opened the recycle bin. And I have a recycle bin. Therefore, since we both have recycle bins, I should be able to open things on her desktop.

This is the point where I dial back the professionalism and let my tenure absorb the hit if she pitches a fit.

I say, “Excuse me, get up, then turn on the kitchen faucet.”

She was stunned at first.

I work from home, and I know from prior experience that it’s audible from my home office.

I sit back down at my desk and say, “I’ve just turned my kitchen faucet on. Do you have any water in your sink?”

The silence lasted a good 10 seconds, and I swear I could almost hear the hamster wheel in her head straining. And she finally says, quietly and clearly trying to sound as neutral and unflustered as possible, “OK, that makes sense, I’ll send it over as an attachment.”

Wow! What a great way to teach her the lesson!

Let’s see what the readers over at Reddit have to say about what he did here.

Exactly!

This reader has a question.

It’s going to be a long year for this parent.

It sure was!

That was the best response… possibly, ever!

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.