Mine is OOO for Out Of Office. I always misread it in my head like a ghost and it takes me a few seconds to process. It also doesn’t translate to speech—you have to say the whole thing.
Interested to see if others have similar acronyms they beef with.
I work with early 20s kids all the time. If they ask me an easily googled non-technical question I’ll throw them a LMGTFY link. Yes, it’s snarky. But, damn kid don’t ask me ‘why is the sky blue’ or some such dumb question when you can Google it. But, if it’s technical about a system, hey I’ll call and screen share to walk you through the issue any time.
Everyone knows how to Google today, this isn’t 1992 where the internet was new and we had to teach search engine usage in school.
People ask questions in forums (online and otherwise) because they want answers from people who don’t need to Google it. They’re asking for a real interaction with a real human being who knows what they’re talking about and can be asked follow up questions.
It’s hard to believe, but there are still people out there who just want the human interaction more than a clinical answer.
Hey, I wish you were right.
But the kids I work with? We’re not exactly in the tech industry. A lot of these guys barely know how to tie their shoes, let alone how to format a google search question. And half of them feel too entitled to realize that they’re wasting my time with dumb questions, and showing a complete lack of independence and capability of a simple grown adult.
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Say there’s an installation or office, a controlled area, that they need to access and renew their badge at. Well, how about you Google the office, get the contact info, address and hours of operation, look at their FAQs page, review what documents you need to have upon arrival and who you need to speak to when you get there, ensuring you arrive during their business hours and/or make an appointment as required?
No, let’s just show up on the weekend and without the appropriate documentation to get on site then call me while talking to the front gate guard as if I’m going to fix your problem. Sorry, bud. I’ll email you a form you need to fill out and sign, then return to me so that you can then get on site. Which you would have known if you’d asked beforehand or if you checked online.
Edit: And then you complain about requiring the form, that you’ll have to go home to open the form, sign and return it, then print it after I sign and return it to you? And then my other subordinates shoot me a text exchange you’re having with them where you’re lambasting me for being mean and not helping you at the gate? Oh, ok kid. Yeah, you’ll get the form done or you won’t, and while you’re at it you can either sweet talk the guard into badging you in (which is a horrible breach in its own right) or go back home and do it. Idc if it’s 1-3 hours from your home to this office. Not my problem.
This is just one example.
And, this was a personal trip of her’s that she made, without consulting us beforehand or… letting us know that her badge had either expired or was lost. (If I remember correctly it was lost or stolen, which would require a police report, too.)
You sound like a great reason not to work where you work.
Her emergency from piss pour planning, and attempts to circumvent SOP, regulation, and security protocol are not my problem, especially when she failed to do any of the multiple things in the situation correctly, and instead tried to burden me with her problem. On my off day. When she, more than likely at this point because it has been ages and I can’t recall, either lost or had stolen her controlled access badge to a high security area.
For that specific situation, she should have been roasted alive. Instead, I provided her with the SOP required paperwork… on my off day… (that she didn’t end up using because she sweet talked the guard into giving her access.) She should have been grateful, instead of attempting to roast me to her peers who were significantly more capable, independent and intelligent than she was.
Regardless of that specific incident, I’m teaching 20 year olds to use other resources than their superiors, especially 2-3 echelons up, to fast track their problems. She shouldn’t have reached out to me to begin with.
So, ‘joy to work with’ jokes aside, in this case I’m a manager, a trainer, a teacher, a career developer.
I take kids who barely graduated high school and give them useful skills, show them levels of responsibility that they can see the fruit of their work from, teach kids who couldn’t figure out how to Google ‘why is the sky blue’ how to run a 5-7 man teams in either tactical or logistical projects. Giving them a sense of self worth and confidence in their ability to stand on their own two feet, and also showing them the worth of finding out the answers to questions on your own, before seeking assistance from above, and what routes to take when doing so.
Sometimes I’m an asshole, sometimes I’m that older guy who makes dumb jokes that are 10-15 years too old for them. But, there’s a reason for everything I do. A little LMGTFY may be snarky, but you have to understand after the 3rd or 4th time showing them how to find an answer, this or other similar options works.
If that one person, from the lost badge incident, doesn’t listen, never grows up or becomes more capable in her field and always blames everyone around her or above her for her problems? That’s not someone I want as a member of my team or organization.