Adults are mature human beings....or at least they're supposed to be...

Imagine you have a project for some people. Adults, to be more specific. They are all obligated to do a project and use the resulting system that you've created. So that they can make proper use of the system, they must be informed of the details and inner workings of the system. To accomplish this, you hold a training session. You give them instructions on what to do, and expect that they will pay attention and learn from you.

Now suppose a day later, one of the attendees of your training session comes to you and says, "I can't do this thing you showed us how to do yesterday." Why not, you ask this person. "I just can't make it work," they reply. I need you to be more specific, I tell them. "I can't, I wasn't paying attention when you covered that part," is the final answer.

What would your reaction to this scenario be? Would you gladly go and help them resolve a problem which really could have been avoided had they simply paid attention to you? Or would you send them off to figure it out on their own? Well, since you have been tasked with being the "go-to" person for this project, you are obligated to help them.

Fast forward to another meeting but being held by that same person who wasn't paying attention. This person now has a project that they are in charge of, and are giving you instructions on how to complete a task. So you attend the meeting, pay close attention because similar to what you taught them, it is a new system to you. This person also provides instructions on how to proceed with the task. The instructions are incomplete and lead you to errors and problems. This person has also infused the instructions with an inconceivable number of "whatever" 's, adding to the confusion (ex: "Oh, just enter stuff and whatever," or "Do whatever you want at this point," or "Whatever works for you"; I think you get the drift). You ask questions and attempt to clarify the situation so that the instructions are clearer. Their answer to you is, "Pay attention, because I might not have time to fix the instructions later."

Now what is your reaction? How would you treat this situation? Not only is this person now a total hypocrite for telling YOU to pay attention, but is incapable of running a project for which they have no idea of what they're doing. When you give instructions to people, do you:

a) Say "Well, whatever. Just enter stuff and see what happens," and rapidly breeze through the remainder the training session as though everyone is perfectly aware of what the fuck you're talking about...

OR

b) Go through each process step-by-step with clear and concise instructions, making sure to cover as many problematic aspects as possible?

This situation is what I faced today at the office. It blows my mind that there are people like this who actually think that:

a) "Whatever" is an acceptable answer to many questions
b) Couldn't teach a monkey how to eat a banana if their lives depended on it
c) Support staff will drop everything to come and help with preventable problems
d) Are in positions of power, and thus have responsibilities that give them opportunities to do all of the above.

Amazing, isn't it? I'm so happy I work with these morons that I could throw myself off a cliff.