25 Hilarious Stories Of The Worst Cases Of Computer Illiteracy

While the average user is probably computer savvy, several people still struggle to operate these machines. Though this can be frustrating for anyone having to get any work done through these people, it can also be rather entertaining. So when a Redditor asked, “What’s the worst case of computer illiteracy you’ve seen?”, the most hilarious stories of people who are technologically challenged came out. The ridiculous and bizarrely counterproductive ways in which some people choose to go about the most simple tasks on a computer can be highly amusing, which you can read all about for yourself below.

#1 I knew someone who once put their credit card in the floppy disk drive to make an online purchase.

#2 My grandfather typed “big boobs” as his facebook status like, 15 times in a 5 minute span… I think I understand what he was trying to do…

#3 The guy who wanted to know why his computer didn’t work during a power outage.

#4 About two years ago my mom got a laptop again after refusing to go anywhere near one for about a decade and…hoo boy did I lose brain cells being her tech support.

A couple times she called me for help logging in when the device was literally telling her exactly what to do. Another time she asked me to log her out of her Google account but only that, not the whole laptop please, reasonable enough request—if it hadn’t been a Chromebook, where apparently everything goes through your Google account. I tried to explain that to her and she went, “I don’t care for your theories, just tell me what buttons to press.”

Mother, that’s what I’m trying to explain to you. THERE ARE NO F&%$ING BUTTONS.

#5 I used to do tech support over the phone. I once asked a lady if she knew what version of Windows she was using. She proceeded on at least a 3 minute tirade about how she didn’t find my question funny and said “there’s nothing wrong with my house windows! I’m calling about my god damn computer!” and how she demanded to speak to my supervisor because I was wasting her time and wasn’t trying to help her. Mind you, this all happened less than 10 minutes into the call. I tried explaining what Windows was to her but I couldn’t get two words in without being interrupted so…. ??‍♂️.

#6 This was 10+ years ago. Anytime the house WiFi wasn’t working well, my roommate would unplug the Ethernet cable from the modem and the router and hold it up and down (like you would hold a hose to drain the water out) to “let the electrons drain out” so the internet wouldn’t be clogged.

I tried to explain this wasn’t how Ethernet worked but he said the cable technician told him to do this, and that was the end of the matter. The thing is it usually worked because it reset the internet connection, just not for the reason he thought it did.

#7 I worked for a law firm, and one of the administrators would print the PDF of the case from her email. She would then scan it back to her computer because it “downloaded to the documents folder so she could move to the case folder.”

I told her she could just click the down arrow and download it, then move the file, saving hundreds of sheets of paper. She said that was too complicated.

She only lasted a few months before she was fired.

Edit: I thought of another one. Lawyers are not smart when it comes to electronics. Same law firm, a lawyer was afraid the cleaning crew was going to steal her laptop. So she took her trash can and shoved it under her desk. Put her laptop in the trash and covered it with paper towels. Of course, the cleaning crew empties her trash. They find the laptop and put it aside in the cleaning crews supervisor office because they thought it was weird we’d throw a laptop away that looked brand new.

#8 My sister places every file she creates on the desktop. She does not understand folders. She cannot move a window around on the screen, she cannot resize a window except by the minimize and restore buttons in the upper right corner. She does not understand if she is using Google and wants to change to a different search she does not have to close and reopen Google but can use tabs.

#9 Growing up in the 90s, I remember seeing multiple adults try to yell commands at a computer screen. They didn’t understand about standard I/O like keyboards and mice because their only concept of computers was from watching Star Trek.

#10 Remember floppy disks? I once saw a grown man using a rubber pencil eraser to “erase the files” on his disk.

On a separate occasion, during the dial-up modem period of the internet, I saw a Dad yelling at a kid for dialing up the home access number while on vacation in Hawaii. They got a $3200 phone bill at checkout for him playing Dungeons and Dragons with friends all night.

I saw a secretary use white out correction paste on a printout.

#11 My mom was trying to move ~200 pictures from one folder to another. Her approach was to open one picture, do Save As, save it to the other folder, and then delete the original. One by one. When I tried to explain that she could click-and-drag the whole thing over in two seconds, she said “that wouldn’t be any faster than the way I do it!”

She would also “save” pictures she found online by copying them, opening Microsoft Word, pasting it in there, and saving it as a .docx file. And she would try to “open” jpegs by right clicking on them, choosing “Open With,” and selecting Microsoft Word.

#12 I worked at the head office of a major UK company. They hired a woman as a website administrator and, on her first day of training, asked her to click on something. She just stared blankly, and they repeated, click on it with the mouse. The what? Was her reply. They had interviewed her for the job and it turned out that in 2004 she had somehow never used a computer that had a mouse. I don’t think she made it past lunchtime.

#13 My employer hired someone to work for me doing tech support. In the first few days I had to show her how to open Outlook, create a new email, where to put the recipient address, etc. Had to show her multiple times how to open Excel, let alone use it. She never did get the hang of email, eventually we concluded she actually couldn’t read and we had to let her go. This was in the early 2000’s and she was probably in her 30’s at the time.

#14 Ahhhh all of Germany!

This company prints the PDFs (huge documents), sends them around their department for individual, handwritten makeup in various colors, scans that doc and sends it to their foreign offices for makeup where it is repeated, and red and that three timed scanned copy to us.. all in black and white.

No 90’s era homework packet image quality can rival it.

#15 I was providing remote support for a factory and got a call from the plant manager who was trying to do a tour, he couldn’t log into a system.  Turned out he was typing his username and password but then not pressing “ok”. He called me to ask how to log in while he had an audience. .

#16 Oh goodness so many stories…

As a student working in college I had the ticket for a computer that wouldn’t boot. Showed up to find over a dozen refrigerator magnets stuck to the outside of the case.

There was also the prof trying to upgrade Windows (he had 3.1) via floppy disk (I forget how many discs, his PC didn’t have a CD drive, but it was a lot) on his 386 that he refused to replace/upgrade.

EDIT: Those are old stories – more recently we had the new hire (19 yo in 2023) that we had to explain what a Start button on Windows was and how and where “File->Save” was and what it meant. Kids that have only been exposed to phones/tablets are the bane of my existence these days.

#17 The whole family has used emails for years, the other day I had to send one for my dad, and he said something in the line of “send both files in one email, so you don’t have to pay twice”.

#18 I was helping someone with a website for their small business.

I told them I put an “alt” tag on some of the photos that would show text when they put their mouse over it, and to try it out.

He literally picked up his mouse and placed it on the screen.

I fell on the floor and almost pissed myself.

#19 I’m a teacher and one of my coworkers a few years ago had no understanding of the difference between the desktop and internet browser. She only ever had Chrome maximized and did not understand in any way what other programs were or a desktop with icons or anything. This was around 2017 and she was mid-30s so I don’t think she was only familiar with Chromebooks but maybe?

I also spent an entire year showing a coworker how to attach a pdf to an email on a weekly basis. Every week she was so thankful I showed her because “I never learned this before!” It eventually got so bad that I took it to administration because I was worried about her mental capacity. They concluded she was just lazy. Three years later and I’m working with her again and showing her how to attach a pdf to an email. “Thank you! I’ve never learned this before!”.

#20 This just happened last Friday. I am a new legal secretary in a small law firm where the partners have been in business for 50 years.

Part of my job is to print every email that comes in and of course people always send big fat attachments Friday at 4:55.I had some emails queued up to print and since it was already 10 minutes after I was supposed to be gone I asked the managing partner if he would shut down the computer after it finished printing. He did not know how to shut down a computer.

#21 I was once trying to teach someone how Windows Explorer worked. For whatever reason, they could not grasp the concept of using folders to store documents. I had to get an actual folder and piece of paper out to demonstrate putting paper into the folder before she was able to grasp the concept.

#22 Around 2016, I watched my brother (in his 30s) open safari browser and click in the search bar to type out “www.yahoo.com” and hit enter and then click in the search bar on yahoo’s homepage to type “Google”….

#23 When I connect my new mouse my keyboard stops working. You guessed right, he unplugged his keyboard instead of his old mouse.

#24 Sold a computer on craigslist about 10 years ago. Keyboard, mouse, LCD monitor, and cables.

He took it home, and said it didn’t work, the screen would stay blank when he powered it on.

When he brought it back, he was pressing the power button on the LCD monitor, not the computer.

#25 In the 90’s, as a junior doing IT support, got a call for a file search/undelete.

The lady was following a guide. Every time she saved a document, she named it…

Literally …

YourDocumentNameHere. Every time!! Confirming the Overwrite? with a Yes.

She called me to find an older document from last week, to edit a page on a 400 page contract.

I found a single file of course. Told her boss she needs to retype from scratch, just that page, then do photocopies. Else retype all 400 pages.

Then left for next client.

That boss called my boss, really angry. Had a meeting with HR and boss, they never checked my version.

I had to explain step by step, the HR lady didn’t get the problem either at first. My boss sure did.

I got written up, to shut up the other boss, the reason? Being impolite.

Shanilou Perera

Shanilou has always loved reading and learning about the world we live in. While she enjoys fictional books and stories just as much, since childhood she was especially fascinated by encyclopaedias and strangely enough, self-help books. As a kid, she spent most of her time consuming as much knowledge as she could get her hands on and could always be found at the library. Now, she still enjoys finding out about all the amazing things that surround us in our day-to-day lives and is blessed to be able to write about them to share with the whole world as a profession.

40 Of The Coolest Things People Have Created Using A 3D Printer

One cool aspect of the future of tech is our access to 3D printing. While some are thinking of how to use 3D printing to build houses or print edible food, others are using it to create medical miracles. One subreddit aptly named 3Dprinting , follows and shares all these innovative creations so that “makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing.” Scroll below to check out some cool 3D-printed items and the amazing progress technology has made.

#1 I Recently Had A Full Head Mri. Using Free Software I Was Able To Pluck My Brain Out And Turn It Into A Desk Light

#2 Who Ever Designed This Thing I Printed It… I Have Never Been So Horrified And In Love At The Same Time!!

#3 (Oc) I Made The Jetpacks For My Light-Year Suit Everything Is 3D Printed!

#4 I Hate Flossing, But Flossers Are A Waste Of Plastic, So I 3D Printed A Reusable One!

#5 I Found A Mini Nuclear Power Plant On Thingiverse And Modified It To Fit On My Humidifier

#6 Proof That Perseverance Pays Off…my Full Iron Man Suit, Printed In Many, Many Pieces On My Tiny Up Mini Over 6 Months

#7 Just Had To Do It, I Couldn’t Resist

#8 When A Failed Print Is Still A Happy Little Mistake

#9 I Made These Spikes To Stop “Helpful” People From Grabbing Me Without Consent

#10 A Redditor Has Built Me A New Finger After Insurance Turned Me Down For One. They Took An Existing Design And Customized It With My Feedback And Made Me Whole Again. It Should Be Known That Limb Labs Wanted 15 To 20 Thousand Dollars For One

#11 My 8 Year Old Asked For A Nintendo Switch For Christmas. Prusa I3 Mk3s To The Rescue! We Did Buy Her An Actual Switch, But She Must Endure This First

#12 One Lid To Rule Them All

#13 Bastard Broke Into The Wrong Goddamn Rec Room

#14 My Partner Keeps Buying Plants So I Have To Keep Designing Plant Pots. Here’s One Of My Latest Ones

#15 Broke My Arm, Got A 3D Printed Cast

#16 Just Finished My Arkham Knight Cosplay! Fully 3D Printed And Painted, This Was So Much Fun To Do!

#17 A Loggerhead Turtle Got Into A Boating Accident, Resulting In The Loss Of A Majority Of Its Lower Beak. Scientists Gave It A New 3D Printed Titanium Beak. It Looks So Badass. He Is Now A Cyborg Turtle

#18 After Three Failed Attempts, I Present To You: Invisiball In Spectrum

#19 I Made A ‘Toothpaste Mover’ So You Can Push Toothpaste From One Costco-Sized Tube Into A Lil Travel Tube ???

#20 My New Favourite 3D Print

#21 Simple Design For A 7 Year Anniversary Present. The Pennies Are Dated With Years That Are Significant To Us

#22 My Dad 3D Printed A Lever To Replace His Light Switch

#23 Designed A Custom Duck Hunt Display For These Nerf Guns That I Printed Zapper Shells For

#24 Inserts For My Travel Tool Box

#25 Was Born Without An Arm So I Built Myself My Own Eletronic 3D Printed Arm. This Is Me Holding An Egg

#26 I May Have A slight Addiction To Printing Covers For My Bionic Arm

#27 Finally Finished The Wife’s Fully Motorised Mk49 Rescue Suit 3D Printed On Ender 5 Plus Bondtech Ddx Direct Drive

#28 My Wife’s 10 Year Old Brother Got A 3D Printer For Christmas. I Joked That He Can Build Me A Playstation. Every Day I’ve Been Asking Him When It’ll Be Ready. Today He Brought Me This. Best Present Ever

#29 S̵t̵e̵a̵l̵ ̵t̵h̵e̵ ̵k̵e̵y̵s̵

#30 Don’t Feed Spray Paint After Midnight

#31 I Made This Guitar For My Son’s Birthday

I have a few small things to finish it but it’s essentially finished. Printed in PETG on my X1C and I used stone coat epoxy with miraclekoo resin dye. The pickups are fender noiseless n4.

#32 I’m Working On A 3D Printable Model Of Bmo From Adventure Time With Accurate Internals!

#33 3D Printed Clip-On Temperature Indicator For The Shower Pipe To Show When It’s Warm Or Too Hot. I’m Disabled So I Can’t Always Tell Temperature With My Hand, And I Didn’t Want To Use One Of Those LED Showerheads Because Electricity + Water = Bad

#34 Where The Sidewalk Ends

#35 Finished Printing The Oof Stones

#36 My Step-Son’s Soccer Team Won First In A Tournament But They Didn’t Get A Trophy So I Designed And Printed Him One

#37 I Modeled, Printed, And Painted This Little House To Express My Frustration With The Housing Market

#38 Moon Lamp

#39 Me And My Son 3D Printed A Life Size Battle Droid. Turns Out They Were Quite Big

#40 I 3D Printed The City Of Denver

Shanilou Perera

Shanilou has always loved reading and learning about the world we live in. While she enjoys fictional books and stories just as much, since childhood she was especially fascinated by encyclopaedias and strangely enough, self-help books. As a kid, she spent most of her time consuming as much knowledge as she could get her hands on and could always be found at the library. Now, she still enjoys finding out about all the amazing things that surround us in our day-to-day lives and is blessed to be able to write about them to share with the whole world as a profession.