What is the easiest task your boss is unable to do?

[Sparx]

my boss is pretty tech savvy, but i had a teacher one time who called tech support to come in and delete shortcuts off her desktop for her. it was hilarious.

 

[Angelhalo]

ANYTHING related to technology.....

I save things on her computer for her, name computer folders, move computer folders, put items on thumb drives, program numbers into her blackberry, create flyers and invitations in Publisher, open videos on youtube......pretty much anything involving her computer, she is clueless. I also had to install and teach her how to use her headset for her office phone, and I have never done it before or used the item. I just follow the directions that came with it.

She also apparently cannot write thank you notes to anyone, because I write them all for her and sign her name on them.

 

[lecach]

My boss is amazing. Seriously. I really hit the jackpot. But technology sometimes gives her problems. Formatting Word documents isn't her best skill. But she does so many other things amazingly well.

 

[Amelia Peabody]

I am a boss, a physician. I have all kinds of support staff that I pay to do all kinds of things to help my business run more effectively. You can bet your sweet patooty that I know how to do many of things that I pay my staff to do. But, 65% of my collections goes for overhead, and 75% of that goes to payroll, and I don't pay anybody to sit around and look pretty. I certainly don't pay anybody to behave disrespectfully. One ex-nurse in my office once told me she was "too busy" to schedule an MRI for one of my partners. Well, let me just say that she has plenty of free time now.

Oh no fair! I agree a nurse who is "too busy" to do her job needs to work elsewhere. Your situation is not what I was laughing at. It would be like, ummm, ok, asking a staff member to come into the exam room to warm your stethoscope. ( And God help me with where my mind just went.... ) My boss walks over to my desk, stands there with a paper in his hand and asks me to white out a word, a single word. While he stands there. Maybe it's just a clerical thing...

 

[brockash]

This thread is hilarious. I had an attorney once, that I swear would have been living under a bridge lost, if he wasn't married. These are a couple of the funnier things he couldn't grasp...

1) How to e-mail. I can't tell you how many ppl. had shown him how to e-mail ppl. in the office (you know the little phone book icon on outlook.)

2) All the attorney's (it's the D.A.'s office) had to have a "green sheet" in all of their files. -Just a summary sheet of facts, basically. He would print off the sheet, and then he asked our secretary many times... "Can you make this paper green for me?" -He had the green paper in his office.

-One day a bunch of us went out to lunch, and he ordered a hamburger... the waitress asked him how he would like it cooked, and he looked at her like she was speaking a different language. She explained to him, medium, well ect. and he looked at us for an answer. I told him next time we'll call his wife to get the order

 

[Kurby]

Here's an example. He said that when I type an email, I shouldn't put two spaces after each period. How can that possibly matter? Why would anyone look that close. I've been typing that way for way more years then I'd like to admit, I'm not going to try & change now. My co-worker mentioned today that he told her also.

actually it is correct to put two spaces after the period. it is incorrect but has become acceptable to only put one. i have know idea why it's two - probably has something to do with when it started and it was hand writing not typing. the two spaces made it easier to find the next sentense and not feel like it was a run on.

who knows, but at any rate.... your boss is WRONG. shocking i know LOL

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I used to be an executive assistant for a bank president. Now, I work part time as a special ed preschool aide. My classroom teacher has problems with almost every office task you can think of. She can log into the computer and check e-mail but she has problems if she has to send one to more than one person. She has no idea how to cut and paste, like from a document into an e-mail or vice versa. She can't enlarge on the copy machine and she doesn't know how to use the fax machine. She always sends me on "technical errands" around the school (fax this, copy that, etc.). I don't mind doing these tasks, but I do wonder why she never learned them in almost 30 years of teaching!

 

[jlima]

actually it is correct to put two spaces after the period. it is incorrect but has become acceptable to only put one. i have know idea why it's two - probably has something to do with when it started and it was hand writing not typing. the two spaces made it easier to find the next sentense and not feel like it was a run on.

who knows, but at any rate.... your boss is WRONG. shocking i know LOL

I sold classified advertising for 6 years for a newspaper with a name you'd recognize. When we set the ads, we only put one space after a period, to save space. When I took my first typing test after I left that company, WOAH!!! Almost felt like I had to relearn how to type.

 

[darlak]

To check your voicemail messages on our office phones (and I'm sure thousands of others like ours), you simply pick up the phone, push the "Feature" button, enter a code for that particular feature, and then just listen. However, if any one message is too long ot you simply don't want to listen to it, you can just push the same button twice quickly to skip to the end of it.

My boss knows how to get to her messages and to delete them after she's heard them, but she simply cannot figure out how to quickly push that button twice to jump to the end of a message. I've shown her how numerous times. Instead, she sits at her desk and at least twice a week, becomes so frustrated that she beats the handset against the edge of her desk and screams at the recorded voice on the other end of her phone. It's a bit scary and difficult to explain to anyone I might have in my office (next to her office) or be talking to on my phone.

 

[Bobbles]

The use of any version of ANY version of any word processing software other than MS Office 2003.

She can't figure anything out except where the keys on the keyboard are.

Formatting? HA HA!

 

[PatsGirl]

I am a boss, a physician. I have all kinds of support staff that I pay to do all kinds of things to help my business run more effectively. You can bet your sweet patooty that I know how to do many of things that I pay my staff to do. But, 65% of my collections goes for overhead, and 75% of that goes to payroll, and I don't pay anybody to sit around and look pretty. I certainly don't pay anybody to behave disrespectfully. One ex-nurse in my office once told me she was "too busy" to schedule an MRI for one of my partners. Well, let me just say that she has plenty of free time now.

You sound a little hostile The thread seems to be about things a boss CANNOT do- not is UNWILLING to do. With the attitude you're exhibiting here, it would seem that you have little respect for those working for you. No one said anything about sitting on their sweet patootys or being "too busy".

My boss cannot relate to people. You can see how badly he wants to be "one of us" but cannot seem to find the balance to be the boss and to be friendly at that same time. He tends to intimidate others when I think that isn't his motivation at all, only that he isn't sure how to get others to do what he wants and still show respect.

 

[starrzone]

I love this thread!!!

Many moons ago, when I was just out of high school, I had a summer job at a (at the time; there are only a couple now) small chain of gift shops. The owner would periodically come around and give out orders; move this here, do this, do that...would say "Hey you" instead of looking at our name tags...but whatever...we would do what she said. What was funny was that she didn't even know how to use the cash register...and we're talking a basic electric cash register, not even a computer at the time!

 

[daisax]

My boss doesn't have very good mouse skills. If he wants to web surf he calls me in to monitor what he's doing.

No matter how many times I've told him otherwise, he still thinks clicking the mouse 6 times will make it work faster.

You know, like an elevator door button.

 

[Ohiodislover]

My boss can't seem to get his mail out of his mailbox. He doesn't have an assistant or secretary type person to do it for him--Our offices are not set up that way. He will walk right by, use the copy machine, fax stuff etc. and never ever take it Sometimes he will even comment on how full it is

He always comments that if you need him to see something, be sure to put it on his desk. BTW--It's messier than his mailbox.

 

[Northstar]

The easiest task my boss is unable to do is....

Maybe brain surgery. Or rocket science. She is formidably competent at anything related to work.

Wait! She rarely drives a car... takes a taxi or public transport when her DH doesn't drive her. And she won't even try to drive if it's raining hard or (heaven forbid) snowing, which basically means a lot of the time around here.

So the easiest task my boss is unable to do is drive in bad weather.

 

[kafitty]

My boss can't seem to get his mail out of his mailbox. He doesn't have an assistant or secretary type person to do it for him--Our offices are not set up that way. He will walk right by, use the copy machine, fax stuff etc. and never ever take it Sometimes he will even comment on how full it is

these are great!

 

[doxdogy]

Not one person has stated they are refusing to do tasks for their bosses. They are just simply stating the simple office tasks they are unable to perform each day.

I have had to ban one of my bosses from using the copier. Everytime he uses it, he manages to jam it. Then I get to spend about ten minutes opening all the little doors and figuring out where in the world that piece of paper is hiding.

Both of my bosses change out every two years. So far the new one, is fairly tech savvy.

I am a boss, a physician. I have all kinds of support staff that I pay to do all kinds of things to help my business run more effectively. You can bet your sweet patooty that I know how to do many of things that I pay my staff to do. But, 65% of my collections goes for overhead, and 75% of that goes to payroll, and I don't pay anybody to sit around and look pretty. I certainly don't pay anybody to behave disrespectfully. One ex-nurse in my office once told me she was "too busy" to schedule an MRI for one of my partners. Well, let me just say that she has plenty of free time now.

 

[denisem]

Comic relief:

A former boss needed help to put her drop-dead-GAWGEOUS $$$$$ slide bracelet on in the mornings.

Small price to pay as she was not only a smart businesswoman, but fair & generous.

 

[teacherforhi]

Not exactly a boss...but my mentor teacher my first year of teaching.

She had a list of basic sight words and wanted me to hi-lite all the words that a particular student had learned so far. Since I had a million things to do myself, I refused. She then spend at least the next 15-20 minutes trying to get someone to hi-lite the words for her...in that time she could have done it herself!

 

[Mary Anne]

actually it is correct to put two spaces after the period. it is incorrect but has become acceptable to only put one. i have know idea why it's two - probably has something to do with when it started and it was hand writing not typing. the two spaces made it easier to find the next sentence and not feel like it was a run on.

who knows, but at any rate.... your boss is WRONG. shocking i know LOL

I am thinking your boss is YOUNG meaning learned to type after say 1990 and learned on a PC with a word program and not a typewriter. Anyone who learned properly how to type, using the touch method on a typewriter (heck I learned on a MANUAL Typewriter) uses two spaces after the period. It made the document look better. Heck when I learned to type an envelope properly the big discussion was how many spaces to put between the state and the ZIP CODE, as zip codes were the NEW item on the block in those days. Once word programs came out that space a sentence for you to make it look pretty on a page the use of two spaces after a period became obsolete, not wrong.

To this day I cannot stand to watch anyone typing hunting and pecking. Like chalk on a blackboard to me. I had one boss who told me she would never learn how to type as she wasn't a "SECRETARY' ummm I've often wondered how she's managed to deal with office life today.