Friday, July 14, 2006

If You Have To Ask, Then You Probably Don't Know What It Is

Here's a mini scenario for you, but first....Happy Friday, fellow terrestrials. It's a hot one outside, so it's best to be near a cool spot with plenty of water to dive into.

Scenario from yesterday:
I was trying to remember who was asking about a certain work related tool/product. I'll refer to the tool as GNAT (Gosh Not Another Tool). I speak to a few people during my day, and so I thought I might have spoken with UserB (not to be confused with killer bee or worker bee). I pinged (Instant Messaged) UserB. The following conversation unfolded (without the g'days, how are ya's, nice weather, and assorted related blah blah's).

Me: Were you the person who was asking about GNAT?
UserB: What's GNAT?

*pause*

Now my first thought was, well, if I have to tell you what GNAT means, then you probably don't know what it is, and you're probably not the person I was looking for! But, on better judgement (or stupidity), I explained what GNAT was.

Me: GNAT stands for Gosh Not Another Tool.
UserB: I don't know what that is. Sorry.

*pause*

So, I almost ended the chat session, but not quite.

There's something else.

Throughout this screen messaging, all of UserB's conversation had html embedded around it, like so:

/!--style="font-size:8pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:#000000;">Sorry what is GNAT? --/

I was seeing this type of screen scrabble with each message typed. UserB could not see this, and sounded disbelieving. So I sent UserB an email, with a screen image, to convey what I was seeing on my end. I tried to advise what was happening and how to remedy the situation. It was a simple setting switch.

Instantly, the famed chest beating bravado/machismo explanation surfaced.....
Oh! I'm using a beta version of blah blah.
hmmmmm......to me, it sounded as though the settings couldn't be changed (but they could). UserB didn't want to pursue how to change this totally unappealing look. So, I wished UserB well, and ended the chat.

A few seconds later I received the following:
UserB: Thanks for the heads-up on the html tags.
*pause*

Some days are just like that I guess. I think I need to go on a shoe/purse shopping spree.

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