The monitor display on my computer suffered from overscan. That is, the image on the display was slightly larger than the screen. The edges of the picture were lost. Consequently, I could not see the menu bar. No problem, I’m tech savvy. I can figure this out.
An hour later…
After consulting various support sites and fiddling with the display settings on my computer without result, I messaged a support forum and received this response:
“You need to make the adjustments on the monitor itself, not on your computer [you idiot]”
Ok, I added the “you idiot”. And I felt like an idiot. I had spent an hour under the hood of my computer, instead of a minute on my monitor. In my defense, no one said the adjustment was to the monitor, not the computer.
Everyone assumed I knew this and in the process, everyone omitted the fundamental thing.
With no particular back up, I believe such omissions happen all the time. Perhaps, with great consequence. I’m sure politicians do it daily, and on purpose, but I’m not talking about professional liars. I’m speaking of people genuinely trying to be helpful and falling short because they have left out some fundamental thing. Context is key.
In school, I could rely on the kid in the front row to ask the stupid question that I was afraid to ask for fear of revealing my own stupidity. That kid seemed to always ask the question that put things in context so they made sense. I have come to appreciate that kid’s fearlessness later in life. Alas, I’m not in school anymore. I just need to be more fearless and ask the question so we all know what’s really going on.
What do you think? Care to share a similar event?
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