RE: levels of detail -- are we beyond this?

["Sam Beard" <sbeard -at- oico -dot- com>]

Darren,

   You're absolutely right! I went to an Arby's one time a while back
(for those that don't know them, they're a roast beef sandwich chain)
and placed my order. The cashier rang it up and it came to something
along the lines of $5.57. After I handed him the bills and he entered
the tendered amount into the register, I said, "I have the 7 cents," and
proceeded to hand it to him. He took it, rather unsure about it all, and
looked at it sitting in his hand, then at the cash register, then back
at it, then up to me. At this point, the other kid in the restaurant
came over and they BOTH looked at it, at the register, and at me. So, I
said, "I get 50 cents back." They both looked at each other, COMPLETELY
unsure about it all, and the first one opened the register and gingerly
handed me two quarters. To this day, I don't believe either one of them
was sure if what they did was the right thing or not! Scary!!

Samuel I. Beard, Jr.
Technical Writer
OI Analytical
979 690-1711 Ext. 222
sbeard -at- oico -dot- com
 

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+sbeard=oico -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+sbeard=oico -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
Of Butler, Darren J CTR USAF AFMC 584 CBSS/GBHAC
Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 12:52 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Cc: peter -at- knowhowpro -dot- com
Subject: RE: levels of detail -- are we beyond this?

I often "spell-out" a URL or a file path just to be sure. Most techies
will just skim-over the START > PROGRAM > etc parts-but then
again.......

>>Lather-Rinse-Repeat......<<
Although we're having a bit of fun with the shampoo-thang, this
illustrates our conundrum as tech writers. We're noticing that a
small-but-growing portion of our audience may be super tech-savvy but
s**k at common sense. Knowing exactly when and what to "dumb-down" in a
user doc is a frequent problem for some of us.

A good example is the oft-told anecdote of the college-age cashier who
can work her iPhone until it texts, sings, dances, gets a GPS fix on
Ancient Atlantis, and translates Shakespeare into Swahili, but-if the
cash register breaks down-couldn't figger-out how much change she owes
you if her life depended on it.

-Darren

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