Like a lot of people in this industry, I too paid my dues in technical support for a locally owned and operated Internet service provider. Because we were local, our customers actually knew where our offices were located and occasionally would grace us with their presence. One particular lady, who owned a bed and breakfast, knew people who received the majority of their reservations via email. So she wanted to get onboard. We registered a domain name, whipped up a nice little website and set up an email box for her. Like some, she just assumed that once the site was up and running the reservations would start poring in. However, unlike her peers in the B&B industry she had no idea how to operate a computer or the Internet.
We explained to her that there was a few simple concepts she needed to learn first and once she had a grasp on them it should be relatively easy so she came down to our shop so we could show her how to check her email for reservations and pull up her website. She lugged her computer down because she wasn't good at taking instruction over the phone. Here's a tip for you, if they’re having problems using that fandangle contraption Alexander Graham Bell came up with, it might be a good idea for them to put off learning computers until the next life.
Taking baby steps, we first had her turn the computer on, this may have been the first time. Then we showed her which little picture (because to these people an icon is a portrait of the Holy Virgin Mary) to click on to get connected to the Internet. Then we showed her which little picture to click on to get the browser open. By this point she was complaining that this whole process was just too complicated. Thinking in the back of my mind, "This is complicated, you should try setting up the zone record for your domain name," but all that came out was, "Now, you see there, where it says address? To get your website all you have to do is type your address in there."
She began to type:
1201 5th Street Wenatchee, WA 98801
A street address is NOT a website!
Ok, I was really tempted to post this here, but it sounded way too much like a daylog...so here it is.