begging pleading screaming for older folks to challenge their learned helplessness around digital/tech literacy. i know it might be easier in the short term to have people do things for you, and it's embarrassing to try and have someone scoff and take over, but what're you gonna do if no one's there to help? i have patrons come in claiming they're tech illiterate and refuse to even read instructions (or just skim them and give up) and when i make them go through it, they suddenly discover it's challenging, but not as impossible as they thought.

people also get intensely frustrated with me when i elect not to do everything for them. when i give them slightly more in depth help they become relieved and say, you should've done this all along! but what if im not there to help them? what if im with another customer? are they just gonna stand around waiting for help, when chances are they could totally do at least part of it themselves and make it faster for both of us?

its okay to try and fail. i don't mind giving people pointers or helping on the side. But i have a duty to everyone, and that means i can't be sitting next to someone for an hour doing a task for them. if there's instructions there's no harm in trying, and depending on the task you may be able to research how to do it yourself.