Workplace Wonders: You're showing your age there, sister!

Let me tell ya about a few of the folks I work with -

First we have Boss. Now, Boss isn't really the boss but she sure thinks she is! She is in her 40's and is on my sales team and has been here the longest of all the sales folks. She is very helpful when I need help or have questions, but everything goes to her head and she is ALWAYS RIGHT. Therefore she knows more than anyone else here, and should be the boss.

Next we have BikerBabe. BikerBabe is a 61 year old lady that is also on my sales team. She smokes like a chimney and always talks about going to Bike Night, and hanging out at the Bike Shop. She is something else I tell ya!

I sit between Boss and BikerBabe so I can hear pretty much everything they say and do - super exciting, I know. Anyway, I've been noticing lately the different ways all three of us go about doing things. For example - when one of us needs a phone number: I go to google it, Boss calls directory assistance, and BikerBabe looks it up in the phone book. If I need a file that BikerBabe has on her computer - she prints it out, goes to the copy machine and scans it in as a PDF then sends it to me. Of if she's in a hurry she just prints it out and lays it on my desk. Attaching it directly from her computer is not an option for BikerBabe (I've showed her numerous times but she never remembers that is an option).

Another example: Yesterday we all received updated and revised maintenance agreements that we are supposed to be using from here on out. Here is what we all did with them. Boss saved a copy, then printed out 25 so she could have them sitting in her file cabinet ready to be used (she will have to manually fill these out), BikerBabe asked me to help her print out 1 copy. She then took that one copy up to the copy machine and made 100 copies of it so that she could always have one available. What did I do? I just saved it to my computer. This way I can fill out all the information on the computer then print it out as needed.

I could go on and on - don't even get me started with how they manage PowerPoint and Excel. Oh, and checking their voicemail remotely - ha! What an ordeal!

I'm not saying that one of us is right and one is wrong - I'm simply pointing out the differences in which we all use technology. The thing that got me thinking most about this was the phone number thing - I'm sure by the time I'm 40, I will have children and they will be like "mom? you're using the INTERNET to look that up? Get with the times!" (I have no idea "what the times" will be - but I can only imagine!