DH has been using a calculator to add things recorded in Excel

[RokaandRoll]

AIBU to think this is absolutely astonishing?

I found out because we were doing a new budget spreadsheet and he read out what we spend on different things each month while I recorded each item in Excel. He then asked me to read the amounts back to him so he could add them up. I was like WHAT??? I'll just add a formula in Excel. He said "really, you can do that?" I asked him what he thought Excel was for, and he said he didn't know as no one had taught him.

Have you ever found out someone was doing something in a completely bizarre and illogical way on a similar level as this? DH is in his 50s and is a quite intelligent person (or so I thought). He has used Excel in his job although obviously not extensively. AIBU to be completely shocked?

Exactly. My DH could open the computer and click on excel and put some numbers in but he wouldn't have a clue about any of the functions as he's never used it in his life. There's a vast difference in typing in a question to Google or opening an account to an online forum to using software like that. It's not lacking critical thinking at all, but some people love punching down. I wouldn't know how to do half the stuff my DH finds "intuative" in his line of work and I bet patronising PPs wouldn't either.

But if they don't know what excel is capable of they wouldn't think to google would they?

If they were tasked with baking a cake and had no idea what to google they would find it difficult. Not everyone has the same kind of logic that you and I do.

My job means that I spend half my time on google and the rest using excel, so I am familiar with using it all the time, but you seem to miss the point that if something is not on someone's radar that they wouldn't think of looking it up.

😂YANBU

All these people 'if he hasn't been taught'... bollocks; I was never 'taught' Excel but played around and discovered what it could do. I ended up with a mantra of 'if something is taking a long time in Excel, there's a function you don't know about'.

I would find it hard to disguise my contempt if I'm honest. Maybe he's one of those people with loads of intelligence but little common sense/ confidence to experiment.

I'm 50s too BTW.

Where do you go to school that ICT or computing or some other variant name (because school love relabeling things) of the same class isn't mandatory?

Since 2014 computer science has been mandatory but I have never heard of a school not having it as mandatory since at least 2000.

It may have moved on and excel might not be a whopping 60% anymore but I greatly doubt they have dumped something classed as a basic work skill.

Also how do you know so certainly that your kids didn't use excel for their exams?

All my coursework was done in class, my mam would have zero idea of what software I used at school for my GCSEs, it literally never once came up.

I'm a VBA programmer and can do things with Excel that would burst most people's heads (believe me when I say you can run the economy of a first world country on Excel, if you have the knowledge).

However, I am quite niche and most people use Excel at about 5% of its capabilities at best.

Even so, I'm not sure that I've ever come across anybody who doesn't know how to use autosum?

I hate spreadsheets on SharePoint with a vengence
"Do you want to collaborate with your colleagues on this?"

No, fuck off out of my spreadsheet and messing up all the formulae.
Muppets.

Even so, I'm not sure that I've ever come across anybody who doesn't know how to use autosum?

If you have never used it and don't know that autosum exists how would they know? It's only logical to excel users because we know that it exists.

I’m pretty good at excel, self taught, it’s abit annoying though as no one else at my work can use it properly so I end up doing others peoples sheets.

Word also has a Dictate feature, as does Outlook etc. You talk, it types. Make sure punctuation is on in the feature settings (a little cog top right under the toolbar).

I'm a chap, engineer, run a business and teach engineering (45) - I'll put my hands up and say I used excel for the first time in 2019, just before covid, and like your DH only learned it could add up for you last year.

At which point, much to the wife's dismay I ditched it and have gone back to the old faithful printing calculator and Kalamazoo ledger.

https://google.com/search?q=compute+etymology

com + putare

To settle an account together.

You've picked out the bottom line of your link. You need to read the whole entry.

Agree I wouldn't use Excel to add up stuff
Id use a calculator or a pen and paper

Id also use a book for recipes if I don’t know one off by heart.

I don’t spend my days using spreadsheets for work or even using word.

I loved Word Perfect and Lotus 1-2-3 back in the day but when MS office came out it was quite literally bye bye to these 2 and you 'had' to embrace MS office and if you weren't trained in it like I wasn't then cobble together some sort of knowledge of it. It did help that both these former programs were similar to MS office counterparts but it still took some learning. And then PP. I mean I can do it now, but I've never loved it. But as I said, I like to be trained in packages. I'm an ex legal sec/PA so have had to learn legal databases and forms in less than a month. Training on any of these packages is key and that's unfortunately what some companies don't allow for these days, it's 'ta da here's Teams, 'now' you have to learn it inside out and use it. Mmmmkay.

I was responding specifically to “as any etymology dictionary will confirm”.

Look, I came into this thread to correct someone who was attempting to give someone else a dressing-down for not knowing how to use Excel with a claim that didn’t even stand up even without their egregious use of the word “literally”.

It’s not that deep.

Indeed, they're synonymous... like in French, settling the bill is called l'addition.

But I think this whole sub-thread debate has come about because some people misunderstand/dislike synonyms (?)

DH is an engineering consultant and knows the basics, but he doesn't really need to use excel on a day to day basis. He is a scientist and has to evaluate scientific data and critique drawings and photos of completed work.

I am not nearly as well qualified as him, but compared to him am a whizz at excel.

We all have different strengths, and I'd like to think that one of mine is not sneering at people who can't magically work out how to use excel.

Lists are sooo much easier in Excel, you can filter by surname, first name, date of birth, date of joining. Produce reports, export as PDFs, address labels...
To do this in Word would take ages!

Lists are sooo much easier in Excel, you can filter by surname, first name, date of birth, date of joining. Produce reports, export as PDFs, address labels...
To do this in Word would take ages!

Yes they are - when you know how. Usually it just takes someone to show the user the basics and they will be fine, but they need to be shown first.

DD had never used excel until she did her final degree dissertation. I had to show her how to sort and filter, and admittedly did a few vlook ups for her just so that she got some unique identities. Without my input she wouldn't have been able to get started.

I think it’s blatantly obvious that a spreadsheet would have a facility within it to sum a column on numbers!

@housethatbuiltme 2 different schools in the same LA, but I can tell you none of them did a GCSE in IT.

Yes, they had lessons, lower down the school, but, as I said, not a GCSE.

Also how do you know so certainly that your kids didn't use excel for their exams?

Because they didn't do GCSEs in IT - or Computer Science, or any other name for a similar GCSE.

All my coursework was done in class, my mam would have zero idea of what software I used at school for my GCSEs, it literally never once came up.

No, I wouldn't follow what each of them were doing in that level of detail, but, when I have used it occasionally for something I volunteer for, they've not been familiar with what I wanted to do 'intuitively', and have had to play about to work it out for me.

I've never, ever used Excel. Wouldn't have a clue how to do it. I work on a laptop all day but we have our own systems and Excel isn't something we need for the job.

Why is it obvious?

It's not something I've ever needed to use, so why would it cross my mind ? Why would I be 'pondering' "I wonder if this spreadsheet, that I don't usually use, can do something that I don't actually need help with?"

@RampantIvy has made several excellent posts.

No, it's actually not. If you don't know, you don't know. I really don't get how people don't understand this. When you learn, it's obvious, but until you do, it's very far from blatantly obvious.