So that happened...Passwords
So that happened...
Welcome to “So that happened…” — a series of posts where I recount real conversations/exchanges I have with library patrons in an effort to record the absurdity that I sometimes encounter as a matter of course in my work. Names and details of these interactions are redacted/altered to protect the privacy of those individuals.
These can range from mildly absurd to unhinged and sometimes contain language and situations not suitable for all audiences. Reader discretion is advised.
A lady comes in concerned that the email account she set up yesterday might be compromised because the gentleman next to her "may have written it down." This is the second time she's used a computer.
Like ever.
I get her settled in and ask her to log into the account with the password she used to create the account.
"I want to change the password," she says.
"I know," I say. "But we need to log into the account so we can change it."
She freezes.
I wait patiently.
"I want to change the password," she says again.
"I know," I say. "But we need to log into the account so we can change it." I say this in the same tone as the first time, as though we hadn't just had this exact exchange verbatim.
It clicks. She logs in.
We get her password changed. She's happy and grateful. Now she wants to log into her medical chart portal. I extract myself from the situation and let her know if she needs any more help, I'll be close at the desk.
60 seconds later she calls me over. She can't log into her medical chart portal. This is because she's trying to use the password she just created for her email. I explain that these are two separate platforms and that they don't share passwords.
She freezes.
I immediately see my own misstep. I know what she's done -- that she used the same login information to create both accounts -- and my comment has flipped the table of her technological world. I see this a lot. Folks automatically associate one login they create as somehow connected to all their logins when they use the same information for separate accounts or platforms.
"What I mean," I amend, "is that even though you may have used the same information to make both accounts, they exist on two separate systems; you'll need to change the password for your medical records just like you changed it for your email. So, we will need to log in with your old password first and then change it in your settings."
It clicks. She logs in, and we get her to her settings page so she can change the password. She immediately receives a text on her phone that her password has changed and that she should call customer service if she didn't change it. I tense for a moment, worried that this might send her back to the panic-place. Sometimes when people are as unfamiliar with technology as she is, their brains are firmly locked in fight or flight and see every action/result as a potential threat.
Luckily, I've built enough trust with her at this point to loosen the hold of that fight or flight response; she understands that the message is a direct result of our actions. We're all sorted and she's survived her second engagement with the internet.
This is the kind of heavy lifting I have to do before 10 am and fully caffeinated.
- ← Previous
Dumb futurists make dumb futures - Next →
Making Stuff