Funny

23 Tech-Illiterate Coworker Stories That Prove the Real Virus Is User Error

Roy R. Jul 18, 2025 11:14 AM EDT

Coworker tech fails

There's nothing quite like explaining technology to coworkers who think "the cloud" involves actual weather patterns. If you’ve ever spent an afternoon teaching your office-mate the intricacies of turning a computer on and off again, you'll feel these stories deeply. Tech-savvy employees share their funniest, cringiest experiences with tech-challenged coworkers whose struggles with modern tools left everyone scratching their heads—and left IT wondering why they ever got into this field.

Browse through these 23 coworker tech fails, each one more bewildering than the last. From coworkers attempting to fax PDFs from their smartphones to staff believing unplugging the mouse fixes Wi-Fi, these stories of technical incompetence are equal parts hilarious and painful. Enjoy the relatable agony of witnessing printer mishaps, password catastrophes, and incredibly bizarre interpretations of simple software instructions. These are the tech fails that redefine "user error."

Coworker once printed out an Excel spreadsheet, filled it in with pen, then scanned it and emailed it back saying "done editing." l ascended into the cloud myself that day. — Save

I've seen people attach floppy disc to fridges using a magnet. Oh, and someone helpfully stapled (!) a floppy disc onto a piece of paper in a file so that they would have the disc if they needed it in the future. — Save

We had a new employee at work who needed to do her online training courses. Got her logged in, she sat down and asked "what do I do?". I told her you just use the mouse to select the next slide button and then answer the questions. She sat there in silence for about 15 seconds before turning to me and asking what the mouse was. This was a woman in her early 30s, not much older than I was. — Save

computer science students who didn't know how download and open zip files — Save

When someone asks "is there an app for that?" And when told there isn't, the task is viewed as impossible. — Save

My late grandma once asked me how it was possible for me to check my work email from home. She thought you could only check your email on the same computer that you used to create the email address — Save

"But I created the file on Word, how can I attach it to an e-mail? It's in Word, isn't it?" — Save

You've just scrolled through 23 hilariously relatable stories of coworkers whose grasp on technology is shakier than the office Wi-Fi. Whether you're the resident tech guru or just glad someone else is worse with computers than you, these fails served as both comic relief and a sobering reminder to always read the manual—or at least the screen prompts.

Craving more workplace laughs? Explore office humor, IT department nightmares, funny tech-support stories, and relatable corporate-life fails.

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Posted by Roy R. About the author

Roy has been one of the internet's meme tastemakers for more than a decade. He and Phil started Thunder Dungeon in 2012 by posting the stuff they found funny, and it grew into viral photo and video creations, one of the largest meme community apps and one of the best sites for daily meme content. If you've spent any time online, you've probably laughed at one of his memes.