A failure of technology or the understanding of it? - Part 2

There are probably more stories about the misunderstandings people have about technology than anyone could ever write down. But some are more endearing than others. My next story is abount one of my grandmothers. She and my grandfather had moved to California when I was in my early teens. I only got to see her on the infrequent trips they would make back to Pittsburgh or the even less frequent trips we'd make west. After my grandfather died, she decided to stay out there because she liked the weather, felt settled and her daughter, my aunt, and her family were there to help her.

After I graduated from college, I had a difficult time finding a job. I've probably got a few good stories about my job searches but not today. Just suffice it to say I went out to stay with her for a week or two while I looked for jobs. I also offered to help her while I was there. She had two small apartments that she rented out and one of the tenants had just moved out and had left a lot of stuff that need to be cleaned out. One of the things we found was a radio. Grandma looked at it and said she wasn't sure if it was worth keeping or not. She said she already had a few radios, "But maybe this one is tuned to a different station," she said. That went right past me at first.

We worked at separating the useful stuff from the garbage and getting the garbage out to the street for the trash haulers. Then, she started to divide the useful stuff into things she'd keep and things she'd give away. She got to the radio again and turned it on. "Well, it sounds like the same station as the last one. We'll just see if someone else can use it." I was floored. I asked her if she really had a bunch of different radios all tuned to different stations. She said, "Not that many. I only listen to a few stations." I asked her if she knew that you could tune a radio so that it brought in other stations. It looked like she didn't understand. So, I took the radio and tuned it to another station. "I don't like that station, " she said. So, I tuned it to another station. "Nope, that's not my style, either." As I tried to find a station she'd accept, she waved her hand in the way she did when something wasn't worth her time. She was busy and had no time for this foolishness. She looked at me the same way some people still do when I get excited about getting a piece of electronics or a program working in just the right way. I guess I've just always been a nerd and I'll never change.