Reading Directions Revisited

It has been almost a year since I wrote about guild applicants' seeming inability to read the directions before applying.  This is still a source of frustration.

I'm not really surprised at this.  Human nature in general doesn't change just because another year has passed, and applicants to Tempest most likely do not peruse my year-old blog entries before applying, so I can't say they've been warned.

Recently, we had an applicant who obviously had not read the directions.  In fact, he had missed the ending of the application form, never mind the indicator to show us he had read the "Must Read Before Applying" sticky.

I was in a good mood, so I figured I'd help him out.

I told him it looked like he had missed the end of the application and asked him if he had read the sticky, along with asking for clarification on a point where his answer had been nebulous.  His response completely ignored my first two points.  His application was not fixed, and no indicators were given.

I reminded him of those first two points.

He stated he had read the sticky and asked if he'd missed something.

I told him he had.

He finally fixed his application to include the ending portion he had previously missed.  He then proceeded to copy/paste the points in the sticky and respond to each one.  I wanted to /facepalm.

I responded with a statement thanking him for finishing his application and taking so much time to unnecessarily respond to each of the points in the sticky.  (The sticky specifically says applicants do NOT need to include it in their application . . .)  I also gave him the biggest, broadest hint I have given anyone without actually saying, "There is a key word here":  I told him I wanted to know he had read the sticky to. the. bitter. end.

I'm not sure what half of his next response meant, because it was written in language I am not in the habit of using, but it certainly did not show he had read the sticky to. the. bitter. end.

By this time, I was seriously wondering about his capability to notice details or follow directions at all.

I'm probably making too much of this.  Then again, our sticky does say that failure to read it in its entirety will result in an automatic denial of the application.

Maybe I should go do something else for a while, instead of staring at his application, thinking he must be genetically programmed against recognizing hints.  Hmmmm, I could dig in my refrigerator, find the apples which are starting to get a little too old to just cut and eat, and make an "apple pie" . . .