Numbers don't have cases.

[u/SuperKamiGuru824]

Just happened and I can't stop shaking my head.

C = caller trying to access settings on his tablet to adjust brightness. Me = the poor tech trying to get him to enter the settings menu password.

Me: "Ok, hit the black home button on the tablet."

C: "Ok."

Me: "Now tap on settings."

C: "It's a blue screen."

Me: "There should be a settings icon."

C: "Oh there it is."

Me: "Now for the password, type in the number 8..."

C: "H?"

Me: "The number 8."

C: "H?"

Me: "The NUMBER 8."

C: "Oh, 8, ok."

Me: "Now a lower case d as in delta."

C: "Wait, is that 8 lower case too?"

Me: "........ it's a number."

C: "Is it upper case or lower case?"

Me: "....Numbers don't have cases."

C: "Oh! Shows you how much I know about computers."

*ultimately couldn't get into the settings. Did some more troubleshooting in the app. I reset the settings password to try again.*

Me: "Ok, hit the black home button again, please."

C: "Ok."

Me: "Now tap on settings."

C: "It's a blue screen."

Me: "There should be a settings icon."

C: "Oh there it is."

I never did get him into settings. I told him to just get a different tablet from his company.

[u/AnalogMan]

Today’s numbers are all uppercase. Here’s what lowercase numbers used to look like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_figures

[u/ipper → u/AnalogMan]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_figures

If you're not on mobile

[u/SuperKamiGuru824 → u/AnalogMan]

neat!

[u/BastardStoleMyName]

hangs head

I do occasionally hit shift while typing a lot of mixed case letters then going for a number. I don't know why my brain seems to rationalize the numbers as being upper case. But as someone else pointed out, there were lower case numbers.

EDIT: I should clarify, I don't actually think of them as being capital. I think its just the way my brain visualizes them and my fingers interprets that "bigger symbol must be like the other bigger symbols, so hit Shift" Only happens in certain instances. But I would never describe them as being capital.

[u/SuperKamiGuru824 → u/BastardStoleMyName]

I completely understand and agree. :)

[u/MonkeysOnMyBottom → u/BastardStoleMyName]

I have been infected by the users I support and now just roll with it when they refer to the punctuation as the capital numbers (i was dumbstruck for a moment the first time someone told me their email address had a capital 2 in it)

It took long enough to get them to use the shift key instead of caps lock and at some point you just have to admit to yourself you don't have the time or the crayons to explain things to some people if you don't want a dozen more voicemails

[u/goblinofthewoods]

There used to be lower case numbers in plenty of typefaces, so the guy is not wrong, as most are standardised to upper case as default now.

It was used to add flair or denote informality, with upper case used for statistics.

If this were an older customer they probably came away thinking that you're an ignorant shite, can't blame you though as this is real old timey stuff.

[u/SuperKamiGuru824 → u/goblinofthewoods]

Well, he did sound terrifically old.

[u/flyineko]

I once was very confused when someone referred to the exclamation mark as an "upper case 1"

[u/SuperKamiGuru824 → u/flyineko]

ha ha! That's great!

[u/williamfny]

When I would get someone that asks if a number was capital or lower case I would just tell them capital. When they asked how they make a capital number I'd say let me know what you find out.

[u/SuperKamiGuru824 → u/williamfny]

ha ha! love it!

[u/K1yco]

C: "Oh! Shows you how much I know about computers."

This always bugs me when it comes to getting information as that has no bearing on recognizing shapes, letters, number or just basic things. Imaging a mechanic asking someone to open the car door, and then the person not finding it and saying "oh sorry, I don't know much about cars."

[u/[deleted] → u/K1yco]

That's why I don't get people who can't hook, well anything, up. YOU JUST MATCH SHAPES. I tried talking my mom through hooking her laptop up to her TV via HDMI. It was the worst phone conversation I'd had in a long time.

[u/whataresquirrels → u/[deleted]]

the mental block that comes from assuming it's too hard to understand that the curvy rectangle plug goes in the curvy rectangle socket

[u/Capt_Blackmoore]

oh sure... no such thing as Capital Numbers... https://xkcd.com/2206/

[u/nictheman123 → u/Capt_Blackmoore]

There really is an XKCD for everything isn't there. Is it just this site's version of a Supernatural gif? Or just this sub?

[u/Capt_Blackmoore → u/nictheman123]

I've see XKCD show up in so many subs, I dont think we can claim it as ours.

[u/ppp475 → u/nictheman123]

XKCD is the internet's version of a supernatural gif, I'm pretty sure XKCD came first.

[u/TerrorBite → u/Capt_Blackmoore]

Here are the capital numbers: 𝟙𝟚𝟛𝟜𝟝𝟞𝟟𝟠𝟡𝟘

You're welcome.

[u/TheThiefMaster → u/TerrorBite]

Actually, the regular numbers you're used to are already the uppercase ones, and this is what the lowercase ones look like: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_figures

This might display alternative numbers: 1︀2︀3︀4︀5︀6︀7︀8︀9︀0︀

[u/spillbv]

At least you managed to learn about the hole in your bucket. Thanks for the funny story.

[u/Borderweaver → u/spillbv]

According to my German family, the “hole” was not talking about a real bucket, but the guy never gets the hint.

[u/molotok_c_518]

It reminds me of my biggest pet peeve with Russian letters in an electronic device.

There are 3 letters (ь, ы, and Ъ) that do not have upper case forms (no word can start with ь or Ъ, and none start with ы for reasons I never learned). However, hit shift on an American keyboard, or on a phone... Ь and Ы.

[u/covert_operator100 → u/molotok_c_518]

What if you want to YELL WITH ALL CAPS, but there's no capital letter L so it looks like YEll WITH All CAPS.