Jun 10, 2026
I've had a handful of experiences lately that have made me question the intelligence of the average person. Doctor's offices, insurance companies, helpdesk people. It's been a bit of a whirlwind.
But actually intelligence is the wrong word. Intelligence is essentially just "knowing things," and knowledge doesn't really come in to play as often as it might seem. People can learn things. Everyone is lacking intelligence about certain things, and that's fine.
So then that made me think maybe it's capability, as in certain people are incapable of completing certain tasks. But that's not really it either. Human beings are surprisingly capable of many things, and they often become more capable as they become more intelligent.
What I settled on was competence, which is basically having the intelligence and capability to accomplish something, and then actually successfully doing it. Completing the task. Finishing the job. Whether for money or for free, a competent person will get a thing done.
I don't know if it's a lack of motivation, or bad pay and long hours, or just a general disinterest in the positive outcome of a situation, but here's what I'm dealing with:
But actually intelligence is the wrong word. Intelligence is essentially just "knowing things," and knowledge doesn't really come in to play as often as it might seem. People can learn things. Everyone is lacking intelligence about certain things, and that's fine.
So then that made me think maybe it's capability, as in certain people are incapable of completing certain tasks. But that's not really it either. Human beings are surprisingly capable of many things, and they often become more capable as they become more intelligent.
What I settled on was competence, which is basically having the intelligence and capability to accomplish something, and then actually successfully doing it. Completing the task. Finishing the job. Whether for money or for free, a competent person will get a thing done.
I don't know if it's a lack of motivation, or bad pay and long hours, or just a general disinterest in the positive outcome of a situation, but here's what I'm dealing with:
- A medical receptionist who I called (multiple times) who was unable to successfully fax (yes, fax) a piece of paper to another doctor, only for me to suggest emailing it, which worked instantly.
- An insurance adjuster who couldn't understand the bill they sent me, and couldn't get the math to make sense on her end.
- An IT helpdesk person who couldn't identify a single human being involved in the servicing of a support ticket for software deployed and managed by his IT group.