You, dear op, Have just entered the expert level of the game. Only the strong survive

and you dear friend
Just lost the game

Sink or swim…I hate that game.

#7 such a tired old meme, lets put it to bed and let it get some sleep.

That's how it goes in real life.

That was harsh of her. Although I'm sure you will learn the program's well if you have to use them without help for a week. Think of it as a learning opportunity OP!

If you've ever tried to "learn" a complex computer program without any help, you'd know that OP won't consider his boss's absence a learning opportunity. He wouldn't have submitted an FML post if he felt that way.

This isn't the old days where people were only able to learn things in person. We now have plenty of resources just a few keystrokes away that can aid us with learning various things. If OP has a question on how to do a specific thing, as it seems she has already been at least taught the basics, chances are someone else has had that same question and asked it on some tech forum somewhere.

Ive tried to do that at my job. The problem is,there are so many variations of programs and tasks that could be very close together that it's difficult to find help on the Internet. I've followed the exact instructions for how to make a pivot table on excel and it didn't work. I asked one of my managers and they gave me completely different instructions that did work. And I'm sure OP is dealing with systems more complex than excel lol

What do you consider "obscure"? You may be able to find online courses/resources to learn how to operate them by yourself. A few Google searches can't hurt.

Probably developed in house, with no documentation :)

Challenge accepted... while your boss is gone just play around on it, you will probably figure it out you have a week before she gets back. Good luck

My former job did the same thing

Trial and error!!

Just do the best you can with what you know. Your boss should know better though

Is it custom software or is it something that is just... less common? Because Google is your friend.

Not everything is Googlable (new adjective?).

If it is, or there's a readme, then good for OP, but if it isn't something that can be researched, then it can be a shot in the dark. I've run into related scenarios in which people would run in from other departments demanding things that I have never heard of.

I wish OP good luck! :D

I'm sure you'll learn how this program works after awhile. You got this OP.

You can do it! She probably did this as a test. Time to impress!