Have you ever worked with someone, specifically worked at showing them how to do something, in which they seemed to do every little thing in a manner that was twice as hard as it needed to be?
For instance, say you are teaching someone how to do a long, complicated process which involved looking at multiple files in multiple directories and comparing those files and modifying them based on each other.
Further, say that the computer you are using runs windows, but also has an X server which provides you the ability to create any number of command-line interface (CLI) windows. (CLI means you have to type the commands and filenames as opposed to an icon-based graphical user interface like windo$e uses).
For some not used to such a thing this concept could be quite disconcerting since each window is based in a 'present working directory' and to look at files in another directory you either have to tell the window to go to that directory, or tell it where to find the files you want information about.
Confused yet? I know Doug isn't. Neither is Neil, but it is easy to see how someone not experienced in such things could be.
Anyway, most folks who use such systems get up to speed fairly quickly and get used to having many such CLI windows in several different directories and even on different computers all on their screen at once. They get into the habit of knowing which one is where and copy-n'-pasting stuff from one window to the other and can really get some stuff done. Ones who are sharp can even make things happen faster by typing commands than their graphical user interface friends can by dragging around and double-clicking icons.
So, when you are teaching someone this intricate, drawn-out procedure and this person says "Arghh- man I hate windows! With Unix this would be so much easier and so much faster." If you are one of those CLI type people mentioned above you tend to agree with them.
Until it becomes apparent that they really can't do it faster and easier with Unix because they are not inherently a CLI type of person and you just wish they would shut up about it because they are driving you nuts!
So I guess the bottom line to this rant is, if you feel you have to type "pwd" every stinkin' time you type "cd .." you should stop talking about how irritating windows is (even though it may be) because its far more irritating to have to watch you using Unix like a 3rd grader than it is to have to drag icons in windows.
And for those of you who don't know a 'pwd' from an 'any key', I suppose a non-computer analogy of a similar level and kind of irritation would be watching someone filing folders (or alphabetizing a collection of books or CDs, etc.) who would pull out one file at a time and then scan from the top of the category list to the bottom until they found just the right place for this folder- over and over and over again, never once grabbing a handful and getting that bunch in proper sequence before filing them, or not even realizing that if the folder you have belongs in the Qs you don't have to start searching for its location in the As.
So I guess the real bottom line of this rant is... take deep breath... let it go. Relax. The day is passing (slowly, but passing) and you will soon get to go home. And soon the training will be over and you can not only rock the keyboard at warp 9 all day on your own, but you will no longer find yourself saying things like "Ok, now we want the xyz.emr file in the airports directory so- uh, why don't you just-