Tired of simplest terms

Three times in the last two weeks, I have asked for an explanation to something.  Each of these three times I received an attempt at an answer, but the person giving it was so limited in both knowledge and words to use for description that the person became frustrated.  I marveled at the inability of these people to explain something.

The question was asked to employees who were supposed to have been trained by a company to give explanations of how cell phones work.  But, the company either didn't give the workings of data transmission or didn't give the trainees the vocabulary to work with.  Eventually, in the questioning of the employee, the person couldn't make the right connections of one idea to another.  The person's knowledge was compartmentalized.  The meanings of particular terms, like gigabyte, data transmission, and resident on device were fuzzy for the person as well.

The whole reason people talk is to communicate ideas.  If that end is missing then the means (the vocabulary) is lacking.  I have to ask myself what in the world is going on in the mind of people who can't explain something.  In an unrelated matter, a person called me for directions but couldn't tell me her own location in order for me to help her easily.  It's tempting to relate all this to whether or not I get the right food in my sack at a fast-food restaurant after placing the order at the speaker. About 50% of the time something has been changed or omitted.  But the problem may be in lack of life experience, unfamiliarity with input to an ordering system, or inability to transfer the meaning of an order to a screen for someone at a different area of the restaurant to read rather than a direct communication problem.

Part of the problem lies in the socialization process of young people.  It is a well known phenomenon that teenagers learn their initial introduction to adult vocabulary from their peers.  If that becomes the extent of the person's experience with communication (often the case), the communication process is truncated and the person will struggle when posed with questions that lead to ideas outside of their experience and consciousness (theory of mind).

I relish the times when communication happens on a level above the one described.  But it is certainly not as common an experience as I would like it to be.  I am relegated to speaking on life's simplest terms.