Nah, that's just a red herring, and completely discredited. The real problem is hydrogen hydroxide. Everywhere that you see dihydrogen monoxide, there's also hydrogen hydroxide. That's the real danger.
(/S for people that don't know the different chemical names)
You are helping - they clearly need the additional training, and you're doing everything you can to supply that. Their job can't be relying on you.
They shouldn't (and almost certainly don't) have delegation authority.
For corporate bingo, the keywords are upskill, cross-training, and bus factor.
Don't show. Guide them to do it themselves. Never be the one to actually do it beyond the first time.
If they still refuse to learn, make them take notes. Make them read to you their notes from last time. Make them tell you what each step is and means.
Make asking you the hardest option for them to get what they want.
You must not be American. Adults wearing DARE shirts are not bootlickers for the DEA. They wear it ironically.
This seems perfectly reasonable. I'm sure the people wearing DARE shirts will take this seriously and help out.
They all have to work (at least to an extent) using only x1. It's part of the PCIe spec.
Missing pins are actually extremely common. If your board has a slot that's x16 (electrically x8), which is very common for a second video card, take a closer look. Half the pins in the slot aren't connected. It has the full slot to make you feel better about it, and it provides some mounting stability, but it's electrically the same as an x8 that's open.
USB the protocol, or just uses a USB cable? If it's not using the protocol, the cables are a cheap way of getting cables of a certain spec.
Good thing then that it's HOH