For Instance, Mrs WBill wanted me to tape some reality TV show so that "We could watch it together". I'd rather get a root canal than sit through Real World/Survivor/whateveritwas. So....one week I set it to the wrong time, another week I set it to the wrong channel, another week I left the VCR on (supposed to be off to be programmed) and so forth. Mrs. Wbill finally gave up on having me watch this ridiculous waste of an hour with her.
Strategic Incompetence.
For awhile, Grandpa was having a hard time getting my Grandmother to go out of the house. Nothing particularly wrong, she just didn't want to go out (I think that it was some sort of passive/aggressive thing, but I'm no shrink). Anyhoo, Grandpa would go grocery shopping and buy all the wrong things. Wrong brands, storebrand stuff that tasted horrible, and so on. And obviously, having grown up in the depression, nothing was going to get thrown away. So...Grandma finally got fed up and started to go shopping with him. Got her out of the house, and got her kickstarted to do stuff on her own again.
Strategic Incompetence. Learn it.
Also known as being a "Smart Dummy".