I will take your word on that, as you have the experience in that setting and I don't. Otherwise I would find it difficult to believe. But I have to ask, how do these guides know there is no correlation if they are always setting up everyone's gear anyway? Is it word of mouth from other DMs who don't set up gear, or do they just ask their own customers if they would've been able to do it themselves?
Can't really follow the car analogy. I would have trouble starting these high tech. cars too--they are not mine. In fact, I'm never crazy about driving someone elses low tech. car and would have to think a bit (IS there a low tech. car today that doesn't tell you it's time to blow your nose?). I have no idea how to set up tech diving stuff. I could give a bit of leeway if the dive buddy in question was new and unfamiliar the exact details of say, the rented jacket BC he has. But such details are very minor--regs. all set up the same way, other than yoke vs. DIN.
When we were at Wakatobi last fall, it was the resort's policy to set up gear for guests, unless guess protested loud and often. I did and was happy. Fantastic service, great resort, awesome diving, but the guys who set up everyone's gear were boat hands who did not dive, or know how to dive. All the guests seemed very happy to have someone else set up their gear, especially for what diving cost there, and in general the guests (from all over the world) were very competent divers.
Personally, I usually have to re-set up my gear at least half the time some dive operator insists on setting up all the gear before guests are allowed on the boat (Hawaii, Caribbean, Tahiti, etc) because they either have things configured wrong or forget to do something. When we were diving in Fiji, after watching tanks slip out of BCs for several days under water, I had to show the dive operator how to properly thread a cam band. Some of the guides there were certainly competent, but couldn't even tell if their own gear was assembled correctly or not
The car analogy of where does the key go was pretty weak, but I was just pointing out a lot of experienced and capable drivers can be confounded by the simple act of "where does the key go" in a variety of cars, with the ignition on the left of the steering wheel (Porsche), on the floor (Saab), or not even something that looks like a key slot. Heck, on a lot of new cars, it's hard to figure out how to put it in gear once you figure out how to get it started
