When we say this way:
"The workers are lazy", then we are telling that all workers of the company are lazy.
But what happens when one says this (in the examples I assume that I mention the workers for the first time) :
1) "If the workers of the company are lazy, what can you do about it?"
2) "If the workers of the company want to ask for help, who should they address?"
Can the sentences 1 and 2 connote any workers, not all of them?
So, I do not say that if "all the workers are lazy", I say "any of the workers are lazy". And not "all the workers want help, but "any of the workers". Yes, they are specific workers, so "the workers" can be used, but does it specify here about how many of them I mean in a relevant situation?
This is very confusing to me. I can show you the example that seemed very suspicious to my mind:
"If the users of this device do not follow safety recommendations, they..."
I am sure that it can't only mean "all the users at a time" or something like that, but the usage of the + noun (pl) seems confusing here to me since "the + noun" means "all the" - this is what I learnt.
Can someone clarify the matter, please? Thank you in advance.