Gonga Din stole my left sock.
Well, not really. In fact, I don't even really know who Gonga Din is. Maybe it's actually some sort of ethnic dish. Hmm. Oh well...This simple quesiton has been running around in the back of my mind for almost 2 months now:
How is it possible for a person who makes a living using computers, who runs a computer based business, who spends 45+ hours a week working on a computer, to have basically no knowledge whatsoever about computers?
I mean, I know dozens of people who use computers for work who can navigate their way around one, or install software, or run an anti-virus program. I know plenty of other people who can install a copy of windows, or do some minor trouble shooting on their own (i.e. google a topic and read some internet tech forums), or whatever. I'm not talking about the technical stuff, like knowing how to firmware update a router, or knowing how to change a motherboard.
I mean, I have a customer who makes his living using computers with difficult and expensive software, doing fairly difficult things, and every person I've ever met in his field (I know at least 7 people in his field) is more tech savy than I am. (I can't say his name or what he does, in case he ever finds this blog and wants to sue me...he's that kinda person). This customer dropped some serious coin on a specific piece of hardware that I assumed he had the faintest clue how to run.
Well, now I win my own golden gong award for selling him a computer. He's about as good with a computer as your average Amazonian tribesman. He can turn it on, and that's pretty much it. He constantly calls me with tech support questions about the multi-hundred (or thousand) dollar software that he uses for his business. I mean, I'd think you'd learn how to run a program if your livelyhood depended on it. He doesn't have a working knowledge of the basic vocabulary of his own trade and thereby cannot explain his technical problems to me over then phone, which I'm still expected to solve. Talk about frustrating.
To top it all off, he has a short fuse and a penchant for using the word 'lawyer' flippantly and in needlessly heated conversation. Threats get you nowhere with a person who has nothing to lose (and also has legal documentation saying that he's "not responsible for software problems")
Some customers need some to be educated...others need to be entertained...and others simply need to be ushered out the door. I wish I could differentiate between the three and save myself a world of hurt. Stink. Until Next Gripe,
The Armchair Geek.
How is it possible for a person who makes a living using computers, who runs a computer based business, who spends 45+ hours a week working on a computer, to have basically no knowledge whatsoever about computers?
I mean, I know dozens of people who use computers for work who can navigate their way around one, or install software, or run an anti-virus program. I know plenty of other people who can install a copy of windows, or do some minor trouble shooting on their own (i.e. google a topic and read some internet tech forums), or whatever. I'm not talking about the technical stuff, like knowing how to firmware update a router, or knowing how to change a motherboard.
I mean, I have a customer who makes his living using computers with difficult and expensive software, doing fairly difficult things, and every person I've ever met in his field (I know at least 7 people in his field) is more tech savy than I am. (I can't say his name or what he does, in case he ever finds this blog and wants to sue me...he's that kinda person). This customer dropped some serious coin on a specific piece of hardware that I assumed he had the faintest clue how to run.
Well, now I win my own golden gong award for selling him a computer. He's about as good with a computer as your average Amazonian tribesman. He can turn it on, and that's pretty much it. He constantly calls me with tech support questions about the multi-hundred (or thousand) dollar software that he uses for his business. I mean, I'd think you'd learn how to run a program if your livelyhood depended on it. He doesn't have a working knowledge of the basic vocabulary of his own trade and thereby cannot explain his technical problems to me over then phone, which I'm still expected to solve. Talk about frustrating.
To top it all off, he has a short fuse and a penchant for using the word 'lawyer' flippantly and in needlessly heated conversation. Threats get you nowhere with a person who has nothing to lose (and also has legal documentation saying that he's "not responsible for software problems")
Some customers need some to be educated...others need to be entertained...and others simply need to be ushered out the door. I wish I could differentiate between the three and save myself a world of hurt. Stink. Until Next Gripe,
The Armchair Geek.
posted by The Armchair Geek at
11:50 PM
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