Well, I am going to my soapbox this week. Being a nerd I get questions from people all the time asking for help on different things, which is fine. I am always happy to give my two cents worth on technical issues. But sometimes, when I am an unknown in stores, etcetera, I hear some things that really get my goat.
There was an example just this week. I was in a very large, service oriented company doing personal business. One of the guys on the phone was dealing with the customer. He was apparently done with the conversation but the person on the other end was not.
The employee told the person that his computer just stopped working and he had to reboot it and would call them back later. He hung up and then dealt with the in store customer next in line. Oh yeah, he never rebooted the computer since it was working perfectly. I wonder if he even called them back, but that is just me.
Why blame the computer? It was a Windows 7 system which hardly ever needs a reboot. I guess it is just a convenient excuse for his lethargy. Yes, in the old days, computers were prone to the "blue screen of death" but that is no longer the case.
Something else bugs me on occasion. I often hear people say, "This phone is stupid!" However, keep in mind that inanimate objects cannot be stupid (personification). They can be broken or not working as designed but not stupid.
I have found that in most cases, the owner does not understand the functions of the phone. It could be that the phone is an older worn out phone and just doesn’t work, but not in most situations.
For instance, "My phone is just too loud; I can’t even hold it to my ear." After about one second I hear the problem…they have the speaker on by mistake. I show them how to resolve it and all is well, until they hit the speaker button during the next call.
Then there is the old, "Most of the pictures my phone takes are blurry." Several things can cause this; dirt, hand oil, makeup on the lens, etc. A dry microfiber cloth will fix the problem. Also, they may not have the auto flash on or the full time flash. I always recommend using the flash as it will usually perk up pictures and fill in some shadows. Without the flash indoors you may get yellow tints from the room lights, blurring, etc.
How about this one, "That stinking auto correct is always making mistakes." I have seen this, "Happy Birthday, my dead husband." Uh, that should have been "dear" not "dead." And of course this time of year many times Santa becomes Satan. "Thanks, autocorrect!" is a common utterance of many.
OK, this is the phone’s fault. There is really no way around it other than to disable autocorrect on your phone or being very, very, careful before sending that message.
I am now off to eat some humans now…ah, that should have been hummus.
