Posted on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 8:13 PM
I should have been wearing my T-Shirt.
So I come home. Now the house is aproximatly 3 times warmer than the outside air. So I open all the windows. Now, just so you understand the situation, I am sick as a pig. Its been 30 degreet out, then it started raining, so now I, and most of my countrymen, have been steam-broiled. So I am desperate to open some windows and cool down, I am completely shattered from a very taxing day, having sat in a noisy server room, that was too hot also!
As I am opening the window, a bunch of my criminal eastern-european neighbours (I dont exactly live in wealthy-as-fuck neighbourhood) walk by and look in.
Then they come back and walk by again. Then they stop at the window, staring at all my computer stuff.
Then they start this nonsense drivel about a laptop that they have that is slow. Now.. it actually sounded like they where serious, as in their laptop had crapped out, and the original CD didn't work.. and it all sounded too plausible for the average clueless. Still doesn't make me feel any better that they started asking me for tech support, just because I was standing at my open window! I have them a rather non-commital awnser about tryinng the original CD again.
As unpleasant as this kind of this is, and I have been in these situations before, I am sympathetic... for about 4 seconds. I bear daily wittness to the complete confusion and helplessness of the computer user-base. These petty-thief criminal neighbours of mine are no different to any office worker I have ever incountered; completely and utterly clueless about that thing on their desk. I am often amazed at what kind of situation we have landed in, with millions of people going out to buy these things that hey have no idea what to do with. I worked in a computer store for 2 years, and was at the frontline of this maddness. The average computer is simply too complicated for the average person to use! We as IT people are confronted daily with the maddness of the computer industry, with software problems and incompatibilities and patches and virusses and whathaveyou. .. Try explaining ANY of that to the average user... you mention just a single word that even sounds technical, and its "dumb mode on".
Well I could spend the next 4 pages (or scroll actions, whichever you prefer) on this little rant, but I am not in mood. I will in the future, no doubt spend more time with you, analyzing user behaviour, and possibily tagging some office worker to study their migrationary patterns.