Clueless customers

On 3/10/2010 9:52 PM Jeff Liebermann spake thus:

Oh, that's the model they released *without* the cup holder, right?

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You were wrong, and I'm man enough to admit it.

- a Usenet "apology"

You mean he's done this repeatedly?

Is he rich? I have a bridge to sell.

Sylvia.

The cup holder is still there. It's just mounted sideways. It works, but doesn't hold liquids very well. However, the hole in the middle of the cup holder makes a great salami, hot dawg, or string cheese cutter. The real problem with vertically mounted CD/DVD drives is that it take two hands to insert the CD. One to hold the CD on the tray. The other to either shove in the tray or push the button. Some skill is involved even with the little clips on the tray that are suppose to help (but were missing on the drive included with the Dell

531). The usual result is a scratched CD disk as the tray mashes the disk into the drive mechanics. The 531 can sorta be horizontally mounted, but the door covering the floppy disk drive will not open completely.

Another day in computer hell. Against my better judgment, I pickup a customer at one of those lavish senior retirement housing projects. Fixing the computah was easy enough (no updates for about 2 years and remove the usual spyware). I also fixed the chair, cleaned the printer, rewired the desk lamp, and cleaned up tangle of wires. I also documented the accounts and associated passwords. Senior discount applied and I leave with the check. No problems. However, she tells all her friends at the retirement home, and the phone starts ringing with the most amazing collection of strange questions and problems. I'm starting to question my own sanity.

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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann     AE6KS    831-336-2558

Yep. At least once per month. It's not really a problem. The real problem is recovering the machine after a visit from the approx 14 year old grandbrats.

Yes, he is quite rich. He also pays me to fix various piece of technology he buys and drags home, always without asking me if it will work or is any good. You have to really try to find home theater components that are mutually incompatible, but he's done it now, twice. Last year, he dragged home a Prohance PowerMouse 100:

Too bad the driver won't work with Windoze XP. His machine also lacks a serial port. He's not a dummy. He just doesn't care about computers and uses one only when there's no effective alternative. I have other customers with the same mentality. They don't want to waste any time dealing with the technology or doing battle with the machines. They pay me to do that. For example, if they need to burn a CD with a few files, I get the phone call and walk them through it. When done, they immediately forget everything I tried to teach them as they probably won't need to do it again for several months. One customer suggested that it was futile learning how to do anything because it all changes every few years.

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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann     AE6KS    831-336-2558

In 5 1/4 inch floppy days I managed to have one swallowed by the pc where I worked and the initially unbelieving tech had to dismantle the m/c to retrieve it. It had A and B drives and a very narrow gap between the two and I'd slid the floppy in there.

Nothing special about you Jeff. I've got the brothers, sisters, and friends of all your customers, living my side of the pond ... :-)

Arfa

Sounds like a nice little earner - unless you're a charity. ;-)

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*A calendar's days are numbered*

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Don't you get paid by the hour? I'd be billing for phone calls too... I've never had a problem taking money from idiots.

Sounds like my wife. :) Problem is, I don't get paid to help her I only get frustrated. Honest to [deity] she still can't copy and paste items from one application to another and she's been using a computer for at least ten years!

Remember the 50% rule, Jeff. Half of the population is by definition of below average intelligence. Many of the rest get into trouble thinking they know more than they do. (Techs never make bad assumptions, BTW). Then there is the rest who suffer from NPA disorder ( a new diagnosis by the APA for people Not Paying Attention who do stupid things, since you can't really blame them for their problem...)

Leonard

My favorite story was from the TV tech at a shop I used to work at. The tech went on a call about a TV that would not work. It was an elderly couple and the man sat on the couch and showed the tech that the TV would not turn on. The customer held the remote in one hand pointing up at the ceiling and poked the power button with the other hand. The tech explained that the remoted needed to point at the TV. The old man was not happy, because, if he pointed it at the TV he couldn"t see which button to push. Mike

Clearly you've never met some of the techs I've worked with...

Uh, customer? Isn't that how you make your living? I'd thank him, sell him a new keyboard, and tell him "See you next time"... Is the glass half empty or half full?

Yep. See some of my old service horror stories at:

The real fun was when CD's arrived, and people were cramming them into the 5.25" floppy slot. It took some care and effort to extract them as they were quite valuable at the time.

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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann     AE6KS    831-336-2558

On Mar 11, 12:11=A0am, Jeff Liebermann wrote: ...snip...

Actually, in their defense, I've fallen prey to this tactic, too. MS updates change the methodology just enough to make one not accept the insult to intelligence. Just ask someone else to do it. At least that preserves the illusion of having power and being in control.

I

he

ike

True, so you added a 'reflecting' shield, right?

WHo provided the air hose??

I gave up on PC repair because of the people who use them and don't learn from their mistakes. I went back to vintage musical instrument repair like tube amplifers and recording studio gear from the 70's. I have a couple good clients who really understand their gear and still use tube powered gear like the vari-mu stuff from Manley and Neve.

OTOH, if you destroyed a CD-ROM or two, they weren't as careless the next time.

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Lead free solder is Belgium's version of 'Hold my beer and watch this!'