Just a rant...

[pixeltwist.livejournal.com]

I don't understand what drives people who have no use for a computer on top of no idea how to use a computer to go out and BUY a computer.

I don't know the first thing about power tools, nor do I have a reason to own any. That's why I don't go out and buy any. I get by just fine with the screwdriver and hammer I have stashed in my kitchen junk drawer.

These people have gotten by just fine with their older machines on a locally provided dial-up connection, sending and receiving email and that's it.

What drives them to drive to $BigBoxRetailer, pick up the most expensive and shiny wireless laptop with a swiveling screen and a fingerprint reader, sign up for an internet connection they don't need and completely ruin what they had going?

Granted, if their intention is to actually learn about how to use the shiny box they just bought, I can appreciate that. However, that doesn't ever seem to be the case.

I don't walk into $HardwareStore with my brand new power drill and demand someone tell me how to use it. That part is up to me. That's the case with anything in the world... except computers.

Why are computers the only exception?


Edit: Also, a somewhat unrelated rant.

I love at the end of a call when I'm going over why the customers issue is something on their end and has nothing to do with $ISP how they kind of trail off like all hope is lost. I can hear their eyes widening in fear because they have no clue where to go next. Then, in a last attempt to get me to do something to help them, they scramble for any solution they think I missed or haven't though of, trying to poke holes in my logic, which of course they can't do because they don't understand the situation to begin with.

If I take my car to a mechanic because it's not working, and he tells me I need a new $CarPart, I don't scramble for an answer in a subject I know nothing about with the few terms I learned reading the car magazines in the lobby... 'Did you check the, uh, carburetor? What about the break pads? How is my tire pressure?'... I thank them for their time and expertise and trust they're not screwing me over while they tell me what steps need to happen next.

If you go to a doctor because your arm hurts and he tells you it's because it's broken, you don't try and poke holes in his logic by asking 'Are you sure it's not a brain tumor? I think my symptoms point more towards a heart murmur? The nurse said it looked like a sprain.'... They went to school for a really long time and got a degree. That, and a bone is sticking out of our arm.

Why are computers the only exception?


Also, I'm tired of 'but it worked yesterday'. Of course it worked yesterday. If something is going to stop working, it has to stop at some point. My car worked yesterday until $CarPart broke. Your arm worked yesterday until your broke it. Your computer worked yesterday until McAfee automatically updated and screwed with the firewall settings.

Okay, I'm done ranting. I apologize for my overuse of metaphor. i liek them

Comments

[tysolna]

Because computers equal magic? (Clarke's Third Law *G*)

[snarl817.livejournal.com]

Damn! You beat me to it!

[wignersfriend.livejournal.com]

Fashion. Pure and simple. Why do you think the Blackberry comes in different colors now?

[the-reda.livejournal.com]

word. and all the cool kids have one. Especially in movies. And if my 8 year old can handle it, so can I ...

[thalionar.livejournal.com]

porn?

[xforge.livejournal.com]

It's a universal constant; I've got lusers all the time here at Corporate who BEG PLEAD AND DEMAND Visio or Project and then when I install said programs, they go "Thanks! Now... how do I use it?" And then I stab them in the neck with a pen.

[pixeltwist.livejournal.com]

This always bugs me. I to tech support for a major ISP. After I fix someones connection, I always have them check out a website or two just to make sure.

Me: Can I have you open IE and try a few websites?
Them: Which ones?

Or even better...

Me: Okay, you're online now and good to go.
Them: Now what?

It takes all my will power to keep from slamming my fists on my phone in anger until I manage to release the call.

[dukesnorre.livejournal.com]

Just send them to stumbleupon.

Or 2girls1cup or 2girls1finger.

[the-reda.livejournal.com]

You are too nice. I am all for tubgirl or lightercat.
And while they are in shock, talk them into giving you the evil that is their computer ;-)

[dukesnorre.livejournal.com]

Tubgirl is worse than 2girls1cup.com in your eyes?

[the-reda.livejournal.com]

I know tubgirl is not real, but it grossed me out more.
The eww level is bigger.

[photosinensis.livejournal.com]

Because they're insecure about their penis size. Of course, the problem with this is that they get spam about things that claim to help with that, then buy into it. This leads to the vicious cycle of spam that we all know and loathe.

Also, the porn. You need a big, fat pipe for the porn.

[mynameisnotreal.livejournal.com]

Man... Why can't I find customers like that? And their friends. And family...

[kostika.livejournal.com]

It's advertising. Computers and certain electronic gadgets are aggressively advertised. While things like power tool aren't.

And while the adults buying the shiny things may not know anything about them, I bet there's at least one kid in the house that does.

[canray.livejournal.com]

It's not just Computers. Power Tools *ARE* like that. You get some guy with a spotless garage with thousands of dollars of Power Tools because they're manly... And covered in dust.

And how many beautiful Sportscars or Gas Guzzling SUVs are wrapped around power/phone poles every day?

And really bad artwork that noone can figure out (And is really drawn by a Monkey throwing paint)?

[twistedsyx.livejournal.com]

I'd like to think that I cause the problem, and my brotherhood of troublestarters for the tech industry.

First, tell our grandparents it's a universally awesome and powerful and everyone in the world should have one so I don't have to talk to them anymore, and they don't have to send letters. And when they get one, promptly move out of state so they have to call someone to help them.
MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

In short agressive marketing, extremely uninformed consumer market, "Macintosh"/"apple" mystique, and the fact that the instruction manuals are no longer "manuals" per se but tomes which shares its secrets on how you and your computer may best enjoy your shared experience together, when nobody in america wants to read except for people very purposefully driven are trying to figure out what they WANT to do instead of being told by someone else its something they SHOULD want to do.

[twistedsyx.livejournal.com]

Or, in short,
5tup3d, and they want instant gratification.

[jjjiii]

To them, computers think, which means they shouldn't have to. "User friendly" means you don't have to know how it works or what to do.

That, and they'll believe anything the sales droid tells them.

[jill-idle.livejournal.com]

drills don't blue screen

[pixeltwist.livejournal.com]

Just thinking about a drill BSoDing makes me lol.

Your drilling away and BLIP it turns into a giant blue cube with a bunch of stuff on it about what's wrong.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Now I'm imagining an entire toolshed where the walls are covered in blue cubes because the owner is too embarrassed to have them repaired.

[agmlego.livejournal.com]

Oh, God...

/me stabs his brain with an icepick to block out that horrific vision...

[therealdrhyde.livejournal.com]

Computers are the exception because, for reasons that are beyond me, it is socially acceptable to be proud of one's ignorance regarding them. No normal person is proud of their ignorance about medicine or cars - they know that they're ignorant, but they're not proud of it, to be proud of it would be like being proud of having toes. And then, because they're proud of their computery ignorance, they think that they're superior to those of us who *aren't* ignorant.