On Sep 25, 2008, at 9:26 PM, Ronn! Blankenship wrote: > <http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/09/25/odd.it/index.html?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail > >
Most of these are pretty run of the mill, and they boil down to one or more of the following: - Navigational illiteracy and inability to interact directly with the computer except for certain well-rehearsed "scripts" used for one or two tasks the computer is used for regularly -- the call is usually triggered by some point along the scripted path not behaving as expected. (A lot of these, I find, seem to have general literacy issues and more than a little difficulty reading, and often miss clearly visible cues on the screen even when prompted to look for them in the exact wording of the dialog I'm trying to get them to find, when I know for a fact that it's there.) - Fundamental lack of conceptual understanding of how the computer or its components (including mice and keyboards) work and what behavior and capabilities to expect -- the user is usually trying to do something that exceeds the capabilities of the machine, or is just not part of the feature set of the software they're trying to use, and they don't understand why the computer can't do this one thing. (Some of these expectations are far more wildly unrealistic than what's in the article, and sometimes people get frustrated to the point of being verbally abusive when told the feature they want doesn't exist, or in many cases, can't exist in this universe.) - Failure to grasp that there's no one central support for everything technical in their lives -- the user needs technical assistance with something they consider too technical to understand, and they aren't aware that the tech support for their computer can't give them the password for their email account when they've forgotten it, or reset their cable modem when it gets into a hang state, or figure out why their router is blocking communications between their computer and some digital device they want it to talk to. Or, in some cases. they find support that's actually competent and knowledgeable, and that support becomes their first call for everything. (And I do, literally, mean *everything*. No, I won't come to your house and pull LAN cable and install the rack and switches for you, at least not for what I'm paid.) On top of that, a lot of what I get is general frustration with computer equipment in general and, from some people, the attitude that I'm a tech-peon whose job is to show proper deference to callers who consider themselves VIP's of some sort and fix whatever problems they throw at me without argument or what they consider too many complicated questions. *That* is one thing that pushes my buttons, frequently, especially when the questions I'm trying to ask require detailed and accurate answers in order to do what the person is screaming at me to do, and the questions I most need answered to fix what they're calling about are the ones they bat aside as "too technical". I talk to a lot of people who don't hear the word "no" a whole lot, and who tend to throw tantrums when they're not immediately gratified. Some of these people make at least an order of magnitude more money than I do, and it's not all that clear what they're actually paid to do. And that, there, gets into a rant that's best left for another time .. :) _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
