I am fortunate in that my ISP is up the street, and not in Bangalore, as I 've mentioned earlier, but today I spent too many damn hours trying to achieve a reasonable internet connection at the house. A 2 a.m. run to Swill-Mart for a new router, which I may not have needed, 7 calls to tech support in the last 24 hours, and it's still acting bad. They will have someone out here tomorrow, though, so that's OK. But it's still the kind of case where you talk to seven different people, all of whom have a different take . . . and half the time it's like going to the mechanic. The noise your car has been making for weeks goes away when you finally get it to the garage.
But still. We've had three or four computers fry in the last six months (if you have a computer that is more than three years old, do a backup now if you aren't already, because that seems to be the shelf life of a hard drive these days). The local tech geek has less personality than about anyone I've ever met who opens up a shop door every day; I had to drop $160 for a new old version of Word 2003 today. Sometimes, things ain't perfect in this universe. My clients seem to be going through a rash of new systems, new accounts payable people, jobs are dropping off my schedule, and I've actually turned a few down lately. I've been waiting 20 years for my life to settle down, and I've finally determined the exact date it's going to happen: whatever date it is that people are throwing dirt on top of the casket. If I'm lucky.
Hell, even my local mechanic, who is mainly responsible for keeping two of our cars running, got jacked out of his job lately. The garage owner couldn't afford him and the other mechanic any more, so he ditches the two of them (both intelligent, thoughtful guys) for lower-paid help. Now do you think service will improve? Will the garage owner realize that hiring people who will work for less will not necessarily in the long run cause repeat business? Who down there is ignant anyway?
As a friend says, I could go on.
4 comments:
One word: APPLE.
It has never, ever failed Moi. Go on, take a bite. We all eventually do, in the end.
One of the computers that crashed, actually, was the newest: an 18-month old MacBook. All data kaput, no chance of retrieval without about $1400 worth of work. Thankfully, it was a computer that my wife's theatre bought for her. Sorry to say, they didn't bother to spring for the warranty. No warning. All of a sudden, she boots up, gets a question mark and a file folder where the regular display oughta be, and that's all she wrote. So, perhaps a rotten Apple, but an Apple nonetheless.
Dang. A rotten Apple for sure. Never run (ran?) into one, but I guess never say never.
Heh...yep. We's all hostage to the computer world now--helpless and defenseless. Only Uncle has been holdin' out, usin' same dogeared rolladex.
I onc't screeched out in an octave unknown to humankind, curled up whimperin' on the floor, Uncle comes dashin' up the stairs to find Aunty in fetal ball, yankin' hair by the roots.."What in the hail is wrong wif' ya woman??"
That were mah first --an' last-- hard drive crash wif' no back up.
Mah sympathies, sir.
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