Anyone who knows me even slightly can tell you how much I hate technology, particularly when it doesn’t work. Even as I write, I’m on hold with our TV service provider, trying to find out why the replacement remote control I ordered two weeks ago has yet to arrive. This is the fourth phone call I’ve made to the company about this issue, and my blood is just about boiling and I’m ready to pull my hair out. Such a simple task should not require so much time and energy.
I don’t like change, particularly when it comes to technology. I like the screen on my smart phone to always look the same (all the icons should be in the same place, colors should be consistent, etc.). When I replaced our portable home phones a year or two ago, I purchased the same brand, and virtually the same phone, but it’s just different enough to cause me aggravation. I can’t figure out how to access our missed calls, mute the phone, or put a call on hold and accept a new call, like I could with the last set of phones.
Then there are my computers … I have a home computer and a work laptop that sit side by side on my home office desk. Nothing frightens me more than when one of them isn’t working, or if I receive an error message, or I think that there’s a virus. I start panicking and try figuring it out on my own until I wind up calling technical support and leave it to the experts.
I like the option of having someone work remotely on the problem … I simply make a call, follow the instructions, which usually involve clicking on a couple of boxes, and wait for a small magic arrow to appear, while Susan or Jamie or Kurt handles the problem from a computer far, far away. Whoever invented this method of computer repair should be the next president of the United States, as far as I’m concerned.
By this point in my life, I’m able to solve some technology problems on my own — I always get a sense of satisfaction in doing it myself — but more often than not, I’m happy to let Susan or Jamie or Kurt fix it.