click connect

For some unbearably strange and incomprehensible reason, I have been having the hardest time being critical of stupid people as of late. Perhaps it’s the self evaluation that I’ve been experiencing since I started writing in my journal again. Or maybe it’s because I recently took up meditation (I bought Meditation for Dummies and everything!). Maybe it’s the heat. Whatever the reason, it has been difficult adapting. But I’m mostly positive that it’s for the best. It is, in fact, for that very same reason that my new posts have been, well, non-existent. I’ve been working on a number of blogs that are of a more inspirational nature, but they never seem to get finished. I have a shirt that says “I never finish anyth” on the front. I think it’s starting to read true.

This is where I found myself in a bit of a dilemma. You see, I believe that criticism can be a good thing. It keeps me aware of things I need to avoid doing in my own life. It also keeps me alert of everything that goes on around me and helps me notice things that I’d otherwise miss. I like to be alert and aware, unless of course I’m sleeping. I also make exceptions for the extremely-rare-and-oh-so-ever-looked-forward-to lazy days. Now I’m drifting. Getting back on topic, I have been trying to find the balance between being critical and being nice. Rather, not terribly mean. Sometimes “nice” just doesn’t work and isn’t deserved. Perhaps the balance lies in learning from the criticisms I give about stupid people (via blogging, never to them directly. Is that bad?), being able to take criticism, and trying super hard not to be terribly mean.

So, here’s something that I experienced recently that has the potential to ooze sarcasm and criticism like no ones biznass, but won’t, I hope.

It was a rather hot spring day not two weeks ago that I was sitting in my comfy office chair reading an XKCD comic strip while thinking of a way to repair a client’s Winblows corruption problem when the phone rang. I answered in normal fashion only to hear a faint woman’s voice on the other line. I increased the phone volume and then the voice became a normal woman’s voice. She explained that about six months ago she and her husband had purchased a computer from us and had us set up a wireless network in their home. I remembered the happy couple, and asked if everything was working correctly. She told me that they hadn’t been able to get on to their wireless internet connection for the last few weeks. I attempted to walk her through a few things over the phone, but it became apparent in a matter of seconds that guiding this lady through any procedures was going to be next to impossible (she actually said so, which honestly doesn’t happen as often as it should). She went on to talk about her amazingly brilliant computer genius neighbor that had even come over to the house to try and fix the problem. “He checked all of the configuration settings and everything, but it still won’t work. He thinks it’s the wireless modem, router thingy with the antenna that is bad.” She then asked if I would come out to her house and replace the wireless modem, router thingy. She was convinced that something was broken. She had no qualm with the price, so we scheduled a time.

Later that day, I arrived at her house. She greeted me at the door and showed me to the computer located next to the dining room table. I sat down and looked at the screen. The wireless connection was definitely disconnected. To resolve the issue, I double clicked on the TRENDnet Wireless Connection Manager icon and clicked again, this time on “connect.” Five seconds later I was browsing the web. The lady had a confused look on her face that shouted “but my amazingly brilliant computer genius neighbor tried everything!” Indeed it appears that brilliant computer genius is no match for the confusing powers of Trendnet’s wireless connection manager and its accompanying connect button. I asked if there was anything else I could do since I was already there and she was paying for one hour either way, but she declined, so I left, which was nice because I needed to get my car washed.

Perhaps had this lady not been sooooo convinced that her neighbor really was a computer genius she would have noticed the painfully obvious solution to her problem. Then again, maybe not. She might have, however, been more open to letting me help her over the phone. Sure it takes a few minutes, but it doesn’t cost anything. The lesson I take from this is hopefully the same one she’ll take and one Muad’dib states on his blog. “Question your assumptions.” Allow for the possibility that you could be wrong and look for alternatives. Doing so will give you a whole new world of options.

That wasn’t painful, for me, at least.