On Tech Support

Whenever I have to deal with tech support I tend to run into three classes of people. The first are the stereotyped guys in India who read from a script and don't realize I'm more tech savvy than anyone short of having a CS degree, who obviously I don't like but i still feel bad for them because it's not their fault their job got outsourced so far away from the clients they have to deal with.

The second type of person is the asshole who actually does reside in The States and simply treats me like an idiot because I have a problem setting my new wireless printer to sync with multiple Macs, one wired desktop and a wireless Laptop running Windows XP with firewalls put in place by AT&T to disallow wireless connectivity and prevent corporate espionage.

You know, child's play.

But happily there's the third class of tech supporter who, much like an athletic supporter, don't override but rather cradle and support you to help you do your job better. I have been raised to cherish, praise and even reward this type of behavior, usually with baked goods.

I had an issue with an iPod accessory this week and after trying what I could think of n exhausting the online technical documentation, I called a help number. Took maybe 5 minutes. Dude on the other line heard my problem, laughed and said, "Well that's not right!" (One of my favorite phrases.) Got some advice, did a soft restart and boom, everything was fixed.

I have not had that experience with my mother's printer. AT&T is an evil, evil company and their software will randomly decide to delete all your added printers. Also, their tech support is in India and you need to go through three levels of management to get approval to ship it out; their are no "tech guys" at your semi-local office branch. They've set back every business they've purchased 20 years in policy and practice and as we continue to say, they are trying to run an internet telecommunications company like a phone company.

I will give up this writing nonsense and go back to school for my MBA, just so I can become powerful enough to buy AT&T and fire every asshole on their board of directors.

On the up-side, my mom seems to value my tech support services for this project at 5/3 my estimated rate, so, awesome.