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Questions of the Day
I’ve been working at the same shop doing pretty much the same thing for the past 2 ½ years now. I’ve started to notice patterns, particularly in the questions customers ask me each day. It’s like somebody sends out a memo that commands everyone with a particular question to either call or visit me about it on a particular date.
Now, some of that I can understand. The day after we have a huge electrical storm, the questions all center around power surges. What I don’t understand is how they can all ask the same specific question. I don’t get generic questions about power surge related stuff. After one storm, a dozen customers will ask about battery-backups. After the next storm they’re all replacing fried modems. After the next it’s, “Where are your replacement laptop power cords?” And the next: “My monitor has dead pixels thanks to a power outage last night. Can they be fixed?”
Of course, it’s not just for electrical surges. That’s just an example. I just don’t get how it happens. Is anyone else noticing this kind of pattern, or is it just me?
On Tuesday this week, the question of the day was a more unusual one, I thought. Three customers were confused on the same point. They all either had or wanted to set up a wireless network at home and all had at least a desktop computer already. They thought that they could set up the wireless network, then install anti-virus software on the desktop and expect it to protect all the computers in the house (laptops specifically) and keep neighbors from using their wireless signal. (Not being very familiar with setting up networks, I can guess at ways one computer could provide security software for all machines on the network, but I am certain these folks were not going that direction.)
Of the three the one lady was just a little confused at first, but she listened and eventually understood my explanation. The two guys were not quite so bright. I had to draw diagrams for one of them—he eventually gave up and told me to send one of the techs out to set it all up for him. And the other one yelled at me for “not knowin’ nothin’ about computers or virusware.” In fact, according to virusware guy, simply having a router, wireless or not, was sufficient to make all connected computers act as one machine with full access to all programs and files on all the hard drives and full use of all the hardware (like graphic cards and printers) but no possibility of sharing a virus from one unit to the next. Yeah, I'd like to see this guy's setup.
Now, some of that I can understand. The day after we have a huge electrical storm, the questions all center around power surges. What I don’t understand is how they can all ask the same specific question. I don’t get generic questions about power surge related stuff. After one storm, a dozen customers will ask about battery-backups. After the next storm they’re all replacing fried modems. After the next it’s, “Where are your replacement laptop power cords?” And the next: “My monitor has dead pixels thanks to a power outage last night. Can they be fixed?”
Of course, it’s not just for electrical surges. That’s just an example. I just don’t get how it happens. Is anyone else noticing this kind of pattern, or is it just me?
On Tuesday this week, the question of the day was a more unusual one, I thought. Three customers were confused on the same point. They all either had or wanted to set up a wireless network at home and all had at least a desktop computer already. They thought that they could set up the wireless network, then install anti-virus software on the desktop and expect it to protect all the computers in the house (laptops specifically) and keep neighbors from using their wireless signal. (Not being very familiar with setting up networks, I can guess at ways one computer could provide security software for all machines on the network, but I am certain these folks were not going that direction.)
Of the three the one lady was just a little confused at first, but she listened and eventually understood my explanation. The two guys were not quite so bright. I had to draw diagrams for one of them—he eventually gave up and told me to send one of the techs out to set it all up for him. And the other one yelled at me for “not knowin’ nothin’ about computers or virusware.” In fact, according to virusware guy, simply having a router, wireless or not, was sufficient to make all connected computers act as one machine with full access to all programs and files on all the hard drives and full use of all the hardware (like graphic cards and printers) but no possibility of sharing a virus from one unit to the next. Yeah, I'd like to see this guy's setup.
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