Jackie Wells-Fauth
Roy’s phone did one of its funny little quirks this week, so he did what we always do when our technology fails: he called one of our IT guys. Now, it should come as no surprise to most people that I gave birth to two of the IT team and they married the other half of the set. And take my word for it, our IT guys are always delighted to hear from us…especially when everything must be done by phone!
The phone issue for Roy was a tough one and he had to use my phone to communicate with our elder daughter to describe what his phone was doing. Since she was at home, alone, with the four-year old computer trainee in the family, it made for an interesting conversation.
“It won’t show me my e-mail, and I like to get that on my phone,” he complained.
“All right, I need you to go into the apps and click on the Google app,” she said, while in the background, the little one was chanting, “Hi, Grandpa; Mommy, I’m saying hi to Grandpa.”
By the time our IT guy had sorted out what was wrong, handled the minor crisis or two that the little one had and convinced her father (customer) that he had to Face time her so she could SEE what was on the phone, I’m fairly certain she was wishing she was an orphan.
Her ultra patient customer service voice was very soothing, but I’m pretty sure that underneath it, she was thinking that she could send us poison through the mail, but then she’d have to explain to her sister why she had done it.
She shouldn’t have worried though. Her sister, another one of the IT support staff in our family, has also dealt with her parents and their issues. “Okay, is the computer plugged in?” You laugh at this question, but half the time, that’s the problem. “Well, now, try turning it off and turning it back on,” is the second step. This always makes me mad. Do they think we can solve a huge problem in technology by just powering down and powering back up…how stupid or naïve do they think we are…oh wait a minute, that worked!
The married half of the IT team has no better luck, although for each of them, the approach is different. Stefanie’s husband, Marty, once confiscated Roy’s phone for an entire afternoon, industriously inputting the locations and directions for the places we intended to visit in Germany. We had all of that set up in our GPS, so it was annoying that Marty tied up the phone the whole afternoon to do what was not necessary. We thought this right up until the GPS, and every other location device we had, failed us in a foreign country and we were hanging on the every word of the directions Marty had put into the phone. We confessed that it was very helpful and he, as any good IT customer service member would, kept his mouth shut and refrained from saying, “I told you so.”
Tracie’s husband, Charles, is the epitome of patience as well. Each time I buy a new laptop, he sets it up for me. He asks questions that I don’t have an answer for and he attempts to set up the programs I need without any help or suggestion from me. He has even, on one rare occasion, locked into my computer from his house and fixed a problem I was having. I am convinced he learned that trick during his computer magic training at Hogwarts. However, I am also convinced that he has mastered the art of mentally facepalming himself every time he asks, “What is your password for your server?” And I answer, “I think it’s something to do with cheese. Try that.”
It’s possible that all four members of our IT team get away from their work on our technology only to bang their head against a convenient wall, but so far, they have not refused our calls or sent us any bills. We will probably never master the fine art of technology, so it’s necessary for us to continue to make use of our IT support team.
The good news is that we have discovered that we have new trainees for IT support, since the two older grandsons are now almost as good as their parents at adjusting our technology. They aren’t quite as patient, however.
“No, Grandma, you didn’t do it right! Didn’t you listen to what I said?” They will have to work on that if they want to be good IT guys.
dropsinthewell 