Just after I posted “Erratic cellular settings” I thought about cars and problem solving.
Long ago I learned a little story about car problems that may have been older than me.
A car dealer gave his wife a new car. She was delighted with it, but she complained that it ran erratically. A mechanic checked it out and could find nothing wrong. She brought it in again with the same result. Finally, the head mechanic went out with her.
She started the car, pulled out the choke, and hung her purse from the choke.
Sometimes, you have to just be there to solve a user’s problem. I found this out when a user couldn’t access a document because his computer terms didn’t the same meanings as others did. I had to go to his house to understand the problem. I found out the cause of an error in my own software when I saw a user print a document on his on printer. I had assumed a negative number for a printer line would not get printed. It worked fine on my Apple printer, but it didn’t work on his third party printer.
The problem with computers is that the designers expect their users to be expert car mechanics, masters of intricate analysis of problems. But all the average user wants to do is touch a few buttons or type a few words to get his or her work done. If their cars sputters when it should purr, they take it to a mechanic who often can diagnose the problem within an hour. But if their devices sputter when they should purr, they are expected to put in hours trying to get enough information to get somebody to finally make a correction to the software (or tell them not to hang their purses on the menu bar).
My plaint about all this complexity is whatever happened to the “Computer for the Rest of Us” (The 1984 Apple Macintosh)?
Showing posts with label hardware. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hardware. Show all posts
Monday, January 11, 2016
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Good Service
Good service is something we often take for granted. If we get bad service we often don’t return. If we get good service, if convenient, we return again and again.
Many almost make a career of bashing government. Government is “bloated” and “inefficient”. Little do they consider all the ways that government makes their lives easier.
Two favorite targets of government bashers are the Postal Service and the Internal Revenue Service. So effective are these government bashers that others parrot their complaints without considering how necessary and effective these services are.
Five days a week, our mail carrier Sarah comes to our door and deposits mail in our box. She almost always has a smile, whether she trudges through knee-deep snow bundled up for minus twenty or she easily strolls across mowed grass in shorts. This attitude is found throughout the Postal Service, at least in Minnesota. If you stop at a Post Office with a long line at Christmas, the clerks treat each customer as if they were their only customers. When they have finished with your request, they ask, “Anything else?”
Filing taxes is a chore most of us dread. Why so many details to note? Did I remember every donation? Did I remember every dividend check? And on and on. As we plow our way through all these details and curse that we still owe money, we curse the IRS. But the IRS didn’t create all these rules except at the bidding of Congress. And Congress created a complex tax code to satisfy thousands of lobbyists. To top it off, Congress doesn’t fund the IRS sufficiently to do all that it is required to do effectively.
A few weeks ago I received an IRS letter. Oh, boy! Did I screw up some calculation or miss an item? Do I owe even more money? I opened the letter to get the pain over quickly and found that I will be receiving a refund check! I used a wrong percentage for a calculation and have less taxable income than I reported.
I know most of this is automated but real people had to be involved to double check and order the refund. As all large organizations do, the letter said I would receive payment in four-to-six weeks. I think I received it in a week or ten days.
But that same Congress that bashes the IRS bashes the Postal Service. It saddled the Postal Service with the requirement to fully-fund future pensions, farther out than many corporations are required. For example, as of the last letter I received about my Unisys pension, it was only funded at 77 percent!
The result of this pension burden on the Postal Service is that it has to cut services. But if the Postal Service cuts services then what costs will be incurred by the public? When rural post offices are cut, how many people will have to spend time and money to drive thirty or more miles to the nearest post office? If the Postal Service consolidates sorting centers, how much longer will it take for businesses to provide service to their customers?
For example, Netflix has a Duluth distribution center. Instead of two-day turnaround for a DVD, turnaround from the Duluth center could be four days. That means, Netflix would probably close its Duluth distribution center, taking jobs direct and indirect with it.
UPS often uses the Postal Service for the “last mile” for small packages. I’m not sure exactly how this works, but if the Duluth postal sorting center closes, then USPS will have to change its procedures to have its center nearest the Postal Center handle these “last mile” packages. That will take a major reworking of UPS’s operational procedures.
I did not expect to write so much on government service. This leaves me less space to praise all the businesses local and national, big and small that provide good service.
I’ll start with a few that know me by name or at least recognize my face.
Every so often I buy something from Denny’s Lawn and Garden, but more often I come in with a question or a broken something. Tom is always ready to answer my questions or explain what has to be fixed.
Across the street at Denny’s Hardware, Yvonne always has a smile and is ready to point me in the right direction or to the right person. Even when the person is new to me, they seem to know where what I want is located.
Whenever I want to buy a book, The Bookstore at Fitgers can quickly tell me if its in stock or if it has to be ordered. Northern Lights Books provided the same service.
I buy boots and jeans every few years at Minnesota Surplus, but Rick and others recognize me and cheerfully serve me. Similarly, I buy a couple of shirts every few years at Mainstream for Men, and maybe a belt. Doug and Tom always treat me as if I were their favorite customer.
Oh dear, the word count is going up too fast. I have some favorite corporate places, but I’ll just end with a bit about Menards. Often a clerk will walk half-way across the store to show you where an item is. The king of service at Menards was Roy. People sought him ought for advice because he always seemed to have the right answer. He’s been retired for many years, but many still remember him.
Mel buys both local and corporate; he drinks Duluth beer and Italian wine. And he forgot to mention Brandon and crew at Mt. Royal Bottle Shoppe.
Originally published in the Reader Weekly, 2014-07-10 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/07/17/3739_good_service.
Many almost make a career of bashing government. Government is “bloated” and “inefficient”. Little do they consider all the ways that government makes their lives easier.
Two favorite targets of government bashers are the Postal Service and the Internal Revenue Service. So effective are these government bashers that others parrot their complaints without considering how necessary and effective these services are.
Five days a week, our mail carrier Sarah comes to our door and deposits mail in our box. She almost always has a smile, whether she trudges through knee-deep snow bundled up for minus twenty or she easily strolls across mowed grass in shorts. This attitude is found throughout the Postal Service, at least in Minnesota. If you stop at a Post Office with a long line at Christmas, the clerks treat each customer as if they were their only customers. When they have finished with your request, they ask, “Anything else?”
Filing taxes is a chore most of us dread. Why so many details to note? Did I remember every donation? Did I remember every dividend check? And on and on. As we plow our way through all these details and curse that we still owe money, we curse the IRS. But the IRS didn’t create all these rules except at the bidding of Congress. And Congress created a complex tax code to satisfy thousands of lobbyists. To top it off, Congress doesn’t fund the IRS sufficiently to do all that it is required to do effectively.
A few weeks ago I received an IRS letter. Oh, boy! Did I screw up some calculation or miss an item? Do I owe even more money? I opened the letter to get the pain over quickly and found that I will be receiving a refund check! I used a wrong percentage for a calculation and have less taxable income than I reported.
I know most of this is automated but real people had to be involved to double check and order the refund. As all large organizations do, the letter said I would receive payment in four-to-six weeks. I think I received it in a week or ten days.
But that same Congress that bashes the IRS bashes the Postal Service. It saddled the Postal Service with the requirement to fully-fund future pensions, farther out than many corporations are required. For example, as of the last letter I received about my Unisys pension, it was only funded at 77 percent!
The result of this pension burden on the Postal Service is that it has to cut services. But if the Postal Service cuts services then what costs will be incurred by the public? When rural post offices are cut, how many people will have to spend time and money to drive thirty or more miles to the nearest post office? If the Postal Service consolidates sorting centers, how much longer will it take for businesses to provide service to their customers?
For example, Netflix has a Duluth distribution center. Instead of two-day turnaround for a DVD, turnaround from the Duluth center could be four days. That means, Netflix would probably close its Duluth distribution center, taking jobs direct and indirect with it.
UPS often uses the Postal Service for the “last mile” for small packages. I’m not sure exactly how this works, but if the Duluth postal sorting center closes, then USPS will have to change its procedures to have its center nearest the Postal Center handle these “last mile” packages. That will take a major reworking of UPS’s operational procedures.
I did not expect to write so much on government service. This leaves me less space to praise all the businesses local and national, big and small that provide good service.
I’ll start with a few that know me by name or at least recognize my face.
Every so often I buy something from Denny’s Lawn and Garden, but more often I come in with a question or a broken something. Tom is always ready to answer my questions or explain what has to be fixed.
Across the street at Denny’s Hardware, Yvonne always has a smile and is ready to point me in the right direction or to the right person. Even when the person is new to me, they seem to know where what I want is located.
Whenever I want to buy a book, The Bookstore at Fitgers can quickly tell me if its in stock or if it has to be ordered. Northern Lights Books provided the same service.
I buy boots and jeans every few years at Minnesota Surplus, but Rick and others recognize me and cheerfully serve me. Similarly, I buy a couple of shirts every few years at Mainstream for Men, and maybe a belt. Doug and Tom always treat me as if I were their favorite customer.
Oh dear, the word count is going up too fast. I have some favorite corporate places, but I’ll just end with a bit about Menards. Often a clerk will walk half-way across the store to show you where an item is. The king of service at Menards was Roy. People sought him ought for advice because he always seemed to have the right answer. He’s been retired for many years, but many still remember him.
Mel buys both local and corporate; he drinks Duluth beer and Italian wine. And he forgot to mention Brandon and crew at Mt. Royal Bottle Shoppe.
Originally published in the Reader Weekly, 2014-07-10 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/07/17/3739_good_service.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Disorganized organizations
There are too many bloviators who claim that government stands in the way of corporations, corporations who can nothing wrong.
There are too many alarmists who think that corporations are taking over the world and the 99% will be the worse for it.
As with all human endeavors, the truth lies in the squishy middle. Or is that the muddled middle?
My dozen regular readers are probably tired of these rants, but then there are all the drop-ins who stumble on this blog because I managed to put in keywords that gives an entry a high search ranking. Try "duluth minnesota billionaire".
This blog entry is a result of some frustrations that I've had recently.
Because I've been doing so much snow shoveling and snow blowing, my Christmas planning keeps getting pushed back.
I keep getting emails from the Pretty Good Goods catalog because I contribute to Minnesota Public Radio. OK, our family's tradition has been to give T-shirts or books. What interesting T-shirts can I find for some on my list?
But when I try using the Pretty Good Goods catalog, I'm told I don't have an account. What, my MPR ID and password aren't the same. So, I create an account and place an order. I received most of the items rather quickly, but one item has been "drop sent" whatever that means. My credit card has already been charged for that item. Pretty Good Goods has not responded to my query about this, but then I should give them slack because they are overwhelmed.
Meanwhile, I keep getting emails from Pretty Good Goods at the email address I want to drop. If I try to use the unsubscribe, I'm told that I don't have an account. How can I not have an account when I just ordered stuff? Please excuse me if I'm inaccurate on the details. Lots of this is becoming a blur.
Geek Squad, owned by Best Buy, sent me a notice that the warranty was running out on my wife's iPad. The notice offered an extension. Given all the hazards that were covered, I thought it was a good deal. I went to the Geek Squad page and requested the extension.
While I was at it, I changed my email address to that which we plan to use over an older one. That went through without problem.
And then I received one of the many-times-per-week emails from Best Buy at the old email address. I went to the site and tried to login and change my email address. I don't have an account at Best Buy! What? What about the Geek Squad account? What about the rewards program account?
After searching some old messages, I found that I had to go, not to bestbuy.com but to my.bestbuy.com!?!? The email address and password I had in my head worked. Hey, folks, you work for the same company, and customers use all of your websites. According to some, corporations are efficient, more efficient than government. Sorry, I have had government communications that have gone far better than this.
My iPhone was getting low on power and I tried to sync it on my Mac. "Sync could not complete" or some such. What the heck! This has never happened before. Well, not to me, but certainly many others. I found an answer in the Apple Community rather quickly. The first answers were rather complicated and didn't seem to fit my OS level. But then I found one about shutting off the iPhone, quitting iTunes, and then restarting both. Voila! It worked.
I have over fifty years of computer problem solving and can often find the right keywords to get a solution proposed by somebody else (or as in "Helpless help desks revisited" doing it myself).
And of course there are the dozens and dozens of problems that I just give up on.
It's sort of like my last straw of the day. Some bolts on my snow blower gave way on the speed setting mechanism. Rather than go to the equipment store to get the exact bolts, I went to a hardware store and got off-the-shelf bolts for 44 cents (and $20 for a ceramic knife for someone on my Christmas list). When I returned home, I tried replacing the bolts. Let's just say the positioning is awkward. Using my bare hands and wrenches (not a good idea when it's well before freezing), I was able to get two bolts in and secured. But the third was in a very awkward position such as I could not easily get the lock nut started on the bolt.
There is a time that discretion is the better part of valor. I gave up and went back to the house with a bent back after being bent over so long. Finishing the fix will have to wait until another day. I just hope I can get it done before the next snow dump!
There are too many alarmists who think that corporations are taking over the world and the 99% will be the worse for it.
As with all human endeavors, the truth lies in the squishy middle. Or is that the muddled middle?
My dozen regular readers are probably tired of these rants, but then there are all the drop-ins who stumble on this blog because I managed to put in keywords that gives an entry a high search ranking. Try "duluth minnesota billionaire".
This blog entry is a result of some frustrations that I've had recently.
Because I've been doing so much snow shoveling and snow blowing, my Christmas planning keeps getting pushed back.
I keep getting emails from the Pretty Good Goods catalog because I contribute to Minnesota Public Radio. OK, our family's tradition has been to give T-shirts or books. What interesting T-shirts can I find for some on my list?
But when I try using the Pretty Good Goods catalog, I'm told I don't have an account. What, my MPR ID and password aren't the same. So, I create an account and place an order. I received most of the items rather quickly, but one item has been "drop sent" whatever that means. My credit card has already been charged for that item. Pretty Good Goods has not responded to my query about this, but then I should give them slack because they are overwhelmed.
Meanwhile, I keep getting emails from Pretty Good Goods at the email address I want to drop. If I try to use the unsubscribe, I'm told that I don't have an account. How can I not have an account when I just ordered stuff? Please excuse me if I'm inaccurate on the details. Lots of this is becoming a blur.
Geek Squad, owned by Best Buy, sent me a notice that the warranty was running out on my wife's iPad. The notice offered an extension. Given all the hazards that were covered, I thought it was a good deal. I went to the Geek Squad page and requested the extension.
While I was at it, I changed my email address to that which we plan to use over an older one. That went through without problem.
And then I received one of the many-times-per-week emails from Best Buy at the old email address. I went to the site and tried to login and change my email address. I don't have an account at Best Buy! What? What about the Geek Squad account? What about the rewards program account?
After searching some old messages, I found that I had to go, not to bestbuy.com but to my.bestbuy.com!?!? The email address and password I had in my head worked. Hey, folks, you work for the same company, and customers use all of your websites. According to some, corporations are efficient, more efficient than government. Sorry, I have had government communications that have gone far better than this.
My iPhone was getting low on power and I tried to sync it on my Mac. "Sync could not complete" or some such. What the heck! This has never happened before. Well, not to me, but certainly many others. I found an answer in the Apple Community rather quickly. The first answers were rather complicated and didn't seem to fit my OS level. But then I found one about shutting off the iPhone, quitting iTunes, and then restarting both. Voila! It worked.
I have over fifty years of computer problem solving and can often find the right keywords to get a solution proposed by somebody else (or as in "Helpless help desks revisited" doing it myself).
And of course there are the dozens and dozens of problems that I just give up on.
It's sort of like my last straw of the day. Some bolts on my snow blower gave way on the speed setting mechanism. Rather than go to the equipment store to get the exact bolts, I went to a hardware store and got off-the-shelf bolts for 44 cents (and $20 for a ceramic knife for someone on my Christmas list). When I returned home, I tried replacing the bolts. Let's just say the positioning is awkward. Using my bare hands and wrenches (not a good idea when it's well before freezing), I was able to get two bolts in and secured. But the third was in a very awkward position such as I could not easily get the lock nut started on the bolt.
There is a time that discretion is the better part of valor. I gave up and went back to the house with a bent back after being bent over so long. Finishing the fix will have to wait until another day. I just hope I can get it done before the next snow dump!
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
PANIC! My iPhone won't turn on!
Boy! All those complaining about the glitches about the Affordable Care Act should go to the discussion boards of almost any hardware or software company. Dozens and dozens of people complain about problems and the companies never respond directly.
This evening my iPhone would not turn on after my not having used it for an hour or so. I held and held the power button or the home button. Nada. I planned on going to Best Buy tomorrow about it, I have a two-year warranty contract. But first, why not try the Apple Community?
Ah ha! People have been complaining about this problem for over a year. I found at least four threads about the problem. The solution provided by other users is simple: hold the power button and the home button down at the same time. I think my screen came on within a few seconds. Some had to hold it even longer. Some had no success.
By the way, when I had my iPhone working again, I noticed I had an App update. The reason for the update? Bug fixes. When was that app updated last? About a week ago. The reasons? Bug fixes!
This evening my iPhone would not turn on after my not having used it for an hour or so. I held and held the power button or the home button. Nada. I planned on going to Best Buy tomorrow about it, I have a two-year warranty contract. But first, why not try the Apple Community?
Ah ha! People have been complaining about this problem for over a year. I found at least four threads about the problem. The solution provided by other users is simple: hold the power button and the home button down at the same time. I think my screen came on within a few seconds. Some had to hold it even longer. Some had no success.
By the way, when I had my iPhone working again, I noticed I had an App update. The reason for the update? Bug fixes. When was that app updated last? About a week ago. The reasons? Bug fixes!
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Official announcement of Human 2.0
God is pleased to announce the release of Human 2.0, code named Eve. Eve has over 250 new and exciting features that should make life easier for all. The only known problem is that Human 1.0, code named Adam, has a hard time understanding Eve and why she keeps pointing out his shortcomings.
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