Following a few links, I found myself at a website called Read The Fucking Manual. It appears to be an IT person complaining about computer users who call for tech support earlier in the process than this person thinks they should.
I have no doubt that some people who call companies for tech support might do more to solve the problem on their own before they call.
On the other hand, tech support exists for a reason. Computers are available to all, including people with poor reading skills, people who have trouble learning from a manual, and people with zero computer experience.
The tech support number doesn't say you must struggle in frustration for a certain number of hours or days before calling. If you've spent money on a product, and you can't get it to work, you should be able to call for help. Presumably the tech support person is being paid for her time. She's not doing you a favour. She's doing her job.
In addition, many tech manuals are poorly written and decidedly non-user-friendly. It's unreasonable to expect someone with little or no computer experience to read an entire manual when trying to solve a problem, especially when the problem may be solved more quickly and efficiently by making a phone call.
Most people don't like to wait on hold, identify themselves several times and, often, be spoken to like they're a moron. Meaning, many people avoid calling tech support unless they absolutely have to.
But I understand that tech people don't always like their jobs or the people they are hired to help, and they need to vent. That's fine. Many an amusing email has been circulated with a punchline revealing that the caller hasn't plugged in the computer, and the hilariously sarcastic tech person tells them to send it back because "you're too stupid to own a computer".
While you're venting, however, you might want to make sure you're not displaying some ignorance of your own.
"...The first thing they will do when they experience a problem installing or using any computer hardware or software is panic, get angry and then run head-over-heals to the manufacturer and demand to be taught from scratch..."
The correct expression is "head over heels", as in the heel of one's foot, not heals, as in a wound heals.
I also question the use of "head over heels" in this context. From Dictionary.com:
68. head over heels,
a. headlong, as in a somersault: He tripped and fell head over heels into the gully.
b. intensely; completely: head over heels in love.
c. impulsively; carelessly: They plunged head over heels into the fighting.
I suppose you could make a case for (c), but I don't think so. I think it's just the wrong expression.
"...without even considering the remote possibility of the problem lying with the user, and not the product."
The problem isn't "lying with" anyone. Perhaps they haven't considered "the possibility that the problem lies with the user". Or perhaps the problem is just "with" the user.
"...and it can also be found in a tiny file, inconclusively named "Readme.txt"..."
If the name of the file is inconclusive, we can't draw a conclusion about its name. The name is ambiguous. I'm pretty sure that's not what the writer means.
This may seem like nitpicking, and in another context, it would be. We all make grammatical mistakes, we all occasionally type the wrong sound-alike word. (Although presumably this person proofread this page at least once before posting.)
I'm picking on this person's grammar and usage for a reason. He or she is yelling at other people for needing help, but clearly she sometimes needs help, too - with writing.
It's all right to need help writing. It's also all right to need tech support, and not to read an entire computer manual when you need it.
No comments:
Post a Comment