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News from Earth and Fire -- December 7, 2007 Can anyone hear me? Without question the most frustrating thing about having my computer declared TOAST and trying to get back up to speed with the brand new one I was forced to purchase, was dealing with the support people everywhere I turned. It started, of course, with the guy at the other end of the Microsoft 800 number. Not only was it difficult to understand him, but I had no confidence whatsoever that he had any technical knowledge. I pictured him in a Call Center in Bombay typing phrases I was saying to him into a computer program and waiting for the script to pop up and tell him what to say next. At one point I even insisted that he repeat my problem to me so I would know that he was working on the same one I was. After about an hour and a half, when he put me on hold to conference in someone from Dell, I just hung up. The next day, the computer was officially declared dead by someone I felt actually KNEW something, and I orderd a new one online. Once the new computer arrived, it only got worse. My DSL modem wasn't working. I called Verizon and had to talk to the computer voice. She kept apologizing to me because I wasn't saying the right thing. "I'm sorry," she'd say, "You can say .... " and then she would list about four phrases that she could understand at that point in the phone tree. The thing was, none of the choices she gave me fit the problem I had. I kept repeating "DSL modem" because I didn't know what else to do. She kept telling me she was sorry, until at last (as I'm sure she is programmed to do), she gave up on ME and passed me along to a human being. Which is what I wanted in the first place, of course, except she passed me to the wrong human being. Even though I pleaded with the man to pass me directly to another human being, I had to struggle with the computer voice another time when I was again transferred. When I got over that hurdle, it was time to install Quickbooks and recover my gallery data. I have just deleted about six paragraphs that you really don't want to read (you're welcome). Bottom line was that I had to upgrade and when I installed the new software, a window came up instructing me to call an 866 number to get a Validation Code. (Because of what had happened in the six paragraphs I deleted) I was in no mood to call an 866 number. Let me ask you a question. When you hear the words "Please pay careful attention to the following options, because our menu has recently changed.." do you find it impossible to stay tuned in? As the litany of "If you're calling about...." options passes along in that exact same voice that you've heard on so many phone trees so many times before, do you at some point realize that you aren't paying attention and that you don't have a clue what the last option was? Or maybe you think it might have been option two, but you can't really remember? In the end, do you just sort of push "3" and hope for the best? Me, too. When I finally reached a human being and he asked me how I was today, I told him the truth. I don't think he hears that one so much. I told him I had just purchased Quickbooks Pro 2008 and needed a Validation Code. He got a little information from me (that I had already provided when I had purchased the software online, by the way). While he was updating this and that, he tried to make small talk with me. "Soooo... What kind of business do you have?" he asked brightly. "Retail." I said, flatly. "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Retail!" he responded. More updating of this and that. "Soooooo... how many employees to you have?" "Just me." "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Just you!" "So.......... how long have you been using Quickbooks?" "Seven years," I said. I just wanted it to be over. "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Seven years!" He asked all the questions exactly the same way, and responded to whatever I said in exactly the same way. The guy was feigning interest in me. "Soooooooooooo... have you been happy with it?" Too bad I wasn't in the mood to feign back. I unloaded for a few minutes about the feelings I was having just then about Quickbooks, I told him that I really, really, really just wanted a Validation Code and could he please just give that to me. The last thing I had to do was re-establish connection with my website. Since I didn't have access to the information on my old computer, I had to come up with the right settings by myself. After looking around online at the site where my web files are stored, and using the information I found there without success, I had to ask for help again. The technical support at that site is done via email. I did the best I could to explain my problem. I think I'm a fairly intelligent person. I even think I'm fairly computer literate, in the overall scheme of things. I think I have a pretty good command of the English language. I also know that my technical knowledge of what is going on behind the scenes is extremely limited. I don't know the proper words to use to communicate with someone on a very technical level. All I know how to do is explain exactly what I'm doing and what I'm (not) seeing on my end. The emails went back and forth. Each time I felt like they didn't understand what I was telling them. They told me where my files "should" be. I told them I had looked there but still couldn't see them. I told them I needed to know where my files actually WERE. They told me again that my files were in the exact place that I was looking. In the end, I found the answer myself, completely independent of their Knowledge Base or their technical support email staff. It was something very simple. Something anyone with an understanding of Linux would probably have been able to get instantly. Something that someone like me would have no clue about. So.. what's the point? The point is that we have been forced to accept this treatment -- people reading from scripts, computer voices that can only recognize certain words, telephone menu trees, and knowledge bases -- as a substitute for genuine Customer Service. And as the "things" in our lives continue to get more complicated (so that more of us "regular folks" need help), it's only going to get worse. In and of itself each individual encounter with "Customer Support" might not have been so horrible, but I had to deal with all of them one after another, and by the end of the day I thought my head was going to explode. I went home to a favorite yunomi from Mark Shapiro filled with a wonderful chardonnay and I was grateful for a connection to another human being that didn't require words, but that was nevertheless filled with understanding. That yunomi will never require me to upgrade. It will never speak to me from a script. It will never feign interest in me. It will only and always just... feed my soul. It's an odd thing really that because of all this complicated and impersonal technology, I can communicate with you directly and offer you these simple and beautiful pieces of art to feed your soul, too. (And know that when you call 703 443-0484, there's no phone tree, no computer voice, no script. There's just me, doing the best I can to answer the phone before the second ring.) New Pots The new pots from Sequoia Miller are online. I have some other new pots from two new artists, but the sky has been overcast for a couple of days, and I have been unable to get them photographed. My friend Rex, the amateur professional (or professonal amateur, I'm not sure which) photographer would suggest that I buy some lights so I am not so dependent on the sun, but, as I've told him many, many times, that would require me to go deeper into the technical end of photography... and I know I just don't have it in me. Please keep checking back. The home page will be updated when I have those new pots online. The shopping cart is now set for Free Shipping on orders over $150 Are you caught up reading Today at the Gallery? Back to the Newsletter Archive list Contact us to join the mailing list or inquire about a specific piece.
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