May I Help You?
May I Help You?
The Luddite has never really cared for the webpage as an informational tool. They don’t seem to contain a lot of information you want. Then again, maybe it’s because The Luddite has a lot in common with old men who can remember a time before color TV and simply mistrusts them.
This is harsh, but it’s true. Sometimes web pages don’t even contain a phone number, just an address, which strikes me as really weird for a medium that prides itself on speed.
If The Luddite sounds grumpy, I suppose it’s because he is. The Luddite once tried to find out what the horsepower is for a food processor he has because he needed a machine with one horsepower. The documentation that comes with the machine didn’t list what horsepower he had, so The Luddite tried the website for Black & Decker to find out just what it is. Forget it. If it’s there, it sure isn’t in the ‘appliances’ section.
Since Black & Decker’s website didn’t work, The Luddite tried the super Wal-Mart where he bought the thing in the first place. The Luddite knew what their answer was going to be, but he tried it anyway. Once they finally connected him with the department, a very nice woman hit him with what has been a very depressing and common phenomenon, i.e. “The person who knows the answer is not here right now, try back later.” The Luddite guesses that sounds a lot better than the blunt, “I don’t know.” The Luddite has run into this one before. When you call back to the person that knows the answer, you get the other half of the new trick, which is, “I don’t know why they said that, I sure don’t know.”
The Luddite also tried a small appliance repair store in Fort Collins, Shaveco. The guy who runs this place is a true eccentric, ready to rant about the ‘Throwaway Society’ at the drop of a hat. In fact, instead of business cards, he gives out little pieces of paper with little screeds about why everything breaks and nothing lasts. The Luddite likes him, even though he don’t know his name. The Luddite told the man in charge of his plight and said that he needed a food processor with about one horsepower. He laughed and said there was no such thing in the United States, even though the book The Luddite was looking at mentioned two models that put out that much power. The guy did tell The Luddite, however, that 350 watts--which is what his food processor has—is not a lot.
The Luddite finally got a semblance of an answer at Ace Hardware on College. He usually relies on Ace for this kind of thing because they are pretty helpful and forthright. If they don’t know the answer, they’ll say so and direct The Luddite to someone that does. The guy at Ace Hardware wasn’t sure but put the phone down so that he could look around for the answer and couldn’t find it. He did some comparisons of the wattage with other models he had in stock and figured that The Luddite had about 1/8th horsepower. He also urged The Luddite to come on down. He
didn’t then, but you can be sure that he will. He was great. [Update: I finally did. Ace didn’t have the horsepower but I now know there are two places in town with models that can get the job done. One if them is Jax, the local mercantile store and the other is at Bed, Bath and Beyond.]
More and more The Luddite is being faced with hired help that cheerfully, or sullenly says, “I don’t know.” After all, it’s just a job, the business isn’t theirs and why should they show ANY kind of loyalty to a business that will fire them at the drop of a hat when things get dicey? Yeah, yeah, The Luddite has heard all those reasons and even agrees with some of them, but what gets him is the total disregard for MY time; time that The Luddite is sure never going to get back.
This attitude seems to be prevalent on websites, which again, strikes The Luddite as weird for a medium that is supposed to put a premium on speed. Finding the horsepower of a food processor should be a relatively simple thing. There’s even an equation for it. The least they could do is put it on a website.
The Luddite has never really cared for the webpage as an informational tool. They don’t seem to contain a lot of information you want. Then again, maybe it’s because The Luddite has a lot in common with old men who can remember a time before color TV and simply mistrusts them.
This is harsh, but it’s true. Sometimes web pages don’t even contain a phone number, just an address, which strikes me as really weird for a medium that prides itself on speed.
If The Luddite sounds grumpy, I suppose it’s because he is. The Luddite once tried to find out what the horsepower is for a food processor he has because he needed a machine with one horsepower. The documentation that comes with the machine didn’t list what horsepower he had, so The Luddite tried the website for Black & Decker to find out just what it is. Forget it. If it’s there, it sure isn’t in the ‘appliances’ section.
Since Black & Decker’s website didn’t work, The Luddite tried the super Wal-Mart where he bought the thing in the first place. The Luddite knew what their answer was going to be, but he tried it anyway. Once they finally connected him with the department, a very nice woman hit him with what has been a very depressing and common phenomenon, i.e. “The person who knows the answer is not here right now, try back later.” The Luddite guesses that sounds a lot better than the blunt, “I don’t know.” The Luddite has run into this one before. When you call back to the person that knows the answer, you get the other half of the new trick, which is, “I don’t know why they said that, I sure don’t know.”
The Luddite also tried a small appliance repair store in Fort Collins, Shaveco. The guy who runs this place is a true eccentric, ready to rant about the ‘Throwaway Society’ at the drop of a hat. In fact, instead of business cards, he gives out little pieces of paper with little screeds about why everything breaks and nothing lasts. The Luddite likes him, even though he don’t know his name. The Luddite told the man in charge of his plight and said that he needed a food processor with about one horsepower. He laughed and said there was no such thing in the United States, even though the book The Luddite was looking at mentioned two models that put out that much power. The guy did tell The Luddite, however, that 350 watts--which is what his food processor has—is not a lot.
The Luddite finally got a semblance of an answer at Ace Hardware on College. He usually relies on Ace for this kind of thing because they are pretty helpful and forthright. If they don’t know the answer, they’ll say so and direct The Luddite to someone that does. The guy at Ace Hardware wasn’t sure but put the phone down so that he could look around for the answer and couldn’t find it. He did some comparisons of the wattage with other models he had in stock and figured that The Luddite had about 1/8th horsepower. He also urged The Luddite to come on down. He
didn’t then, but you can be sure that he will. He was great. [Update: I finally did. Ace didn’t have the horsepower but I now know there are two places in town with models that can get the job done. One if them is Jax, the local mercantile store and the other is at Bed, Bath and Beyond.]
More and more The Luddite is being faced with hired help that cheerfully, or sullenly says, “I don’t know.” After all, it’s just a job, the business isn’t theirs and why should they show ANY kind of loyalty to a business that will fire them at the drop of a hat when things get dicey? Yeah, yeah, The Luddite has heard all those reasons and even agrees with some of them, but what gets him is the total disregard for MY time; time that The Luddite is sure never going to get back.
This attitude seems to be prevalent on websites, which again, strikes The Luddite as weird for a medium that is supposed to put a premium on speed. Finding the horsepower of a food processor should be a relatively simple thing. There’s even an equation for it. The least they could do is put it on a website.
posted by S. Olson at 10:29 AM
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