On Wednesday, March 19, 2003, at 07:48 PM, cbirds wrote: > Well, many of my clients do NOT. So, I would be a bad person to put > something on there and then have them not be able to run other > applications without having problems.
That's a perfectly acceptable, non-foolish, attitude to take. I don't have a problem with that. (Apologize for the fool comment BTW - I get a little heated sometimes.) My argument was the blanket statements you made and the tone that came with them. > I enjoy both instant gratification and I also run LC III's to do things > like take in faxes. I also own several other PCI, G3, and laptop Macs, > including G4's and servers.......to name a few.....I have never gotten > 'rid' of a Mac, every one I've owned is still in use either by me or > someone else that I have GENEROUSLY donated it to, some who are on this > very list. :-) Ok. Fair enough. > I am trying to get my users to be more self-sufficient and having them > ask me if they need to buy X is getting old. Most of my frantic callers > have had some do-gooder slap X on their machine and leave them unable to > print or surf because they did not finish the job. > I had one user call me late last night crying because she was told she > needed X to run her Palm-Pilot (not!) and let some numbskull install it > on her perfectly good laptop. Some people are just not repsponsible and > don't you agree, should not be shoving stuff into folks' machines unless > they plan to follow through with it? As a person who has done over a decade of end-user and network support, some of it on Mac as well as PC, may I observe that the problems you are experiencing are the normal state of end-users. It's the natural cycle of support. 1) Person screws up machine or machine breaks. (Regardless if they installed something wrong or a "friend" *groan* installed something.) 2) You fix machine and educate user. 3) User calls you the next time something breaks. It's how it works, it's how we help people, it's how we make money. As for the shoddy - non-finished - work thing. I agree. I also feel that these are opportunities for you to be the hero to that user and to help them grow. (I've never been one to keep a user in the dark unless absolutely necessary.) From the long-view these need to be looked at as opportunities not problems. Heck, I still get calls from people I've done very little work for in the last decade. I still help them. Why? Because even though it's the most frustrating thing in the world having to re-load that machine every few months when the user breaks it - it's also the most gratifying thing in the world to see them happy again. BTW - Kill the slap-loaders on sight when you see them. The thing you want to find out is how many years of experience they have. The other cardinal rules to teach your users is to ask questions of _everyone_ working with their system. Regardless of it's you or not. ;-) Mike hebel -- PCI-PowerMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Sonnet & PowerLogix Upgrades - start at $169 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PCI-PowerMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/pci-powermacs.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/pci-powermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
