Mike,
My issue here (besides keeping the U.S.S. Computer Guru afloat, always a primary concern, which is difficult to do when I all but stop my in-shop work here for hours to help people in remote locations with computing basics via long-distance telephone calls!) is educating people on how to use their systems.
A major part of education consists of knowing what it is, knowing what it can do, knowing when it is needed. Wanting it, asking for it, needing it, loving it! What is that Biblical thing about having to empty the glass before the Lord can fill it? I'm like that: I insist people empty the glass before I will help them fill it. Many people's egos just can't handle that. Many people get in a game of chicken with the guru. They insist I "protect" their egos by blaming the equipment instead of raising the nasty, all-important issue, which is this: they don't know what the hell they're doing! And naturally I refuse.
Of course you're a prince and an exception to all this.
Now mind you, I am a man of the world and I've done my requisite share of ego-massaging and people management. But the dollars, man! The dollars have to be there! If the pain exceeds the payment, why, it can't be done!
She doesn't have a computer problem. She has a knowledge problem. I sold her a computer. Training was not included in the package. Maybe I should repeat that part. TRAINING WAS NOT INCLUDED IN THE PACKAGE. I didn't sell her Quickbooks; why should I get involved in supporting it! Microsoft wouldn't do it, Dell wouldn't even do it, so why should I do it?
I may just be a jerk, but I think it's important that these issues are framed properly, for business purposes as well as to avoid losing one's mind and wasting countless hours on B.S.
In other words, I insist that educational problems be framed that way, so people don't float along with the misperception that the problem lies with the machinery. It lies with people who do not make an effort to learn. And I can't see the benefit of providing education and training unless that is purchased along with the hardware.
It is, after all, a separate "line item."
SS
3:32:42 PM 
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