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If it's not foggy, don't drive around with your fog lights on. It's annoying.
If it's dark, turn on your headlights. It's not rocket science.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Dumbing down technology
So, I was at office depot getting some ink for my printer and I overhear a conversation between a worker and a customer that goes something like this:
Customer: "I want to buy this cat5 cable, but do I need this one, or the cat6 cable?"
Worker: "Your computer will automatically adjust itself to use the cat5 cable if it is cat6 capable"
When I hear this, I think to myself one of two things just happened:
1) The worker knows full well that to explain the practical difference between cat5 and cat6 cable would probably confuse the customer more than help, and he has carefully choosen words that will help solve the customer's problem, not necessarily answer his question.
2) The worker has no f***ing clue what he's talking about.
I used to think that #2 was the norm, but I think more and more the tech people at those stores at least know something.
Anyway, my point here is that sometimes to help ignorant people you have to dumb down the topic, sometimes to the point where it isn't technically acurate. Now all I need is a some kind of signal that I can use to notify workers that I'm in the "I know what I'm talking about" group - maybe a thinkgeek shirt or a secret handshake or something.
Customer: "I want to buy this cat5 cable, but do I need this one, or the cat6 cable?"
Worker: "Your computer will automatically adjust itself to use the cat5 cable if it is cat6 capable"
When I hear this, I think to myself one of two things just happened:
1) The worker knows full well that to explain the practical difference between cat5 and cat6 cable would probably confuse the customer more than help, and he has carefully choosen words that will help solve the customer's problem, not necessarily answer his question.
2) The worker has no f***ing clue what he's talking about.
I used to think that #2 was the norm, but I think more and more the tech people at those stores at least know something.
Anyway, my point here is that sometimes to help ignorant people you have to dumb down the topic, sometimes to the point where it isn't technically acurate. Now all I need is a some kind of signal that I can use to notify workers that I'm in the "I know what I'm talking about" group - maybe a thinkgeek shirt or a secret handshake or something.
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