"I'm not a computer expert."
I've learned to cringe when I hear those words, because they mean the person saying them is about to wash his/her hands of any responsibility for participating in solving the problem they're going to dump on me.
I'm in a second tier tech support group, so one of my specialties is going at least an extra mile to help people who are overwhelmed or in information overload from dealing with something they find particularly frustrating. My full time *job* is being the "computer expert" so they don't have to bring anything more to the table than average or even below average computer literacy.
But it seems, more and more often, that people have learned to abuse that term in order to resist learning even one thing that might help them not need to talk to someone like me again, and too much of the time now, I hear a kind of pride in their voice when they proclaim to me that they are too pure to be sullied with technical knowledge and they expect things to be fixed purely by magic. And I've learned to get a sinking feeling when I hear those words spoken in that tone, because I can already predict virtually every turn of the battle of wills that's coming next.
Just pay attention, listen to me, trust that I know what I'm doing, and be my eyes, ears, and hands, OK? I know you're not a "computer expert", Mr/Mrs Entitlement Brat. That's why I'm here.
I'm in a second tier tech support group, so one of my specialties is going at least an extra mile to help people who are overwhelmed or in information overload from dealing with something they find particularly frustrating. My full time *job* is being the "computer expert" so they don't have to bring anything more to the table than average or even below average computer literacy.
But it seems, more and more often, that people have learned to abuse that term in order to resist learning even one thing that might help them not need to talk to someone like me again, and too much of the time now, I hear a kind of pride in their voice when they proclaim to me that they are too pure to be sullied with technical knowledge and they expect things to be fixed purely by magic. And I've learned to get a sinking feeling when I hear those words spoken in that tone, because I can already predict virtually every turn of the battle of wills that's coming next.
Just pay attention, listen to me, trust that I know what I'm doing, and be my eyes, ears, and hands, OK? I know you're not a "computer expert", Mr/Mrs Entitlement Brat. That's why I'm here.
