Tech Rants of a Frustrated PC Tech: Technical Ability and Mindset

Tech Rants of a Frustrated PC Tech: Technical Ability, Common Sense and Mindset

A customer brings in and old computer they have been using for a few years and we start a conversation about whats wrong with it. But before they even say one word, I already know that they obviously got frustrated with it enough to figure out how to disconnect it, put it in their car, drive across town, hunt down a parking spot, and lug it into our shop. They know what it can do for them when it works, but now something between power-up and whatever they do with their computer doesn’t work properly anymore.

If you were to break that process down to a few simple steps, you could probably describe the problem well enough for an experienced PC Technician to read between the lines well enough to size up their particular computer problem. But this isn’t always the case.

What Amazes Me

I’m always very amazed when a customer can’t describe the symptoms of their computer problem very well and then admit they are computer illiterate, especially after using the computer for several years. Now I’m not saying that after using a computer for several years that you should have amassed enough knowledge to become a PC Technician, but how could anyone avoid learning a tid-bit here and there. Are computers actually making people “less” intelligent? What is the mindset behind all of this self-proclaimed computer illiteracy?

Cars vs Computers

To use an analogy, I’ve been driving cars for over 36 years and I’m not anywhere near to being a mechanic. But I did get a drivers license, I know how to wash it, check fluid levels, and how to change the windshield wiper blades. Anything more than that and I’ll take it to a shop, such as for routine oil changes, tune-ups and brake jobs, etc. I know I still need to budget money for my car on a regular basis above and beyond my monthly car payment. I also know my expected gas mileage and how my car sounds and performs, so I’m confident I would recognize if something were wrong.

While I probably won’t know exactly what’s wrong and how to fix it myself, I know enough that if I ignored the problem, that it will probably get worse and might even break down. As much as people hate paying for unexpected car repairs, they will somehow find a way to pay for the repair because they rely too much on their cars for transportation.

Customer Expectations

So why is it when someone’s computer fails, they want it back as fast as possible with everything in-tact, as if it were as important as their car, yet they didn’t treat it anywhere near as good, the way they treated their car? They never lifted a finger to learn how to maintain it or to pay someone else a meager fee to have it professionally maintained? They also want an explanation about what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening again. Whatever the answer, we’ll repair their computer, knowing we’ll see many of them back again within another year or so, because they will continue to ignore their preventive maintenance again. At some point, the problem may lead to a bad hard drive and they might even lose their data. And like most people, they have no backup.

Torn Between Teaching and Repairing

The truth is, I “would” prefer to teach people a bit about their computers and how to maintain them. But it’s not feasible to do this at the shop on a one-on-one walk-in basis, and certainly not without compensation in addition to the cost of the repair. But with the declining cost of mass-produced computers, many people have a hard time deciding if they will shell out even a $100 to repair it. Contrary to popular belief, our profit margin is fairly low and the computer shop business model doesn’t allow for much customer training, if any at all.

A car salesman said it best this way: “We sell cars, but we don’t teach you how to drive them.” Most computer shops are run with a small staff and couldn’t operate profitably if we spent even 30 minutes of time training customers, as if 30 minutes would even scratch the surface. But since time is short, if you want my quick answer to preventing most of your computer problems, I can tell you to keep it clean, keep it cool, and don’t go on the internet.

For most of my customers, its the same old story. Simply put, they won’t take care of their computers, and they need us to bail them out. It’s an all too common story, but it is mostly preventable, which is why I rant so much about it. I guess I should be thanking you for the business, but I tend to look at the whole scenario like this: Would you prefer if someone came up with a sure-fire method for preventing the flu once and for all, or would you prefer to worry about it if and when you got the flu, then trying one over-the-counter medicine after the next and hoping for the best? Hopefully you know my mindset now because I definitely prefer to teach prevention techniques over selling band aids, which is what this website is all about. Which do you prefer?

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Tags: Tech Rants