November 08, 2004
I meet the best people in my job...
Posted by Jess in
Geek Humor
In addition to consulting for Lotus Notes/Domino, I also am kept extremely busy in my residential computer consulting business. My time per week is usually spent 40% Lotus work, 40% residential, and the remaining 20% are all marketing and bookkeeping*.
One of the reasons I love my job is because I get to spend time meeting new people, and then finding out how they are on subsequent visits. I love being a part of these people's lives, and I myself am richer for knowing them.
Among the highlights:**
- During a lengthy check-disk operation, I commented to Karen about her Mini Cooper I saw in her driveway. More specifically, I asked how she liked it, as I was thinking of getting one. "The problem is," I had stated, "there aren't any dealers around here to test drive." Imagine my surprise when she hopped up, threw me the keys, and said "This is gonna take awhile, right?"***
- Phone call: One teary bride-to-be, two hours away from her wedding ceremony. The problem? Her wedding vows were conveniently typed in a Word document, yet inconveniently password protected. As she hadn't touched the document since the engagement, the password was equally as inconveniently forgotten. I recovered the password, which was '1 2 3 4 5'. How convenient.
- Upon talking to Mrs. Parker, who is about 86 years old and couldn't get online to play Bridge, I discovered she recently went to the doctor's office for her yearly appointment. Mrs. Parker was horrified that her doctor wanted to give her medications for her aches and pains. "I'm 86 years old! These kneecaps aren't new, you know. Are you telling me there's no wear and tear? They're supposed to be achy."
- I visited Joyce and had several return visits, the ‘Illegal Operation’ messages were not going away no matter what I did. Joyce had a home office, and was distraught as she could get no work done. Finally, in an act of desperation, I asked to observe Joyce as she worked for a few minutes. As the windows flashed and the documents were opened, printed, and then closed (before they were even finished opening), sure enough, the confused, disoriented and maltreated computer responded the only way it knew how – by popping up the Illegal Operation box and promptly fainting. The only advice to Joyce I had was to tell her to stop working so hard.
- And finally, Mrs. Shannon, the sweetest, kindest, most soft-spoken lady I’ve ever met, who preceded every single sentence with, "will there be a charge for this?" I sincerely wanted to say "No, not for you Mrs. Shannon, not ever." And if I didn't have to make a living doing this, I probably wouldn't have charged her.
* Bookkeeper. This is the only word in the English language that has three double-letters in a row. Don't say you never learned anything here. Or at least anything less useful than an average night of Jeopardy.
** All names have been changed. This IS Rhode Island.
*** Mini Cooper. Mmmmmmmmmm. Me want.
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Mini Coopers are hella cool, and I would love to be given one. I think the only way I'd own one would be through a random act of kindness from a very confused rich person.
Props to Mrs. Parker! Sheesh! Docs seem to be sooooo eager to peddle the meds.
I know... one day my goal is to own one myself. I've priced them online, and they are way more reasonable than I originally thought. But it's so hard when your car runs perfectly fine and is paid off. :-)
I have a mini Cooper on my lap right now, lol
The Libby shares your lust for the Mini Cooper.
I, on the other hand, well, there's the matter of the 2.5-year-old... so, um, SUV4me. Next car will be right about when I'm 40...so...hmmm.... something about a MLCM * would be just right.
*= Mid-Life Crisis Mobile (MLCM) -- a Porsche, BMW 6-series, Mercedes SL, etc. Preferrably red.
