At last – a technology breakdown fixed
Technology is wonderful – when it works! When it doesn’t … frustration abounds … such as last week with this blog.
Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road.
~ Stewart Brand
I certainly felt steamrolled when, with the wrong click of a button, the limitations of my web-hosting arrangements became crystal clear. It has been a week of communicating via chat and email, to technicians in another time-zone who were clearly not invested in customer satisfaction as much as I wanted them to be. The communication on that is not over. Happily, with the help of Mr Controleur, I am back online with a week of posts lost plus a week of posts not done!
Science and technology revolutionize our lives, but memory, tradition and myth frame our response.
~ Arthur Schlesinger (Historian)
I am clearly invested in a tradition of customer service (perhaps a myth?) that you resolve a problem until the customer is satisfied, in a timely manner. Instead I met with having one question answered every 24 hours.
Not happy.
I found out that various promises on backups were also not fulfilled.
Not happy.
Perhaps I need to reframe my response? Recalibrate my expectations?
I’ll say it one more time with feeling – not happy!
Technology… is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other.
~ Carrie Snow, comedian
Having made one mistake, I was unwilling to take too many more risks with the workings of the blog and website – behind the scenes. Beholden to a support system that has always been responsive to my queries, I was taken aback at the lack of attention on this issue.
We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.
~ Carl SaganTechnology is a useful servant but a dangerous master.
~ Christian Lous Lange, historian, teacher, political scientist
Have you had have similar stories of technology too? Or been presented with issues of customer service that have had to be resolved online or on the telephone line with someone in a call-centre? In situations where the service person seems not to understand your question – or not to answer it? Or that the service area does not talk to the billing area and you need to call another number or be transferred and get back in the queue and … the frustration builds. That’s progress isn’t it? Cost effective solutions that see the demise of jobs and old-fashioned, “mythical”, face-to-face customer service! Am I starting to sound like a cranky old dame?
Alternatively, I could get very “zen” about it. I read something today about being receptive and listening. “Listening means forgetting yourself completely – only then can you listen.” Listening requires a lot of generosity. My sense of the people I wanted to listen to me, is that they are incredibly busy. They were constantly apologising for delays and were very polite. But … their system ain’t working! I can only think it must be bad for business – theirs and mine!
The Linux philosophy is ‘Laugh in the face of danger.’ Oops. Wrong One. ‘Do it yourself.’ Yes, that’s it.
~ Linus Torvalds, software engineer
So yes, in the end you do it yourself. I am fortunate that Mr Controleur reads (and writes) computer code. SQL databases are his thing, although WordPress is new to him. He seems to have worked it out as signalled by a joyous woop that emanated from his man-cave earlier.
What can I learn from this? To laugh in the face of danger? Hmmm – read the fine print? Do your own backups? All of these things and probably get more expertise involved earlier aka Mr Controleur. He may have discovered the back up issue before it was needed.
Not sure I want to go into the background workings of it all. It’s not my area of strength or interest, and I think you are far better playing to your strengths! That brings me to the topic of my next post – playing to your strengths – due Wednesday.
I do apologise to you the reader – for the blog downtime and delay in communicating to you – as well as the posts that are missing. We are back on deck now and I will rewrite the posts as best I can in the days ahead.