[BLOG] "You never call anymore..."
bjbroderick
Clinton Township, MI
"I remember when you were younger, you didn't know anything. I was your mentor. Now look at you. Just a hot mess."
You see folks, thats what happens when you release your elders into a technological awakening.
It all starts innocently enough. You're with your mother in law at a local big box store. She is there to buy a new digital camera and asked your wife if she would bring you along. You go, because you like being married, and she's not too bad as far as mothers in law go. You help her get something good for her, while still getting a decent point and shoot. Money is not a biggie here, which also helps.
Then she hits you with this.
"Where are the portable CD players?"
This was three years ago. Not thirteen, three. I couldn't sit idly by and let her do such a thing. I sprung into action on pure reflex. I started laughing.
I'm still married, just so you know. And I know that I am changing tense here, but I'm an emotional writer who is also lazy and I don't want to re-write this. You should have figured out this is a real story that happened to me by now, you read Icrontic!
So we went to look at iPods. She''s at the age where Apple is the way to go. She picks up an 80 gig classic. And thats where it started.
Now She and her husband have had tech in their house before. It's not like they were living in the dark ages, but they had a computer that had more viruses than Lindsy Lohan. It didn't work. They were afraid to put their pictures on it, and had no idea they could put their 700 or so carefully annotated CDs on it. Yeah, starting from the ground up here.
So I burned them some stuff from my Mac from their CDs and they were in love. Both of them. Crazy. But any gadget lover knows, it's only the beginning. After their vacation, they want a computer that they can put their music and photos from Alaska on. They start asking me about my Mac, and I felt like it was a good fit for them. So we go pick up an iMac to replace the 5 year old p2 relic in their office. And they loved it. My father in law was more into it than she was, but he's retired, and had more time to put into learning to use a new operating system. Which he did. After two weeks and about 20 phone calls and 3 visits or so, he was set.
Ah, but now she wants in too! Hmmm, do I smell jealousy in the air? Who knows. She orders a Mac Book Pro and a Time Capsule for the wifi. And that's where it went wrong. Not that she made a bad purchase, but she didn't call me first. It was like the baby bird flying out of the nest for the first time. They fly back though. Did some tech support, but very light, as she picked it up easily. All was well, for a while anyway.
It was time for new cell phones. And they were going it alone, as I found out when I saw my father in laws new phone, a Sprint Hero. Not bad for him. This was a man who wouldn't turn his phone on for days, but loves the net. It was cheap. Good on ya.
And she says she got sold on an Evo. Again, not bad. At least for the wifi hotspot. Except one small thing. No one will have Evos for nearly 2 months. I figured that one or two might trickle in through the website, but no such luck.
So a week later it's off to the Sprint store, without a consult from your humble narrator. And she comes back with........
A Samsung Moment. Ugh.
This is where a quick call to me would have done wonders. She knows I know about these things. No one should go in expecting an Evo and come out with a Moment. Thats just wrong.
My mother in law is two things that make her a great shopping companion. She likes the best and will pay for it. She is also the best manipulator of customer service. Her motto is "It's not a vacation unless I get something for free". If there is ever someone to up-sell, it's her. And she got downgraded.
So now she has to learn the hard way, as she tries to get an Epic to replace the craptastic moment. I'm not even going to capitalize it, it's so bad. For Sprint's sake, I hope they give her what she wants. For my enjoyment, I hope they give her a little grief. That's when the real entertainment starts. But hey, she called!
You see folks, thats what happens when you release your elders into a technological awakening.
It all starts innocently enough. You're with your mother in law at a local big box store. She is there to buy a new digital camera and asked your wife if she would bring you along. You go, because you like being married, and she's not too bad as far as mothers in law go. You help her get something good for her, while still getting a decent point and shoot. Money is not a biggie here, which also helps.
Then she hits you with this.
"Where are the portable CD players?"
This was three years ago. Not thirteen, three. I couldn't sit idly by and let her do such a thing. I sprung into action on pure reflex. I started laughing.
I'm still married, just so you know. And I know that I am changing tense here, but I'm an emotional writer who is also lazy and I don't want to re-write this. You should have figured out this is a real story that happened to me by now, you read Icrontic!
So we went to look at iPods. She''s at the age where Apple is the way to go. She picks up an 80 gig classic. And thats where it started.
Now She and her husband have had tech in their house before. It's not like they were living in the dark ages, but they had a computer that had more viruses than Lindsy Lohan. It didn't work. They were afraid to put their pictures on it, and had no idea they could put their 700 or so carefully annotated CDs on it. Yeah, starting from the ground up here.
So I burned them some stuff from my Mac from their CDs and they were in love. Both of them. Crazy. But any gadget lover knows, it's only the beginning. After their vacation, they want a computer that they can put their music and photos from Alaska on. They start asking me about my Mac, and I felt like it was a good fit for them. So we go pick up an iMac to replace the 5 year old p2 relic in their office. And they loved it. My father in law was more into it than she was, but he's retired, and had more time to put into learning to use a new operating system. Which he did. After two weeks and about 20 phone calls and 3 visits or so, he was set.
Ah, but now she wants in too! Hmmm, do I smell jealousy in the air? Who knows. She orders a Mac Book Pro and a Time Capsule for the wifi. And that's where it went wrong. Not that she made a bad purchase, but she didn't call me first. It was like the baby bird flying out of the nest for the first time. They fly back though. Did some tech support, but very light, as she picked it up easily. All was well, for a while anyway.
It was time for new cell phones. And they were going it alone, as I found out when I saw my father in laws new phone, a Sprint Hero. Not bad for him. This was a man who wouldn't turn his phone on for days, but loves the net. It was cheap. Good on ya.
And she says she got sold on an Evo. Again, not bad. At least for the wifi hotspot. Except one small thing. No one will have Evos for nearly 2 months. I figured that one or two might trickle in through the website, but no such luck.
So a week later it's off to the Sprint store, without a consult from your humble narrator. And she comes back with........
A Samsung Moment. Ugh.
This is where a quick call to me would have done wonders. She knows I know about these things. No one should go in expecting an Evo and come out with a Moment. Thats just wrong.
My mother in law is two things that make her a great shopping companion. She likes the best and will pay for it. She is also the best manipulator of customer service. Her motto is "It's not a vacation unless I get something for free". If there is ever someone to up-sell, it's her. And she got downgraded.
So now she has to learn the hard way, as she tries to get an Epic to replace the craptastic moment. I'm not even going to capitalize it, it's so bad. For Sprint's sake, I hope they give her what she wants. For my enjoyment, I hope they give her a little grief. That's when the real entertainment starts. But hey, she called!
0
Comments