Safe Mode

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I meant to be writing about something else tonight, but thanks to my crappy computer I'm putting that off until I know what the hell is going on.

I am on what the Dell tech guy calls "Safe Mode" though I'm not sure what that it is. I guess it means nothing bad can happen now, like being safe at home in baseball.

I wish they had safe mode for relationships and careers. Oops, did I say something stupid? That's okay, I said it in safe mode. Screwed up that big assignment? No problem; I was in safe mode at the time.

Then again I've been playing it safe for most of my life and it hasn't done me much good.

All I know is that I have been on the phone with tech support so often and for so long that I'm thinking of running for mayor of Mumbai.

I know just about everybody over there and I think I'm developing an Indian accent. I've got a campaign promise, too. Vote for me and I promise I'll stop calling...as long as you fix my computer.

I still can't believe how long this has been going on. It's been over a month and they still don't know what the hell is wrong with this piece of junk.

I've had total strangers come to my house on two separate occasions, perform major surgery on the computer and pronounce it ready for action...only to have it crap out on me again.

The computer people are supposed to call me back tonight in under an hour--ha!--and they'll probably want me to back up all my files and reinstall Windows. I am considering jumping out of the window. I don't feel like backing up my files tonight. I'm not in the mode.

I've been ranting and shouting most of the evening, but, strangely enough, that hasn't helped any. I got up feeling okay for a Monday, but it seems the day went to hell inside of a few hours.

I found out I have to do a road trip for work tomorrow. I wasn't too happy about that, as it is an arduous trip to an exceedingly uninteresting place, but then at least I still have a job...please, God...

Then I learned that my expense voucher for my last road trip did not go through, so I had to call our company's help desk, which, like Dell tech support, is located in India. Maybe all my calls are going to the same place.

I hate to sound like a geezer, oh, hell, who am I kidding? I love it. But it's just that there was a time when you filled out your expenses without going on line or talking to someone on the other side of the earth.

You filled out a form with a pen and handed the form and your receipts to your boss and a short time later you got your money. Why must every single thing we do be done online or with tech support?

Then on the way home tonight, the R train went into safe mode, or more like slow mode, while the express trains were routed on to the local line.

I couldn't call tech support from the subway car, but if I did, I'm sure I would have been talking to India.

I don't mean to sound xenophobic or bigoted, especially in this age of Obama, and if I have offended anyone I sincerely apologize. But it just feels like we're going about things in a totally wrong way.

Companies are hiring people overseas because they can pay them less. That means they're screwing people on both sides of the equation. And now with jobs so scare over here--Citigroup announced plans to sack 53,000 people--this kind of greed is even more repulsive.

I tried explaining to the voice on the other end of the phone that I bought this computer to make my life easier, but all I'm getting is misery. I don't want to live in safe mode. I want to live my life and stop talking to disembodied voices.

I feel like every time I get a handle on things, when I think I'm ready to handle whatever life is going to throw at me, something goes wrong and I flip out.

I think it's because I'm so damn dependent on this computer and I'm so helpless when it bites the dust.

I've got the phone pressed to my ear right now with the crappy Muzak playing. The shift supervisor is supposed to talk to me.

I guess he'll apologize and promise it'll never happen again and we'll resolve the issue, you can be sure of that. And then, of course, it'll happen again.

Whatever happens tonight, my next computer is going to be a Mac. That seems like a much safer mode.

Comments

Anonymous said…
yeah, you really need a mac. in the meantime, hope your computer doesn't bite the dust too soon.
6:24 AM
Rob K said…
Thanks! I'm just waiting for the economy to turn a little before taking the plunge.
7:21 AM
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