Random Fusion

Sitting here at work, a few disk scans, virus scans and adware scans going on around me, I came to an important conclusion (with a little help from a calm, but very upset customer). All the well made parts, superior quality hard drives and warrentied RAM we sell, dont matter much to a hill of beans when customer support and service dont meet standards.

A woman brought her machine to us more then a month ago, with a fairly simple seeming problem, being that the CDROM was going missing. When she would boot up her computer it would be gone. So she brought it to us.

Now it didnt sit on a bench unaware for half of july and most of August without getting looked at. It got worked on. It got tested. Parts got replaced and re-replaced and yet it was still giving the occasional error. So the very nice lady would get a phone call from us and hear us say "we are still working on it, nothing yet". So when I called her early last week to tell her it was ready for pick up, she was a little tired of waiting. However... the following monday, I had to call her and tell her that it wasnt ready, to which she was mad. She wanted her computer back and working. It was a new machine and it had spent more time in the shop then in her home. Which would have anyone yelling.

To her credit, the nice lady did not yell and scream, but she did make her displeasure known to me. So I told my boss and put an offer for free work and testing inside a year at any time. I told her this, but what she wanted to hear was that the machine would be working when she got it back and it would continue to do so for a long time.

To which we get to my point (in a odd way). The person who brings in their machine, doesnt want to hear excuses for the hardware failure or reasons. They just want their machine to work. Period. End of Story. The very expensive computer they just bought, should work for a long time, give them no trouble and be happy. For those of us that work with computers on a regular basis, we know this isnt the case. Computers OFTEN break down, stop working or give you trouble. More so then cars. But you cant tell someone thats buying a new computer that it will break down soon, they dont want to hear that.

What the customer needs to hear is, "If you need help, call us." End of story. If they call, the customer has to be treated like they are the only customer you have. If they dont feel that way then you are doing something wrong. Now, in reality this cant happen all the time. You get busy, you get tired and sometimes the nature of the customer wont allow it (by this I mean a customer who is irrationally demanding something, acting irational or overly abusive or angry) and the level of customer support slips. Every customer I talk to, I try and make them understand that I really do care about them (I do, I want to make sure they are happy). I want to help them understand the trouble they are having, understand why it will cost them something to get it fixed (they dont have to be happy about it, just understand it) and lastly I want to help them feel comfortable about the service they got from us and from me personally.

They should want to tell people about us and about me. They should walk out the door of the store, going, "Wow, that was great service, I really liked that young man". If they dont, then I really wasnt doing their job. Period.

I hope that the lady who was her, and who got her machine from me just a little while ago, doesnt have any trouble. I hope she takes the machine home and that it works flawlessly. I hope she is happy when she boots it up and it works. And I know I'll be thinking about it tonight as I go home.

Posted by Random Fusion at 5:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This week was a tough one folks, a tough one indeed. As you may have read over in Kaylin's LiveJournal, the cats have been using our heads for trampolines at 5am every day this week and it was making it tough for me to get all the sleep I really needed. Getting up at 5am when you dont have to get up until 730am is really annoying.

Since I was already up that early, I decided to head into work early this week and get extra work done, or at least that was the plan I had. One of the other service techs was on holidays this past week and due to that there was only two of us working on computers, Jeff and myself. This meant that we had to work twice as fast to keep up the level of service we had going last week and the week before and for some reason, every other joe blow brough their machine in to be worked on. There were a few really tough computers and a few really easy computers. One of which was a computer that wouldnt post, the computer just wouldnt boot up. So we open it up, and the computer doesnt have its hard drives plugged in. Thats it, it took twenty minutes to work on and it was super easy. One of the hardest was a machine that came in on Thursday morning to have a modem replaced. That one wouldnt even boot up for me. The guy who brought said that only trouble with it was the modem not working and that was it.Yet, I couldnt even get the thing to boot up.

It rained all week and that made for things to be a little dreary, but a few really good thunderstorms at the beginning of the week made things alright.

The sun is shining today and its supposed to rain tonight, so I think I may go out for a walk now while its still nice outside.

Posted by Random Fusion at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yes you have seen this one before.

Yup, its back for a while.

Nope, it doesnt all work yet. But it will.

Come back for more.

Posted by Random Fusion at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As you can see there has been a change.

Yup, new layout time. Felt I needed it.

Take a look around, only the about page needs work. This is a temp look until I can finally nail something down that will be good for me for the next while.

Enjoy.

Posted by Random Fusion at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well the work week is over for me now, finally, and I can look forward to a little rest and relaxation. So, I have been working at the new job for a little less then a month now and I have already begun to show up early, work late and come in on Saturday's. Hopefully I will get bitter and angry about it and not want to be there when I dont have to be, because at this point, I like being there. Kinda.

The week got better after Monday and I did get a bit of work done, no where near as much as I would have liked, but, I got some done.

The tech who was showing me how do things for the last couple of weeks goes on holidays this coming Monday and I have to do my best to remember what he taught me before going to my boss or the other tech.

The web site WILL change its look in a little while, not that I think it really needs a change but that it could have a better layout and that the archives page isnt quite right. So I may change it over to the new default for MT and then go from there.

Posted by Random Fusion at 6:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was one of those days where I wished I had stayed in bed. You know those days. The kind of day where you havent been at work for a hour yet and you already wonder if you can swing going for lunch for two hours.

On Friday I called a customer and told her that the computer she had brough in was ready to go and that she could come get it Monday morning. Well, as I am wrapping it up, another technician comes over, looks inside and says "oh, the capacitors there are busted".

Damn.

Ok, so they need to be replaced. At this point I couldnt call the customer as the very nice lady had already gone home for the day. So, my boss would redo the capacitors on Monday morning before the lady came in and it would still be ready to go. Monday morning comes around and it looks like its ready to go. I go looking for the paper work for it and the pink sheet that goes with it is gone. Damn. When one of the guys who works with me goes to help me reprint the paperwork, we see that I didnt put the powersupply we replaced on the invoice. Damn. That means the powersupply I stuck in there needs to go through product picking internally. Meanwhile, the nice lady has shown up and is waiting for her computer.

She had to wait for 20 minutes, I felt like an idiot and I made a nice big mistake. And to top it all off, after she was gone, I found out that I hadnt charged her for labour.

Sigh. It was SUCH a monday.

Posted by Random Fusion at 11:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I know that the site has been lacking in any sort of real meat in the last little while (well the last month to be more specific). So I thought I would sit down and write some shit for you to read.

The Fringe
I know I wrote a little bit about it earlier, but I really didnt write that much about what went on. This year was the first time for me that the Fringe seem to be a job rather then a vacation. I went into it with all the hope that I normally do and fully expected it to be as it had been in years past, which is to say a whole lot of fun that ends too soon, but it didnt really work out that way. Now, before it begins to appear that I didnt enjoy myself, let me say that I did have another great time. I always have a great time, but this year wasnt as good a time as it had been in years past. Most of this feeling can probably be attributed to the fact that two people who have been in my venue for last two years previous, were not with me this year. Chris Gibbs, a very very funny man, was in a Bring Your Own Venue this year and Erik De Waal was unable to get into the Winnipeg Fringe this year. Both of these guys are a pleasure to work with and to hang out with and not having them in my venue this year made it a little less fun then it had been for the last two years.

Note: This does not mean that that I disliked any of the people who I was a tech for, but rather that I missed my friends from past years.

I met several new groups this year, including Shawna and Lorri who were a pleasure to work with and who always made me laugh. I also finally met Jason Neufeld (I know I spelt that last name wrong for sure, sorry) a local writer and future famous playwright. Jason has had three consecutive hits and is on his way to becoming a Fringe favourite in this city. This year Jason wrote, directed and starred in a show called "Kentucky Waterfall" a show about cynics, love and mullets. Jason's girlfriend Alix also had a show in my venue called America vs Canada, an autobiographical show about her life for the last three years. Lastly, was a group of young actors who, while lacking professional polish, had more then enough gusto. This last group, called Banana Peel Productions, was a threesome of first year university students who had decided to write and put on a Fringe show, which they did. They were rowdy, unprofessional, and lacking in stage experience, BUT they were full of joy about doing a show in the Fringe and had fun doing it, which in the end matters most your first time around.

This year was probably the first year where I felt most at ease around my fellow theatre techs, something that hasnt always been the case. I have, since I started working in theatre, always been plauged by a lack of confidence in my skills and this has always made me uneasy around the people I work with. Most of the people I work with, like me for reasons other then my ability to focus a light, but it still worries me. This year, however, I felt comfortable around those folks I sometimes do not feel comfortable around. I spent quite a bit of time talking with John Bent Jr. as well as Dean and Paul and it seemed to make some of the long times between shows easier to endure.

The New Job
Finally after years of looking and waiting and trying, I finally got myself a job in the computer industry. I have been trying to find work in the IT field since 2000 and have had no luck. For four years I have done a handful of jobs that were ment to put food on the table while I looked for "that job". You know, the wonderful job that pays a ton of money and is fun to go to? Well, I still havent found "that job" but I found the job next to "that job". I now work as hardware tech in the service area of a large local reseller. My job is 90% repairs and servicing. I replace hard drives and burnt out power supplies. I check motherboards for bad capacitors and I clean out 3 years of dust and grime from the inside of your computer. The job pays more then the Bay did and is a much more relaxed atmosphere. There are two other regular technicians other then myself and so far, they seem to be nice people, but two weeks isnt a lot of time to get to know someone. My boss is very nice, and very forgetful, so somtimes he comes and tells me things two or three times, which helps me remember. The only downside to the new job is that on bad days, days when I cant seem to be able to fix anything at all, I dont want to touch my own computer when I get home. When I cant seem to find the right solution or the third part I ordered still doesnt solve my problem, my own computer gets ignored with a passion. ((Adam, I now FULLY understand why you just got a home computer))

That pretty much fills you in on the last month of my life. So, be content. I will try and write more as the next few weeks go on. And expect a layout change in the next month or two, its about time for me to change it again.

Posted by Random Fusion at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Always keep your computer clean.

Always make sure your computer is well ventilated.

Always have a way of backing up your data.

Dont use AOL it sucks ass.

Find a good anti-virus program and a good adware program, and use them often.

Watch where you surf.

Posted by Random Fusion at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Has come and gone and while I thought I might get the chance to talk about the shows as they were actually going on, well, I just didnt find the time.

Almost all the shows in the venue this year were good, usually there is always one show either I or my venue partner hate doing and that we dread when the time for that show comes along. This year that really wasnt the case, true we had some shows we liked doing over others, but overall, we didnt (or at least I didnt) have one show that we hated. As usuall we broke the shows in half and chose certain shows to do. My shows were:

If Ugly Was a Colour
Fringe Show: A Love Story
America VS Canada
Lesbian National Parks and Services Wants You
Beard

Obviously the one I enjoyed doing the most was Fringe Show: A Love Story as it was done by the guys from Monster Theatre. This was the third year in a row that I had worked with these guys and it was a pleasure doing so. Their shows have proven to be very funny in past years and this time around it was no different. Fringe Show: A Love Story is a look at the behind the scenes happenings at fringe festivals across Canada while following the hero through his quest for love. Ryan and Bruce crack me up and always make it a great time working with them.

Here is their web page: Monster Theatre

Posted by Random Fusion at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)