October 23, 2009

It's hi-tech time at our house.

The TV is working, our laptop computer is working and our notebook computer is working. What a beautiful life we are living.

But life wasn't always this smooth.

Today we (I) messed up the TV controls. I spent a half an hour on the phone with a technician who gingerly walked me through use of the remote control. I told him I was new at this thing so he had to be patient with me. But at the end everything worked.

With the laptop we had some problem a while back. I spent one and a half hour on the phone with an IT technician who was stationed somewhere in India. After we got through the language barrier things were going pretty smoothly. Granted, I didn't understand half the technical terminology he was using but we crossed that bridge, also.

The most fascinating thing was when he took over control and worked on my computer from India, like he was sitting here front of it. This kind of service was already done on my computer in the office when I worked. But that was on a network so it didn't surprise me when IT took over the controls.

Technology amazes me everyday. What is interesting is that you call a helpline and someone from Bombay answers, acts like he is next door and eventually fixes whatever needs fixing.

I tell you one thing, they are very polite. I found them more polite than if they were in this country.

This outsourcing goes into all kinds of funny territories. There is a foreign airline I used to fly with. In their directory they show an office in downtown Manhattan. They also have an 800 toll free number for service. I called them several times. When I called them the first time and I was talking to the young lady I assumed she was in New York. Well, it turned out they were in Liverpool, England and she was the "USA-New York desk".

This world of ours is getting smaller by leaps and bounds.