You know what just chaps my behind? Men who think women are incapable of doing anything that requires a little technical know-how. I’ll admit that I can’t hook up a DVD player to save my own life, but when it comes to computers, I’m just as able as most guys - and more than some.
A couple of years ago, I decided to upgrade my computer memory. I went to Best Buy and asked an associate for assistance in finding what I needed. He gave me the RAM, I thanked him, and then I headed toward the checkout line. He called out after me, “Do you need help installing it?” Did I ask him for help installing it? No. Yet he felt the need to ask me anyway. I just told him that I was fully capable of handling it myself.
Keep in mind that I had never installed RAM before; but I took lots of computer classes in college and had a pretty good understanding of how they worked. That night at about 11:00, I decided to tackle the job. The computer I had at the time was a nightmare to work with, because it was very difficult to reach the motherboard. I practically had to take the entire thing apart just to install the memory. I finally did it, though, and proceeded to put the computer back together. Fired it up, and it worked! The new memory was recognized, and I was moving along at lightning speed.
I was quite proud of myself - so much so that I wanted to call everyone I knew and tell them about my accomplishment. Unfortunately, it was the middle of the night and I knew that no one else would share my enthusiasm. So what did I do? I just signed online and told everyone I could find!
May 4th, 2008 at 12:00 am
LOL. You go, Tish! If I get to that point, I’m calling YOU for tech advice!
May 4th, 2008 at 10:59 am
I am completely at a loss when it comes to computers. I manage to get things done, but it’s all trial and error and by the time I accomplish something I have no idea how I did it since I’ve tried so many different things. Now I know who I’m coming to with all my computer problems
May 4th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Maybe he was just trying to make a sale. They get paid to have you haul in your computer to work on it.
I have a masters in IT and have been working on computers since commodore 64 but now if I’m having trouble, I take it in. I’d rather spend my money than my time or patience.
(Of course this does not apply to RAM or other really easy stuff, just problems.)
May 5th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Good for you, Tish. And to be fair, that salesman’s definitely looking to gain a bigger commission. If you were a guy, he’d still ask you if you needed help. I’ve had the same thing happen. (Unless he thought I was a girl… uh oh…)
And uh, did you seriously just say “what chaps my behind”?!? Oh, you southerners and your wonky expressions.
May 9th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Me too. Bloke with no fear of mechanical things. They asked me that too.
Nothing to do with their perception of you as a woman, far more to do with ‘value-added service’.
I used to get my computer pro brother to fix mine whenever it died, for which read ‘whenever I screwed it up’. But he got wise to it and moved to a job six hour’s travel away.
So, when phone discussions failed to help, I decided to take a deep breath and build a new computer, went out, bought case, power supply, motherboard, processor, heat sinks, fan, ram, video card, hard drive, dvd…..
Took be back to being a kid and following instructions on making a balsa-wood plane (it crashed on its first flight), When I powered the new pile of bits up… and it beeped. and showed the setup screen, and started to load windows… I was as proud of myself as could be. Rang my bro all excited to tell him…”well done, he says.. I built six today for the office.”
Foof! all the wind out of my sails in one blow.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
You rule! I can’t stand when men assume stuff like that. I do tech support, in a male dominated industry, and I’m always getting the, “can I talk to the tech” and I have to say, “that’s me.” They never hide their surprise. Sigh…