Pigheadedness

Just now, my friend called me and asked me about my opinion of the Panda Antivirus. She has finally bought the (crap) Laptop from her friend and her copy of Norton tells her that it has detected some virus/worm which it cannot delete. So, she me asked if the RM120 Panda can do the job.

So I told her, I got Panda last time from a so-called friend and it has problems with the serial number given to me. (Rather than help solve the problem, he proved to me that it was not his problem and has notified Panda Software.) So, it was a bad experience.

And after much (time wasting) discussion, she assumed I hated Pandan because of that bad experience. And I told her that I cannot reccommend something to her which I have not tried it yet, so I asked around and got a few not so nice answers in return.

Anyway, I pointed her to Grisoft which has the free edition of AVG, their antivirus software. And then she asked me if this software can remove the virus or not. If not, she would gladly pay the RM120 from the computer vendor located below her office. So I told her, since its free, why not give it a try and if it does not work out, then get Panda. And I have dealt with the vendor before and again, I did not have any good experience when it comes to returning goods. Then she countered me with saying that of course everyone who sells you stuff would be able to help since it is their responsibilities. And I told her, she assumed too much.

Then the next thing I knew, she bombarded me with questions such as:

"How long would it download?", if you're using dial-up, it would be about 20 minutes or so, I told her
"What! How can! I cannot waste time like this! I go to the office and work! I have no time for this and the time can be used to make money!"

WTF!

"I am computer illiterate and I prefer convenience!"

WTF!

Indirectly, this is where she is trying to fish me to go over to her and help solve all her computer related angst. Before I was married, this would not be a problem to me. But now, I cannot commit to such because from past experience, there is always a follow up and they would keep on calling even for the most tiniest bit of problem. So I told her, there are things one must do things by themselves.

"No, no! I told you I am illiterate! You are different! All day you work with computers and this is easy foe you"

WTF!

At this stage, I am already very pissed off (again), so I cooly told her to go try AVG first. And she kept on about having to go to her office and download, which she has no time for, etc. And there is no Internet in her house, etc.

And I hate to say this but I am now starting to side with her ex-husband on why he wanted to go ahead with the divorce. And if you're so adamant about your decision, do not waste other people's time asking about their opinions which differes from yours.

Yeah, she changed a lot. Maybe its because of her two children. Then again, maybe this is how she is.

Lazy Cable Contractors

I was quite pissed today because we're falling behind schedule. There are so many customers more to visit and I need to clear them in time for tomorrow's next PABX installation. Unfortunately, right smack in the afternoon, there was a call from an unscheduled customer stating that they are experiencing a system down. So, we had to stop with what we're doing and rush over (which is great for a 15 minutes response time).

But the one which really turn me into a monster was the customer (He who shall not be named) in Puchong. Last week, when we're installing the PABX (The Brand which shall not be named), the guy told us that Terrokom has cut their cables short when they temporarily connected the phones for them to use. So, its not a problem, I told him. Just get the cable guy to patch it and make it longer and we will return when its done. (Because the System is so cheap, we're not going to waste money and time for this)

Fast forward to this afternoon. When we arrived, the cable guys were there, sitting and waiting for us. They offered their cables to us and asks us to do the patching ourselves with the excuse that they're not experts. In any sense, a cable guy worth his salt would be able to neatly lay the cable from one point back to the system, and also observe the proper cabling protocols.

Because the customer was there, I decided its wise not to scold them. Unfortunately, the cables they gave us is too thick to be inserted into those connectors and we wasted quite a lot of them. In the end, we spent two hours for a half an hour job. This means the customer we missed today will be brought forward to tomorrow and so on. Cheh!