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No, Dad, it’s the triangle button
By Paul Venezia | March 2, 2007, 7:08 pm
Sometimes, I seriously think I’m adopted. In order to help my otherwise extremely intelligent father navigate the godforsaken waters of TV/DVD control, I got him a Logitech Harmony 550 remote to go with his new Samsung LCD HDTV and DVD player. It took him three years to master the TiVo remote, but I figured that since he only really needs to hit two buttons on this remote to do nearly everything, it would be a cakewalk.
Not so.
One failing of the Harmony remotes is that they have to rule the roost — if you go doing stupid things like turning the TV on and off with another remote, or by hand, it’ll get the Harmony all fucked up. Also, putting the remote down right after selecting the activity — and thus impeding its’ ability to send signals to the A/V gear — will generally result in the remote thinking that everything’s all set, when in fact, the A/V system is in chaos. If you’re my dad, this means that the End is Nigh, I Don’t Know What Happened, and the Damn Thing Just Stopped Working. Our discussion tonight revolved around the proper methods of playing a DVD.
Of course, when he needed a new computer, I made sure it was an iMac. For a guy who actively dislikes technology, he loves the thing. He’s even figured out Apple Mail, Safari, AIM, iChat Video chats, and more. I’ve received exactly one call about the iMac, and that was to locate the elusive power button. The TV? I’ve lost count. Someone with patience supreme should set up a callcenter full of “sons and daughters” to help out technology-challenged parents, sending the bills to the offspring.
It would be a simple process: Fill out some forms, do a quick voice recording, note the idiosyncracies that both you and your parents have, details about house, car, pets, etc, and any smalltalk can be taken care of by the agent between reboots. It would have to be a full-range thing though — from DVD players and computers to microwaves and the icemaker. Maybe there’d even be a plumbing escalation queue. So many opportunites, such little time.
Topics: Customer Support |
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