It's the depths of a particularly frigid midwestern winter when this executive approaches an IT support tech complaining that there's something wrong with her smartphone, reports a pilot fish on the scene.
"This was not a bank-provided smartphone, but the tech went into the usual troubleshooting mode and started to ask questions," says fish. "The blanket complaint was that the screen on the phone didn't work.
"Upon further investigation, it turned out the issue was that her hands were still cold so she had her gloves on. These weren't the gloves with the pads designed to work with smartphone screens.
"The tech said her phone screen wouldn't work with her gloves, and he started to explain why, figuring users should know why what they're doing doesn't work.
"She cut him off and told him she had used her phone before with her gloves on.
"At this point, I could see the tech's quandary. Due to her position, it would not be a grand idea to push the issue and explain the technology behind the smart phone screen and how it was not possible for her to wear her gloves to work on the phone. And going into how ignorant she was would lead to an RGE -- a resume-generating event.
"Eventually she handed the phone over to the tech, who fiddled with it for a moment and returned it."
SPECIAL THIS-TIME-FOR-SURE NOTE FROM SHARKY: Sharky's move to Computerworld's new website is back on! It's now just five days away, and we're expecting everything to go...well, about the way you'd expect when moving thousands of Sharky's stories and tens of thousands of snarky comments: Some of those comments aren't going to make it to the ballpark for Opening Day.
Don't panic -- they'll get to the new site eventually. It'll just take a while.
But get ready to make all-new comments when the all-new Computerworld site rolls out on Tuesday, Aug. 26. And in the meantime...
Tell Sharky about your SGE -- story-generating event. Send me your true tale of IT life at sharky@computerworld.com. You'll snag a snazzy Shark shirt if I use it. Add your comments below, and read some great old tales in the Sharkives.
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