Do I look incapable?
I realise that some clarification is needed here: I’ve already expressed sympathy for the individual telesales operator at the other end of the telephone, attempting to beguile me with their wares. I still maintain this position; it can’t be an easy job, and is one that is met mostly with resentment and intolerance.
I’m afraid that I just added to that. I feel guilt for directing my rage at the poor unfortunate ‘Kelly from Everest’, but she had just got me out of the bath.. I know, intellectually, that she is just trying to earn a living, and has the misfortune to have an unpleasant method of doing so, but at the same time I cannot conceal my rage with the *companies* that employ telesales drones.
I am an adult. I appear in the telephone listings because I have a telephone, and an address. I make the assumption here that it has been assumed that we *own* the house, as I would imagine that is pointless attempting to sell glazing products to a tenant.
Therefore, I am an adult who has managed to negotiate the complex and frustrating pathways towards home-ownership, making one of the most expensive decisions and purchases an average human can make.
What on EARTH makes these companies think that I am therefore incapable of seeking out goods and services on my own? That I need someone to telephone me in order that I will notice that I could have my windows glazed. Do they really expect me to suddenly have some kind of epiphany and realise that yes, right now is a fantastic opportunity to have my windows double-glazed, if only I’d realised it sooner, thank you Everest. Gah.
Only the other day, I was wishing that MS Windows XP came with a ‘no, I’m not an idiot, thanks’ button. One that would turn off all the annoying ‘tellytubby’ features and let me actually get some work done without being cossetted and protected from my own potential stupidity. I realise this is the problem when attempting mass-market software that caters to the lowest common denominator, but I can’t say I approve. No-one has an intrisic right to have access to a computer, and there used to be a fair degree of knowledge and skill required to interact with one. Way back then, you could get a sense of having achieved something, and a feeling of personal growth as you mastered the skill.
Now, in the age of mass stupidity and the dumbing down of almost everything in order to cater to all, knowledge is perceived as almost worthless, as you don’t need to know anything to get anything done any more. So, while access for all is an admirable goal in some ways, it also lowers the expectations that we have from our users.
It makes double-glazing sales people expect me to be too helpless to be able to hunt and gather required goods and services..