Someone else's Moccasins

I had an astonishing exchange with the person repairing my computer this week.

First, I asked why the email update I received said

Device has been restored, keyboard and trackpad do not appear to be functioning. May also be an intermittent issue with the display where it will go blank.

That doesn’t sound like restoration to me!

The repairperson assured me that the computer he’d just returned to me was indeed fully functioning, and that the comments about the keyboard and display were notes that I didn’t need to pay attention to. Further, he said that the extra wording was an unavoidable result of the way “the system” works:

We are unable to organise the order of the notes as it is something the system organises for us together to collate into a document for your final review.

I told him it was time to change systems! Then he made the most astonishing admission of all: that he’d never noticed this problem because he doesn’t use “the system” himself!

Does your software say stupid things like “Your computer is fully repaired but the keyboard doesn’t work”? Don’t say “no” too quickly—if your engineers aren’t using it and doing ride-alongs, you might have no way to know! (And how much would it cost you in lost business if it were, I wonder?)