On The Non-Evolution of Repairmen!

Well it’s still not back. My laptop that is. I’m sure that some of you will be sniggering and saying “AND?”, but really, I had hoped that just for once, a repair shop could get something fixed within the timeframe they set! Four weeks was their diagnosis when we left it in their care. Last week when we phoned to check on progress (it was due back Friday gone) they said they had decided it needed the hard disk replaced and were now waiting for parts. This will take another week. I’m so frustrated. This has to be the worst part of working from home – I’m sure corporations don’t have their employees sitting around for 5 weeks whilst equipment is repaired!

Why is it that most professions require deadlines to be adhered to? They are sacred. Miss one, and you probably wont be given another chance by the client. The repair service industry however seems to have a completely different work ethic. They don’t care about response times, customer care, or any of the other factors that the corporate world deems important. I can remember times from my youth when my mother would have to lose money taking time off work to await delivery of something, or the arrival of a repairman, and no-one arrived. When she phoned, she would be told it was being rescheduled for whatever reason. No apology, nothing. Despite huge advances in technology and communications over the intervening years, the repair industry doesn’t seemed to have evolved. If you’re lucky you might be able to pin the company down to a half-day, but that’s as close as it gets – and it’s not guaranteed! 

Never tell them you work from home! This is giving them license to come when they feel like it because you haven’t anything better to do anyway – you’re going to be there when they eventually turn up. They don’t care about your lapse of concentration as you jump up each time a vehicle drives down the street, or wonder whether or not it’s worth starting something if you are going to be distracted in a short while.

My computer ought to be home on Friday. I’m not holding my breath! It took three weeks to discover it needed a new hard disk – the diagnosis we made when we took it in – so who knows how long a part can take to arrive! Then they will need to find the time to actually fit it. Meanwhile, I’m still in temporary residence at Mikael’s desk – but hey he’s tidied it. I’ve now some space to put my papers whilst I work. I’m sure last week’s installment here at “Deadlines and Diapers” had something to do with it. The pen is obviously more powerful than the sword in our home! Pity the people fixing my computer weren’t similarly inspired! 

Incidentally, if anyone in the repair industry is reading this who doesn’t fall into the above stereotypes, I apologize for lumping you all together and I hope that you advertise your reliability in flashing neon signs all over your van because you are a rarity in today’s society!

Katie-Anne