Aging Accomplishment

BEEEP!!!

….How may I assist you today?

“I have a question for you? Is there was any reason a phone could not be used in Canada. I know it will be in roaming and would charge but couldn’t it still be used there?”

I assured the person on the other end of the phone it could.. I told her yes and that we  even had a plan to make it cheaper if she wanted to use it there.  She was not interested in that info. She would suffer the price of the charges that wasn’t a problem. She said she had a phone and they were trying to connect and it wouldn’t connect to the network.

I told her I would have to actually look at the account to see what was preventing the phone from making a call.

She seemed a bit reluctant at first about telling me who she was and the info for me to get into the account.. I seen the famous name on the account and understood her bit of reluctance.

After a quick look at the account which was up to date and paid. It showed the line was active. I knew by deduction it had to be a phone setting. The phone had to be in the ‘in-network only’ setting.

I told her I could easily walk her through the settings and fix it..  She was very hesitant now. sighing heavily. “I don’t know if that will work”  She didn’t seem very keen on the prospect and then explained further.

 She had a person on the computer IMing her that was in Canada and could not figure out why her phone would not call out.

She then explained the person on the other end of the phone was an 80 year old woman. She was not very confident that I could give easy enough directions for her to pass on through an IM to the other person without adding to that person’s frustration.

It would be like the old game of telephone. I say one thing and it is passed to the next person who then interprets it and sends it on etc..
 
In this case the second party, between us, was the computer.

I had to give directions to her for her to pass on to an 80 year old woman on the other end of an IM.  She was already put off due to the woman on the other side of the computers abrupt and sometimes lashing words due to things not working right.

The woman on the other side of the computer basically had nothing but annoyance for the technology and the phone not working. She didn’t know how to make it work or even how to get into the settings. She was totally uneducated about cell phones.

I had to explain how to do it to a person, who would then translate what I was telling her. It had to be simple enough terms on how to go into multiple menus of the phone, into the settings, scrolling to find the right category and choose the right option to let her phone know it was okay for her to make roaming calls in Canada.   (There must be a inprov skit in here some where.) 

 I was certain I can get her phone fixed, despite the woman on the phones lack in belief that it would be a possible feat.  She seemed through most of the call sort of a combination of annoyed and amused at the same time.   It was as  if she couldn’t believe there was any chance we could do it, and even attempting it was reaching for us to consider it. To her she could see  no way we could explain to an 80 year old woman how to conquer her cell phone through IM’s on a computer. 

It was a challenge to me to make the steps short and simple enough to not have the older woman just give up in frustration as many would.  Older people SHOULD win the war with technology sometimes..

I got her in the menu but she got into the wrong place right off. Probably a fingernail slip with the small keys.  So she had to turn the phone off and back on. It was easier than trying to find and explain where the back button was.

  I just want to mention this woman also had a very small minute plan, the smallest we offer.  So it was very seldom that she even used her phone to make a call to start with. Total cell phone newbie.

 By this time I am realizing who this person on the other side of the computer was. A real icon. someone who as survived the test of time in the show business industry.

“Oh, I don’t think this is going to work she can’t do this. I don’t know why she wants to do this. Couldn’t she just  have someone else do this for her?” she said talking aloud to more to herself than to me.

“Sure we can do it.. It’s pretty easy.. I’ll walk her through it. We can do this..” The whole time the woman is just talking and thinking about a very old person vs ‘the machine’.

Let’s face it some old people get a bad rap.  Older people just like to think in a simpler fashion. After all technology is supposed to make life easier… right?

While we were waiting for her to reboot her phone I mentioned to the woman on the other end of the phone that this is an older  woman that is savvy enough to be IMing her her through a computer.. “She can do it”

I had been waiting for the proper moment to tactfully work into the conversation a question on if this woman on the other end of the computer was the actress herself.   I finally found the perfect time and way to ask. I immediately went back to the business at hand cause that really had no influence on the situation one way or another. if it was the actress/comedian of a famous duo.

I think of this woman as the strong spunky woman she has always portrays in her acting. I know I am looking at her as the character but when a person plays a certain type of character again and again that is such a strong individual with moxie, she would have to have a bit of that persona in her own self.

To me she seemed to be the type of person who would think:   I pay for this stupid phone every month and never use it and the one time I want to use it it doesn’t work. I’m going to make it work. And THEN I’m going to throw it out the window.

I was determined for her to get that chance. (of course hoping she would choose to use the phone a bit more rather than destroy it.)After all, then she will have conquered the technology beast and the victory would be hers.

“She’s never going to be able to do this.” The pessimistic person on the other side of my ear piece stated.  It just made me more determined. I could feel her tensing every time I told her the next step type her to take.. I kept it  simple with as descriptive wording as I could. We did it one step at a time. Keeping the instructions to good text message, one liner size.

The lady on the phone was just waiting for that wrong button push and then having to start all over again or to have to try to pacify an older person’s broken spirit if she did not succeed.

“I feel like I am talking to a 2 year old.” she half joked.  I  teased her that it was too bad she doesn’t have access to a 10 year old. I made mention of how kids take to technology quickly. She giggled in agreement of my statement. Phone re-boots can be alot of professional fill in chit-chat time these days.

I mentioned that my mom had trouble with all the cell phone technology too. So she knew she was not the only one who had to go through this. It gives people comfort to know they are not alone in the struggles in life.

“I don’t know why she didn’t just ask someone to do it for her. She has plenty of people there that can do those things. Jerry is right there too… Jerry could do it.”  She again spoke aloud more to herself than to me. She still seemed slightly amused, yet still slightly annoyed with the older woman.

I knew what was happening on the other side of that computer. There was  the determination of a lady with spunk and still full of life.  She WAS going to get this thing. She wanted to make it work without asking people with her to make it work for her. 

I gave her the one step at a time. Each time I was met with the same thing. “She’ll never get it” again her nearly defeated amused voice came.  I could almost see her shaking her head in the disbelief each time we made it to the step.

“If she gets this one, there is only one more step and she’ll have it made. I have my fingers crossed for you just in case.” I teased. I knew by clicking the wrong way she could end up back at square one again.. Patience was persevering.

She still had no faith in either of us; the determined lady on the other side of the computer or me.  ” How’s she doing? Is she there?”

“She’s there. I can’t believe it.. she IS doing it” I walked her through the last step. I explained how to highlight the last corrected setting.
“Okay.  She’s got it..”
“See we did it!” I exclaimed happily. “Now, tell her to turn the phone off and back on again and to try and make a call”

“She did it.. I can’t believe it” she still seemed very surprised. I could still almost see her shaking her head in disbelief.

 Now my tension mounted a bit. It is always the best part of the call when you actually get to the last step of troubleshooting something and get to see if you got the problem solved and everything is as it should be.

There is always that long dramatic pause while you are waiting for the phone to turn on again. Then when it is back on you have to wait again to see if the phone can make the call. 

The other phone in the ladies office rang and she said hold a moment.. “It’s her on the phone…”  Again, I could sense she was fearing the worst. Waiting for the verbal out lash at technology.. Suddenly she burst out laughing. The woman from the other side of the computer was happy as well as the lady I was talking with..

Obviously, conquering technology was a good feeling for her by the belly laughs I was hearing from my end of things. She came back on the phone still laughing hard. I asked if she got a call to go through. She told me she was calling her from that phone right now.

Still quite amused she laughed and told me “she said she is going to get rid of this phone when she gets back.” I could tell by her amusement she was joking when she said it. 

“Well, I hope not, we got it working for her now.” I knew they were both  teasing with me.

As I went to the close the call she still laughing half talking to both of us. she said “Thank-you for all your help and patience with us.” she ended the call and was gone. 

She knew calling from out of the country was time and money and she had a happy 80 year old women using her new conquered technology to talk to her.  There was celebration of  a battle won to be discussed… along with other things I am sure.

It was a good call.  I had resolved the customer’s issue and everything had a happy ending. I felt I had given a small gift of knowledge to an icon I had watched on and off and laughed with all my life.  There was a wonderment in a person that thought something couldn’t be done and a feeling a accomplishment for a person winning the battle with technology.

And best of all… in this case we all had the last laugh..