parents + computers = me, ashamed

So, as the “computer” person in the fam, my dad often requests that I help him with his laptop (which I gave him 2 years ago), ’cause it won’t do what he wants. Usually, I spend the weekend archiving everything, wiping the drive, and re-installing Windows XP, then setting everything up again.

This time, I totally lost it on him. Admittedly, he doesn’t understand the nuances of how Microsoft and Google are actual competitor, and so how Google docs really will not work with Outlook (which I’ve told him NEVER to use…and the whole rabbit-hole of CRAP went on from there).

But: me, yelling, trying not to cry out of frustration – totally uncalled for. To those who work in tech support, I bow down, I couldn’t do it, seriously.

So, what do I do? I thought of getting him a Mac (hard to f-up), but he deals with PC-based clients. Maybe he needs an admin service? My lifesaver has been emptytray.com, but they’re focused on accounting and stuff like that. Would they take on someone like him?

I absolutely love my dad, he’s a great person to talk to about strategy and and clients and getting by in business. He just does NOT get the digital world…or organization/categorization, which is basically, what I do.

I bought him a whole bunch of the peanuts from the St. Lawrence Market that he really likes, as a peace offering. I wish I could include a person to manhandle his computer in with them. 🙂