Wednesday 4 June 2014

In praise of women who can mend computers

Last week my computer went on strike. I've got a Macbook Pro - and the screen had stuck a few times but if I ignored it for a while it got the message and got going again.

This time it was more than stuck. Everything disappeared except the little arrow. I pressed all the keys (stupid, I know) and then abandoned it. Several hours later I went back and persuaded it to turn off. We both slept.

I woke up - and the computer didn't. The fan turned on, and the whirly thing swam around the screen for a while. Then, with a bit of persuading, it turned off. I walked up and down, and bit my nails, listed all those things I've been meaning to back up for ages but somehow never got round to (updated pages for the website, my accounts, poems I've written for my grandchildren ...)

I could, I thought, take it to the Mac-mending shop. Without wishing to be too stereotypical here, I began to imagine what might happen. Two geeky boys (pretending to be men, barely old enough to shave) would look very grave and say it would have to be sent away and need new whatnots and thingamies and would cost megapounds.

I began with a plan B: I rang my neighbour and asked the name of her computer-whizzy person. In less than an hour she was here, resting elegant fingers on my machine. I offered tea (I had no cake). She pressed this, that and the other - and then waited. She restarted the machine ... and there it was, my homepage. Documents ready and undamaged.

No, she said, she didn't need money - she'd not been here for five minutes.

But I must pay you, I said, coming to my rescue so quickly.

(I won.)

So, without getting too embroiled in gender, I can't help wondering if women working in a computer-mending shop would do the chin-stroking, this-is-serious thing; or if a man would dream of admitting that my machine was suffering nothing worse than a need for a reset and try to charge me nothing?

18 comments:

  1. I am blessed to have one of the computer minded females in my family. She is a wizard! How wonderful that your Mac was so easily fixed, Jo. Mine is in need of some wizardry too, but I fear it needs a heart transplant. As laptops go, it's very old (six years) but my even older iMac (vintage 2001) is still working, so I am confident this one will last too as long as my daughter doesn't lose her magic!

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    1. PS: loved this sentence: "Two geeky boys (pretending to be men, barely old enough to shave) would look very grave and say it would have to be sent away and need new whatnots and thingamies and would cost megapounds"…beautiful!!

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    2. Thank you, Val - Macs are totally wonderful (except when they go wrong - if you weren't so far away I'd lend you my mending-woman!)

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  2. I hate it when the computer fails or it refuses to do what I tell it or doesn't do it fast enough. How lovely a women fixed it for you,and you may be right about those men.

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    1. She was so kind, and didn't treat me as a complete dimwit for not knowing how to reset the wretched thing!

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  3. I am trembling in sympathy. I have nightmares about this happening. I have backed up everything 4 fold. I used to be one of the IT types myself but the teeth marks in the desk and the smashed windows as I hurled yet another machine through it (without opening it) indicated it was time for me to leave it to others. My lovely sister who is a real expert is arriving form the US today, deep joy, she will advise on any lurking nasties, and not charge a penny.
    Glad you are mended and it was a woman. x

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    1. You lucky woman - having a mending sister!!!!

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  4. I had a similar problem a while ago, and although it is fixed now I still live in fear that it will happen again. Basically I hate computers, and I sometimes wonder if they know this and act accordingly!

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    1. Someone once suggested you think of them as an adolescent with a behaviour problem - somehow that helps you feel more patient with them!!

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  5. As I started to read this, I was quite anxious for you but what a great outcome! I have had the blue screen of death visit my computers a couple of times - that is not fun at all. So glad the lovely lady could help you, and so quickly too.

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    1. Oh no - the blue screen of death - I know just how that feels! Do hope your computers behave better from now on.

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  6. Oh dear me, this makes me feel I absolutely must back up everything right away! I am glad the end result was unequivocally good!

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    1. Oh that backing up - how we know we should, and then something boils on the stove and it's forgotten, again!!

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  7. You wrote a thoroughly delightful piece over what must have been a real pain in the patootie experience. I DREAD the thought of anything happening to any of my computers. (At least my hubby is one of the whizbang kinda guys who knows his way around computers, inside and out.) I'm glad your tale of woe had a tail-wagging ending to it.

    You posed an interesting question. I like men, I really do, but in a lot of cases, I'd much rather deal with a woman. For example, my female doctor has NEVER spoken down to me... AND she listens to what I have to say... with respect! I can't say that I've ever had the same experience with any male doctors.

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    1. My GP is a woman - and I feel we're 'in it together'. But, in defence of men, my dentist is a man and gentle, with a lovely sense of humour - and he understands my travelling, so always sorts me before I go.

      Normally I take flight from stereotypes, but this one was too obvious not to have a play with it!

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  8. Now you've got me worrying. I thought when I bought my MacBook Air I would say 'goodbye' to blue screens etc. Aren't they supposed to be totally reliable? And while I'm asking, do you have a virus checker on your Mac? We were told at the Apple shop (by a geeky young whipper snapper) that we didn't need one.

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    1. In reverse order - no, I don't have a virus checker, and have never had a problem (though I'm careful not to open odd attachments). And my Mac is old, and well used - sometimes I ask it to do too much at once. But now it's been reset it's like a new young thing, and does everything I ask of it. Macs are wonderful, Ros!

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  9. You see? That's why i don't own a Mac. Joking aside, it must have been a relief when you got your stuff back.

    Thanks for your post.

    Greetings from London.

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