Ballad of a WiFi Hero

Geek SquadGood morning friends! I’m getting a late start today because I’ve been working very hard on a technical project and I was up really late last night. But it should be a normal day here. I’m trying to be more organized. So there will somehow be five or so posts today.

Yesterday, Andrea sent me to the following video, “Ballad of a WiFi Hero.” It is based on a story by Mike Lacher. It portrays a simple IT procedure as a chivalric quest. But there are two sides of this. First, the truth is that when people have a technical problem they can’t solve, a tech really is like a knight in shining armor. This is why something like Geek Squad is so evil, because desperate people go to them and mostly get abused. Face it, Best Buy is there to sell them stuff, not to fix broken stuff. And their techs are idiots.

On the other side of things, technical work is usually trivial. Once and a while you come upon something that really is challenging. But mostly, people are really grateful for work that you do think is trivial. Of course, things change quite a lot when you are charging them. That’s where we get to Best Buy and Geek Squad. Since people don’t know what techs are doing, they focus on store fronts and uniforms. And their ignorance costs them. But sadly, it also costs us.

A common narrative goes like this. Customer goes to Geek Squad. Customer is charged $195 to be told that their system is destroyed and they need to buy a new computer. Customer comes to us. They plead poverty because they just wasted $195. We take pity because we are bleeding hearts. We only charge them $50 to fix their computer. The next time they have a computer problem, they go to Geek Squad. Wash, rinse, repeat. Why doesn’t someone just stab me in the eye?

This video is narrated by H Jon Benjamin, of Bob’s Burgers fame. Interestingly, Benjamin has a very strong chin while Bob does not. This video is very funny:

This entry was posted in Uncategorized by Frank Moraes. Bookmark the permalink.

About Frank Moraes

Frank Moraes is a freelance writer and editor online and in print. He is educated as a scientist with a PhD in Atmospheric Physics. He has worked in climate science, remote sensing, throughout the computer industry, and as a college physics instructor. Find out more at About Frank Moraes.

Leave a Reply