Re: Patronizing - and it was RE: Out of Work Tech Writers

[Sandy Harris <pashley -at- storm -dot- ca>]

Dave Murray wrote:

> Sometimes I catch myself being patronizing when I'm explaining something.  I
> think part of it comes from my desire to be helpful.  Some of it may also
> come from my previous career selling auto-parts.  Customers would call and
> ask for a "thing" or "whatdoyacallit" and I'd have to pull up a diagram and
> ask them to describe what the "thing" they wanted looked like over the
> phone.

This reminds me of a conversation I had when selling computer parts. The
store was in Ottawa and the caller was a purchaser for some Canadian gov't
dep't. What she needed was a SCSI cable. There are many different types of
those, and the whole conversation got complex and frustrating.

It got absurd when I asked if she needed male or female connectors. She
thought this was offensive, and tried to lecture me about how I should
be more sensitive. I told her not to be silly, the terms were utterly
standard and had been for years, and I thought they were a good clear
description.

She then demanded to speak to the manager, who made placating noises
at her while rolling his eyes at me.


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