How does a technophile like me wind up in a blue-collar, redneck burg like Tacoma? You'd probably have to go east of the mountains to find a town as backward as the place I call home. One glance at the article commentaries on the News Tribune's website reveals a staunch contingent of regressive-minded malcontents whose "God, guns, and gays" agenda is woefully out of step with the majority of the rest of Americans. I used to bravely wade into the fray regularly during the presidential campaign, knowing I would never sway those who posted there, but hoping that at least some of what I wrote would serve as an antidote to their racist venom.
What brings this to my mind at this particular moment? Fertilizer, of all things. The Tacoma sewer department produces several varieties of specially treated potting soil and mulch, and since people rave about it, I wanted some for the garden I'm planning. So the other day, I called them. Got a recording that went on for so long that my attention wandered, and I missed hearing which key I was supposed to press to place an order. No problem, I thought -- I'll email them instead. That way, somebody can go down my list of questions one by one and respond with answers. When I get their reply, I can review all the questions, save the answers, and make my decision.
They did answer my email. Asking for my phone number so they could call me! Now, this makes no sense whatsoever. They could have used those same keystrokes to actually answer my questions. But, trying to be a good sport, I sent them back my phone number.
And didn't get a return call. *sigh* So this morning I called them first thing, and somebody actually answered! I explained that I had been trying to get some information via email, and the guy apologized, saying they're so busy with the phones that sometimes they don't get to their email. But -- this is backward! Here I was, taking up the guy's time on the phone, after both of us had already wasted our time trading email back and forth. I wouldn't even BE on the phone with him had he simply answered my question! How many other people call in there after having had no luck with their email?
So I read him my list of questions, straight from my message on-screen, and we have this nice little discussion about the different soils, and what they're good for, and yadayadayada. I'm not taking dictation, so 75% of everything he said is already forgotten. All I really needed was to know that for containers, potting soil is the right choice. It didn't have to take all that back-and-forth.
Likewise for the price, payment method, and my various other questions. Then I had to repeat my address twice for him. By this time I'm getting antsy. I'm not a phone person to begin with, and besides, I had other stuff to do. When my appointment was finally set, he thanked me for my patience "with the whole email process." At that, I couldn't help myself, and tried to politely point out that if he had spent 3 minutes replying to my email, versus the good 10 minutes we had just spent on the phone (not counting whatever time we'd already invested in email), perhaps they wouldn't get so backlogged. Plus, the nice thing about email is that, for routine questions, you can have a canned response already prepared, so you don't even have to type it out every time! Payment method? "We accept personal checks made payable to the City Treasurer. We do not accept credit or debit cards." Save that somewhere, paste it wherever someone asks about payment -- your job just got a ton easier! How does this NOT make sense?
I know another city employee who is actually younger than my father, but mentally still stuck in the 60's when it comes to modern technology. He has a computer that someone gave him, and he refuses to even unbox it. He is scared to program any phone numbers into his cordless phone. He didn't even HAVE a cordless phone until his brother gave him one for Christmas (he was probably getting tired of being put on hold every time the guy needed to get up to go to the kitchen or bathroom or wherever). He refuses to set up voice mail on his work cell phone. And, predictably, he tells me he deletes most of his work emails without ever reading them.
How much time and money does this guy cost the city, in terms of people having to try over and over again to reach him on his phone if for whatever reason he doesn't answer? I'd hate to guess.
I'm not sure if there's any correlation between technological and political progressiveness, but it wouldn't surprise me. A narrow mind is generally narrow in more than one way. People who are frightened by new technology are probably easily frightened by anything or anybody different from them. They cling to their comfort zones even when they know life could be so much easier with just a few changes in their routine, maybe learning something once in a while, opening their minds to new possibilities. Fortunately, that type of rigidity might be fading in the American experience. How exhilarating that our nation has finally resounded with a clear "Yes" to change -- now Tacoma, how about getting on the bandwagon?
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