* * * * *

                Wizards too, were scorned by those they served

I could only wonder at the though processes that lead to a customer leaving
over 6,500 messages in their incoming email account, and then complaining
about how long it took to list all the messages therein. I suppose they might
be surprised to find out they have that many messages.

“But I check my email everyday!” said a hypothetical customer in a
hypothetical conversation I'm making up on the spot. “Now you're telling me I
have 6,500 new messages⁈”

“No,” I said, “but you neglected to delete the messages off the server.”

“But I don't want to delete the messages! And what's this server you speak
of?”

“No, you misunderstand me—”

“But you said I have 6,500 new messages! Where did they come from?”

“They're not new messages—”

“So what are they then?”

“Messages you left on the ser—”

“AND WHAT'S THIS SERVER THING YOU KEEP TALKING ABOUT?” I can hear the
capitals clearly. “Are you talking about this ‘mail.example.net’ you had me
type into this obscure … thingy … in my … Lookout?” And yes, they inevitably
always use Microsoft Outlook in checking email.

A disconnect this big … how can one even begin to explain?

“Think of the server being your physical mailbox. You don't leave your mail
in your physical mailbox, do you?”

“No,” the customer said, sounding a bit suspicious.

“You remove it from the mailbox, right?”

“Yes … ”

“Well, you neglected to remove these 6,500 messages from your mailbox, so
that's why it's taking so long to list all the messages.”

But only if it were only email. It's even worse when people are this clueless
about their websites. Their commercial websites, that supposedly bring in
money (and I won't even mention a certain website reseller with a website
development process where “Byzantine” is an understatement and we're stuck
with debugging the sites). I can only assume these people are also the type
who don't care about their finances and just dump shoe boxes filled with
receipts on their accountant's desk, saying “Fix it.”

Sigh.


Email author at [email protected]