Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Apr 3, 2007, at 8:54 AM, EarthNSky wrote:

> I thought I would relay this here as I am sure you can all relate.   
> This
> is copied and pasted from a chat window, a conversation I had last  
> night
> with McAfee customer service.  I have edited out my last name and  
> phone
> number, but otherwise the conversation stands as written.  I am about
> ready to scream.

Who among us cannot empathize with your frustration? We've all played  
some version of this modern game. What may be even more frustrating  
is when you cannot even get to a human being, only an ongoing phone  
menu, one that eventually directs you to a web page that supposedly  
answers all questions. Sure. A few weeks ago I attempted to resolve a  
rebate procedure that failed to produce the promised rebate and after  
playing the press-the-button game for what seemed forever, finally  
was able to press a button that would put me into the queue for "the  
next available service representative." I was on hold for nearly  
twenty minutes listening to the same message again and again about  
how I would soon be connected to a representative, blah, blah, blah.  
Then the line went dead.

Computers and the Internet are wonderful tools giving us incredible  
power and access to the world. As we become more dependent upon them,  
the tools begin to own us. For me it is a balance between good and  
bad. So far the good outweighs the bad.

I told Chris that for the first year after I get back to Heartwood I  
was again going to abstain from radio, television and reading any  
news. She asked how I was going to avoid news when I get onto the  
browser each morning to talk to you good people; could I fairly ask  
you all to never say anything about what's going on in the world? If  
one of you or one of my other correspondents made reference to  
something deemed important, could I resist clicking on any of my  
favorite news sources?

Catch-22.