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

Subject: Re: Patronizing - and it was RE: Out of Work Tech Writers
From: Sandy Harris <pashley -at- storm -dot- ca>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 00:18:10 -0400


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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References:
RE: Patronizing - and it was RE: Out of Work Tech Writers: From: Dave Murray

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