"We had a computer glitch"

I often try to remember what life was like before computers. I can barely remember what I did with my time before email, web surfing, word processing, digital photography, PowerPoint presentations, MP3 players, YouTube.com, and all the rest. I also find myself longing for the times that businesses couldn't use the excuse, "our computers are down" or "our computer had a glitch".

As much as I enjoy technology and of course make my living from it, I think that we too often use it as a crutch to either procrastinate or an excuse that we hide behind when others ask questions or request information. After all, we all know how frustrating and unpredictable computers can be so questioning the "glitch defense" is futile. We have all thought it, and I will document here and now that I think way more than half of these tech excuses are bogus. Excuses made by lazy or unqualified people buying time or passing the buck.

Wow, I sound like a negative, bitter consumer. The truth is technology should and can does make us more productive and informed and it pisses me off (excuse my French) when retailers and service people use excuses instead of doing their jobs. I miss that a lot. 

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