Had a customer referred to me, indirectly, via a relative.

An elderly lady is feeling isolated & her niece thinks a computer will help her keep in touch with her sons & daughters overseas (I suggest skype & she seems to like the idea).

Having a quick look at the laptop market (new & used), & I’m mildly surprised to see that used laptops keep their value very well. A used laptop is about $700, a new one is about $1000). At these prices a new laptop is the best bet.

Anyway, they live about 1 hours drive away (sunshine coast), so its a long day.

I setup the laptop, spend about 1 hour teaching Dorothy how to startup & shutdown the PC, and how to play solitare (it helps a new computer user get used to a mouse).

Its amazing how easy it is to take simple things for granted, like typing, using a mouse, or even just walking down the street.

Anyway, she struggles with the mouse (I had quickly abandoned the laptop trackpad… it just doesn’t cut it when it needs to be used by someone unfamilar with computers).

The adsl modem arrives after lunch, so I spend some time setting it up, quickly show a few web pages (I had already installed skype), and then its time for me to go (another client at 4pm)…

I get a call the following day from Dorothy’s niece… seems like they were both impressed with my “patient and friendly manner” & Dorothy will call me soon to organise a date for another training session.

It’s people like this that make my work very satisfying.