Vale Wally Sparrow - Radio Presenter from Radio Adelaide

Photo courtesy of Ian Fisk Photography

On Monday, whilst I was quietly celebrating my birthday, in another place a man passed away.  This man, one of many talents, was Wally Sparrow whom I had known from Radio Adelaide.  As a presenter of country music for many years, Wally's name was known across the country as an important link in the chain.  I'd wanted to meet him for years and finally got the chance when he invited me for an interview a couple of years ago.

His passion and dedication to the genre of country music was always high and he was a straight shooter who always said what he thought.  One day recently I opened up my email to find a quote from him, sent to me on another site.

The quote reads:

"Susan is a great singer, songwriter and certainly works hard to achieve her goals"

To be honest I was a little bit surprised that he'd taken the time to write it and then post it. I wasn't sure if he would have remembered me at all.  There is his gift:  he remembered everyone, and through that we will always remember him.

Thanks for your time and your support old mate.  

RIP Wally Sparrow

love and appreciation,

Susan xx

When is a "help desk" helpful?

The more time goes on the more businesses that are only online.  This means that we all have to learn countless applications/programmes just so we can navigate our way around.  

There also seems to be a degree of "assumed knowledge" that is a large part of all this.  Is it because the software designer believes that everyone has the same knowledge as they do?  Yes, I know that there are manuals, but often they are hard to find and filled to the brim with enough jargon to drown in.

What I really wish for christmas, is that businesses online would understand that not all end users, ie people like me, are instantly savvy when it comes to the nuances of the application or the process.  Most of us do not have the time nor the urge to spend hours watching youtube clips or trying to find a term in a glossary so we can understand what the instruction means.

It would be great if the people they employed to be the phone support or online support actually understood how to explain things in plain terms.  One of my great frustrations is, after waiting for many minutes on the phone, that the person on the other end assumes that I know as much as they do about the application I'm having trouble with.  The ONLY reason I'm calling is that I have a problem or don't understand something and I need some HELP.  Isn't that why it's called a "Help desk"??? Or is that a fancy IT term for "we think you're stupid, why are you wasting our time when you should have gone to university and studied IT like we did".

Am I alone with this dilemma?  In some ways I hope not and in others maybe I'm just "special".  Let me know what you think or share an experience. Maybe we can help each other feel better about our online woes.

cheers and love

Sooz! xx