Laptops and Integrity I bought a new laptop this weekend. My old laptop and desktop computers are getting old and my son told me about this great clearance sale that allowed me to get a $600 for $300. A pretty sweet deal. I got the laptop home, opened it, scanned the instructions and powered up. I followed the step by step instructions and I soon faced the first of many challenges that the laptop brought. The first challenge came from what I thought was going to be a great thing which was my new system was running Windows 8 with tiles and charms and a touchscreen. Sounded great on paper but it soon turned out to be a frustrating experience as I had to sort out what I knew about the older Windows programs with the new program that was making no sense in my muddled mind. The second and even bigger issue came when in the midst of the 85+ updates that awaited my laptop the entire system stopped working. After troubleshooting it for a bit I finally picked up the phone and called the support line for the computer company. A very nice young man answered my call and was very sympathetic and told me that he could help me out IF I paid a $49 fee upfront. I carefully explained that I only owned the computer 48 hours and he restated the $49 fee to be able to help me. My next statement to him was “So are you telling me that your company doesn’t offer tech service for free on a 2 day old computer???” He politely said no. When I suggested to him that the store that I purchased from had a 15 day full refund policy that I may be better off buying a computer from a company that supports its products he answered “Go ahead.” Today I could talk about how beholden we are to technology…have you ever been in a store when the registers go down? They are unable to process anything since nothing you buy has a price on it and they can’t process credit cards and so on. Or I could talk about how as I get older and technology moves quickly it is hard to keep up, even for a fairly tech smart guy like myself. But instead I want to talk about the idea of standing behind what you believe in. You see, all too often now a days people and companies are very quick to tell you a lot of things to get you to buy into what they are selling. That is true in both business and in your personal life. But all too often people are willing to tell you one thing to get the sale (again in business and in your personal life) but when the time comes to back what they say up there are a lot of nothing there. I don’t think it is unreasonable for instance that a company should offer tech support on a 2 day old computer free of charge. In fact I would go so far as to say that in many ways it is silly that they don’t. The next time I either buy a computer or a friend tells me they are buying a computer I will be sure to let everyone know about the poor customer service. Smart businesses know that it costs a company 10 times more to get back a disgruntled customer then to do it right the first time. But let’s make it a little more personal. How about the people in your personal life? Do you have a lot of friends and family who stand behind what they say in their own lives? Is there a group of people you know who do what they say and say what they do? People you can count on? During my life coaching sessions I often encounter people who are trying to understand why the people around them are unable to do the things that they said they would do. I hear about relationships that are at odds because the other person says one thing and does another. Sometimes integrity is a fleeting thing for some. An even more important question may be “Do you stand behind what you believe in?” Do live a life of such integrity that your friends and family know that you word is your bond? I constantly remind people that the one thing that they have control over is their own integrity. So today the question is how do you want to live your life? Do you want to be the kind of person who friends see as a moving target that can never be pinned down? Or do you want to be a person who everyone knows that your word is your word? Live today with integrity! Be the best version of you possible. Your integrity may be one of the most important things you own. Use it wisely. It will cost you 10 times more to recover when you don’t! As a side note…I still have the laptop. I finally figured out the problem, installed the updates and it works perfectly. Ironically I am writing this from my old desktop. My faithful old friend. Have a great day and don’t forget: Life is a journey, not a destination!
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 06:51:36 +0000
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