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True Story

By Michael Hinckley, President of EasyBus

A few years ago, I was in my office trying to help a novice computer user with a technical support question regarding EasyBus™. This user did not have Internet access, so I was trying to talk her through clicking an icon on her screen using just my knowledge of where things "should" be, given what I knew about the program. The conversation went something like this:

"OK, just click the button on the top right hand corner of the screen."

"I don't see it"

"Alright just look a little closer, do you see the green box?"

"Yes."

"OK, look just to the right of that box"

"I don't see it"

Finally, after about 5 minutes -- "Oh! I see it!" In response, I silently said a prayer of thanks and then continued to finish the call. Immediately when I hung up, my wife called. It seems her car had a flat tire in the driveway.

I drove home and called our local mechanic. (Although I write software for buses, I would probably hit myself in the head with a wrench if I had to work on one.)

The mechanic didn't seem too thrilled with my call "I'll be right over as soon as I can, what is the serial number on the tire?" he asked. "No problem" I thought to myself; using my cordless phone I sprinted out to the car and looked at the wheel. The conversation went something like this:

"I don't see it."

"OK just look right at the tire, you should see the serial number in big letters"

"I don't see it"

"Alright, just look a little closer"

"I still don't see it..."

Finally after about 5 minutes-"Oh! I see it!" If the mechanic could have looked at me through the phone, I was blushing with embarrassment by the time I found the serial number. I felt so stupid that something so obvious to him could be so difficult for me.

I tell this story to every new tech-support person that I hire, because it so perfectly illustrates the fact that we are all experts at what we do, and we are all novices at what we don't do. At EasyBus™, it is a point of corporate pride for us that every employee at your service understands this better than any other software company that you will deal with.