Last week I must have nearly killed my web hosting service. More precisely, the boy that took on my calls about their so called service. I must have spent nights and nights writing columns, pinging my site at blog directories, asking for links in odd places and (thankfully happily) reading the blogs of others. Hoping for visitors either to return every now and then to read my columns or to click on my ads (a girl’s gotta live). I was happy. Really.

Then my web hosting service decided it was funny to do an update on their server. Cool. Better a good patch every now and then than an out-dated system. Except now for some reason all my pages but my homepage were unreachable. I quite instantly realised what they had done, but it wasn’t something I could fix myself. There was nothing I could do but email, wait, email again, call by phone, let Matt call them, wait again…

It’s definitely one of my top irritations in life. A third party service, called to life (and paid) to make yours easier, and then screwing things up big time.

Some more examples: My grammar school diploma: an extra letter was put into my name, because the printer thought my name had been spelled incorrectly by my school. My study plan for university: because I wanted something a little bit different from the others they panicked. So it took me several discussions and even more months to have a clear arrangement. A lot more inconveniences were experienced with: pizza deliveries, temping agencies, carpet stores, bicycle repairers, handymen, lawyers, local government officials and many, many more. I’m sure you know just as many examples.

I’m trying to live with the fact that people are just incapable. Or the fact that I’m too much of a perfectionist. But it can still really wind me up sometimes. Especially when I know better myself. If I can’t fix a problem or a simple issue myself, then I’m prepared to wait patiently. And let everything come over me like a martyr. Worse is when I know exactly what to do, but just aren’t authorized or near the right resources. Grunt.

My favourite person to rant at about this issue is my dad. He dislikes the same human behaviour but has found his way around it in life. Therefore he’s my true hero and role model. Usually people tell you to don’t be upset and “that’s just the way the world is…” But not he. He just thinks I’m right. And knows exactly how to cheer me up in these kind of situations. No friend or boyfriend of mine has ever equalled the magical touch of my dad. Still, the fact that I have a dad to togetherly soldier through the crowd of incapable losers, doesn’t change the fact that I still have to deal with the same losers.

But of course my dad is not the only similar soul in this matter. I challenge you, in fact I dare you, to tell me you’ve never been annoyed sick by similar situations too. So if everybody thinks third party services are incompetent annoyances, then why are they still? You’d think they would evolve due to feedback given by others. Maybe it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy? If we keep on complaining they’ll keep on making mistakes?

Science provides the answer. Several studies show that ignorant people are, despite their lack, extremely full of themselves. It is proved that skills you need for competence itself are usually the same skills you need to recognize competence. So when people suck, they simply don’t know they do. Nor feel the need to improve. What a weird paradox on self development this is.

Finally, halfway through the week, my web hosting service admitted their mistake. One minor set up change later my site was working again. Crisis resolved.

I joyfully resumed my usual work of the day. For the rest of my working day I decided to try how it felt to be incompetent. And ignorant to it. I pretended to work while surfing around on the internet and writing this column. I mean: it’s not my company and it won’t be my profit I’ve been wasting. I’m nothing more than a third party service for my boss. It was kinda nice for a change. To let things go for a moment.

Ignorance is a bliss, indeed.

Column published by Cecile on Monday, February 26th, 2007.

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