Hello, my name is Joe and I am a fairly successful Project Manager at Monkey Pickles. But honestly I’m a tech support specialist. I love that I have the ability to help someone with their tech needs, though it can get very tough at times. And while these skills can be rewarding its not especially glamorous. See, I do not get paid for this… I’m not a specialist for a large tech company like IBM or Google. No, none of that. My love of tech has just really led to become The Unpaid Tech Support for my Mom!
My whole life I’ve been a techie. I was the child in the family that knew how to fix the blinking “12:00” on the VCR. I was the first cousin to own an Atari, a Nintendo Gameboy and I had my own Sony Walkman. (yes, I know I’m aging myself here) Eventually, I ended up working as a Data Technician in the US Navy. I love tech, I love new consumer electronics. I’m the friend you call when your PC is down with a virus or ask about setting up your router. And now I happily consider myself one of the tech gurus at Monkey Pickles a job which I do get paid for. When the Chief Goofball was shopping around for a new phone, he came to me and I recommended the Galaxy SIII. A decision he’s been very happy with 🙂
Which leads me to my mom, who I love very much. She is now a proud owner an iPad, her first computer ever and a gift from me. She loves it, she shows it off to family and friends and always lets them know that I was the one that bought it for her. My mom is in her sixties and never had a need for a computer, but now…well, now she has an gmail address, a facebook account, listens to pandora and enjoys a plethora of games on her first piece of technology. Lovely, right?
My mom really knows little about technology; she mostly speaks Spanish mixed in with some very broken English. She still owns her nineties era Ford Escort Wagon in mint green. She thinks that a mouse should be killed on site and that windows need curtains not anti-virus protection. So why did I get her an iPad? Well because she specifically asked for it. Yes, my mom knows nothing about tech wanted an ipad because of my niece’s Macbook. In Spanish, my mom told me that Apple’s do not get colds. “Colds, mom?” “Yes, they do not get sick, like other computers.” “Oh, they don’t get viruses…haha. I love you mom!”
I thought to myself, I’ll get her a Kindle Fire or some cheap android tablet just to keep her happy. But no, she specifically wanted an Apple and one that looked like mine! Owning two Apple products I knew that they’re pretty easy for novices to easily pick up. Grandparents and toddlers are all over YouTube videos showing off their touch skills and favorite apps. Should be easy for my mom to use, right??? I never realized how much comedy would come of this.
Stay tuned for the second part of the story “Mom’s hilarious Broken English Tech Calls to Me” or How Ten Hours of Pandora Music was finally shut down…
-blog by Joe Luna
