Category: Tech Today
I've previously written about the dying iMac G5 at the office. The PowerPC and ATI Radeon 9600-equipped Apple machine runs on Mac OSX 10.4 with a ground-breaking 768MB of RAM (cough). Unfortunately, due to standard IT regulations, I'm not allowed to run Linux on it nor fiddle around with the hardware.
A few days ago, it went through a fairly common PC issue (for its hardware and age) of booting up and dying after 3 minutes. I needed to pull files from the system but was warned to stay away from a screwdriver so I ended up cannibalizing a power cable from another iMac and getting a few files off before it died again. My Shanghainese colleague filed a ticket and requested for a third-party Apple technician, who arrived the next day.
Now, I really didn't know what to expect. As a former Dell technical support rep/trainer, I've spoken and worked with dozens of on-site Dell technicians - a mixed bunch of bad apples and genial itinerants. At lunch time, a 6'1, Tibetan shaved, bespectacled and extremely sweaty Chinese onsite tech arrived and grinned shyly at me. He carried a Jansen backpack and a drenched faded Maui & Sons shirt (which seemed oddly appropriate). Instead of Apple's Reality Distortion Field, the third-party tech sported an Odor Distortion Field that made my colleague wince. I can't really blame the tech. Summer in Shanghai doesn't get as hot as Bangkok, Manila, or Bullhead City in Arizona but the humidity is much worst. At 34 degrees Celsius, you can still shoot hoops outdoors but in Shanghai you're better off sitting in an air-conditioned room reading Sherlock Holmes or watching Harrison Ford sweat in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
I had already surmised that the iMac's issue was either the fan, the power block (where the power plug connected to the power supply) or a failed RAM. The gentleman had to pop the chassis open. I was worried that the dripping sweat of the tech would lay havok on the poor aged iMac's board - visions of urban legends of exploding MBs danced in my mind.
Hygiene aside, the onsite tech knew what he was doing. The repair ticket already described the issue so after verifying the symptoms he set off to work immediately without asking any questions. I was a bit surprised he didn't ask me if I had backed up my files or if anything untoward had happened to the iMac (like dropping the chassis or spilling tea on the vents for instance). I realized that he was probably the tech handling all 18 iMacs at the company and knew this iMac like the back of his hand. Accustomed to standard tech support procedures, however, I was still somewhat taken aback.
It takes a certain amount of assertiveness to get the iMac G5's rear panel off quickly (and detach the stand) and he did just that. He unscrewed the power block, yanked it off and inspected the heavily clogged vents. He pulled out the RAM and quickly tested functionality in another iMac (which he dismantled as quickly). Unlike Dell technicians, he wasn't chatty nor did he ask for a glass of water or head to the toilet at any point. He took parts from another old iMac, picking out a healthy DIMM and getting a cleaner power supply. No electrostatic wrist strap. No pressurized air can. Just a small screwdriver toolset no doubt rusty because of the owner's active sweat glands. The third-party tech got everything everything done in less than 15 minutes without a single drop of sweat falling on an Apple-approved part. He gave me a lopsided grin and told me to contact him if anything else happened.
Any Apple devotee present would probably berate the shy tech for manhandling the worshiped iMac in such a way (I myself balked when he almost tore off parts from the board). However, he earned my respect, sweaty and sour as he was. He was getting paid peanuts for a task untested, rude and lazy techs in the US (and in other parts of the world) are paid handsomely for. The Chinese gentleman was fast and efficient, friendly and not arrogant and smug (which I'm sorry to say is a common trait for users and techs alike).
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