Dean Howard
Bascom Hill
University of Wisconsin
Richard S. Tolley
134 East Johnson Street
#205
Madison, WI 53703
Dear Dean Howard:
Wednesday, October 8, 1998, I was trying to do my E-mail without my floppy disk because I had 58 messages and most of them I wanted to get rid of quickly on the Eudora Pro. I tried to put the files into the trash, was able to do that, but when I tried to get my E-mail a half an hour later, all 58 messages were still on the server. I decided to go to the information desk at H.C.White. I walked up and quietly asked a gentleman if he could help me trash my messages on Eudora Pro. He acted irritated and was busy with his computer, practically threw his monitor around so I could see it, and proceeded to assist me. He told me that all I had to do was put them in the trash bin. I went back to my computer and did exactly what he told me to do. Then I exited and went out for a smoke. I came back and tried my E-mail again and found 58 messages still there. I went back to the desk and this time I asked a different individual. He seemed irritated with me also and I finally after explaining to him what the problem was, got him to tell me exactly what to do. I went back to my machine a tried again. 58 messages again. I went back to him and told him the whole problem. He grudgingly gave a heave up and came with me to my computer. I showed him that I had done exactly what he said. He suddenly and irritatedly told me that I had to go into the "Special" button, find "Empty Trash" button, and push it. I did that. I now had two messages left on my computer. The ones I wanted to keep.
Just before he left, I told him that Eudora Pro isn't designed to do things simply and easily.
He didn't explain it to me at all, but he was also selecting all the other messages with the dark cursor and putting them collectively in the trash. I decided to do that, but was very frustrated that he had not taken the time to show me clearly so that I didn't have to hunt. None of these gentleman was at all considerate and were getting paid for what they didn't do in a kind and considerate manner.
I began to try different ways of doing what he had done. I knew the right buttons, but didn't know the combination. I complained to myself in my speaking voice, "How did he use the damned buttons??" I said that twice. Then I said, "How the Hell did he do this??" What I said basically to myself ended in about two minutes and I found the button combination the inconsiderate gentleman hadn't demonstrated to me in a clear quiet fashion.
After I had solved that problem, I put on the Netscape to check my Web Page @ http://www.inxpress.net/~rstolley. I have one of the best Web Pages available on the Internet with an opera and all the music and a physics paper I submitted to a magazine for publishing.
Then suddenly a gentleman with long hair, who had stopped me earlier and asked for my I.D. when I hadn't done anything wrong, came up behind me at my computer and asked me for my I.D. in a pushy way. I turned to him, said, "It's you again??" and showed him my I.D. I asked him what the problem was. He said he had received a complaint that I had created a disturbance. I told him I really hadn't. He told me he wanted me to leave. I became somewhat angry. I didn't feel anything that had happened that night was at all my fault and I definitely had not been loud. He said he wanted to talk outside. I said sure but then asked him who had complained without complaining directly to me. He said he couldn't tell me that. I said, "You mean I can't face my accuser?" He said, "Only in a court of Law." I said, "I don't think that would solve the problem in any easy way." I asked him why he had long hair. Was it to hide his true leanings? He said that was none of my business. I said I was a considerate gentleman most of the time and that he was not a considerate type of human being. As I said this we were walking down the stairs. When we got to the bottom and outside, I asked him again, "You mean I am not allowed to face my accusers??" He said, "Only in a court of Law." Then he asked me if I wanted to take them to court 'cause he would be willing to. I said no, that would not solve the problem if that were the only option left by him to me. I asked him if he was in the army. He said yes. I said, "I was too, but I had an Honorable Discharge!" I left and went home.
When I was a young boy in the 1950s, my father was a very hard man. My mother was a very good and conscientious woman. She always told us, "The customer is always right!!" My father worked me like a dog during the 1960s. I grew up believing that when you are employed, the customer is always right and the employer is the one you should work for and he is in the business of serving his customers. I have always been one of the hardest working, most people pleasing workers.
Your young gentleman at the Computer Lab at H.C. White information desk apparently feel bothered and hassled serving their fellow students. They seem to need to learn what it is like to serve someone other then themselves, instead of having the University serve them a job in which they feel hassled about working.
There are many things that could be done. Do nothing and let them learn it when they get a real job, but I don't believe that is what a college educational organization should at all represent. A student should be able to get a real job experience right here at this University. Besides, I am not sure the companies hiring these students who don't like to be hassled on the job, really want to do all of the job of training these students respect and service.
I would suggest that, as I said to Professor Begam, "Do what ever you feel is right for you."
Sincerely;
Richard S. Tolley