Writing Prompt Stories

I wrote this little column as a LinkedIn post and thought I'd share it here (remember I work in technology).

Frustration acceptance with a tool is a rather curious thing that I see almost daily with my customers.

It’s curious because I can’t imagine a roofer being frustrated with his roofing hammer and feeling that there is to be done about it.

Buying a new hammer is simple, and the reason why a tool may be frustrating you is usually obvious.

I can’t imagine a surgeon being frustrated with his bone drill and letting it slide daily.

Tools that supply friction to a task cost businesses time and therefore money. Some tools require little to no knowledge or experience to use effectively and some require advanced knowledge before you can use them effectively.

To be less cryptic, I’m specifically talking about computers and the applications which run on them.

The tools a business uses to increase productivity are there to reduce friction. Not to create it. So why are we letting computers frustrate us so much? Even companies I work with who have full IT departments and knowledgeable technicians sometimes struggle with this issue because they never think to ask them to sit down and look at the sales processes and see what employees are doing that could be streamlined.

In today’s world, a process as simple as deciding which box needs to go where could require a computer and a scanner, I’ve personally seen something as simple as this cause a wave of frustration because the scanners “just keep disconnecting from the computers.” and customers thought “it is what it is”. But in most cases, it isn’t “what it is”. Sitting down for just a few minutes with a technology expert can give employees ideas on how to be faster and have less frustration.

People deal with this because computers aren’t a simple tool and for most people and the solution is out of their realm of knowledge.

It should be hard to imagine a professional who is frustrated with a tool designed specifically for their job, and yet, we all see it daily with our tech. My customers often don’t even know they have additional daily frustration because they feel deep within their heart of hearts that there is nothing they can do about their technology issues.

Almost anyone can benefit greatly from a technology expert offering suggestions for their process. We can help shave off valuable seconds, minutes, or even hours by recommending simple tweaks to a daily process; there is usually a simple tweak or practice as simple as ctrl+c and ctrl+v, or maybe another app, or another system altogether that can be put in place to remedy the frustration and time lost every day.

Stop putting up with it. Let a technology advocate guide you and your employees to a better world with tools they can learn to understand.

I want a world where teachers are emboldened by technology rather than weighed down by it.

A world where your sales team is able to focus less on tech issues and more on closing deals.

Focus for this story: “setting”.

Link to this podcast episode: https://writingexcuses.com/2008/12/28/writing-excuses-season-2-episode-12-theme/

The morning’s first rays of light pierced the darkness, stabbing away any traces of night and illuminated a thin blade of grass, from which, a single bead of dew hung precariously from its tip with the tremulous grip of an ionic bond. Beneath the bead of dew inched a tiny caterpillar. Covered in black and orange fuzz, the insect inched forward along a mindless path. Plans or ideas for the future couldn’t be further from its bare few brain cells of a mind. Simplicity drove this creature forward. Motivation driven by little more than what one may consider as little more than a feeling... a desire to satiate its hunger pressed relentlessly upon its bare few cells of a "brain". That basic need for the next tasty morsel to devour. Its pace increased as the sun warmed its blood, and soon enough it was moving along at a moderate pace... for a caterpillar. 

The caterpillar passed hundreds upon hundreds of blades of grass none of which smelled appetizing, it continued on passing an old and forgotten aluminum can; partially crushed and discarded, it passed an old shoe of no import that some child had left behind; now weather worn and faded.  The caterpillar sensed each of these things as it passed and heeded them little to no thought. They weren’t food. They were little more than distractions from its goal. It carried along following some non-existent path with purpose. It had one goal, one purpose and like the most astute entrepreneur, it could not be distracted from its singular task. 

Slowly but surely it inched forward like the coils of a slinky scrunching and stretching endlessly on until, finally, its small sharp appendages resembling legs came across the stock of a proud sunflower. At first, it wasn’t sure what it had come across. The caterpillar raised its head up and bobbed it up and down sensing the water and plant cells of the lush green stock. Once it gained the understanding that it found what it was looking for, it began the arduous task of crawling up the stock to where lush green leaves should be passing something fuzzy. Another caterpillar, pausing for a moment to bob its head. It sensed a bobbing motion coming from the other ball of fuzz as well, they sat there bashing their globular eyes into each other's faces and stabby little arms until, each of them, determined that the other was indeed, not food, and continued on their separate ways, having to slightly change their trajectories to make it around the opposing fuzzy obstruction. 

Inching ever onward, the caterpillar crawled up until it came across another decision point where it would have to either continue climbing, or deviate from its singular path onto a new path. An internal overwhelming drive nudged it to deviate from the main stock. It lifted its head and again, bobbed up and down utilizing as many of its senses as it could to aid it in its decision. Finally, decision made, it began inching along a new horizontal trajectory. On its way it passed yet another fuzzy obstruction. Following the same steps as it had with the first. It continued on this way until something strange happened. As it inched further out, the stem became sticky, wet, and uneven with serrated bumps. Then it reached a flimsy narrow end to the stem and found that there was no food. It had been removed; neatly and completely picked away. The caterpillar had arrived too late. It attempted to continue on it’s original path. Desiring for there to be more. But desire is ever a fruitless endeavor. Tentatively, the caterpillar reached a length of its body over the tip of the stem into waggling about in the air trying as it might to find more plant, more trail to follow until it found its singular desire, but there was no more. It waved as much of it’s body in the air as it could without losing purchase on the plant, utilizing all of its senses it could muster and gained nothing from its effort. Suddenly, a million refractions of shadow swiftly blurred into the periphery of its vision. 

A sudden jolt relieved the caterpillar of its tenuous purchase on the stem, then an explosion of complete sensory overload overwhelmed it's tiny neurological synapses. Sending it spiraling into Oblivion, blackness, and finally, complete nothingness.

[The following line gives this story a "theme". If I leave it out, then this is, indeed, a story with no theme. It's also a little vague... Hopefully not too vague].

Breakfast.