Sophisticated Lady in the Modern World

[bigross86]

Tamara, it seems to me you've had some bad experiences because you didn't know how to use it, but whoever you were talking to was right.

If you're on the phone with someone and they ask you a question, using Google search for 1 minute will give you at least one very concrete answer, sometimes two. If you know what you're talking about and know which one sounds more correct, then you can convey that information on. You need to build upon your expertise to find the right answers, but again, the answers can be found very quickly, at least for most subjects, and on the surface.

True, if you want to get into much more detail it will take more than a minute, but how many customers call and hit you with questions that are so difficult you can't find answers in a minute or two?

I'd even go so far as to wager that if you hit me with a question you've been asked by folks calling and looking for customer service, I'd probably be able to find an answer in 2 minutes, easily

[Tamara]

Tamara, it seems to me you've had some bad experiences because you didn't know how to use it, but whoever you were talking to was right.

If you're on the phone with someone and they ask you a question, using Google search for 1 minute will give you at least one very concrete answer, sometimes two. If you know what you're talking about and know which one sounds more correct, then you can convey that information on. You need to build upon your expertise to find the right answers, but again, the answers can be found very quickly, at least for most subjects, and on the surface.

True, if you want to get into much more detail it will take more than a minute, but how many customers call and hit you with questions that are so difficult you can't find answers in a minute or two?

I'd even go so far as to wager that if you hit me with a question you've been asked by folks calling and looking for customer service, I'd probably be able to find an answer in 2 minutes, easily

A couple of things. First of all, without getting too much into detail on it, I wasn't primarily hired for customer service, I was hired for a far different job. The aspect of the tasks that have been added to my section presents an interesting situation in that I have been trained for only one small aspect of it, but was graded on another.

As far as Google goes; once, it was quite useful, but now, I see it, as said before, loaded much more with "opinion" than with fact.

That situation produces a number of massive complications for me. To take your example, I don't know what google produces in one minute to be correct. I am not trained in that area. I am not trained to accept things that might seem obvious but rather, to research them and verify them. To do so otherwise puts my reputation, as I see it, as a researcher in question, potential jeopardy.

As an example of what my world is like, I can tell you how one might track a stealth aircraft..................but I can't tell you anything about smartphones, I don't use them, I don't have one. Likewise, the only time I use the camera feature on my Razor....is when I don't have my DSLR. As such, I think I've had my Razor for over 3 years, have not come close to using up its picture memory, and what I do have there is still there. Eventually, I may get the soft ware to get to someplace else.....which is to say, I know nothing about how to do email on a cell phone. Etcetra, etcetra.......

So, if I am hearing right, what you are saying is that what someone might ask in this modern world, that another ought to be able to go to Google, ask, and know in a minute whether the answer is right or wrong.........and that's not me.

When it comes to what you don't know, my world has been, "Here's the textbook, be up to speed in a week.".

What it comes down is two things. I know my limitations and I am not going to drag someone along for 25 minutes or more searching for an answer, hoping I find something that works. I will tell them that, write a report, refer it to someone else.

BUT if they insist that I do that, then I hope the person at the other has hours if not days for it is that kind of work.

[zraver]

Tamara, the system you are looking for is the RIM-66 SAM/SSM. It is a dual use missile able to engage air and surface targets. Besides the 3 ships Iran got, the Shah also had Kidd class destroyers on order when he fell from power.

[bigross86]

Tamara, you can't have it both ways. Yes, Google can be used to search for hours to find an incredibly thorough, thought out and verified answer.

However, your assertion that using Google means you won't the right answer in one minute while a customer waits on the line is just plain wrong. If someone is waiting on the phone for an answer, then you tell them one of two things: "Give me half an hour, I'll have a decent answer for you", or "Wait just a second, I'll give you a general answer that will send you in the right direction until I can give you a more detailed answer".

As with everything in life, the net result is immediately influenced by how much effort you put into it. If you want the best answer available, you won't find it in a minute, but if you want a working answer, Google will get you exactly what you need in that one minute the caller is waiting on the line

[Doktor]

As in everything in life, you want it immediately, good and cheap? Pick two.

[Tamara]

Tamara, you can't have it both ways. Yes, Google can be used to search for hours to find an incredibly thorough, thought out and verified answer.

However, your assertion that using Google means you won't the right answer in one minute while a customer waits on the line is just plain wrong. If someone is waiting on the phone for an answer, then you tell them one of two things: "Give me half an hour, I'll have a decent answer for you", or "Wait just a second, I'll give you a general answer that will send you in the right direction until I can give you a more detailed answer".

As with everything in life, the net result is immediately influenced by how much effort you put into it. If you want the best answer available, you won't find it in a minute, but if you want a working answer, Google will get you exactly what you need in that one minute the caller is waiting on the line

But it can get much more than that when it involves Google.

If we are talking about things that my bosses provide to the users, that is one thing. All the T's are crossed, all the I's are dotted, all legal questions have been addressed by the right section.

But now we go to the outside world and there is just so much WRONG information out there. Take that I-400 article in "Naval Warfare" with that statement of that a ship sunk in combat belongs to the country it was in service with. That's not entirely true as I pointed out with the CSS Alabama (something I know because of the salvage research I have done).

Now let's take this closer to my world. "Where can I download this software (which the company doesn't provide)?" (or movies, or magazines, or whatever).

Even if I find a place on the Net where it can be downloaded, I'm not going to tell them that without MASSIVELY checking out the legalities of doing so. Just because someone says it doesn't necessarily mean it is right. Further, what we believe to be credible sources, such as the news article I referred to above, aren't.

Another problem, as I am seeing here as we "talk", is that how I read, interpret, and define to what standard is probably far, far different then most people. From my level of what I accept as a credible answer, how many errors I allow before the site becomes unacceptable,....and for the answer I give, am I willing to accept that risk for that answer. I mean, after all, it goes out/is stored with my name on it; am I being that unreasonable given how data mining down the road can report on the answers I give in haste?

To me, there are two points about a working answer. How, what theories am I using to answer it and secondly, am I involved personally involved in the answer. If I am not personally involved but others, instead, are depending on my answer, then it's going to be to a lot higher standard.

There are at least two other concerns as well, though they are much lower on the scale. One of them is about people getting me to do their research for them when academically ethically, they should be doing it for themselves. The thing is that can be hard to detect. The other is detecting something which may be of concern to the security section. That is more of a feeling/instinct area on my part and given my background, I am perhaps more sensitive, more aware, or even some might say, more paranoid to it.

Once again, long story short, I am not going to give an answer without it being verified or authenticated (coming from within the organization).

As in everything in life, you want it immediately, good and cheap? Pick two.

As I said, if it is going out with my name on it, it is going out with verification.