February 23 – “No”

I was scheduled to meet with the fire extinguisher inspector yesterday … again.  This is the one who didn’t show up and didn’t call last week.  He did finally apologize.  It is tough on the consumer in cases like this because they are pretty much the only game in town.  So he was scheduled to be there at 11 a.m.  He showed up a little before 10.  Think he was trying to say “I’m sorry”? 

After staff meeting I called the MediaShout helpline.  That’s the name of our presentation software at church.  It connects from our computer to the projector that shows song lyrics and Bible passages and various images on the wall for people to see during worship.  The problem we have been having is that the software refuses to project powerpoint presentations.  It appears to be working on the computer screen, but it locks up when it tries to go through the projector. I explained the dilemma to the tech support guy and he had an immediate answer.  Their software only works effectively with Powerpoint 2010.  Any other versions throw it off and it works intermittently at best.  And of course we have Powerpoint 2013.  What were we thinking?  Upgrading for a better experience?  He recommended either calling Microsoft for help or borrowing an installation disk from someone who still had Powerpoint 2010 on their computer.

So my next call went to Microsoft.  The first person I talked to said they no longer provided support for Powerpoint 2010, but if I could find someone with a 2010 disk, I could load that.  Sense a pattern here?  Sadly, they offered me a smattering of hope.  They transferred me to the actual tech department to see if anyone could provide any other way to make it work.  I knew I was in trouble when the person I was transferred to asked in broken, extremely hard to understand English, “What country are you calling from?”  After right at an hour of her trying to convince me that changing the file format would work (which I had already tried … it didn’t), she admitted that she couldn’t help.  I asked if she thought I should find someone with an old disk of Powerpoint 2010 and install it (hey, might as well give her some help), and she agreed that it just might, but she was still going to send me a link on how to change file formats.  Her final comment still floors me, though.  She had the audacity to ask, “So was I able to help you successfully with your problem today, sir?”  I admit I had to pause for a second and craft my answer carefully on that one.  Finally I replied, “No.” 

I actually did get that email with the link she was telling me about.  It also contained an apology that they couldn’t help me.  But they did encourage me to call again any time.  I checked through my stash of old disks here at home and found the installation disk for our copy of … Office 2010, which includes, of course, Powerpoint 2010.  We’ll see …

1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”

Father, thank you for those people who try to help, even when they know upfront that they can’t.  Amen.