Buck Says: Typing, Email and the Internet
I haven’t read or heard any news today, For general sanity purposes I need to take a day off from working to solve the economic problems of the administration. I needed a few hours today to solve an Internet use problem that seems to affect many people of my generation.
Typing is an obstacle for many men who are my age. When I went to work I never typed . I had a few capable assistants who handled this for me. They had jobs that seem to have now disappeared. They were secretaries and later called administrative assistants. In responding to the current registration requirements of a significant college reunion that will take place this June, I have found communication with several of my classmates to sometimes be a bit shaky. Talking to one old friend who had been a powerful executive, he indicated that he didn’t have a facile use of the computer and the various programs I was talking about in my communications. He further confessed that his lack of typing skills has led him like many others of our age to dismiss the computer as not needed in their life. It dawned on me that there were otherwise bright guys who were hiding behind that same skill deficiency. When we were running things, the typing was almost always handled by females. Men didn’t type unless they were journalists.
I was one such guy lacking typing skills until the early 90’s I retired a bit early and sold most of my companies assets and found a new job that suited my mental state at that point in my life. I took a weekend summer job at my son’s marina in NJ. I manned the gas dock, sold bait and gave fishing advice to those boats heading out to the ocean. I fulfilled the requirement of every marina to have an OMOTD to add a salty element to the operation. I enjoyed giving advice, a characteristic that I still enjoy (btw OMOTD is the acronym for Old Man On The Dock)
I was in my second summer in this position when I looked down the dock and saw an old friend from Newport Beach CA striding towards me with obvious purpose. “Bob”, I said what the (expletive deleted) are you doing here.” His reply, “I’m here to get you off this damn dock”. Having no interest in leaving the dock, the puzzlement must have shown in my expression. He went right into his pitch as only an old oilman could. He said, I’m here to show you something on my laptop computer called the Internet after which I want you to take a job as CEO” with a company a bunch of us are forming called an Internet Service Provider”. All this and more was said before taking a breath.
I had no clue what that was and said so. He dismissed my objections and expressed his confidence that once I saw how email worked I would get on board. He further said that they probably could meet my price since selling minnows on a dock in NJ probably didn’t pay as much as they had in mind. He handed me my first corporate perk which was a Toshiba laptop and proceeded to show me how email worked and what the Internet was about. He worked me over until I was totally enthused and ready to do what he knew I could do, which was organize a company and surround the effort with quality talent who knew what they were doing.
It then hit me that his offer was not something I could accept and I said so. His reply was why not? “Bob you know I had people that, handled my communications, schedule and other skill deficiencies. This job will require me to be conversant with computers, programs and I don’t know how to type.” His reply was “I knew you would lean on that crutch. Meet Mavis Beacon” was the comment as he handed me her program that teaches typing. Three weeks later I was typing about 40 words per minute and ready to take the CEO position of the new company being formed.
The answer to members of my generation that have computer operating deficiencies is: Meet Mavis Beacon as a quick first step into the century that is passing you by. I know the engineering graduates have had no problem moving ahead, so this advice is for those liberal arts and business majors who when working were supported by a talented member of that now absent work force, A Secretary.
PS By Tomorrow I’ll once again be agitated and I’ll have something to say about Obama’s former bomber friend who was in Boulder last week.
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