By Eric Fisk | Observer Contributor
I hate it when my wife asks me what I want for Christmas. Seriously, do I give her an honest answer so she’ll spend too much on the kids and me? (If that’s the way it has to be, have it be in that order.) Or do I tell her what she wants to hear. “Oh, I just picked out a couple of books I need for work and school on my Amazon Wish List…” and hope she doesn’t go overboard and buys all of them this year.
Simultaneously she’s thinking the same thing. “Do I tell Eric what I really want for Christmas, or do I just put a few things I really need on my Amazon wish list?”
Meanwhile, my two boys Coppertop and Tumble (nicknames that match their personalities) are living their own version of “A Christmas Story” staring themselves as “Ralphie” with their 2010’s equivalent of “an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!”
This is the year, folks. I’m going to be completely honest with everyone and I’m absolutely sure that if I could tempt you with liquor or truth serum (or just ask politely) I would get the same answer from you, too.
All I want for Christmas are a couple of things, so incredibly simple but so impossible hard to get. You can’t buy these things at the store, can’t wrap them, or procure them at any price. If someone could put a price tag on what I want and actually sell it at a reasonable price then that person could be rich beyond anyone’s imagination.
Number 1; I just want everything to work exactly the way they’re supposed to work.
Every product that I have, at every level I want them to work exactly the way they were promised without having any problems or hiccups. Software or code is the best example I can think of right now. All the Microsoft products, all the Adobe products, all the Apple/Mac software…should just do exactly what I want you to do. If I’m following a lesson plan in a book (a topic for another gripe) and it asks me to do steps A, B, C, and D and when I’m finished I should get “this” then I should get exactly this! I used to be a Technical Writer, I know how hard writing instructions can be… but that’s the job; write it and get it right! I should never have to guess what the author actually meant.
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