not just random

Thinking back to a friend of mine. Different time, different place.

Talking about life, he had this to say:

It’s like you get up in the morning, run 10 miles uphill and just when you reach the top, someone’s waiting for you and hits you over the head with a blunt object.

Hope you’re well, dude, wherever you are.

After the old one just barely made it back into the parking lot, we decided that we probably spent enough time and money fixing it up. We got a rental car for a week and started shopping.

It ended up a being a stressful week. Very stressful. We went to several different dealers, did a lot of shopping around and, in the process, learned a bit about sales people.

As far as I am concerned, there are a lot of things you can do wrong, when trying to sell us a car.

• Don’t lie to us. I am not sure why you would even think about it. Simply don’t.
• Don’t pry into our personal life to find a way to become our friend. You won’t. You try to sell us a car. We are trying to buy a car. We are not trying to get a new friend.
• Don’t tell jokes about Germans or any other group of people. Seriously, I will lose respect just a little bit more every time.
• Don’t pressure us. I know, you want to close the deal that same day. Alright. Thing is: I don’t care. We just want to make the right decision. Give people less time, they work quicker, not necessarily better. You pressure us to write you a check with a five digit number on it and we will leave the office and go across the street to your competition.
• Check your attitude. You are not doing us a favor by selling us a car. We are the ones bringing you business. There’s nothing preventing us from going to the competition.

All this being said, we will most likely never buy a car at Lithia Honda in Medford, OR.

When we approached our last dealer, we felt burned and disillusioned already. Carrying a copy of Kelley Blue Book and Consumer Guide’s Used Cars Guide under my arm we approached the sales person and described him exactly what we wanted - and made no secret about our experiences at other shops that week. “Look, we know you want to close a deal the same day. We most likely won’t do that. So please don’t get pushy about it, that’ll just turn us off.”

The place is called Jim Sigel Automotive Center and they did everything right. I mean it. We have a new car. It’s exactly what we wanted. The staff we encountered at the store were extremely helpful, polite and, well, they actually gave me the feeling I might be able to trust them. Sounds harsh, but at the other places I really never felt I could trust anyone at all.

Maybe there is hope then.

Oh - by the way, it’s a black Honda Accord Special Edition, 2002 with 20.000 miles. It looks happy. The road feels good.

If you find this at all funny, you might want to get out more. Note to self: Make weekend plans that do not involve computers.

If the link causes sudden sadness or a dry mouth - then I am sorry. Polish that red stapler and go shopping for a binary watch or some caffeine pills. Whoot.

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” - Robert Heinlein

Having come across this, I feel much better now. I never really wanted to specialize in anything anyway, am too interested in too many things. Even totally restricting myself to only computer science related topics, I don’t think there’s a problem with wanting to learn more (and more) about Artificial Intelligence, Algorithm Analysis, Computer Graphics, Software Design and Best Practices of Programming, Usability, Computer Human Interaction and Web Design. It’s all good. You don’t have to even see the connection between the topics.

It’s good to know some people might have similar views. Someone came up with the following:

“A programmer should be able to find a bug, market an application, refactor a spike, lead a team, architect an application, hack a kernel, schedule a project, build a database, route a network, give a reference, implement UserStories, analyze UserStories, work in a team, work alone, use patterns, innovate, write documentation, have a RealLife, create a cool website, email efficiently, resign gracefully, AdmitIgnorance, and keep on learning. Specialization is for recruiters. – with large apology to RAH and his estate, PeterMerel” (More …)